Loading

PLUTO has several output files (for both fluids and particles), depending on the users’ needs. The fluid variables can be written into binary files (in double or single precision), vtk files or h5 files (in double or single precision). The particles’ variables can be written in binary files (in double or single precision) and vtk files. All the formats can be opened with PyPLUTO, with or without the .out file (if the fluid variables are written on vtk or h5 files). Additionally, PyPLUTO loads hdf5 created with CHOMBO for simulations performed with AMR, and .tab files (for both 1D and 2D data).

Loading the fluid files

The Load class is one of the key components of the PyPLUTO package, designed to load the fluid data in the standard PLUTO formats. The formats available are dbl, vtk, flt, dbl.h5, flt.h5 hdf5 and tab.

The vtk and h5 filed can be loaded as standalone (i.e. without the .out files). However, we highly discourage the users to do so, especially if the simulation is run in non-cartesian coordinates.

The dat files (e.g., the ones written in the function analysis.c of the PLUTO code) can be read and the data can be stored into a dictionary. Other h5 files can also be read through the read_file method (only h5 are possible for now) and written through the write_file method (only h5 and dat are possible for now).

Note that multiple fluid files can be loaded (e.g. to have interactive plots) at the same time.

Additionally, the definitions.h(pp) and the pluto.ini (although for the latter only the “boundary”, “time”, “parameters” and “solver” blocks) can be inspected. If so, the data are stored in two dictionaries (defs and plini) as class attributes.

Loading the particles files

The LoadPart class is one of the key components of the PyPLUTO package, designed to load the particles data in the standard PLUTO formats. The formats available are dbl, vtk, flt. Particles are loaded as standalone, i.e. no additional file is necessary.

A note on the PLUTO output

PLUTO simulations produce a wide range of output formats for both fluid and particle data. Descriptor files are generated alongside the main fluid data, providing essential information about the grid structure and variable layout. Although descriptor files are essential only for the binary output files, is recommended to include them, especially in presence of simulations performed in non-cartesian geometry. Binary and vtk fluid files can be produced with the “multiple files” option. In such case, each fluid variable is saved in a separate file rather than combining all variables into a single output file.

Format	Fluid/particles	Fluid descriptor	Single/multiple files	Staggered variables
dbl	both	required	both	yes
flt	both	required	both	no
vtk	both	optional	both	no
dbl.h5	only fluid	optional	single file only	yes
flt.h5	only fluid	optional	single file only	no
hdf5 (AMR)	only fluid	optional	single file only	no
tab (serial, no 3D)	only fluid	optional	single file only	no

What about other codes?

PypLUTO is tailored for the PLUTO code output, therefore major efforts will be dedicated to the PLUTO code files. However, being the Image class code independent, extensions to other codes can be done with minimal efforts. Currently, the following codes can be used in combination with PyPLUTO:

• ECHO (parameters: nout, path, vars)

• IDEFIX

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