r.out.bin(1)

💾 r.out.bin — the GRASS GIS User's Manual era 💾

okay bestie, gather round, because we're talking about r.out.bin from the GRASS GIS User's Manual and she is that girl 💅

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✨ NAME ✨

r.out.bin — exports a GRASS raster to a binary array. literally what it says on the tin, no cap 🫶

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🏷️ KEYWORDS 🏷️

raster, export, output

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🌈 SYNOPSIS 🌈

r.out.bin
r.out.bin --help
r.out.bin [-ifhbs] input=string  [output=string]   [null=float]
[bytes=integer]   [order=string]   [--help]  [--verbose]  [--quiet]
[--ui]

🚩 Flags 🚩

• -i — generate integer output (int era, we love her)
• -f — generate floating-point output (float girlie, also iconic)
• -h — export array with GMT compatible header 👑
• -b — generate BIL world and header files
• -s — byte swap output 🔄
• --help — print usage summary
• --verbose — verbose module output (she talks a LOT, respect)
• --quiet — quiet module output (shhh era 🤫)
• --ui — force launching GUI dialog

🎀 Parameters 🎀

• input=string [required] — name of input raster map. yes bestie, you HAVE to give her this one, it's not optional fr fr
• output=string — name for output binary map (use output=- for stdout)
• null=float — value to write out for null. default: 0
• bytes=integer — number of bytes per cell. options: 1, 2, 4, 8
• order=string — output byte order. options: big, little, native, swap. default: native

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so the r.out.bin program exports a GRASS raster map to a binary array file. yes. an actual binary array file. she's giving data conversion main character energy ✨

optionally, the output can be sent to standard output (stdout) so you can pipe it directly into other applications — like, she's flexible, she's accommodating, she's a team player 🫶

data is exported according to the original GRASS raster type (e.g. float). but if you specify the -i flag, an integer array is output instead. glow-up moment.

oh and heads up: the region parameters are printed to stderr. not stdout. stderr. don't get it twisted 💀

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📝 NOTES 📝

with the -h flag, the data can be directly used by GMT as Grid Format 1 (float) or 2 (short). for example:

r.out.bin -h input=grass.raster output=new.grd
grdinfo new.grd=1 (if float)

exported data can also be piped directly into the GMT program xyz2grd. the way that pipes just WORK 😭

r.out.bin input=grass.raster output=- | xyz2grd -R....  -ZTLf -

the example uses the GMT program xyz2grd with the -ZTLf flag indicating that a float array was output. see, details matter, always read the flags bestie 💅

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👀 SEE ALSO 👀

• r.in.bin
• r.in.ascii
• r.in.gdal
• r.out.ascii

go read those too, they're all in the same friend group fr fr 🦋

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🧚 AUTHOR 🧚

this program is derived from r.out.ascii with a few modifications.

author: Bob Covill 👑

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🌸 SOURCE CODE 🌸

available at: r.out.bin source code (history)

accessed: Saturday Jan 17 05:40:51 2026

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and that's the whole vibe check, bestie 💜 the GRASS Development Team has been holding it down with the © 2003-2025 GRASS Development Team, GRASS GIS 8.4.2 Reference Manual — this page lives in the GRASS 8.4.2 era, r.out.bin(1), and honestly? she ate. periodt. 💅✨🎀