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 AND EXPORT

• 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 "Binary" 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.

ELEMENTS

• 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, 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 "Byte" 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.

OPTIONS

• General option:

ByteOrdering

-1

what byte ordering to use

• 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 {type1, type2, ...}

• With a setting "DataFormat"->{type₁, type₂, ...}, Import and Export interpret a raw binary file as a sequence of objects of the form {type₁, type₂, ...}.

• Import["file", "Binary", "DataFormat"->{"Character8", "Integer32"}] reads file as an alternating sequence of 8-bit characters and 32-bit integers.

SEE ALSO

• BinaryRead  BinaryReadList  BinaryWrite  "Bit"  "Byte"

MORE ABOUT

• Basic Formats

• Importing & Exporting

EXAMPLES

CLOSE ALL

Basic Examples

Convert a string of characters to a list of byte-valued integers: In[1]:= Out[1]= The format specification "Binary" can be omitted when importing elementary data types: In[2]:= Out[2]=   Export pairs of integers and reals to a binary sequence of 8-bit integers and double-precision reals: In[1]:= Out[1]= Convert the previous output back to an array of numbers: In[2]:= Out[2]= Verify that each number pair was converted to 1+8 bytes: In[3]:= Out[3]=