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Purpose
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Returns the offset of a data element in the file. |
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Return value
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Returns the offset of the data element if the data element exists and FAIL (or -1) otherwise. |
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Description
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Hoffset calls Hstartread, HQueryoffset, and Hendaccess to determine the length of a data element. Hoffset uses Hstartread to obtain an access identifier for the specified data object. |
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Hoffset will return the correct offset for a linked-block element, however it is important to remember that the data in linked-block elements is not stored contiguously. The offset returned by Hoffset only reflects the position of the first data block. |
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Hoffset should not be used to determine the offset of an external element. In this case, Hoffset returns zero, an invalid offset for HDF files. |