I am trying to write a fortran subroutine that reads in a Fluent case and data file. I want to be able to cope with both ascii (formatted) and binary (unformatted) files.

Having looked at the files created when the 'binary' option is selected at the save case and data dialog box, it would appear to me that the 'binary' files are in fact a mixture of formatted and unformatted data. It looks like only some of the data sections are actually stored unformatted, and that the section definitions are stored formatted (to help with simple parsing through the file, one assumes). If you use the 'inquire' option in Fortran, it also tells me that both the 'formatted' and 'unformatted' files (as saved in Fluent) are actually denoted as 'formatted'.

Could anyone (from Fluent especially) confirm that this is the case, and if it is, give a quick reason for it being so (it seems a little strange to mix formatted and unformatted data in a single file).

Many thanks

Jackson

You are correct that the "binary" files contain a mixture of formatted and unformatted data. The reason is to provide easy parsing, as you guessed, while still having the benefits of compact size and fast I/O.