The readplt project is a Python library for reading and parsing SWMF/BATSRUS output files in .dat and .plt format. The library may also be able to read other .plt files but only a core subset of the .plt format specification is supported. The project also includes a use case in the form of a 'quicklook' command sw-quick that can visualise two-dimensional SWMF/BATSRUS output.

Installation

After cloning this repository, the project may be installed with pip in the regular way:

cd <project>
pip install .

Python code to access file data

This code reads a dataset named <file> and stores the dataset variable named Rho [g/cm^3] in a local variable named density_g_cm3.

from starwinds_readplt.dataset import Dataset
ds = Dataset.from_file('<file>')
print(ds)
density_g_cm3 = ds('Rho [g/cm^3]')

Running the quicklook command

A simple 'quicklook' shell command is included which permits plotting of two-dimensional slices of the SWMF/BATSRUS results. Irregularly gridded data is accepted. The quicklook command uses the plot function in basicplot.py but this may be extended by the user.

To create a quicklook .png file from the included file examples/x=0_var_2_n00000000.plt run

cd examples
sw-quick x=0_var_2_n00000000.plt

This will create a file named ql-x-0-var-2-n00000000-plt-rho-g-cm-3.png; the name comprises the prefix ql, the file name, and the name of the plotted variable. The name is sanitised using slugify to replace spaces and other problematic characters in the output file name with dashes.

A wildcard pattern may be used; in this case one .png file is created for each file matching the wildcard pattern:

sw-quick x*.plt

Development and testing

To install the project in editable mode and enable testing do

cd <project>
pip install --editable .[tests]

Now it is possible to run the test suite by typing

pytest