Reads a NetCDF 3 file and returns a dict with its variables

read_ncdf.py

#The MIT License (MIT)

#Copyright (c) 2016 Luke Stagner

#Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software
#and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction,
#including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense,
#and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so,
#subject to the following conditions:

#The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

#THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED
#TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL
#THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF 
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#IN THE SOFTWARE

def read_ncdf(file,vars=[]):
    """ Reads a NetCDF 3 file and returns a dict with its variables
    
    Parameters
    ----------
    file : string
        The netCDF file to be read
    vars : string list, optional
        List of variables to be read from file

    Returns
    -------
    d : A python dict containing the files variables

    Examples
    --------
    >>> d=read_ncdf('test.cdf')
    >>> d1=read_ncdf('test.cdf',vars=['var1'])
    >>> d2=read_ncdf('test.cdf',vars=['var1','var2'])

    """
    from scipy.io import netcdf

    try:
        f=netcdf.netcdf_file(file,'r',mmap=False)
    except IOError:
        print('Error: Cannot open file'+file)
        return 0

    if vars == []: vars=f.variables.keys()
    d=dict((v,f.variables[v].data) for v in vars)
    f.close()
    return d