I/O Functions

Modules
	STL I/O Functions
	I/O Functions for the STereoLithography (STL) File Format.
	PLY I/O Functions
	I/O Functions for the Polygon File Format (PLY).
	OBJ I/O Functions
	I/O Functions for the Wavefront Advanced Visualizer Object Format (OBJ).
	OFF I/O Functions
	I/O Functions for the Object File Format (OFF).
	VTK I/O Functions
	I/O Functions for the VTK (VTU / VTP / legacy) File Formats.
	GOCAD I/O Functions
	I/O Functions for the GOCAD (TS) File Format.
	WKT I/O Functions
	I/O Functions for the Well-Known Text (WKT) File Format.
	3MF I/O Functions
	I/O Functions for the 3D Manufacturing Format (3MF).
	LAS I/O Functions
	I/O Functions for the LAS (Lidar) File Format.
	XYZ I/O Functions
	I/O Functions for the XYZ File Format.

Functions
template<typename PointRange , typename PolygonRange , typename NamedParameters = CGAL::parameters::Default_named_parameters>
bool	CGAL::IO::read_polygon_soup (const std::string &fname, PointRange &points, PolygonRange &polygons, const NamedParameters &np=parameters::default_values())
	reads a polygon soup from a file.
template<typename PointRange , typename PolygonRange , typename NamedParameters = CGAL::parameters::Default_named_parameters>
bool	CGAL::IO::write_polygon_soup (const std::string &fname, const PointRange &points, const PolygonRange &polygons, const NamedParameters &np=parameters::default_values())
	writes the content of points and polygons in a file.
template<typename OutputIteratorValueType , typename PointOutputIterator , typename NamedParameters = parameters::Default_named_parameters>
bool	CGAL::IO::read_points (const std::string &fname, PointOutputIterator output, const NamedParameters &np=parameters::default_values())
	reads the point set from an input file.
template<typename PointRange , typename NamedParameters = CGAL::parameters::Default_named_parameters>
bool	CGAL::IO::write_points (const std::string &fname, const PointRange &points, const NamedParameters &np=parameters::default_values(),)
	writes the range of points with properties to a file.

Function Documentation

read_points()

template<typename OutputIteratorValueType , typename PointOutputIterator , typename NamedParameters = parameters::Default_named_parameters>

bool CGAL::IO::read_points	(	const std::string &	fname,
		PointOutputIterator	output,
		const NamedParameters &	np = parameters::default_values()
	)

#include <CGAL/IO/read_points.h>

reads the point set from an input file.

Supported file formats are the following:

• Object File Format (OFF) (.off)
• Polygon File Format (PLY) (.ply)
• LAS (Lidar) File Format (.las)
• XYZ File Format (.xyz)

The format is detected from the filename extension (letter case is not important).

Template Parameters

OutputIteratorValueType	type of objects that can be put in PointOutputIterator. It must be a model of DefaultConstructible and defaults to value_type_traits<PointOutputIterator>::type. It can be omitted when the default is fine.
PointOutputIterator	iterator over output points.
NamedParameters	a sequence of Named Parameters

Parameters

fname	the name of the input file.
output	output iterator over points.
np	optional sequence of Named Parameters among the ones listed below.

Optional Named Parameters

point_map a property map associating points to the elements of the point range Type: a model of WritablePropertyMap with value type geom_traits::Point_3 Default: CGAL::Identity_property_map<geom_traits::Point_3>
normal_map a property map associating normals to the elements of the point range Type: a model of WritablePropertyMap with value type geom_traits::Vector_3 Default: If this parameter is omitted, normals in the input stream are ignored.
geom_traits an instance of a geometric traits class Type: a model of Kernel Default: a CGAL Kernel deduced from the point type, using CGAL::Kernel_traits
use_binary_mode indicates whether data should be read in binary (true) or in ASCII (false) Type: Boolean Default: true Extra: This parameter is only relevant for PLY reading: the OFF and XYZ formats are always ASCII, and the LAS format is always binary.

Returns

true if reading was successful, false otherwise.

read_polygon_soup()

template<typename PointRange , typename PolygonRange , typename NamedParameters = CGAL::parameters::Default_named_parameters>

bool CGAL::IO::read_polygon_soup	(	const std::string &	fname,
		PointRange &	points,
		PolygonRange &	polygons,
		const NamedParameters &	np = parameters::default_values()
	)

#include <CGAL/IO/polygon_soup_io.h>

reads a polygon soup from a file.

