Quick start

Open a file:

h5v path/to/file.h5
h5v -w path/to/file.h5

Press ? to open the in-app help.

h5v quick layout overview

Try the bundled example

h5v examples/h5v-example.h5 --script examples/h5v-example.h5v

Regenerate the example file if needed:

python scripts/generate_example_h5.py

Default workflow

Move around the tree on the left.
Inspect the selected node in the content pane.
Inspect or edit metadata in the attributes pane.

Useful keys:

? opens the in-app help
Tab switches between preview and matrix when both exist
: opens the command minibuffer
m adds the current preview to multichart, including group previews driven by H5V_PREVIEW_EXPR
M opens or closes multichart mode

Help

The help view has five tabs:

Keymap
Commands
Multichart
Heatmap
Customization

Use Tab / Shift+Tab or h / l to switch tabs.

In Keymap, Commands, and Customization, use j / k, arrow keys, Home, End, g, and G to move through the left-hand list.

Example paths:

Path	What to look at
`/signals/sine_wave`	Basic numeric chart preview
`/matrices/cube`	Matrix mode with dimension selectors
`/images/truecolor_rgb`	Inline truecolor image
`/images/wide_grayscale`	Wide pannable image window
`/images/varlen_png_frames`	Variable-length encoded image frames
`/compound/nested_records`	Recursive compound schema view
`/compound/nested_records/window`	Projected fixed-array field with matrix editing
`/metadata/attributes_demo`	Mixed attribute types and references
`/group_preview`	Group-level chart preview driven by `H5V_PREVIEW_EXPR`

First commands

:goto /signals/sine_wave
:goto /group_preview
:mode matrix
:help mchart

Script a startup

Inline commands:

h5v examples/h5v-example.h5 \
  -c "goto /signals/sine_wave" \
  -c "mchart add" \
  -c "goto /signals/cosine_wave" \
  -c "mchart add" \
  -c "mchart show"

Script file:

h5v examples/h5v-example.h5 --script examples/h5v-example.h5v

Dry-run:

h5v --script-test --script examples/h5v-example.h5v

See Controls reference, Commands, Configuration, and Startup scripting.

h5v documentation