MATHEMATICA IMPORT/EXPORT FORMAT
Binary
- Import reads raw binary data as a sequence of elementary or compound data types.
- Export generates binary files from uniform lists of elementary or compound data types.
- Import["file", "Binary"] imports any binary file as a list of bytes.
- Export["file", list, "Binary"] exports a list of byte-size integers to a binary file.
- The format
must be specified when importing or exporting raw binary files.
-
- Import["file", {"Binary", elem}] or Import["file", elem ] imports the specified element from a binary file.
- Import["file", {"Binary", {elem1, elem2, ...}}] imports multiple elements.
-
- Export["file", expr, {"Binary", elem}] creates a binary file by treating expr as specifying element elem.
-
- See the reference pages for full general information on Import and Export.
- ImportString and ExportString support raw binary files.
- BinaryRead and BinaryWrite can be used for reading from or writing to streams of raw binary data.
- General Import elements:
-
| "Elements" | elements and options available in this file |
| "Rules" | full rules for each element and option |
| "Options" | rules for options, properties, and settings |
-
- Data representation elements:
-
| "Bit" | zeros and ones |
| "Byte" | integers in the range 0 to 255 |
| "Character8" | 8-bit characters |
| "Character16" | 16-bit characters |
| "Integer8" | 8-bit signed integers |
| "Integer16" | 16-bit signed integers |
| "Integer24" | 24-bit signed integers |
| "Integer32" | 32-bit signed integers |
| "Integer64" | 64-bit signed integers |
| "Integer128" | 128-bit signed integers |
| "UnsignedInteger8" | 8-bit unsigned integers |
| "UnsignedInteger16" | 16-bit unsigned integers |
| "UnsignedInteger24" | 24-bit unsigned integers |
| "UnsignedInteger32" | 32-bit unsigned integers |
| "UnsignedInteger64" | 64-bit unsigned integers |
| "UnsignedInteger128" | 128-bit unsigned integers |
| "Real32" | IEEE single-precision numbers |
| "Real64" | IEEE double-precision numbers |
| "Real128" | IEEE quad-precision numbers |
| "Complex64" | IEEE single-precision complex numbers |
| "Complex128" | IEEE double-precision complex numbers |
| "Complex256" | IEEE quad-precision complex numbers |
- By default, Import and Export use the
element.
- For any data representation element type, Import["file", type] can be used as a shorthand for Import["file", {"Binary", type}].
- Import of real numbers returns Infinity for IEEE "infinity", and Indeterminate for IEEE "not-a-number".
- Trailing bytes are ignored if the size of the imported file is not a multiple of the data size.
- General option:
-
- Import option:
-
| "HeaderBytes" | 0 | how many bytes to skip at the beginning of the file |
- Data representation option:
-
| "DataFormat" | Automatic | specifies a compound object as a list of basic data types  |
- With a setting
, Import and Export interpret a raw binary file as a sequence of objects of the form 
.
- Import["file", "Binary", "DataFormat"->{"Character8", "Integer32"}] reads file as an alternating sequence of 8-bit characters and 32-bit integers.
Convert a string of characters to a list of byte-valued integers:
| Out[1]= |  |
The format specification 
can be omitted when importing elementary data types:
| Out[2]= |  |
Export pairs of integers and reals to a binary sequence of 8-bit integers and double-precision reals:
| Out[1]= |  |
Convert the previous output back to an array of numbers:
| Out[2]= |  |
Verify that each number pair was converted to 
bytes:
| Out[3]= |  |
New in 5.1 | Last modified in 6
