WRITE

WRITE

Support Command

Writes variables (vectors), parameters (scalars), functions (including strings), and matrices to the screen or to a file.

WRITE <variable list>             <SUBSET/EXCEPT/FOR qualification>
where <variable list> is a list of parameters, variables, strings, or matrices (separated by spaces);
and where the <SUBSET/EXCEPT/FOR qualification> is optional.

WRITE <file name> <variable list>             <SUBSET/EXCEPT/FOR qualification>
where <file name> specifies the name of the output file;
            <variable list> is a list of parameters, variables, strings, or matrices (separated by spaces);
and where the <SUBSET/EXCEPT/FOR qualification> is optional.

If the file name does not contain a period, place a period (no spaces) at the end of the file name.

WRITE VARIABLES ALL

This syntax writes all currently defined variables (up to 25 variables may be printed). Although this command was implemented primarily for the Tcl/Tk graphical interface, it can also be used directly.

WRITE <HTML/LaTex/RTF> <file name> <variable list>
            <SUBSET/EXCEPT/FOR qualification>
where <file name> specifies the name of the output file;
            <HTML/LaTex/RTF> specifies that variables will be written HTML (HTML), LaTex (LaTex), or Rich Text Format (RTF) format;
            <variable list> is a list of variables;
and where the <SUBSET/EXCEPT/FOR qualification> is optional.

This syntax is used to write variables in either HTML, LaTex, or RTF format. It is restricted to variables only (i.e., no parameters, strings, or matrices). In addition, HTML format is limited to 15 variables and LaTex and RTF format are limited to 7 variables. LaTex and RTF have a fixed width pages which is why we currently restrict the number of columns.

This option is useful when you want to display output for web pages or you want to import output into documents. The output from the WRITE comamnd will be generated as a "table".

<WRITE1/WRITE2/WRITE3> <file name> <variable list>
                        <SUBSET/EXCEPT/FOR qualification>
where <file name> specifies the name of the output file;
            <variable list> is a list of parameters, variables, strings, or matrices (separated by spaces);
and where the <SUBSET/EXCEPT/FOR qualification> is optional.

This syntax is similar to the standard WRITE command. However, there are some distinctions between how WRITE1, WRITE2, and WRITE3 work compared to WRITE. This is discussed in a Note section below.

WRITE OUT. Y1 Y2 Y3 X
WRITE DATA.SAVE X Y PRED RES
WRITE X Y PRED RES

The following methods can be used to control the format of the output.
1. The default is to print in exponential format.

2. You can enter the command
   SET WRITE DECIMALS <value>

   where <value> is an integer in the range 0 to 12. This specifies the number of digits to the right of the decimal point (use 0 to print data as integers).

   The primary drawback of this option is that all variables will be written with the same value.

3. To specify an explcit format, enter
   SET WRITE FORMAT <string>

   where <string> is a Fortran-like format statement. Currently, only F, E, and X format are supported (you can use Fxx.0 to print integer values, although the decimal point will still be printed).

   Although this provides a flexible option, one drawback is that it cannot be used for the option.

   Enter HELP WRITE FORMAT for details.

4. You can specify the total width and the number of digits to the right of the decimal point by entering the command
   TABLE WIDTH <ntot> <nright>

   where <ntot> and <nright> are variables that contain the total number of digits and the number of digits to the right of the decimal point, respectively.

   That is row 1 of <ntot> and <nright> applies to the first variable printed, row 2 applies to the second variable printed, and so on. Up to 200 rows may be specified.

   A few comments on what may be specified (assume NTOT and NRIGHT are the values for a given row).

   1. A value of -99 indicates that the default value should be used (15 for NTOT, 7 for NRIGHT).

   2. If NRIGHT is 0, then an integer format will be used.

   3. If NRIGHT is a positive integer, then a Fortran F format will be used. For example, NTOT = 4 and NRIGHT = 2 will print something like "3.26".

   4. If NRIGHT is between -3 and and -20, a Fortran E format (i.e., scientific notation) will be used and NRIGHT specifies the number of digits in the mantissa.

   5. If NRIGHT is -2, then a G15.7 format will be used. With the G format, the Fortran compiler will decide, at runtime, whether an F format or an E format is more appropriate for a given number.