Supported file formats are the following:

• Object File Format (OFF) (.off)
• Wavefront Advanced Visualizer Object Format (OBJ) (.obj)
• STereoLithography (STL) File Format (.stl)
• Polygon File Format (PLY) (.ply)
• GOCAD (TS) File Format (.ts)
• VTK (VTU / VTP / legacy) File Formats (.vtp)

The format is detected from the filename extension (letter case is not important).

Template Parameters

PointRange	a model of the concept RandomAccessContainer whose value type is the point type.
PolygonRange	a model of the concepts RandomAccessContainer and BackInsertionSequence whose value_type is itself a model of the concepts RandomAccessContainer and BackInsertionSequence whose value_type is an unsigned integer type convertible to std::size_t
NamedParameters	a sequence of Named Parameters

Parameters

fname	the name of the file.
points	points of the soup of polygons
polygons	each element in the range describes a polygon using the indices of the vertices.
np	optional Named Parameters described below

Optional Named Parameters

verbose indicates whether output warnings and error messages should be printed or not. Type: Boolean Default: false

Returns

true if reading was successful, false otherwise.

write_points()

template<typename PointRange , typename NamedParameters = CGAL::parameters::Default_named_parameters>

bool CGAL::IO::write_points	(	const std::string &	fname,
		const PointRange &	points,
		const NamedParameters &	np = parameters::default_values()
	)

#include <CGAL/IO/write_points.h>

writes the range of points with properties to a file.

Supported file formats are the following:

• Object File Format (OFF) (.off)
• Polygon File Format (PLY) (.ply)
• LAS (Lidar) File Format (.las)
• XYZ File Format (.xyz)

The format is detected from the filename extension (letter case is not important).

Template Parameters

PointRange	is a model of ConstRange. The value type of its iterator is the key type of the named parameter point_map.
NamedParameters	a sequence of Named Parameters

Parameters

fname	the name of the output file.
points	the range of points that will be written.
np	optional sequence of Named Parameters among the ones listed below.

Optional Named Parameters

point_map a property map associating points to the elements of the point range Type: a model of ReadablePropertyMap with value type geom_traits::Point_3 Default: CGAL::Identity_property_map<geom_traits::Point_3>
normal_map a property map associating normals to the elements of the point range Type: a model of ReadablePropertyMap with value type geom_traits::Vector_3 Default: If this parameter is omitted, normals are not written in the output file.
geom_traits an instance of a geometric traits class Type: a model of Kernel Default: a CGAL Kernel deduced from the point type, using CGAL::Kernel_traits
use_binary_mode indicates whether data should be written in binary (true) or in ASCII (false) Type: Boolean Default: true Extra: This parameter is only relevant for PLY writing: the OFF and XYZ formats are always ASCII, and the LAS format is always binary.
stream_precision a parameter used to set the precision (i.e. how many digits are generated) of the output stream Type: int Default: 6 Extra: This parameter is only meaningful while using ASCII encoding.

Returns

true if writing was successful, false otherwise.

write_polygon_soup()

template<typename PointRange , typename PolygonRange , typename NamedParameters = CGAL::parameters::Default_named_parameters>

bool CGAL::IO::write_polygon_soup	(	const std::string &	fname,
		const PointRange &	points,
		const PolygonRange &	polygons,
		const NamedParameters &	np = parameters::default_values()
	)

#include <CGAL/IO/polygon_soup_io.h>

writes the content of points and polygons in a file.

Supported file formats are the following:

• Object File Format (OFF) (.off)
• Wavefront Advanced Visualizer Object Format (OBJ) (.obj)
• STereoLithography (STL) File Format (.stl)
• Polygon File Format (PLY) (.ply)
• GOCAD (TS) File Format (.ts)
• VTK (VTU / VTP / legacy) File Formats (.vtp)

The format is detected from the filename extension (letter case is not important).

Template Parameters

PolygonRange	a model of the concept RandomAccessContainer whose value_type is a model of the concept RandomAccessContainer whose value_type is std::size_t.
PointRange	a model of the concept RandomAccessContainer whose value type is the point type
NamedParameters	a sequence of Named Parameters

Parameters

fname	the name of the file.
points	points of the soup of polygons
polygons	each element in the range describes a polygon using the indices of the vertices.
np	optional Named Parameters described below

Optional Named Parameters

point_map a property map associating points to the elements of the range points Type: a model of ReadablePropertyMap whose key type is the value type of the iterator of PointRange and value type is a model of concept Point_3 Default: CGAL::Identity_property_map<std::iterator_traits<PointRange::iterator>::value_type>
verbose indicates whether output warnings and error messages should be printed or not. Type: Boolean Default: false

Returns

true if writing was successful, false otherwise.