# Atomic Vectors

Atomic vectors are the fundamental data structure in R. They include numeric (integer and double), logical, character, complex, and raw vectors. This vignette explains how `h5lite` maps these R types to HDF5 datasets and provides guidance on controlling storage types and compression.

    library(h5lite)
    file <- tempfile(fileext = ".h5")

## Basic Usage

Writing a vector to HDF5 is straightforward using `h5_write()`. The package automatically creates the necessary dataset and handles dimensions.

    # Write a numeric vector
    vec <- c(1.5, 2.3, 4.2, 5.1)
    h5_write(vec, file, "data/numeric_vector")

    # Read it back
    res <- h5_read(file, "data/numeric_vector")
    print(res)
    #> [1] 1.5 2.3 4.2 5.1

## Scalars vs. 1D Arrays

In R, a “scalar” is simply a vector of length 1. However, HDF5 distinguishes between a Scalar Dataspace (a single value with no dimensions) and a Simple Dataspace (an array) with dimensions `[1]`.

By default, `h5lite` treats length-1 vectors as 1D arrays to maintain consistency with R’s vector behavior. To write a true HDF5 scalar, you must wrap the value in `I()`.

    # 1. Default: 1D Array (Length 1)
    h5_write(42, file, "structure/array_1d")

    # 2. Explicit Scalar: Wrapped in I()
    h5_write(I(42), file, "structure/scalar")

    h5_str(file, "structure")
    #> structure/
    #> ├── array_1d <uint8 × 1>
    #> └── scalar <uint8 scalar>

Note: When reading data back into R, both storage formats appear as standard R vectors of length 1.

## Numeric and Logical Data

### Automatic Type Selection

`h5lite` attempts to map R types to the most efficient HDF5 equivalents automatically (`as = "auto"`).

1. Numeric: `h5lite` analyzes the range of your data and picks the smallest fitting HDF5 type (e.g., `uint8`, `int16`, `int32`, `float64`).
2. Logicals: `h5lite` maps these to `uint8` (0 or 1) in HDF5 to save space.

### Handling Missing Values (NA)

A key challenge in HDF5 is that standard integer and boolean types do not have a native representation for `NA` (missing values).

To ensure data safety, `h5lite` performs the following check:

- If an integer or logical vector contains `NA`, it is automatically promoted to `float64`.
- The `NA` values are stored as an `NaN` variant in the file.
- When read back, `h5_read()` restores them as `numeric` vectors with `NA`.

    # Integer vector with NO missing values -> Automatic optimal type (uint8)
    h5_write(c(1L, 2L, 3L), file, "safe/ints")
    h5_typeof(file, "safe/ints")
    #> [1] "uint8"

    # Integer vector WITH missing values -> Promoted to float64
    h5_write(c(1L, NA, 3L), file, "safe/ints_na")
    h5_typeof(file, "safe/ints_na")
    #> [1] "float64"

### Forcing Specific Types

If you know your data range fits into a smaller type (e.g., `int8`, `uint16`), you can use the `as` argument to force a specific storage type.

Warning: If you force an integer type on data containing `NA` or values outside the integer type’s range then `h5lite` will throw an error.

    # Store small integers as 8-bit signed integers
    h5_write(c(10, -5, 100), file, "small_ints", as = "int8")

    # Store logicals as 8-bit unsigned integers
    h5_write(c(TRUE, FALSE), file, "bools", as = "uint8")

## Character Vectors (Strings)

HDF5 supports two primary methods for storing strings: Variable-Length and Fixed-Length.

### Automatic Type Selection

By default (`as = "auto"`), `h5lite` chooses the most efficient string representation:

- If the vector contains `NA`, it uses Variable-Length UTF-8 (which natively supports missing values).
- If there are no missing values and the strings are relatively short and consistent in length, it uses Fixed-Length UTF-8 to allow for compression and faster access.

### Variable-Length

You can explicitly request variable-length storage using `as = "utf8"` or `as = "ascii"`.

- Pros: Most flexible; exact memory usage per string; supports `NA` (stored as NULL pointers).
- Cons: Cannot be compressed using standard HDF5 filters; slower to read/write for extreme dataset sizes.

    # Variable length strings (handles NA)
    h5_write(c("apple", "banana", NA), file, "strings/var")

### Fixed-Length

You can force fixed-length storage using the syntax `[n]`, where `n` is the number of bytes.

- Pros: Fast; allows compression.
- Cons: Truncates strings longer than `n`; pads shorter strings; does not support `NA`.

    # Fixed length strings (10 bytes per string)
    h5_write(c("A", "B", "C"), file, "strings/fixed", as = "ascii[10]")

    # Auto-detect max length (converts to fixed length based on longest string)
    h5_write(c("short", "longer", "longest"), file, "strings/auto_fixed", as = "ascii[]")

## Compression

Compression in HDF5 requires the dataset to be “chunked”. `h5lite` handles chunking parameters automatically when you enable compression.

You can enable compression using the `compress` argument:

- `compress = TRUE` (default): Uses zlib (deflate) level 5.
- `compress = 9`: Uses zlib level 9 (max compression, slower).

    # Write a large vector with compression
    x <- rep(rnorm(100), 100)
    h5_write(x, file, "compressed_data", compress = TRUE)

## 64-bit Integers

R does not natively support 64-bit integers, but the `bit64` package provides an `integer64` class. `h5lite` supports reading and writing these types directly to HDF5 `int64`.

    if (requireNamespace("bit64", quietly = TRUE)) {
      val <- bit64::as.integer64(c("9223372036854775807", "-9223372036854775807"))

      h5_write(val, file, "huge_ints")

      in_val <- h5_read(file, "huge_ints")
      print(class(in_val))
    }
    #> [1] "numeric"