National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration
United States Department of Commerce

9.6 INPUT FILE NAMING

Last modified: Mon, 04/03/2017 - 17:31


There are several Ferret commands that use filenames. These include:

  • GO filename
  • SET DATA filename
  • LIST/FILE=filename (do not use relative versions (below) with LIST)
  • SET MODE META filename
  • SET MODE JOURNAL filename
  • SET MODE PPLLIST filename
  • USER/FILE=filename (an older, deprecated capability)

The filename specified can be just the filename itself, or it can include the path to the file. For example:

GO ferret.jnl or

GO "/home/disk1/jnl_files/far_side.jnl"

Prior to Ferret v7, if the path is specified as part of the filename, the entire name must be enclosed in quotation marks. This requirement is lifted in Ferret v7 and higher; quotes are optional.


9.6.1 Relative version numbers

Under some circumstances (see the GO command ) a special syntax called "relative version numbers" will apply. If a filename has a version value of zero or less its value is interpreted relative to the current highest version number.

For example, if the current directory contains the files

ferret.jnl ferret.jnl.~1~ ferret.jnl.~2~ ... ferret.jnl.~99~

then the filename ferret.jnl.~0~ refers to ferret.jnl and the filename ferret.jnl.~-1~ refers to ferret.jnl.~99~.

The syntax for relative version numbers is quite flexible. For example, if the desired file is ferret.jnl.~99~, both of the following are valid:

yes? GO ferret.jnl.~-1~ or

yes? GO ferret.jnl~-1