The precedence order is:

1. First check to see if a SET WRITE FORMAT command was given (this step will be skipped if writing HTML, LaTex, or RTF format).

2. Next check to see if a TABLE WIDTH option was given. This option does apply to HTML, LaTex, and RTF output.

3. Next check to see if a SET WRITE DECIMALS option was given.

4. If none of the above options were given, use the default format (i.e., scientific notation).

By default, Dataplot will open the output file before performing the WRITE and then close the output file after performing the WRITE. This means that the output file will contain the contents of a single WRITE command (and the content will start in row 1 of the output file). If the file already exists (before the WRITE command) it is overwritten.

However, sometimes you may want to append the output of several WRITE commands to the same output file.

The SET WRITE REWIND OFF command suppresses the automatic closing of the file after the WRITE command. So a typical sequence would be something like

SET WRITE REWIND OFF
WRITE FILE.OUT ....
WRITE FILE.OUT ....
WRITE FILE.OUT ....
SET WRITE REWIND ON
WRITE FILE.OUT " "


We specify the final write (just a blank line) after the SET WRITE REWIND command in order to insure that the ouput file is closed.

Note that Dataplot currently only uses a single unit number for the WRITE command. This means that if you use the SET WRITE REWIND OFF command, you should write to the same file until the SET WRITE REWIND comamnd has been entered and the current file has been closed (i.e., the final WRITE after the SET WRITE REWIND ON command). If you try to write to multiple output files after a SET WRITE REWIND OFF, the results may be unpredictable.

DATAPLOT writes to an ASCII text file. With one exception, no method of writing binary files is currently supported.

The one exception is that you can use the command

SET WRITE FORMAT UNFORMATTED

to write variables in an unformatted Fortran file. Note that this is not a portable format. Its primary use is to speed up the read time for large files that will be read many times on the same system.

It is not appropriate for archiving data since Fortran unformatted files are compiler dependent.

The WRITE command supports the "TO" syntax. For example,
WRITE FILE.OUT X1 X2 Y1 TO Y8 Y15

The "Y1 TO Y8" will write variables Y1, Y2, Y3, Y4, Y5, Y6, Y7, and Y8.

When writing variables, you can specify a title for the output by entering the command
SET TABLE TITLE <string>

You can also specify whether rule lines are drawn above and below the variable names in the output by entering the command

SET TABLE BORDER <ON/OFF>

The default is ON.

If the VARIABLE LABEL command has been used to define labels for the variables, these will be used instead of the variable names in the header line. These variable labels will be truncated if they are longer than the width of the field (variable labels can be 24 characters long while fields in the WRITE command are ofter set to 15 or less).

If you want to suppress the variable names, enter the command

SET TABLE HEADER OFF

To restore the default of printing the variable names, enter

SET TABLE HEADER ON

Literal text can be written by enclosing it in double quotes. For example,
WRITE "Enter the value for X"

DATAPLOT has no restrictions on the file name other than it be a valid file name on the local operating system and that it contain a period "." in the file name itself or as a trailing character. DATAPLOT strips off trailing periods on those systems where it is appropriate to do so. On systems where trailing periods can be a valid file name (e.g., Unix), DATAPLOT opens the file with the trailing period.

File names are case sensitive on Unix file systems. For Unix, DATAPLOT opens the file as given. All other currently supported systems are not case sensitive regarding file names.

As a further caution for Unix hosts, certain expansion characters (specifically ~ to refer to your home directory) are interperted by the shell and are not recognized by the Fortran compiler. These expansion characters are interperted as literal characters and do not yield the intended file name.

Writing character variables, row labels, and group labels is not currently (4/2009) supported. We anticipate adding this in a future release.

The 2016/07 version of Dataplot added the following command
SET WRITE HEADER FILE <file>

If you specify a header file, the contents of that file will be added to the beginning of the file specified on the WRITE command.

The 2018/10 version of Dataplot added support for writing row labels, group labels, and character variables.

To print row labels, use ROWLABEL as the variable name. This is demonstrated in the Program 2 and Program 3 examples below. The Program 2 example also shows how to print character fields as coded numeric variables while Program 3 prints the original character values.

The Program 4 example demonstrates writing a group label variable.

