Data is record oriented with a newline character denoting the end of each record. The entries for each variable in a record must appear in the order specified by the header descriptors. Each entry within a record must be separated from its neighbours by a delimiter (specified in the header). Missing entries must be padded by a fill value. Delimiters must be separated by valid input, and multiple adjacent delimiters are read as a single delimiter.
Each variable may be multi-dimensional with the number of entries per variable being the product of the dimensionalities. Thus a velocity vector has three entries and a two by two array has four entries.
The ordering for arrays within a record is the natural `C' ordering, that is, the last index varies the fastest.
Any printable character may be used as an entry delimiter except for numeric characters and format specifiers `e', `f' and `g', the decimal point, `.' and the operators `+' and `-'. Any character that appears within a formatted number or text data entry will also result in a read failure and must be avoided. A space character is permitted as a delimiter.
Caution must be exercised when writing character data to ensure that a delimiter is available and precluded as a valid data entry. White space will often be a valid data character in text data.
A comma or space character provide for most ease of readability, and are recommended for numerical data.