If this attribute is new, or if the space required to store the attribute is greater than before, the netCDF dataset must be in define mode. Although it's possible to create attributes of all types, text and double attributes are adequate for most purposes.
Case is significant.
Attribute name conventions are assumed by some netCDF generic applications, e.g., units as the name for a string attribute that gives the units for a netCDF variable. A table of conventional attribute names is presented in the earlier chapter on the netCDF interface. An array of attribute values. Fortran 90 intrinsic functions can be used to convert attributes to the desired type. Otherwise, the returned status indicates an error.