int sf_command (SNDFILE *sndfile, int cmd, void *data, int datasize) ;
This function allows the caller to retrieve information from or change aspects of the library behaviour. Examples include retrieving a string containing the library version or changing the scaling applied to floating point sample data during read and write. Most of these operations are performed on a per-file basis.
The cmd parameter is a integer identifier which is defined in <sndfile.h>. All of the valid command identifiers have names begining with "SFC_". Data is passed to and returned from the library by use of a void pointer. The library will not read or write more than datasize bytes from the void pointer. For some calls no data is required in which case data should be NULL and datasize may be used for some other purpose.
The available commands are as follows:
SFC_GET_LIB_VERSION | Retrieve the version of the library. |
SFC_GET_LOG_INFO | Retrieve the internal per-file operation log. |
SFC_CALC_SIGNAL_MAX | Retrieve the measured maximum signal value. |
SFC_CALC_NORM_SIGNAL_MAX | Retrieve the measured normalised maximum signal value. |
SFC_CALC_MAX_ALL_CHANNELS | Calculate peaks for all channels. |
SFC_CALC_NORM_MAX_ALL_CHANNELS | Calculate normalised peaks for all channels. |
SFC_SET_NORM_FLOAT | Modify the normalisation behaviour of the floating point reading and writing functions. |
SFC_SET_NORM_DOUBLE | Modify the normalisation behaviour of the double precision floating point reading and writing functions. |
SFC_GET_NORM_FLOAT | Retrieve the current normalisation behaviour of the floating point reading and writing functions. |
SFC_GET_NORM_DOUBLE | Retrieve the current normalisation behaviour of the double precision floating point reading and writing functions. |
SFC_GET_SIMPLE_FORMAT_COUNT | Retrieve the number of simple formats supported by libsndfile. |
SFC_GET_SIMPLE_FORMAT | Retrieve information about a simple format. |
SFC_GET_FORMAT_INFO | Retrieve information about a major or subtype format. |
SFC_GET_FORMAT_MAJOR_COUNT | Retrieve the number of major formats. |
SFC_GET_FORMAT_MAJOR | Retrieve information about a major format type. |
SFC_GET_FORMAT_SUBTYPE_COUNT | Retrieve the number of subformats. |
SFC_GET_FORMAT_SUBTYPE | Retrieve information about a subformat. |
SFC_SET_ADD_PEAK_CHUNK | Switch the code for adding the PEAK chunk to WAV and AIFF files on or off. |
SFC_UPDATE_HEADER_NOW | Used when a file is open for write, this command will update the file header to reflect the data written so far. |
SFC_SET_UPDATE_HEADER_AUTO | Used when a file is open for write, this command will cause the file header to be updated after each write to the file. |
SFC_FILE_TRUNCATE | Truncate a file open for write or for read/write. |
SFC_SET_RAW_START_OFFSET | Change the data start offset for files opened up as SF_FORMAT_RAW. |
Retrieve the version of the library as a string.
Parameters:
sndfile : Not used cmd : SFC_GET_LIB_VERSION data : A pointer to a char buffer datasize : The size of the the buffer
Example:
char buffer [128] ; sf_command (NULL, SFC_GET_LIB_VERSION, buffer, sizeof (buffer)) ;
Retrieve the log buffer generated when opening a file as a string. This log buffer can often contain a good reason for why libsndfile failed to open a particular file.
Parameters:
sndfile : A valid SNDFILE* pointer cmd : SFC_GET_LOG_INFO data : A pointer to a char buffer datasize : The size of the the buffer
Example:
char buffer [2048] ; sf_command (sndfile, SFC_GET_LOG_INFO, buffer, sizeof (buffer)) ;
Retrieve the measured maximum signal value. This involves reading through the whole file which can be slow on large files.
Parameters:
sndfile : A valid SNDFILE* pointer cmd : SFC_CALC_SIGNAL_MAX data : A pointer to a double datasize : sizeof (double)
Example:
double max_val ; sf_command (sndfile, SFC_CALC_SIGNAL_MAX, &max_val, sizeof (max_val)) ;
Retrieve the measured normailised maximum signal value. This involves reading through the whole file which can be slow on large files.