The 2018/12 version of Dataplot added support for the WRITE1, WRITE2, and WRITE3 commands.

The behavior of the WRITE command is:

1. Open the file (it will be closed first if it is already open).

2. Write the specified data to the specified file.

3. Close the file.

There are two primary limitations for the WRITE command.

1. There is no "append" mode. That is, the current WRITE command will overwrite the previous contents of the file.

   This limitation can be mitigated to some extent with the SET WRITE REWIND command described above. Note however that the SET WRITE REWIND settings apply to all subsequent WRITE commands.

2. There is only one "active" write file at any given time.

The following is an example of where these limitations may come into play. Suppose we are processing a list of files and performing a FIT to the variables in these files. We would like to save the residual and predicted values for each fit to a file. However, we would also like to save some summary information about each fit to another file. This was the situation that the WRITE1/WRITE2/WRITE3 commands are intended to address.

Specifically, the behavior of WRITE1/WRITE2/WRITE3 is

1. Check if the file specified on WRITE1 (or WRITE2 or WRITE3) is already open. If not, open the file. However, if the file is already open do not close or rewind the file.

2. Write the desired information to the specified file.

3. Do not close the file.

   If you need to close the file (e.g., to view the contents), you can do something like the following

   WRITE1 FILE1.OUT ...
   ...
   WRITE1 FILE1.OUT ...
   PROBE IWRIN1
   LET IFLAG = CLOSE PROBEVAL
   LIST FILE1.OUT
   

   For WRITE2 and WRITE3, use IWRIN2 and IWRIN3, respectively.

The WRITE1, WRITE2, and WRITE3 units are treated independently of each other. That is, you can concurrently maintain append access to three distinct files while still using the WRITE command in the normal way.

An example of using WRITE1 is given in the Program 5 example below.

If you enter a single variable name with no arguments and that variable name is not a recognized command, Dataplot will interpret that as WRITE command. For example, entering
Y

will be interpreted as

WRITE Y

If a single word command is entered, Dataplot first tries to process it as a command. If the command is successfully executed or it generates an error message, nothing further is done. However, if no match is found and no error is generated, Dataplot will prepend a WRITE to the command and re-process it. Specifically, R, REPEAT, X, S, SAVE, L, and LIST are valid commands without arguments. A number of other commands without arguments (e.g., NLIST or FIT) will generate an error. So, for example, if you have a variable called R you need to enter WRITE R rather than just R.

This only applies to single word commands. Entering

Y1 Y2 Y3

will not be interpreted as

WRITE Y1 Y2 Y3

The 2020/05 version of Dataplot added the following command
SET WRITE CSV <ON/OFF>

Setting this to ON will write the file as a comma separated values (CSV) file. This option in intended primarily for the case where you want to import the file into another program that expects ASCII files to be in CSV format.

None

PRINT is a synonym for WRITE.
WRITE ALL VARIABLES is a synonym for WRITE VARIABLES ALL.

SET WRITE FORMAT	=	Define a Fortran like format for writing data.
SET WRITE DECIMALS	=	Specify the number of digits to the right of the decimal point when printing numbers.
SET WRITE REWIND	=	Specify if the output file is rewound before writing.
WRITE ROW	=	Read variables, parameters, strings, and matrices from a file.
READ	=	Read variables, parameters, strings, and matrices from a file.

Data Output

Pre-1987
1997/12: Implemented Syntax 3.
2003/09: Support for HTML and LaTex output.
2009/04: Support for RTF output.
2009/04: Maximum number of variables for the WRITE command increased to 1024.
2018/10: Support for writing group labels
2018/10: Support for writing row labels, character data
2018/12: Support for WRITE1, WRITE2, WRITE3
2019/12: Support for interpreting single word commands as implicit WRITE commands
2020/05: Support for SET WRITE CSV

 
LET Y1 = NORMAL RANDOM NUMBERS FOR I = 1 1 100
LET Y2 = EXPONENTIAL RANDOM NUMBERS FOR I = 1 1 100
LET Y3 = UNIFORM RANDOM NUMBERS FOR I = 1 1 100
WRITE RANDOM.DAT Y1 Y2 Y3
    

