tecio.cli.tecextract#

Extract a subset of zones and/or variables from a Tecplot data file.

Large Tecplot files produced by CFD solvers frequently contain many zones and variables, only a fraction of which are relevant to a given analysis. Loading the full file into Tecplot or writing a dedicated extraction script is impractical when the goal is simply to isolate a surface zone or a handful of flow variables for downstream processing. tecextract addresses this by writing a new Tecplot file containing only the requested subset, with the output format determined by the file extension of the output path. This makes it straightforward to reduce file size, change format, or prepare a subset for use with another tool in a single command.

Usage:

tecextract [-h] [-zones LIST] [-variables LIST] [-o PATH] [-f] PATH

Positional Arguments:

PATH: Path to the input Tecplot binary file (.plt or .szplt).

Options:

-zones LIST: Comma-separated list of one-based zone indices to extract (e.g. -zones 1,3,5). If omitted, all zones are written to the output.
-variables LIST: Comma-separated list of one-based variable indices to extract (e.g. -variables 1,2,5). If omitted, all variables are written to the output.
-o PATH, --output PATH: Output file path. The extension controls the output format: .szplt, .plt, or .dat. Defaults to <stem>_extract<ext> in the same directory as the input file.
-f, --force: Overwrite the output file if it already exists. Without this flag the command exits with an error rather than silently clobbering an existing file.

Returns:

A new Tecplot file written to the output path containing only the requested zones and variables. Exit code is 0 on success and non-zero if the input file cannot be read, an invalid index is supplied, or the output file already exists and --force is not set.

Examples

Extract zones 1 and 3:

$ tecextract -zones 1,3 solution.szplt

Extract variables 1, 2, and 5:

$ tecextract -variables 1,2,5 solution.szplt

Extract a zone subset and convert to ASCII in one step:

$ tecextract -zones 1,2 -o subset.dat solution.szplt

Call directly from a Tecplot macro or Python session, passing arguments as a list of strings:

import tecio.cli.tecextract.main as tecextract

tecextract([
    "-zones",
    "1,2",
    "-variables",
    "1,2,5",
    "-o",
    "subset.szplt",
    "solution.szplt",
])