Parameters:
sndfile : A valid SNDFILE* pointer cmd : SFC_CALC_NORM_SIGNAL_MAX data : A pointer to a double datasize : sizeof (double)
Example:
double max_val ; sf_command (sndfile, SFC_CALC_NORM_SIGNAL_MAX, &max_val, sizeof (max_val)) ;
Calculate peaks for all channels. This involves reading through the whole file which can be slow on large files.
Parameters:
sndfile : A valid SNDFILE* pointer cmd : SFC_CALC_MAX_ALL_CHANNELS data : A pointer to a double datasize : sizeof (double) * number_of_channels
Example:
double peaks [number_of_channels] ; sf_command (sndfile, SFC_CALC_MAX_ALL_CHANNELS, peaks, sizeof (peaks)) ;
Calculate normalised peaks for all channels. This involves reading through the whole file which can be slow on large files.
Parameters:
sndfile : A valid SNDFILE* pointer cmd : SFC_CALC_NORM_MAX_ALL_CHANNELS data : A pointer to a double datasize : sizeof (double) * number_of_channels
Example:
double peaks [number_of_channels] ; sf_command (sndfile, SFC_CALC_NORM_MAX_ALL_CHANNELS, peaks, sizeof (peaks)) ;
This command only affects data read from or written to using the floating point functions:
size_t sf_read_float (SNDFILE *sndfile, float *ptr, size_t items) ; size_t sf_readf_float (SNDFILE *sndfile, float *ptr, size_t frames) ; size_t sf_write_float (SNDFILE *sndfile, float *ptr, size_t items) ; size_t sf_writef_float (SNDFILE *sndfile, float *ptr, size_t frames) ;
Parameters:
sndfile : A valid SNDFILE* pointer cmd : SFC_SET_NORM_FLOAT data : NULL datasize : SF_TRUE or SF_FALSE
For read operations setting normalisation to SF_TRUE means that the data from all subsequent reads will be be normalised to the range [-1.0, 1.0].
For write operations, setting normalisation to SF_TRUE means than all data supplied to the float write functions should be in the range [-1.0, 1.0] and will be scaled for the file format as necessary.
For both cases, setting normalisation to SF_FALSE means that no scaling will take place.
Example:
sf_command (sndfile, SFC_SET_NORM_FLOAT, NULL, SF_TRUE) ; sf_command (sndfile, SFC_SET_NORM_FLOAT, NULL, SF_FALSE) ;
This command only affects data read from or written to using the double precision floating point functions:
size_t sf_read_double (SNDFILE *sndfile, double *ptr, size_t items) ; size_t sf_readf_double (SNDFILE *sndfile, double *ptr, size_t frames) ; size_t sf_write_double (SNDFILE *sndfile, double *ptr, size_t items) ; size_t sf_writef_double (SNDFILE *sndfile, double *ptr, size_t frames) ;
Parameters:
sndfile : A valid SNDFILE* pointer cmd : SFC_SET_NORM_DOUBLE data : NULL datasize : SF_TRUE or SF_FALSE
For read operations setting normalisation to SF_TRUE means that the data from all subsequent reads will be be normalised to the range [-1.0, 1.0].
For write operations, setting normalisation to SF_TRUE means than all data supplied to the double write functions should be in the range [-1.0, 1.0] and will be scaled for the file format as necessary.
For both cases, setting normalisation to SF_FALSE means that no scaling will take place.
Example:
sf_command (sndfile, SFC_SET_NORM_DOUBLE, NULL, SF_TRUE) ; sf_command (sndfile, SFC_SET_NORM_DOUBLE, NULL, SF_FALSE) ;
Retrieve the current float normalisation mode.
Parameters:
sndfile : A valid SNDFILE* pointer cmd : SFC_GET_NORM_FLOAT data : NULL datasize : anything
Example:
normalisation = sf_command (sndfile, SFC_GET_NORM_FLOAT, NULL, 0) ;
Retrieve the current float normalisation mode.
Parameters:
sndfile : A valid SNDFILE* pointer cmd : SFC_GET_NORM_DOUBLE data : NULL datasize : anything
Example:
normalisation = sf_command (sndfile, SFC_GET_NORM_DOUBLE, NULL, 0) ;
Retrieve the number of simple formats supported by libsndfile.