 
SET CONVERT CHARACTER CATEGORICAL
SET ROW LABEL COLUMN 1
READ TEST_CHAR.DAT IROW Y X1 X2
.
SET WRITE DECIMALS 1
WRITE ROWLABEL Y X1 X2
    

The following output is returned

 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 ROWLABEL                              Y             X1             X2
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 Row_1                               8.0            1.0            1.0
 Row_2                               2.0            2.0            2.0
 Row_3                               1.0            1.0            3.0
 Row_4                               7.0            2.0            1.0
 Row_5                               3.0            1.0            2.0
    

 
SET CONVERT CHARACTER ON
SET ROW LABEL COLUMN 1
READ TEST_CHAR.DAT IROW Y X1 X2
.
SET WRITE DECIMALS 1
WRITE ROWLABEL Y X1 X2
    

The following output is returned

 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ROWLABEL                              Y X1                       X2
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Row_1                               8.0 xxx1                     yyy1
 Row_2                               2.0 xxx2                     yyy2
 Row_3                               1.0 xxx1                     yyy3
 Row_4                               7.0 xxx2                     yyy1
 Row_5                               3.0 xxx1                     yyy2
    

 
set convert character on
skip 25
read draft69c.dat rank day month
.
let ig = group label month
set write decimals 2
write rank day month ig
    

The following output is returned

 
GROUP LABELS--
 
GROUP LABEL     1 NAME: IG
     LEVEL     1: January
     LEVEL     2: February
     LEVEL     3: March
     LEVEL     4: April
     LEVEL     5: May
     LEVEL     6: June
     LEVEL     7: July
     LEVEL     8: August
     LEVEL     9: September
     LEVEL    10: October
     LEVEL    11: November
     LEVEL    12: December
 
