.. py:function:: describe(fs, [param])
.. py:function:: Fieldset.describe([param])
:noindex:
*New in metview-python version 1.8.0*.
Summarizes the content of a :class:`Fieldset` in a compact way. The output is optimised for Jupyter notebooks.
:param fs: input fieldset
:type fs: :class:`Fieldset`
:param param: prints a more detailed summary for the specified ecCodes shortName (str) or paramId (number)
:type param: str or number
:rtype: HTML formatted output in a Jupyter notebook, otherwise a Pandas dataframe is returned (from metview-python version 1.9.0) and the summary is printed to the standard output
:func:`describe` scans the :class:`Fieldset` and for each message (i.e. field) extracts a fixed set of metadata values, which are then grouped by parameter and presented in a tabular format. The parameters are identified by their ecCodes shortNames or paramIds. :func:`describe` does not try to form a hypercube(s) but simply lists the unique metadata values for each parameter.
The following example shows how the output looks in a notebook for a fieldset containing 432 surface and pressure level fields:
.. code-block:: python
f = mv.read("fc.grib")
f.describe()
.. image:: /_static/api/describe_1.png
:width: 600px
By specifying "q" as an **argument** we can get the detailed summary for specific humidity:
.. code-block:: python
f.describe("q")
.. image:: /_static/api/describe_2.png
:width: 400px
We can achieve the same result by using the paramId of specific humidity:
.. code-block:: python
f.describe(133)
.. mv-minigallery:: describe