# Post-processing¶

The majority of the existing analysis and post-processing code is written in Python. Routines to read BOUT++ output data, usually called “collect” because it collects data from multiple files, are also available in IDL, Matlab, Mathematica and Octave. All these post-processing routines are in the tools directory, with Python modules in tools/pylib. A summary of available routines is in Python routines; see below for how to install the requirements.

## Python routines¶

### Requirements¶

The Python tools provided with BOUT++ make heavy use of numpy and scipy, as well as matplotlib for the plotting routines. In order to read BOUT++ output in Python, you will need either netcdf4 or h5py.

While we try to ensure that the Python tools are compatible with both Python 2 and 3, we officially only support Python 3.

If you are developing BOUT++, you may also need Jinja2 to edit some of the generated code(see Field2D/Field3D Arithmetic Operators for more information).

You can install most of the required Python modules by running

$pip3 install --user --requirement requirements.txt  in the directory where you have unpacked BOUT++. This will install supported versions of numpy, scipy, netcdf4, matplotlib and jinja2. Note If you have difficulties installing SciPy, please see their installation instructions ### Reading BOUT++ data¶ To read data from a BOUT++ simulation into Python, there is a collect routine. This gathers together the data from multiple processors, taking care of the correct layout. from boutdata.collect import collect Ni = collect("Ni") # Collect the variable "Ni"  The result is an up to 4D array, Ni in this case. The array is a BoutArray object: BoutArray is a wrapper class for Numpy’s ndarray which adds an ‘attributes’ member variable containing a dictionary of attributes. The array is ordered [t,x,y,z]: >>> Ni.shape [10,1,2,3]  so Ni would have 10 time slices, 1 point in x, 2 in y, and 3 in z. This should correspond to the grid size used in the simulation. Since the collected data is a NumPy array, all the useful routines in NumPy, SciPy and Matplotlib can be used for further analysis. The attributes of the data give: • the bout_type of the variable • {'Field3D_t', 'Field2D_t', 'scalar_t'} for time-evolving variables • {'Field3D', 'Field2D', 'scalar'} for time-independent variables • its location, one of {'CELL_CENTRE', 'CELL_XLOW', 'CELL_YLOW', 'CELL_ZLOW'}. See Staggered grids. >>> Ni.attributes("bout_type") 'Field3D_t' >>> Ni.attributes("location") 'CELL_CENTRE'  Attributes can also be read using the attributes routine: from boutdata.collect import attributes attribs = attributes("Ni")  The result is a dictionary (map) of attribute name to attribute value. If the data has less then 4 dimension, it can be checked with dimension what dimensions are available: from boutdata.collect import dimension print(dimension("Ni")) print(dimension("dx"))  The first will print as expected [t, x, y, z] - while the second will print [x, y] as dx is nether evolved in time, nor does it has a z dependency. To access both the input options (in the BOUT.inp file) and output data, there is the BoutData class. >>> from boutdata.data import BoutData >>> d = BoutData(path=".")  where the path is optional, and should point to the directory containing the BOUT.inp (input) and BOUT.dmp.* (output) files. This will return a dictionary with keys “path” (the given path to the data), “options” (the input options) and “outputs” (the output data). The tree of options can be printed: >>> print d["options"] options |- timestep = 50 |- myg = 0 |- nout = 50 |- mxg = 2 |- all | |- bndry_all = neumann | |- scale = 0.0 |- phisolver | |- fourth_order = true ...  and accessed as a tree of dictionaries: >>> print d["options"]["phisolver"]["fourth_order"] true  Currently the values are either integers, floats, or strings, so in the above example “true” is a string, not a Boolean. In a similar way the outputs are available as dictionary keys: >>> print d["outputs"] ZMAX rho_s zperiod BOUT_VERSION ... >>> d["outputs"]["rho_s"] 0.00092165524660235405  There are several modules available for reading NetCDF files, so to provide a consistent interface, file access is wrapped into a class DataFile. This provides a simple interface for reading and writing files from any of the following modules: netCDF4; Scientific.IO.NetCDF; and scipy.io.netcdf. The DataFile class also provides allows access to HDF5 files through the same interface, using the h5py module. To open a file using DataFile: from boututils.datafile import DataFile f = DataFile("file.nc") # Open the file var = f.read("variable") # Read a variable from the file f.close() # Close the file  or similarly for an HDF5 file from boututils.datafile import DataFile f = DataFile("file.hdf5") # Open the file var = f.read("variable") # Read a variable from the file f.close() # Close the file  A more robust way to read from DataFiles is to use the context manager syntax: from boututils.datafile import DataFile with DataFile("file.hdf5") as f: # Open the file var = f.read("variable") # Read a variable from the file  This way the DataFile is automatically closed at the end of the with block, even if there is an error in f.read. To list the variables in a file e.g. >>> f = DataFile("test_io.grd.nc") >>> print(f.list()) ['f3d', 'f2d', 'nx', 'ny', 'rvar', 'ivar']  and to list the names of the dimensions >>> print(f.dimensions("f3d")) ('x', 'y', 'z')  or to get the sizes of the