-------------------------------------------------------
           RANK            DAY MONTH
-------------------------------------------------------
         258.00           1.00 January
         115.00           2.00 January
         365.00           3.00 January
          45.00           4.00 January
         292.00           5.00 January
         250.00           6.00 January
         300.00           7.00 January
         251.00           8.00 January
         327.00           9.00 January
         341.00          10.00 January
         244.00          11.00 January
         342.00          12.00 January
         190.00          13.00 January
         102.00          14.00 January
         194.00          15.00 January
         364.00          16.00 January
          15.00          17.00 January
         270.00          18.00 January
         306.00          19.00 January
         156.00          20.00 January
         223.00          21.00 January
         178.00          22.00 January
         206.00          23.00 January
         279.00          24.00 January
          50.00          25.00 January
         349.00          26.00 January
         203.00          27.00 January
         157.00          28.00 January
          62.00          29.00 January
          91.00          30.00 January
         145.00          31.00 January
          92.00          32.00 February
          77.00          33.00 February
         307.00          34.00 February
         128.00          35.00 February
         237.00          36.00 February
         132.00          37.00 February
         304.00          38.00 February
         346.00          39.00 February
         124.00          40.00 February
         345.00          41.00 February
         195.00          42.00 February
         344.00          43.00 February
         229.00          44.00 February
         215.00          45.00 February
         316.00          46.00 February
         332.00          47.00 February
         221.00          48.00 February
         247.00          49.00 February
         189.00          50.00 February
         312.00          51.00 February
          25.00          52.00 February
         357.00          53.00 February
         218.00          54.00 February
         137.00          55.00 February
         340.00          56.00 February
          54.00          57.00 February
          19.00          58.00 February
          24.00          59.00 February
         173.00          60.00 February
         242.00          61.00 March
         112.00          62.00 March
         264.00          63.00 March
         179.00          64.00 March
         131.00          65.00 March
         317.00          66.00 March
         207.00          67.00 March
          43.00          68.00 March
         165.00          69.00 March
         356.00          70.00 March
         254.00          71.00 March
         286.00          72.00 March
         169.00          73.00 March
         118.00          74.00 March
         140.00          75.00 March
         311.00          76.00 March
          28.00          77.00 March
         362.00          78.00 March
         305.00          79.00 March
         314.00          80.00 March
          95.00          81.00 March
         249.00          82.00 March
          94.00          83.00 March
         360.00          84.00 March
         159.00          85.00 March
          32.00          86.00 March
         280.00          87.00 March
         210.00          88.00 March
          46.00          89.00 March
         109.00          90.00 March
          38.00          91.00 March
          26.00          92.00 April
         183.00          93.00 April
         302.00          94.00 April
         359.00          95.00 April
         351.00          96.00 April
         313.00          97.00 April
         199.00          98.00 April
         334.00          99.00 April
         366.00         100.00 April
           5.00         101.00 April
         228.00         102.00 April
         151.00         103.00 April
         171.00         104.00 April
         343.00         105.00 April
         222.00         106.00 April
         321.00         107.00 April
          61.00         108.00 April
         175.00         109.00 April
         158.00         110.00 April
         214.00         111.00 April
         138.00         112.00 April
         259.00         113.00 April
         219.00         114.00 April
         185.00         115.00 April
         236.00         116.00 April
         296.00         117.00 April
          23.00         118.00 April
         267.00         119.00 April
         198.00         120.00 April
          16.00         121.00 April
          67.00         122.00 May
         363.00         123.00 May
         104.00         124.00 May
         276.00         125.00 May
         318.00         126.00 May
         319.00         127.00 May
         353.00         128.00 May
         336.00         129.00 May
         136.00         130.00 May
         320.00         131.00 May
         330.00         132.00 May
         133.00         133.00 May
         163.00         134.00 May
         355.00         135.00 May
          71.00         136.00 May
         177.00         137.00 May
         287.00         138.00 May
          66.00         139.00 May
          18.00         140.00 May
         231.00         141.00 May
         225.00         142.00 May
         322.00         143.00 May
          33.00         144.00 May
         217.00         145.00 May
         323.00         146.00 May
          98.00         147.00 May
         107.00         148.00 May
         269.00         149.00 May
          42.00         150.00 May
         273.00         151.00 May
          44.00         152.00 May
         204.00         153.00 June
         230.00         154.00 June
         127.00         155.00 June
         326.00         156.00 June
         338.00         157.00 June
         255.00         158.00 June
           2.00         159.00 June
         266.00         160.00 June
         246.00         161.00 June
         358.00         162.00 June
         348.00         163.00 June
          30.00         164.00 June
         339.00         165.00 June
          76.00         166.00 June
         241.00         167.00 June
         220.00         168.00 June
          75.00         169.00 June
          86.00         170.00 June
         289.00         171.00 June
         205.00         172.00 June
         361.00         173.00 June
         335.00         174.00 June
         257.00         175.00 June
         299.00         176.00 June
         263.00         177.00 June
         135.00         178.00 June
          56.00         179.00 June
         167.00         180.00 June
          39.00         181.00 June
         328.00         182.00 June
         141.00         183.00 July
         252.00         184.00 July
         325.00         185.00 July
          21.00         186.00 July
         202.00         187.00 July
         187.00         188.00 July
          48.00         189.00 July
         200.00         190.00 July
         120.00         191.00 July
         294.00         192.00 July
         213.00         193.00 July
           9.00         194.00 July
