Tool Name: h5toh4
Syntax:
h5toh4 -h
h5toh4 h5file [-r[oot]] h4file
h5toh4 h5file [-r[oot]]
h5toh4 -m h5file1 [-r[oot]] [h5file2 [-r[oot]]] [h5file3 [-r[oot]]] ...
h5toh4 -h[elp], OR
h5toh4 <infile> [-r[oot]] [<outfile>]
h5toh4 -m[ultiple] <infile> [-r[oot]] [<infile> [-r[oot]] ...]

Purpose:
Convert one or more HDF5 files into HDF4 files.
Description:
h5toh4 is an HDF5 utility which reads an HDF5 file, h5file, and converts all supported objects to produce an HDF4 file, h4file. If h4file already exists, it will be replaced.

The objects are converted following the specification in: 
     Mapping HDF4 Objects to HDF5 Objects (Oct. 2000) [pdf

If only one file name is given, the name must end in .h5 and is assumed to represent the HDF5 input file. h5toh4 replaces the .h5 suffix with .hdf to form the name of the resulting HDF4 file and proceeds as above. If a file with the name of the intended HDF4 file already exists, h5toh4 exits with an error without changing the contents of any file.

The -m option allows multiple HDF5 file arguments. Each file name is treated the same as the single file name case above.

The -r option includes the 'root' Vgroup in the converted HDF4 file. By default, the root group is not converted to an HDF4 Vgroup.

The -h option causes the following syntax summary to be displayed.

The following HDF5 objects occurring in an HDF5 file are converted to HDF4 objects in the HDF4 file:


Some objects are recognized as special cases:

Other objects are not converted and are not recorded in the resulting h4file.

Attributes not described above are copied to attributes of the HDF4 objects. Attributes may be of integer, floating point, or fixed length string datatype and they may have up to 32 fixed dimensions.

All datatypes are converted to big-endian. Floating point datatypes are converted to IEEE format.

Options and Parameters:
-h
Displays a syntax summary.
-m
Converts multiple HDF5 files to multiple HDF4 files.
-r[oot]
This is an optional argument. When specified, the root group in the HDF5 file is converted to a 'dummy' vgroup in the  HDF4 file giving a single rooted tree in the HDF4 file. When this option is not specified, the dummy vgroup is omitted.
h5file
The HDF5 file to be converted.
h4file
The HDF4 file to be created.