Format conventions for SNDlib

header

Each input file has to contain a header line at the beginning:

          ?SNDlib native format; type: <file_type>; version: <version>
       

The file type can be either network, model or solution. Currently there is only one valid version: 1.0. Example of a header for a network file of version 1.0:

          ?SNDlib native format; type: network; version: 1.0
       

comment

The comment symbol for all input files is the hashmark symbol '#'. Everything from this symbol to the end of the current line is ignored, as well as empty lines.

identifier

Valid identifiers are of the form [a-zA-Z0-9][a-zA-Z0-9-_]*. In particular, identifiers must not contain whitespace, since the latter is used as delimiter between input tokens.

delimiter

Valid delimiters between input tokens (int, double, string) are the blank and the tabulator.

sections

Sections with a variable number of items in the same format item_format (e.g., the description of the available network nodes), are written in the format

            ( item_format* )
         

where the '*' after item_format is interpreted as zero or more occurrences of such an item. The notation

            ( item_format+ )
         

refers to one or more occurrences of item_format.