Parameters:
sndfile : Not used. cmd : SFC_GET_SIMPLE_FORMAT_COUNT data : a pointer to an int datasize : sizeof (int)
Example:
int count ; sf_command (sndfile, SFC_GET_SIMPLE_FORMAT_COUNT, &count, sizeof (int)) ;
Retrieve information about a simple format.
Parameters:
sndfile : Not used. cmd : SFC_GET_SIMPLE_FORMAT data : a pointer to an SF_FORMAT_INFO struct datasize : sizeof (SF_FORMAT_INFO)
The SF_FORMAT_INFO struct is defined in <sndfile.h> as:
typedef struct { int format ; const char *name ; const char *extension ; } SF_FORMAT_INFO ;
When sf_command() is called with SF_GET_SIMPLE_FORMAT, the value of the format field should be the format number (ie 0 <= format <= count value obtained using SF_GET_SIMPLE_FORMAT_COUNT).
Example:
SF_FORMAT_INFO format_info ; int k, count ; sf_command (sndfile, SFC_GET_SIMPLE_FORMAT_COUNT, &count, sizeof (int)) ; for (k = 0 ; k < count ; k++) { format_info.format = k ; sf_command (sndfile, SFC_GET_SIMPLE_FORMAT, &format_info, sizeof (format_info)) ; printf ("%08x %s %s\n", format_info.format, format_info.name, format_info.extension) ; } ;
Retrieve information about a major or subtype format.
Parameters:
sndfile : Not used. cmd : SFC_GET_FORMAT_INFO data : a pointer to an SF_FORMAT_INFO struct datasize : sizeof (SF_FORMAT_INFO)
The SF_FORMAT_INFO struct is defined in <sndfile.h> as:
typedef struct { int format ; const char *name ; const char *extension ; } SF_FORMAT_INFO ;
When sf_command() is called with SF_GET_FORMAT_INFO, the format field is examined and if (format & SF_FORMAT_TYPEMASK) is a valid format then the struct is filled in with information about the given major type. If (format & SF_FORMAT_TYPEMASK) is FALSE and (format & SF_FORMAT_SUBMASK) is a valid subtype format then the struct is filled in with information about the given subtype.
Example:
SF_FORMAT_INFO format_info ; format_info.format = SF_FORMAT_WAV ; sf_command (sndfile, SFC_GET_FORMAT_INFO, &format_info, sizeof (format_info)) ; printf ("%08x %s %s\n", format_info.format, format_info.name, format_info.extension) ; format_info.format = SF_FORMAT_ULAW ; sf_command (sndfile, SFC_GET_FORMAT_INFO, &format_info, sizeof (format_info)) ; printf ("%08x %s\n", format_info.format, format_info.name) ;
Retrieve the number of major formats.
Parameters:
sndfile : Not used. cmd : SFC_GET_FORMAT_MAJOR_COUNT data : a pointer to an int datasize : sizeof (int)
Example:
int count ; sf_command (sndfile, SFC_GET_FORMAT_MAJOR_COUNT, &count, sizeof (int)) ;
Retrieve information about a major format type.
Parameters:
sndfile : Not used. cmd : SFC_GET_FORMAT_MAJOR data : a pointer to an SF_FORMAT_INFO struct datasize : sizeof (SF_FORMAT_INFO)
Example:
SF_FORMAT_INFO format_info ; int k, count ; sf_command (sndfile, SFC_GET_FORMAT_MAJOR_COUNT, &count, sizeof (int)) ; for (k = 0 ; k < count ; k++) { format_info.format = k ; sf_command (sndfile, SFC_GET_FORMAT_MAJOR, &format_info, sizeof (format_info)) ; printf ("%08x %s %s\n", format_info.format, format_info.name, format_info.extension) ; } ;
For a more comprehensive example, see the program list_formats.c in the examples/ directory of the libsndfile source code distribution.
Retrieve the number of subformats.
Parameters:
sndfile : Not used. cmd : SFC_GET_FORMAT_SUBTYPE_COUNT data : a pointer to an int datasize : sizeof (int)
Example:
int count ; sf_command (sndfile, SFC_GET_FORMAT_SUBTYPE_COUNT, &count, sizeof (int)) ;
Retrieve information about a subformat.
