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MPI_Pack_external.3.rst

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MPI_Pack_external

:ref:`MPI_Pack_external` |mdash| Writes data to a portable format

SYNTAX

C Syntax

#include <mpi.h>

int MPI_Pack_external(const char *datarep, const void *inbuf,
     int incount, MPI_Datatype datatype,
     void *outbuf, MPI_Aint outsize,
     MPI_Aint *position)

Fortran Syntax

USE MPI
! or the older form: INCLUDE 'mpif.h'
MPI_PACK_EXTERNAL(DATAREP, INBUF, INCOUNT, DATATYPE,
     OUTBUF, OUTSIZE, POSITION, IERROR)

     INTEGER         INCOUNT, DATATYPE, IERROR
     INTEGER(KIND=MPI_ADDRESS_KIND) OUTSIZE, POSITION
     CHARACTER*(*)   DATAREP
     <type>          INBUF(*), OUTBUF(*)

Fortran 2008 Syntax

USE mpi_f08
MPI_Pack_external(datarep, inbuf, incount, datatype, outbuf, outsize,
             position, ierror)
     CHARACTER(LEN=*), INTENT(IN) :: datarep
     TYPE(*), DIMENSION(..), INTENT(IN) :: inbuf
     TYPE(*), DIMENSION(..) :: outbuf
     INTEGER, INTENT(IN) :: incount
     TYPE(MPI_Datatype), INTENT(IN) :: datatype
     INTEGER(KIND=MPI_ADDRESS_KIND), INTENT(IN) :: outsize
     INTEGER(KIND=MPI_ADDRESS_KIND), INTENT(INOUT) :: position
     INTEGER, OPTIONAL, INTENT(OUT) :: ierror

INPUT PARAMETERS

  • datarep: Data representation (string).
  • inbuf: Input buffer start (choice).
  • incount: Number of input data items (integer).
  • datatype: Datatype of each input data item (handle).
  • outsize: Output buffer size, in bytes (integer).

INPUT/OUTPUT PARAMETER

  • position: Current position in buffer, in bytes (integer).

OUTPUT PARAMETERS

  • outbuf: Output buffer start (choice).
  • ierror: Fortran only: Error status (integer).

DESCRIPTION

:ref:`MPI_Pack_external` packs data into the external32 format, a universal data representation defined by the MPI Forum. This format is useful for exchanging data between MPI implementations, or when writing data to a file.

The input buffer is specified by inbuf, incount and datatype, and may be any communication buffer allowed in :ref:`MPI_Send`. The output buffer outbuf must be a contiguous storage area containing outsize bytes.

The input value of position is the first position in outbuf to be used for packing (measured in bytes, not elements, relative to the start of the buffer). When the function returns, position is incremented by the size of the packed message, so that it points to the first location in outbuf following the packed message. This way it may be used as input to a subsequent call to :ref:`MPI_Pack_external`.

Example: An example using :ref:`MPI_Pack_external`:

int position, i;
double msg[5];
char buf[1000];

...

MPI_Comm_rank(MPI_COMM_WORLD, &myrank);
if (myrank == 0) {      /* SENDER CODE */
        position = 0;
        i = 5; /* number of doubles in msg[] */
        MPI_Pack_external("external32", &i, 1, MPI_INT,
            buf, 1000, &position);
        MPI_Pack_external("external32", &msg, i, MPI_DOUBLE,
            buf, 1000, &position);
        MPI_Send(buf, position, MPI_BYTE, 1, 0,
            MPI_COMM_WORLD);
} else {                /* RECEIVER CODE */
        MPI_Recv(buf, 1, MPI_BYTE, 0, 0, MPI_COMM_WORLD,
            MPI_STATUS_IGNORE);
        MPI_Unpack_external("external32", buf, 1000,
            MPI_INT, &i, 1, &position);
        MPI_Unpack_external("external32", buf, 1000,
            MPI_DOUBLE, &msg, i, &position);
}

NOTES

The datarep argument specifies the data format. The only valid value in the current version of MPI is "external32". The argument is provided for future extensibility.

To understand the behavior of pack and unpack, it is convenient to think of the data part of a message as being the sequence obtained by concatenating the successive values sent in that message. The pack operation stores this sequence in the buffer space, as if sending the message to that buffer. The unpack operation retrieves this sequence from buffer space, as if receiving a message from that buffer. (It is helpful to think of internal Fortran files or sscanf in C for a similar function.)

Several messages can be successively packed into one packing unit. This is effected by several successive related calls to :ref:`MPI_Pack_external`, where the first call provides position=0, and each successive call inputs the value of position that was output by the previous call, along with the same values for outbuf and outcount. This packing unit now contains the equivalent information that would have been stored in a message by one send call with a send buffer that is the "concatenation" of the individual send buffers.

A packing unit can be sent using type MPI_BYTE. Any point-to-point or collective communication function can be used to move the sequence of bytes that forms the packing unit from one process to another. This packing unit can now be received using any receive operation, with any datatype. (The type-matching rules are relaxed for messages sent with type MPI_BYTE.)

A packing unit can be unpacked into several successive messages. This is effected by several successive related calls to :ref:`MPI_Unpack_external`, where the first call provides position=0, and each successive call inputs the value of position that was output by the previous call, and the same values for inbuf and insize.

The concatenation of two packing units is not necessarily a packing unit; nor is a substring of a packing unit necessarily a packing unit. Thus, one cannot concatenate two packing units and then unpack the result as one packing unit; nor can one unpack a substring of a packing unit as a separate packing unit. Each packing unit that was created by a related sequence of pack calls must be unpacked as a unit by a sequence of related unpack calls.

ERRORS

.. seealso::
   * :ref:`MPI_Pack_external_size`
   * :ref:`MPI_Send`
   * :ref:`MPI_Unpack_external`
   * sscanf(3C)