         268.00         195.00 July
         298.00         196.00 July
         130.00         197.00 July
         227.00         198.00 July
           8.00         199.00 July
          79.00         200.00 July
         297.00         201.00 July
         278.00         202.00 July
         324.00         203.00 July
         265.00         204.00 July
          58.00         205.00 July
         162.00         206.00 July
         260.00         207.00 July
         121.00         208.00 July
         182.00         209.00 July
          35.00         210.00 July
          31.00         211.00 July
          47.00         212.00 July
          68.00         213.00 July
          36.00         214.00 August
           4.00         215.00 August
          41.00         216.00 August
          90.00         217.00 August
         101.00         218.00 August
         100.00         219.00 August
         284.00         220.00 August
          12.00         221.00 August
         180.00         222.00 August
          88.00         223.00 August
           6.00         224.00 August
         245.00         225.00 August
         150.00         226.00 August
         201.00         227.00 August
         154.00         228.00 August
         303.00         229.00 August
         329.00         230.00 August
         105.00         231.00 August
         248.00         232.00 August
         271.00         233.00 August
         281.00         234.00 August
          17.00         235.00 August
          55.00         236.00 August
         285.00         237.00 August
          14.00         238.00 August
          80.00         239.00 August
         354.00         240.00 August
         293.00         241.00 August
         256.00         242.00 August
         295.00         243.00 August
         277.00         244.00 August
         239.00         245.00 September
         262.00         246.00 September
         174.00         247.00 September
         193.00         248.00 September
         153.00         249.00 September
         142.00         250.00 September
           3.00         251.00 September
         114.00         252.00 September
          97.00         253.00 September
         290.00         254.00 September
         261.00         255.00 September
          83.00         256.00 September
         272.00         257.00 September
          84.00         258.00 September
          73.00         259.00 September
         108.00         260.00 September
         216.00         261.00 September
         119.00         262.00 September
         253.00         263.00 September
         301.00         264.00 September
          82.00         265.00 September
         309.00         266.00 September
          63.00         267.00 September
          87.00         268.00 September
          96.00         269.00 September
         211.00         270.00 September
          93.00         271.00 September
         164.00         272.00 September
         106.00         273.00 September
         168.00         274.00 September
          64.00         275.00 October
         125.00         276.00 October
         191.00         277.00 October
         139.00         278.00 October
         186.00         279.00 October
          20.00         280.00 October
         333.00         281.00 October
         315.00         282.00 October
         282.00         283.00 October
         192.00         284.00 October
          60.00         285.00 October
         238.00         286.00 October
         212.00         287.00 October
         291.00         288.00 October
         209.00         289.00 October
          53.00         290.00 October
         234.00         291.00 October
          49.00         292.00 October
          65.00         293.00 October
         288.00         294.00 October
         134.00         295.00 October
         148.00         296.00 October
          34.00         297.00 October
         123.00         298.00 October
          59.00         299.00 October
          72.00         300.00 October
         155.00         301.00 October
          51.00         302.00 October
         208.00         303.00 October
         352.00         304.00 October
           1.00         305.00 October
           7.00         306.00 November
         226.00         307.00 November
         149.00         308.00 November
         331.00         309.00 November
         310.00         310.00 November
         232.00         311.00 November
          99.00         312.00 November
         152.00         313.00 November
         347.00         314.00 November
         274.00         315.00 November
         113.00         316.00 November
          69.00         317.00 November
          13.00         318.00 November
         144.00         319.00 November
         350.00         320.00 November
         129.00         321.00 November
         197.00         322.00 November
          70.00         323.00 November
         224.00         324.00 November
          10.00         325.00 November
         143.00         326.00 November
         188.00         327.00 November
         337.00         328.00 November
          11.00         329.00 November
         122.00         330.00 November
         196.00         331.00 November
          78.00         332.00 November
         243.00         333.00 November
          81.00         334.00 November
         161.00         335.00 November
         110.00         336.00 December
          22.00         337.00 December
          40.00         338.00 December
         235.00         339.00 December
         117.00         340.00 December
         170.00         341.00 December
         283.00         342.00 December
          85.00         343.00 December
         233.00         344.00 December
         111.00         345.00 December
         103.00         346.00 December
          37.00         347.00 December
         308.00         348.00 December
          29.00         349.00 December
         184.00         350.00 December
         116.00         351.00 December
         240.00         352.00 December
         181.00         353.00 December
          74.00         354.00 December
          27.00         355.00 December
         166.00         356.00 December
         147.00         357.00 December
         176.00         358.00 December
         275.00         359.00 December
         172.00         360.00 December
         146.00         361.00 December
          89.00         362.00 December
          52.00         363.00 December
         126.00         364.00 December
          57.00         365.00 December
         160.00         366.00 December
    

 
skip 25
read berger1.dat y x batch
set write decimals 5
.
fit y x
write1 fit_summary.out "a0: ^a0, a1: ^a1"
write1 fit_summary.out "ressd: ^ressd"
.
write fit_data.txt y x pred res
.
let corr = correlation y x
write1 fit_summary.out " "
write1 fit_summary.out " "
write1 fit_summary.out "Correlation: ^corr "
probe iwrin1
let iflag = close probeval
list fit_summary.out
.
write "Summary of fit statistics written to fit_summary.out"
write "Fit data, predicted values, residuals written to fit_data.txt"
    

The following output is generated for the WRITE1 file

 
a0: 4.993679936982, a1: 0.731111063855
ressd: 6.080923828158
 
 
Correlation: 0.945581893216