Parameters:
sndfile : Not used. cmd : SFC_GET_FORMAT_SUBTYPE data : a pointer to an SF_FORMAT_INFO struct datasize : sizeof (SF_FORMAT_INFO)
Example:
SF_FORMAT_INFO format_info ; int k, count ; sf_command (sndfile, SFC_GET_FORMAT_SUBTYPE_COUNT, &count, sizeof (int)) ; /* Retrieve all the subtypes supported by the WAV format. */ for (k = 0 ; k < count ; k++) { format_info.format = k ; sf_command (sndfile, SFC_GET_FORMAT_SUBTYPE, &format_info, sizeof (format_info)) ; if (! sf_format_check (format.info | SF_FORMAT_WAV)) continue ; printf ("%08x %s\n", format_info.format, format_info.name) ; } ;
For a more comprehensive example, see the program list_formats.c in the examples/ directory of the libsndfile source code distribution.
By default, WAV and AIFF files which contain floating point data (subtype SF_FORMAT_FLOAT or SF_FORMAT_DOUBLE) have a PEAK chunk. By using this command, the addition of a PEAK chunk can be turned on or off.
Note : This call must be made before any data is written to the file.
Parameters:
sndfile : A valid SNDFILE* pointer cmd : SFC_SET_ADD_PEAK_CHUNK data : Not used (should be NULL) datasize : TRUE or FALSE.
Example:
/* Turn on the PEAK chunk. */ sf_command (sndfile, SFC_SET_ADD_PEAK_CHUNK, NULL, SF_TRUE) ; /* Turn off the PEAK chunk. */ sf_command (sndfile, SFC_SET_ADD_PEAK_CHUNK, NULL, SF_FALSE) ;
The header of an audio file is normally written by libsndfile when the file is closed using sf_close().
There are however situations where large files are being generated and it would be nice to have valid data in the header before the file is complete. Using this command will update the file header to reflect the amount of data written to the file so far. Other programs opening the file for read (before any more data is written) will then read a valid sound file header.
Parameters:
sndfile : A valid SNDFILE* pointer cmd : SFC_UPDATE_HEADER_NOW data : Not used (should be NULL) datasize : Not used.
Example:
/* Update the header now. */ sf_command (sndfile, SFC_UPDATE_HEADER_NOW, NULL, 0) ;
Similar to SFC_UPDATE_HEADER_NOW but updates the header at the end of every call to the sf_write* functions.
Parameters:
sndfile : A valid SNDFILE* pointer cmd : SFC_UPDATE_HEADER_NOW data : Not used (should be NULL) datasize : SF_TRUE or SF_FALSE
Example:
/* Turn on auto header update. */ sf_command (sndfile, SFC_SET_UPDATE_HEADER_AUTO, NULL, SF_TRUE) ; /* Turn off auto header update. */ sf_command (sndfile, SFC_SET_UPDATE_HEADER_AUTO, NULL, SF_FALSE) ;
Truncate a file open for write or for read/write.
Parameters:
sndfile : A valid SNDFILE* pointer cmd : SFC_FILE_TRUNCATE data : A pointer to an sf_count_t. datasize : sizeof (sf_count_t)
Truncate the file to the number of frames specified by the sf_count_t pointed to by data. After this command, both the read and the write pointer will be at the new end of the file. This command will fail (returning non-zero) if the requested truncate position is beyond the end of the file.
Example:
/* Truncate the file to a length of 20 frames. */ sf_count_t frames = 20 ; sf_command (sndfile, SFC_FILE_TRUNCATE, &frames, sizeof (frames)) ;
Change the data start offset for files opened up as SF_FORMAT_RAW.
Parameters:
sndfile : A valid SNDFILE* pointer cmd : SFC_SET_RAW_START_OFFSET data : A pointer to an sf_count_t. datasize : sizeof (sf_count_t)
For a file opened as format SF_FORMAT_RAW, set the data offset to the value given by data.
Example:
/* Reset the data offset to 5 bytes from the start of the file. */ sf_count_t offset = 5 ; sf_command (sndfile, SFC_SET_RAW_START_OFFSET, &offset, sizeof (offset)) ;
The libsndfile home page is here :
http://www.mega-nerd.com/libsndfile/.
Version : 1.0.25