Using a loop in ncl to sort through files

Question

I have 50 files that I want to run a script on one after the other, and to save the generated graph with a unique name each time. My script to create the graph is fine, but looping through the 50 files is not. I have left out many of the resources I'm using. My script is:

    load "$NCARG_ROOT/lib/ncarg/nclscripts/csm/gsn_code.ncl"
    load "$NCARG_ROOT/lib/ncarg/nclscripts/csm/gsn_csm.ncl"
    load "$NCARG_ROOT/lib/ncarg/nclscripts/csm/contributed.ncl"
    load "$NCARG_ROOT/lib/ncarg/nclscripts/csm/shea_util.ncl"

    do n=1961,2010
        begin
        fnam="/home/cohara/TempData/yearly_data/average/average_" + sprinti("0.4n",n) + ".nc"
        x=addfile(fnam,"r")
        data=x->var61(0,0,:,:)
        xwks=gsn_open_wks("ps","Average_" + sprinti("0.4n",n)
        resources=True
        resources@tiMainString="Average Annual Temperature" + sprinti("0.4n",n)
            plot=gsn_csm_contour_map(xwks,data,resources)
        end
    end do

Answer 1

The problem is in your calls to sprinti, you're doing:

sprinti("0.4n",n) 

where it should be:

sprinti("%0.4i",n)

Where the 'i' stands for integer (the documentation at the NCL webpage uses 'i' for the variable name as well, which can lead to some confusion...)

This should work:

load "$NCARG_ROOT/lib/ncarg/nclscripts/csm/gsn_code.ncl"
load "$NCARG_ROOT/lib/ncarg/nclscripts/csm/gsn_csm.ncl"
load "$NCARG_ROOT/lib/ncarg/nclscripts/csm/contributed.ncl"
load "$NCARG_ROOT/lib/ncarg/nclscripts/csm/shea_util.ncl"

do n=1961,2010
    begin
    fnam="/home/cohara/TempData/yearly_data/average/average_" + sprinti("%0.4i",n) + ".nc"
    x=addfile(fnam,"r")
    data=x->var61(0,0,:,:)
    xwks=gsn_open_wks("ps","Average_" + sprinti("%0.4i",n)
    resources=True
    resources@tiMainString="Average Annual Temperature" + sprinti("%0.4i",n)
        plot=gsn_csm_contour_map(xwks,data,resources)
    end
end do