1.3.5. Template Variables

The SRW App’s experiment configuration system supports the use of template variables in config_defaults.yaml and config.yaml. A template variable is an experiment configuration variable that contains references to values of other variables. These references are not set to the values of the referenced variables (or “expanded”) when the experiment’s variable definitions file (var_defns.sh) is generated or sourced. Instead, they are expanded and evaluated at run time when bash’s eval command is used on the template.

1.3.5.1. Generic Example

As an example, consider a hypothetical template variable named MY_CMD that is defined in config_defaults.yaml (or redefined by the user in config.yaml) as follows:

MY_CMD: 'cd ${some_dir}'

Here, some_dir may be another experiment variable defined in var_defns.sh or a local variable defined in a script or function that will evaluate the template. It is important to use single quotes on the right-hand side of the definition above; otherwise, bash will try to evaluate ${some_dir} when constructing var_defns.sh, which may result in an error and/or unexpected behavior (e.g., if ${some_dir} is not yet defined). The experiment generation system will define MY_CMD in var_defns.sh in exactly the same way as in config_defaults.yaml and/or config.yaml, e.g., MY_CMD: 'cd ${some_dir}'. Then the following code snippet in a script or function will evaluate the contents of MY_CMD using a locally-set value of some_dir:

...
. var_defns.sh       # Source the experiment's variable definition file (assuming
                     # it is in the current directory). This defines the MY_CMD
                     # template variable (in addition to other variables).
...
some_dir="20200715"  # Set the local variable some_dir.
...
eval ${MY_CMD}       # Use eval to evaluate the contents of MY_CMD. The value of
                     # some_dir specified in this file a few lines above is substituted
                     # for ${some_dir} in MY_CMD before MY_CMD is evaluated.

1.3.5.2. Graphics Plotting Example

When attempting to generate graphics plots from a forecast, users have the option to produce difference plots from two experiments that are on the same domain and available for the same cycle starting date/time and forecast hours. To generate difference plots, users must use the template variable COMOUT_REF to indicate where the GRIB2 files from post-processing are located.

In community mode (i.e., when RUN_ENVIR: "community"), this directory will take the form /path/to/expt_dirs/expt_name/$PDY$cyc/postprd, where $PDY refers to the cycle date in YYYYMMDD format, and $cyc refers to the starting hour of the cycle. (These variables are set in previous tasks based on the value of DATE_FIRST_CYCL.) Given two experiments, expt1 and expt2, users can generate difference plots by setting COMOUT_REF in the expt2 configuration file (config.yaml) as follows:

COMOUT_REF: '${EXPT_BASEDIR}/expt1/${PDY}${cyc}/postprd'

The expt2 workflow already knows where to find its own post-processed output, so COMOUT_REF should point to post-processed output for the other experiment (expt1).

In nco mode, this directory should be set to the location of the first experiment’s COMOUT directory (${COMOUT} in the example below) and end with ${PDY}/${cyc}. For example:

COMOUT_REF: '${COMOUT}/${PDY}/${cyc}/'