Last modified: 16 August 2013
Name: H5Tcreate
Signature:
hid_t H5Tcreate( H5T_class_t class, size_tsize )

Purpose:
Creates a new datatype.

Description:
H5Tcreate creates a new datatype of the specified class with the specified number of bytes. This function is used only with the following datatype classes: Other datatypes, including integer and floating-point datatypes, are typically created by using H5Tcopy to copy and modify a predefined datatype.

When creating a variable-length string datatype, size must be H5T_VARIABLE; see “Creating variable-length string datatypes.”

When creating a fixed-length string datatype, size will be the length of the string in bytes. The length of the string in characters will depend on the encoding used; see H5Pset_char_encoding.

ENUMs created with this function have a signed native integer base datatype. Use H5Tenum_create if a different integer base datatype is required.

The datatype identifier returned from this function should be released with H5Tclose or resource leaks will result.

Parameters:
H5T_class_t class     IN: Class of datatype to create; valid values include:
    H5T_COMPOUND
    H5T_OPAQUE
    H5T_ENUM
    H5T_STRING
size_t size IN: Size, in bytes, of the datatype being created

Returns:
Returns datatype identifier if successful; otherwise returns a negative value.

See Also:
H5Pset_char_encoding
H5Tcopy
H5Tenum_create
         Creating variable-length string datatypes
HDF5 Predefined Datatypes

Fortran90 Interface: h5tcreate_f
SUBROUTINE h5tcreate_f(class, size, type_id, hdferr) 
  IMPLICIT NONE
  INTEGER, INTENT(IN) :: class             ! Datatype class can be one of
                                           !    H5T_COMPOUND_F
                                           !    H5T_OPAQUE_F
                                           !    H5T_ENUM_F
                                           !    H5T_STRING_F
  INTEGER(SIZE_T), INTENT(IN) :: size      ! Size of the datatype
  INTEGER(HID_T), INTENT(OUT) :: type_id   ! Datatype identifier
  INTEGER, INTENT(OUT) :: hdferr           ! Error code
                                           ! 0 on success and -1 on failure
END SUBROUTINE h5tcreate_f
    

History:
Release     Change
1.8.8 String datatype capability added to function in this release.