.. _-bi_full:

**-bi**\ [*ncols*][*type*][**w**][**+l**\|\ **b**]
    Select native binary format for primary input (secondary inputs are always ASCII).
    Here, *ncols* is the number of data columns of
    given *type*, which must be one of **c** (int8_t, aka char), **u**
    (uint8_t, aka unsigned char), **h** (int16_t, 2-byte signed int),
    **H** (uint16_t, 2-byte unsigned int), **i** (int32_t, 4-byte
    signed int), **I** ((capital i) uint32_t, 4-byte unsigned int), **l**
    ((lower case el) int64_t, 8-byte signed int), **L** (uint64_t, 8-byte unsigned
    int), **f** (4-byte single-precision float), and **d** (8-byte
    double-precision float). In addition, use **x** to skip *ncols*
    bytes anywhere in the record.
    For records with mixed types, simply append additional comma-separated
    combinations of *ncols* *type* (no space). Append **w** to any item to force
    byte-swapping. Alternatively, append **+l**\|\ **b** to indicate
    that the entire data file should be read as little- or big-endian,
    respectively. The cumulative number of *ncols* may exceed the columns
    actually needed by the program. If *ncols* is not specified we assume
    that *type* applies to all columns and that *ncols* is implied by
    the expectation of the program. If the input file is netCDF, no
    **-b** is needed; simply append **?**\ *var1*\ **/**\ *var2*\ **/**\ *...*
    to the filename to specify the variables to be read. |example_-bio|


.. |example_-bio| raw:: html

   <a href="#openModal">(Example)</a>
   <div id="openModal" class="modalDialog">
    <div>
        <a href="#close" title="Close" class="close">X</a>
        <h2>-bio example</h2>
        <p>
        # Write a binary file, and read it back, with 3 columns in which the first</br>
        # is a 4 bytes float, second a 8 bytes long int and third a 8 bytes double.</br>
        echo 1.5 2 2.5 | gmt convert -bo1f,1l,1d > lixo.bin</br>
        gmt convert lixo.bin -bi1f,1l,1d</br>
        </p>
    </div>
   </div>