James- The right way to do this is in two steps. int ntypes; nc_inq_typeids(ncid, &ntypes, NULL); int* typeids = (int*)malloc(ntypes*sizeof(int)); nc_int_typeids(ncid,&ntypes,typeids); =Dennis Heimbigner Unidata Ticket Details =================== Ticket ID: LHY-999002 Department: Support netCDF Priority: Normal Status: Closed