I'm trying to read a file consisting of a list of values (first few lines listed below). I've tried with both Ferret 6.94 and PyFerret 7.1 (on a Mac). I want to turn the list into a netcdf file (on a time axis) that I can do subsequent work on.
The hard part is the formatted dates; I am unable to do this with SET DAT/FORMAT=DELIMITED
First there's the problem with the alphabetical months, but even after laboriously changing all of those to numerical, and the separating dashes to slashes, EDATE failed.
I finally kluged this by editing the text to enforce comma-separated values, but this seems like unnecessary work. This is especially true since after having read the edited file on the default X-axis, using the numerical day/month/year to define a time axis, RESHAPEing all variables to that, then writing as cdf, Ferret's listing of the first few values is remarkably like the original!
Namely, I did a bunch of manual editing to make a file that Ferret could read and convert back to much like what I had to start with.
Was there a more straightforward way to do this? Can Ferret make sense of ASCII dates like "05-Sep-2007"? Should have asked the list before I started?
Billy K
PS - sorry for my mailtool ruining the nice columns in both the original file and the Ferret listing.
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Original file (first 11 of hundreds of lines):
#sec central_date Miss ID corr Pmax Q(0-500m) Q(0-700m)
1 05-Sep-2007 078006a 1 500 18.57 25.19
2 06-Dec-2007 07B018a 1 600 5.78 9.63
3 15-Jan-2008 07B018b 1 600 3.80 9.62
4 08-Apr-2008 082001a 1 600 -3.71 4.87
5 16-Jun-2008 082001b 1 600 16.43 16.63
6 21-Jul-2008 087006a 1 700 28.64 35.86
7 16-Sep-2008 087006b 1 700 14.80 15.31
8 01-Dec-2008 08B018a 1 700 16.57 22.62
9 23-Jan-2009 08B018b 1 700 4.22 6.70
10 02-Aug-2009 097006a 1 700 25.98 28.79
11 03-Aug-2009 097001a 1 700 24.83 28.62
Ferret listing of resulting cdf:
yes? list/l=1:11 secnumt,midt,bott,t500t,t700t
DATA SET: ./solsea103-tr_v2b.cdf
TIME: 21-JUL-2007 00:00 to 27-AUG-2009 00:00
Column 1: SECNUMT is RESHAPE(SECNUM,TTHH)
Column 2: MIDT is RESHAPE(MID,TTHH)
Column 3: BOTT is RESHAPE(BOT,TTHH)
Column 4: T500T is RESHAPE(T500,TTHH)
Column 5: T700T is RESHAPE(T700,TTHH)
SECNUMT MIDT BOTT T500T T700T
05-SEP-2007 00 / 1: 1.00 "078006a" 500.0 18.57 25.19
06-DEC-2007 00 / 2: 2.00 "07B018a" 600.0 5.78 9.63
15-JAN-2008 00 / 3: 3.00 "07B018b" 600.0 3.80 9.62
08-APR-2008 00 / 4: 4.00 "082001a" 600.0 -3.71 4.87
16-JUN-2008 00 / 5: 5.00 "082001b" 600.0 16.43 16.63
21-JUL-2008 00 / 6: 6.00 "087006a" 700.0 28.64 35.86
16-SEP-2008 00 / 7: 7.00 "087006b" 700.0 14.80 15.31
01-DEC-2008 00 / 8: 8.00 "08B018a" 700.0 16.57 22.62
23-JAN-2009 00 / 9: 9.00 "08B018b" 700.0 4.22 6.70
02-AUG-2009 00 / 10: 10.00 "097006a" 700.0 25.98 28.79
03-AUG-2009 00 / 11: 11.00 "097001a" 700.0 24.83 28.62