# Import .ds format files

**URL:** <https://mne.discourse.group/t/import-ds-format-files/4331>\
**Category:** Support & Discussions\
**Created:** [January 29, 2022, 5:03pm UTC](https://mne.discourse.group/t/import-ds-format-files/4331 "2022-01-29T17:03:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![GeorgiaKiose](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/mne.discourse.group/georgiakiose/32/1146_2.png) [@GeorgiaKiose](https://mne.discourse.group/u/GeorgiaKiose)\
**Post date:** [January 29, 2022, 5:03pm UTC](https://mne.discourse.group/t/import-ds-format-files/4331/1 "2022-01-29T17:03:45Z")

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Dear all,

I recently installed mne in my PC in order to process MEG data. Please could you inform which are the suitable commands in order to import my data which have a ds format?

Thank you in advance.  
G.K.

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**Author:** ![agramfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7c8e57/32.png) [@agramfort](https://mne.discourse.group/u/agramfort)\
**Post date:** [January 29, 2022, 7:50pm UTC](https://mne.discourse.group/t/import-ds-format-files/4331/2 "2022-01-29T19:50:05Z")

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hi,

here is a tutorial using CTF data:

[https://mne.tools/stable/auto\_tutorials/io/60\_ctf\_bst\_auditory.html](https://mne.tools/stable/auto_tutorials/io/60_ctf_bst_auditory.html)

Alex

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![GeorgiaKiose](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/mne.discourse.group/georgiakiose/32/1146_2.png) [@GeorgiaKiose](https://mne.discourse.group/u/GeorgiaKiose)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 10:05am UTC](https://mne.discourse.group/t/import-ds-format-files/4331/3 "2022-01-31T10:05:34Z")

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Hi Alexandre,

Thank you for your response. I 've seen this tutorial.  
I have a .ds folder which includes many different types of files (e.g. ACQ, HC, HIST), and I can’t find a way to read them in Python. Is it necessary to convert the folder in a convenient format, like fif?

Thank you,  
G.K.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![agramfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7c8e57/32.png) [@agramfort](https://mne.discourse.group/u/agramfort)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 12:27pm UTC](https://mne.discourse.group/t/import-ds-format-files/4331/4 "2022-01-31T12:27:13Z")

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hi,

we have maybe never had this need in mne-python

if you share a file or give us a link to a similar file on the web we can  
see how to update the reader to be able to read this file

Alex

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**Author:** ![jstout211](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/mne.discourse.group/jstout211/32/180_2.png) [@jstout211](https://mne.discourse.group/u/jstout211)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2022, 3:22pm UTC](https://mne.discourse.group/t/import-ds-format-files/4331/5 "2022-02-14T15:22:29Z")

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The typical mne read\_raw function will incorporate the loading of those files. The CTF format uses a folder style to incorporate the same/similar information that is in the binary .fif format. If you load the data using MNE it will pull in all of the pertinent information from the folder.

```nohighlight
ds_fname = 'sub-ON02747_ses-01_task-airpuff_run-06_meg.ds'
raw = mne.io.read_raw_ctf(ds_fname, preload=True)

#Other possible helpful arguments are: 
# system_clock='ignore'
# clean_names=True

```

The hist file incorporates the history of processing (probably not super important if you are loading raw data). The .hc file list the information on the head coil localization, which is loaded with the raw file. If you want to look at either of these files, they are just text files and you can just open them in any text editor. The main data matrix is in the .meg4 file, but needs information from the other files like ACQ to be informative (mne takes care of this).

Hope this is helpful.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![GeorgiaKiose](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/mne.discourse.group/georgiakiose/32/1146_2.png) [@GeorgiaKiose](https://mne.discourse.group/u/GeorgiaKiose)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 9:39am UTC](https://mne.discourse.group/t/import-ds-format-files/4331/6 "2022-02-16T09:39:30Z")

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Hi,

Thank you for your response. All these information are really helpful.  
I had to notice that the names of the files included in the ds folder had different name than the folder.

Georgia