File Formats

Data files are organized into records and comments.

Records

Each record includes:

• A leading keyword that identifies the information provided
• One or more fields (numeric or character)
• A terminating semicolon (;) that marks the end of the record

LINE A-B BUS_A BUS_B 3.0 30.0 150.0 1400.0 1 ;

Inside the record, the keyword, fields, and semicolon are separated by at least one space. Anything after the semicolon is ignored.

Caution

Missing spaces between fields will cause parsing errors:

LINE A-B BUS_ABUS_B 3.0 30.0 150.0 1400.0 1 ;    ❌ Missing space
LINE A-B BUS_A BUS_B 3.030.0 150.0 1400.0 1 ;     ❌ Missing space

A record may span multiple lines; the semicolon indicates the end:

INJEC GFOL VSC1 A 1.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.005 0.15 1.00 1044.0 0.005 0.15 33.3
 10.0 0.002 -999.0 10.0 0.1667 50.0 0.10  0.4  0.5  1.0  0.95  0.5 99.0 1 ;

Numeric Fields

Numeric fields are written in free format, using floating-point notation:

30   30.   30.0   3E01   3.E01   3.0E01   3.E1   3.e1

All of the above represent the same number.

Character Fields

• Limited to 20 characters (only first 20 are read)
• Some fields are limited to 8 characters (e.g., bus names)
• Uppercase letters are significant (case-sensitive)
• If a field includes a space or slash (/), enclose it in quotes (' or ")
• The semicolon (;) must not be included in any character field

Comments

There are three ways to insert comments:

1. Exclamation mark (!): A line starting with ! is memorized and reproduced on output (up to 130 characters)
2. Sharp (#): A line starting with # is completely ignored — useful for field labels
3. After semicolon: Anything after the ; terminator is ignored

# Example: using # comments to label fields
#           name bus FP  FQ  P   Q    SNOM  RS    LLS LSR   RR    LLR
INJEC INDMACH1  SM   2  0.2 0.2 0. 0. 0. 0.031 0.1 3.2 0.018 0.180
#              H   A   B   LF
               0.7 0.5 0.0 0.6 ;

Comments do not span multiple lines. Empty lines are ignored.

Sharing Data Between Files

Records may be distributed over an arbitrary number of data files, read sequentially. The order of records inside files does not matter, and the order in which files are read does not matter either.

A typical organization:

• One file for network data
• One file for power flow data
• One file for dynamic component data
• One file for simulation control parameters

These files can be listed in any order in the command file.