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NAME

       MPI_Unpack_external - Reads data from a portable format

SYNTAX

C Syntax

       #include <mpi.h>
       int MPI_Unpack_external(char *datarep, void *inbuf,
            MPI_Aint insize, MPI_Aint *position,
            void *outbuf, int outcount,
            MPI_Datatype datatype)

Fortran Syntax

       INCLUDE 'mpif.h'
       MPI_UNPACK_EXTERNAL(DATAREP, INBUF, INSIZE, POSITION,
            OUTBUF, OUTCOUNT, DATATYPE, IERROR)

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

C++ Syntax

       #include <mpi.h>
       void MPI::Datatype::Unpack_external(const char* datarep,
            const void* inbuf, MPI::Aint insize,
            MPI_Aint& position, void *outbuf,
            int outcount) const

INPUT PARAMETERS

       datarep   Data Representation (string).

       inbuf     Input buffer start (choice).

       insize    Size of input buffer, in bytes (integer).

       outcount  Number of items to be unpacked (integer).

       datatype  Datatype of each output data item (handle).

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

       MPI_Unpack_external   unpacks   data   from   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 a contiguous storage area pointed to by inbuf containing insize bytes.
       The output buffer can be any communication buffer allowed in MPI_Recv, and is specified by
       outbuf, outcount, and datatype.

       The  input  value  of  position  is  the  first position in inbuf to be read for unpacking
       (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 inbuf following the message that was unpacked. This way  it  may  be
       used as input to a subsequent call to MPI_Unpack_external.

NOTES

       Note  the  difference  between  MPI_Recv  and  MPI_Unpack_external: In MPI_Recv, the count
       argument  specifies  the  maximum   number   of   items   that   can   be   received.   In
       MPI_Unpack_external,  the  outcount argument specifies the actual number of items that are
       to be unpacked. With a regular receive operation, the incoming message size determines the
       number of components that will be received. With MPI_Unpack_external, it is up to the user
       to specify how many components to unpack, since the user may wish to unpack  the  received
       message multiple times into various buffers.

       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  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_PACKED. 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_PACKED.

       A  packing  unit  can  be  unpacked  into several successive messages. This is effected by
       several successive related calls to 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

       Almost all MPI routines return an error value; C routines as the value of the function and
       Fortran routines in the last argument. C++ functions do not return errors. If the  default
       error  handler  is  set  to  MPI::ERRORS_THROW_EXCEPTIONS, then on error the C++ exception
       mechanism will be used to throw an MPI:Exception object.

       Before the error value is returned, the current MPI error handler is called.  By  default,
       this  error  handler aborts the MPI job, except for I/O function errors. The error handler
       may   be   changed   with   MPI_Comm_set_errhandler;   the   predefined   error    handler
       MPI_ERRORS_RETURN may be used to cause error values to be returned. Note that MPI does not
       guarantee that an MPI program can continue past an error.

       See the MPI man page for a full list of MPI error codes.

SEE ALSO

       MPI_Pack_external
       MPI_Pack_external_size
       MPI_Recv
       sscanf(3C)