dimensions >>> print(f.size("f3d")) [12, 12, 5]  or the dictionary of attributes >>> print(f.attributes("f3d")) {}  To read in all variables in a file into a dictionary there is the file_import function from boututils.file_import import file_import grid = file_import("grid.nc")  ## Python analysis routines¶ The analysis and postprocessing routines are currently divided into two Python modules: boutdata, which contains BOUT++ specific things like collect, and boututils which contains more generic useful routines. To plot data, a convenient wrapper around matplotlib is plotdata from boutdata import collect n = collect("n") # Read data as NumPy array [t,x,y,z] from boututils.plotdata import plotdata plotdata(n[-1,:,0,:])  If given a 2D array as in the above example, plotdata produces a contour plot (using matplotlib pyplot.contourf) with colour bar. If given a 1D array then it will plot a line plot (using pyplot.plot). It is sometimes useful to see an animation of a simulation. To do this there is showdata, which again is a wrapper around matplotlib: from boutdata import collect n = collect("n") # Read data as NumPy array [t,x,y,z] from boututils.showdata import showdata showdata(n[:,:,0,:])  This always assumes that the first index is time and will be animated over. The above example animates the variable n in time, at each time point plotting a contour plot in x and z dimensions. The colour range is kept constant by default. If a 2D array is given to showdata then a line plot will be drawn at each time, with the scale being kept constant. ## Reading BOUT++ output into IDL¶ There are several routines provided for reading data from BOUT++ output into IDL. In the directory containing the BOUT++ output files (usually data/), you can list the variables available using IDL> print, file_list("BOUT.dmp.0.nc") Ajpar Apar BOUT_VERSION MXG MXSUB MYG MYSUB MZ NXPE NYPE Ni Ni0 Ni_x Te0 Te_x Ti0 Ti_x ZMAX ZMIN iteration jpar phi rho rho_s t_array wci  The file_list procedure just returns an array, listing all the variables in a given file. One thing new users can find confusing is that different simulations may have very different outputs. This is because BOUT++ is not a single physics model: the variables evolved and written to file are determined by the model, and will be very different between (for example) full MHD and reduced Braginskii models. There are however some variables which all BOUT++ output files contain: • BOUT_VERSION, which gives the version number of BOUT++ which produced the file. This is mainly to help output processing codes handle changes to the output file format. For example, BOUT++ version 0.30 introduced 2D domain decomposition which needs to be handled when collecting data. • MXG,MYG. These are the sizes of the X and Y guard cells • MXSUB, the number of X grid points in each processor. This does not include the guard cells, so the total X size of each field will be MXSUB + 2*MXG. • MYSUB, the number of Y grid points per processor (like MXSUB) • MZ, the number of Z points • NXPE, NYPE, the number of processors in the X and Y directions. NXPE * MXSUB + 2*MXG= NX, NYPE * MYSUB = NY • ZMIN, ZMAX, the range of Z in fractions of $$2\pi$$. • iteration, the last timestep in the file • t_array, an array of times Most of these - particularly those concerned with grid size and processor layout - are used by post-processing routines such as collect, and are seldom needed directly. To read a single variable from a file, there is the file_read function: IDL> wci = file_read("BOUT.dmp.0.nc", "wci") IDL> print, wci 9.58000e+06  To read in all the variables in a file into a structure, use the file_import function: IDL> d = file_import("BOUT.dmp.0.nc") IDL> print, d.wci 9.58000e+06  This is often used to read in the entire grid file at once. Doing this for output data files can take a long time and use a lot of memory. Reading from individual files is fine for scalar quantities and time arrays, but reading arrays which are spread across processors (i.e. evolving variables) is tedious to do manually. Instead, there is the collect function to automate this: IDL> ni = collect(var="ni") Variable 'ni' not found -> Variables are case-sensitive: Using 'Ni' Reading from .//BOUT.dmp.0.nc: [0-35][2-6] -> [0-35][0-4]  This function takes care of the case, so that reading “ni” is automatically corrected to “Ni”. The result is a 4D variable: IDL> help, ni NI FLOAT = Array[36, 5, 64, 400]  with the indices [X, Y, Z, T]. Note that in the output files, these variables are stored in [T, X, Y, Z] format instead but this is changed by collect. Sometimes you don’t want to read in the entire array (which may be very large). To read in only a subset, there are several optional keywords with [min,max] ranges: IDL> ni = collect(var="Ni", xind=[10,20], yind=[2,2], zind=[0,31], tind=[300,399]) Reading from .