---
title: "get the metadata of an hdf object"
method: GET
path: "/hdf/meta/{fpath}"
---

# get the metadata of an hdf object

`GET /hdf/meta/{fpath}`

get the metadata of an hdf object. If the object is a dataset and the ixstr parameter is provided, all shape-related metadata will be for the slab specified by ixstr

## Response `200`

metadata of an arbitrary hdf object, as a dictionary

- union — the metadata of an hdf object
  - DatasetMeta — metadata of an hdf dataset, as a dictionary
    - `attributes` AttrMeta[], required — metadata of the attributes of a dataset
      - `name` string, required — name of an attribute
      - `dtype` string, required — datatype of an attribute
      - `shape` number[], required — shape of an attribute
    - `dtype` string, required — datatype of an hdf dataset
    - `labels` Slice[], required — ranges that label the indices of an hdf dataset, given as an array of slices
      - `start` number, required — first index of the slice
      - `stop` number, required — one past the last index of the slice
      - `step` number, required — step of the slice
    - `name` string, required — name of hdf dataset
    - `ndim` number, required — count of dimensions of an hdf dataset
    - `shape` number[], required — shape of an hdf dataset
    - `size` number, required — count of entries of an hdf dataset
    - `type` 'dataset', required — the string literal `"dataset"`
  - GroupMeta — metadata of an hdf group, as a dictionary
    - `attributes` AttrMeta[], required — metadata of the attributes of the group
      - `name` string, required — name of an attribute
      - `dtype` string, required — datatype of an attribute
      - `shape` number[], required — shape of an attribute
    - `children` union[], required — metadata of the children of the group
      - union
        - DatasetMeta — metadata of an hdf dataset, as a dictionary
          - `attributes` AttrMeta[], required — metadata of the attributes of a dataset
            - `name` string, required — name of an attribute
            - `dtype` string, required — datatype of an attribute
            - `shape` number[], required — shape of an attribute
          - `dtype` string, required — datatype of an hdf dataset
          - `labels` Slice[], required — ranges that label the indices of an hdf dataset, given as an array of slices
            - `start` number, required — first index of the slice
            - `stop` number, required — one past the last index of the slice
            - `step` number, required — step of the slice
          - `name` string, required — name of hdf dataset
          - `ndim` number, required — count of dimensions of an hdf dataset
          - `shape` number[], required — shape of an hdf dataset
          - `size` number, required — count of entries of an hdf dataset
          - `type` 'dataset', required — the string literal `"dataset"`
        - ChildGroupMeta — metadata of a child hdf group (does not include children)
          - `attributes` AttrMeta[], required — metadata of the attributes of the group
            - `name` string, required — name of an attribute
            - `dtype` string, required — datatype of an attribute
            - `shape` number[], required — shape of an attribute
          - `name` string, required — name of hdf group
          - `type` 'group', required — the string literal `"group"`
    - `name` string, required — name of hdf group
    - `type` 'group', required — the string literal `"group"`

## Other responses

- `400` — the request was malformed; url should be of the format `"fpath?uri=uri"`
- `401` — the request did not specify a file that `h5py` could understand
- `403` — the request specified a file that does not exist
- `500` — found and opened file, error getting contents from object specified by the uri

---

[API](https://skmtc.net/jupyter-server/apis/jupyterlab-hdf5-proxy.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.net/jupyter-server/apis/jupyterlab-hdf5-proxy/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc-service-staging.skmtc.workers.dev/v1/apis/jupyter-server/jupyterlab-hdf5-proxy/versions/4cb4fe162160/schema)