cfchecker 4.1.0

The NetCDF Climate Forecast Conventions compliance checker

# CF Checker

The CF Checker is a utility that checks the contents of a NetCDF file complies with the Climate and Forecasts (CF) Metadata Convention.

## Dependencies

• The package runs on [Linux](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux) and [Mac OS](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_OS) operating systems.

• [Python 3.x](https://www.python.org/)

• [netcdf4-python](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/netCDF4) at version 1.2.5 or newer. This package requires [netCDF](https://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/), [HDF5](https://www.hdfgroup.org/solutions/hdf5/) and [zlib](ftp://ftp.unidata.ucar.edu/pub/netcdf/netcdf-4) libraries.

• [cfunits-python](https://bitbucket.org/cfpython/cfunits-python) package version 3.0.0 or newer

• [numpy](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/numpy) version 1.15 or newer

## Installation

To install from [PyPI](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/cfchecker):

pip install cfchecker

Alternatively, to install from source:

1. Download the cfchecker package from [cfchecker releases](https://github.com/cedadev/cf-checker/releases)

2. Unpack the library:

   tar -zxf cfchecker-${version}.tar.gz

   cd cfchecker-${version}

3. Install the package:

   • To install to a central location:

     python setup.py install

   • To install to a non standard location:

     python setup.py install –prefix=<directory>

     If directory you are installing into is not on PYTHONPATH you will need to add it.

## Running the CF Checker

cfchecks [-a <area-types.xml>] [-r <regions.xml>] [-s <std_names.xml>] [-v <CFVersion>] [-x] [-t <cache_time_days>] file1 [file2…]

For further details and for other available command line options please see the help by running cfchecks -h

### Environment Variables

The following parameters can be set on the command-line or through environment variables:

1. CF_STANDARD_NAMES or (CL option -s) : The path or URL to the CF standard names table

2. CF_AREA_TYPES or (CL option -a) : The path or URL to the CF area types table

3. CF_REGION_NAMES or (CL option -r): The path or URL to the CF region names table

### Running the Test script

In the release tarball there is a test_files directory containing a test.sh script which runs a series of test files through the CF Checker and confirms the checker is working as expected. It is a very elementary system, which will be rewritten soon. Before running it you will need to edit the location of the cfchecks script in the tests.sh file:

cfchecker=”<location of cfchecks>”

Then just run the tests.sh script:

./tests.sh