# dump netcdf command

# dump netcdf/mpiio command

## Syntax

    dump ID group-ID netcdf N file args
    dump ID group-ID netcdf/mpiio N file args

-   ID = user-assigned name for the dump
-   group-ID = ID of the group of atoms to be imaged
-   *netcdf* or *netcdf/mpiio* = style of dump command (other styles
    *atom* or *cfg* or *dcd* or *xtc* or *xyz* or *local* or *custom*
    are discussed on the [dump](dump) doc page)
-   N = dump every this many timesteps
-   file = name of file to write dump info to
-   args = list of atom attributes, same as for [dump_style
    custom](dump)

## Examples

``` LAMMPS
dump 1 all netcdf 100 traj.nc type x y z vx vy vz
dump_modify 1 append yes at -1 thermo yes
dump 1 all netcdf/mpiio 1000 traj.nc id type x y z
dump 1 all netcdf 1000 traj.*.nc id type x y z
```

## Description

Dump a snapshot of atom coordinates every N timesteps in Amber-style
NetCDF file format. NetCDF files are binary, portable and
self-describing. This dump style will write only one file on the root
node. The dump style *netcdf* uses the [standard NetCDF
library](https://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/)\_. All data is
collected on one processor and then written to the dump file. Dump style
*netcdf/mpiio* uses the [parallel NetCDF
library](https://trac.mcs.anl.gov/projects/parallel-netcdf/)\_ and
MPI-IO to write to the dump file in parallel; it has better performance
on a larger number of processors. Note that style *netcdf* outputs all
atoms sorted by atom tag while style *netcdf/mpiio* outputs atoms in
order of their MPI rank.

NetCDF files can be directly visualized via the following tools:

-   Ovito (<https://www.ovito.org/>). Ovito supports the AMBER
    convention and all extensions of this dump style.
-   VMD (<https://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/vmd/>).

In addition to per-atom data, [thermo](thermo) data can be included in
the dump file. The data included in the dump file is identical to the
data specified by [thermo_style](thermo_style).

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## Restrictions

The *netcdf* and *netcdf/mpiio* dump styles are part of the NETCDF
package. They are only enabled if LAMMPS was built with that package.
See the [Build package](Build_package) page for more info.

The *netcdf* and *netcdf/mpiio* dump styles currently cannot dump string
properties or properties from variables.

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## Related commands

[dump](dump), [dump_modify](dump_modify), [undump](undump)