//BOUT.dmp.0.nc: [10-20][4-4] -> [10-20][2-2] IDL> help, ni NI FLOAT = Array[11, 1, 32, 100]  ## Summary of IDL file routines¶ Functions file_ can currently only read/write NetCDF files. HDF5 is not supported yet. Open a NetCDF file: handle = file_open("filename", /write, /create)  Array of variable names: list = file_list(handle) list = file_list("filename")  Number of dimensions: nd = file_ndims(handle, "variable") nd = file_ndims("filename", "variable")  Read a variable from file. Inds = [xmin, xmax, ymin, ymax, …] data = file_read(handle, "variable", inds=inds) data = file_read("filename", "variable", inds=inds)  Write a variable to file. For NetCDF it tries to match up dimensions, and defines new dimensions when needed status = file_write(handle, "variable", data)  Close a file after use file_close, handle  To read in all the data in a file into a structure: data = file_import("filename")  and to write a structure to file: status = file_export("filename", data)  ## IDL analysis routines¶ Now that the BOUT++ results have been read into IDL, all the usual analysis and plotting routines can be used. In addition, there are many useful routines included in the idllib subdirectory. There is a README file which describes what each of these routines, but some of the most useful ones are listed here. All these examples assume there is a variable P which has been read into IDL as a 4D [x,y,z,t] variable: • fft_deriv and fft_integrate which differentiate and integrate periodic functions. • get_integer, get_float, and get_yesno request integers, floats and a yes/no answer from the user respectively. • showdata animates 1 or 2-dimensional variables. Useful for quickly displaying results in different ways. This is useful for taking a quick look at the data, but can also produce bitmap outputs for turning into a movie for presentation. To show an animated surface plot at a particular poloidal location (32 here): IDL> showdata, p[*,32,*,*]  To turn this into a contour plot, IDL> showdata, p[*,32,*,*], /cont  To show a slice through this at a particular toroidal location (0 here): IDL> showdata, p[*,32,0,*]  There are a few other options, and ways to show data using this code; see the README file, or comments in showdata.pro. Instead of plotting to screen, showdata can produce a series of numbered bitmap images by using the bmp option IDL> showdata, p[*,32,*,*], /cont, bmp="result_"  which will produce images called result_0000.bmp, result_0001.bmp and so on. Note that the plotting should not be obscured or minimised, since this works by plotting to screen, then grabbing an image of the resulting plot. • moment_xyzt takes a 4D variable (such as those from collect), and calculates RMS, DC and AC components in the Z direction. • safe_colors A general routine for IDL which arranges the color table so that colors are numbered 1 (black), 2 (red), 3 (green), 4 (blue). Useful for plotting, and used by many other routines in this library. There are many other useful routines in the idllib directory. See the idllib/README file for a short description of each one. ## Matlab routines¶ These are Matlab routines for collecting data, showing animation and performing some basic analysis. To use these routines, either you may copy these routines (from tools/matlablib) directly to your present working directory or a path to tools/matlablib should be added before analysis. >> addpath <full_path_BOUT_directory>/tools/matlablib/  Now, the first routine to collect data and import it to Matlab for further analysis is >> var = import_dmp(path,var_name);  Here, path is the path where the output data in netcdf format has been dumped. var_name is the name of variable which user want to load for further analysis. For example, to load “P” variable from present working directory: >> P = import_dmp('.','P');  Variable “P” can be any of [X,Y,Z,T]/[X,Y,Z]/[X,Y]/Constant formats. If we are going to Import a large data set with [X,Y,Z,T] format. Normally such data files are of very big size and Matlab goes out of memory/ or may take too much time to load data for all time steps. To resolve this limitation of above routine import_dmp, another routine import_data_netcdf is being provided. It serves all purposes the routine import_dmp does but also gives user freedom to import data at only few/specific time steps. >> var = import_data_netcdf(path,var_name,nt,ntsp);  Here, path and var_name are same variables as described before. nt is the number of time steps user wish to load data. ntsp is the steps at which one wish to write data of of total simulation times the data written. >> P = import_data_netcdf('.','P',5,100);  Variable “P” has been imported from present working directory for 5 time steps. As the original netcdf data contains time information of 500 steps (assume NT=500 in BOUT++ simulations), user will pick only 5 time steps at steps of ntsp i.e. 100 here. Details of other Matlab routines provided with BOUT++ package can be looked in to README.txt of tools/matlablib directory. The Matlab users can develop their own routines using *ncread, ncinfo, ncwrite, ncdisp, netcdf etc.* functions provided in Matlab package. ## Mathematica routines¶ A package to read BOUT++ output data into Mathematica is in tools/mathematicalib. To read data into Mathematica, first add this directory to Mathematica’s path by putting AppendTo[$Path,"/full/path/to/BOUT/tools/mathematicalib"]


in your Mathematica startup file (usually \$HOME/.Mathematica/Kernel/init.m ). To use the package, call

Import["BoutCollect.m"]


from inside Mathematica. Then you can use e.g.

f=BoutCollect[variable,path->"data"]


or

f=BoutCollect[variable,path->"data"]


bc’ is a shorthand for ’BoutCollect ’. All options supported by the Python collect() function are included, though Info does nothing yet.

## Octave routines¶

There is minimal support for reading data into Octave, which has been tested on Octave 3.2. It requires the octcdf library to access NetCDF files.

f = bcollect()  # optional path argument is "." by default

f = bsetxrange(f, 1, 10) # Set ranges
# Same for y, z, and t (NOTE: indexing from 1!)