r.out.ascii(1)

📦
version 8.4.2 · 8 versions
, in fedora 44

✨ r.out.ascii ✨

okay bestie, so this is r.out.ascii(1) from the GRASS GIS User's Manual and it's literally the glow-up your raster needs to go from GRASS-flavored to plain-ASCII-text-flavored 💅

KEYWORDS: raster, export, output, ASCII 🎀

🌈 SYNOPSIS 🌈

r.out.ascii
r.out.ascii --help
r.out.ascii [-hsmi] input=name  [output=name]   [precision=integer]
[width=integer]   [null_value=string]   [--overwrite]  [--help]
[--verbose]  [--quiet]  [--ui]

✨ Flags ✨

  • -h — suppress printing of header information 🙈 like, no context, just vibes
  • -s — write SURFER (Golden Software) ASCII grid 🏄
  • -m — write MODFLOW (USGS) ASCII array 🌊
  • -i — force output of integer values 🔢 no decimals, we're being whole about it
  • --overwrite — allow output files to overwrite existing files 💀 (yes she will eat your old file, that's the deal)
  • --help — print usage summary 🫶
  • --verbose — verbose module output 🗣️
  • --quiet — quiet module output 🤫
  • --ui — force launching GUI dialog 🖥️✨

🎀 Parameters 🎀

  • input=name [required] — name of input raster map 👑 the main character
  • output=name — name for output ASCII grid map (use out=- for stdout) 🧚
  • precision=integer — number of significant digits (floating point only) 🔬
  • width=integer — number of values printed before wrapping a line (only SURFER or MODFLOW format) 📏
  • null_value=string — string to represent null cell (GRASS grid only)
    • Default: *

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

r.out.ascii converts a user-specified raster map layer (input=name) into an ASCII grid in a text file (output=name) suitable for export to other computer systems. it's giving ✨interoperability✨

the GRASS program r.in.ascii can be used to perform the reverse function, converting an ASCII file in suitable format to GRASS raster map format. so they're like, opposites, a matched set, besties fr fr 🫶

to write a SURFER .grd ASCII GRID file (with reverted row order and different header) use the -s flag:

r.out.ascii -s input=inname output=outname.grd [dp=value]

NULL data are coded to "1.70141e+038" for SURFER ASCII GRID files (ignoring the null= parameter). no cap, that number is doing the absolute most 🔥

📝 NOTES 📝

the output from r.out.ascii may be placed into a file by using the UNIX redirection mechanism; e.g.:

r.out.ascii input=soils output=- > out.file

the output file out.file can then be printed or copied onto a CDROM or floppy disk for export purposes. floppy disk. yes. iconic retro tech moment 💾✨

to export the raster values as x,y,z values of cell centers (one per line) use the r.out.xyz module. different module, different slay 🦋

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

r.in.ascii, r.in.gdal, r.out.bin, r.out.gdal, r.out.xyz

🌸 AUTHORS 🌸

  • Michael Shapiro, U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory
  • Surfer support by Markus Neteler

📦 SOURCE CODE 📦

Available at: r.out.ascii source code (history)

Accessed: Saturday Jan 17 05:40:51 2026

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and that's the whole thing bestie, we ate and left no crumbs 💅✨ this was GRASS GIS 8.4.2 Reference Manual, © 2003-2025 GRASS Development Team, accessed Saturday Jan 17 05:40:51 2026, and honestly? iconic behavior from everyone involved 🫶🌈💖

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