# Install nco with Homebrew, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, zypper Command-line operators for netCDF and HDF files. Version 5.3.9 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-22. ## Install ```sh sudo av install brew:nco ``` Additional install commands: ### macOS - Homebrew (100%): ```sh brew install nco ``` Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata - MacPorts (94%): ```sh sudo port install nco ``` Evidence: MacPorts ports tree: science/nco/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ### Linux - Debian apt (92%): ```sh sudo apt install nco ``` Evidence: Debian stable package indexes: nco from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz - dnf (92%): ```sh sudo dnf install nco ``` Evidence: Fedora Rawhide package metadata: nco from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst - Nix (92%): ```sh nix profile install nixpkgs#nco ``` Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/nc/nco/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - zypper (92%): ```sh sudo zypper install libnco-5_3_9 ``` Evidence: openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: libnco-5_3_9 from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst ## Package facts - **Package key:** brew:nco - **Package manager:** Homebrew - **Package manager page:** - **Version:** 5.3.9 - **Source summary:** Command-line operators for netCDF and HDF files - **Homepage:** - **Repository:** - **Upstream docs:** - **License:** BSD-3-Clause - **Source archive:** - **Last updated:** 2026-06-22T14:05:35-07:00 - **Generated:** 2026-07-08T07:18:31+00:00 ## Executables - ncap2 (cli) - ncatted (cli) - ncbo (cli) - ncchecker (cli) - ncclimo (cli) - ncdiff (cli) - ncea (cli) - ncecat (cli) - nces (cli) - ncflint (cli) - ncks (cli) - ncpdq (cli) - ncra (cli) - ncrcat (cli) - ncremap (cli) - ncrename (cli) - ncwa (cli) - ncz2psx (cli) - ncap2 (alias) - ncatted (alias) - ncbo (alias) - ncchecker (alias) - ncclimo (alias) - ncdiff (alias) - ncea (alias) - ncecat (alias) - nces (alias) - ncflint (alias) - ncks (alias) - ncpdq (alias) - ncra (alias) - ncrcat (alias) - ncremap (alias) - ncrename (alias) - ncwa (alias) - ncz2psx (alias) ## Dependencies - gettext - gsl - netcdf - texinfo - udunits ## Build dependencies - gettext - openjdk ## Install behavior - Post-install hook: not defined - Bottle: available on arm64_linux, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_tahoe, sonoma, x86_64_linux ## Freshness - Page generated: 2026-07-08 - Package-manager version: 5.3.9 - Package-manager updated: 2026-06-22 - Local data: ok - Upstream repository: https://github.com/nco/nco - Upstream latest detected: 5.3.9 (current) ## Project history and usage NCO, the netCDF Operators, is a suite of standalone shell commands for manipulating netCDF, HDF, and DAP scientific-data files. The project sits in the geoscience data-tooling world: derive fields, compute statistics, print and hyperslab data, edit metadata, concatenate files, regrid data, and emit text, binary, or netCDF outputs. ### Project history Charlie Zender's NCO documentation traces the package back to software needs from NCAR, NASA, and ARM-funded work, with copyright beginning in 1995 and a May 1997 foreword offering the tools freely to the scientific community. Unidata's netCDF history places NCO 1.0 in June 1997, one month after netCDF 3.3. ### Adoption history NCO became a durable part of the netCDF ecosystem because it gives scientists scriptable Unix-style tools instead of requiring a custom C, Fortran, Python, MATLAB, or IDL program for every data-editing task. The project says SourceForge began hosting NCO in March 2000, which helped collaboration, contributions, and support. ### How it is used Package users reach for commands like ncks for inspection and extraction, ncrcat for record concatenation, ncra or ncwa for averages, ncatted and ncrename for metadata cleanup, ncap2 for derived variables, and ncremap/ncclimo for climate and regridding workflows. The shell-command style is the point: build reproducible data-processing pipelines with normal scripts. ### Why package nerds care NCO is a classic example of domain-specific CLI tooling that stayed relevant because the file format stayed relevant. It is important for package collections because it bridges lower-level libraries such as netCDF and HDF with practical batch workflows used by climate, atmospheric, oceanographic, and earth-system researchers. ### Timeline - 1995: NCO source/documentation copyright begins and the project describes itself as GPL open source since 1995. - June 1997: Unidata history records Charlie Zender releasing NCO 1.0. - March 2000: SourceForge hosting begins for collaboration and support. - 2008: Recommended software citation published in Environmental Modelling & Software. - 2020s: 5.x releases continue adding climate, remapping, compression, and model-workflow features. ### Related projects - netCDF, HDF4, HDF5, DAP, OPeNDAP, Unidata, ESMF, climate and geoscience model outputs ### Sources - - - - - - ## Security Notes narrow executable package without higher-risk signals. - **Geiger risk:** green / low - narrow executable package without higher-risk signals ## Source Database Details - **Source Database:** Homebrew formula API - **Tap:** homebrew/core - **Full Name:** nco - **Version Scheme:** 0 - **Revision:** 0 - **Head Version:** HEAD - **Bottle Stable Root URL:** - **Deprecated:** no - **Disabled:** no - **Keg Only:** no - **URL Keys:** head, stable ## Other Package-Manager Records - Debian apt - nco - 5.3.3-1: normalized package name match | Debian stable package indexes: nco from https://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz | Command-line operators to analyze netCDF files | http://nco.sourceforge.net/ - Nix - nco: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/nc/nco/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1 - Ubuntu apt - nco - 5.2.1-1build2: normalized package name match | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS package indexes: nco from https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz | Command-line operators to analyze netCDF files | http://nco.sourceforge.net/ - dnf - nco - 5.3.9-1.fc45: normalized package name match | Fedora Rawhide package metadata: nco from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst | Suite of programs for manipulating NetCDF/HDF4 files | http://nco.sourceforge.net/ - dnf - nco-devel - 5.3.9-1.fc45: normalized package name match | Fedora Rawhide package metadata: nco-devel from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst | Development files for NCO | http://nco.sourceforge.net/ - dnf - nco-static - 5.3.9-1.fc45: normalized package name match | Fedora Rawhide package metadata: nco-static from https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/Everything/x86_64/os/repodata/e5ca8ce900cd68f5419e1c39ae517343100b306336cbaeb70a3c153121d95094-primary.xml.zst | Static libraries for NCO | http://nco.sourceforge.net/ - zypper - libnco-5_3_9 - 5.3.9-1.1: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: libnco-5_3_9 from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | Libraries for accessing nco | https://github.com/nco/nco/ - zypper - libnco-devel - 5.3.9-1.1: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: libnco-devel from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | Development files for nco | https://github.com/nco/nco/ - zypper - libnco_c++-5_3_9 - 5.3.9-1.1: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: libnco_c++-5_3_9 from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | Libraries for accessing nco | https://github.com/nco/nco/ - zypper - nco - 5.3.9-1.1: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: nco from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | Suite of programs for manipulating NetCDF/HDF files | https://github.com/nco/nco/ - zypper - nco-doc - 5.3.9-1.1: normalized package name match | openSUSE Tumbleweed package metadata: nco-doc from https://download.opensuse.org/tumbleweed/repo/oss/repodata/be8d3611d25469107f32075a1697e69ec57a2b850b42348a658cc671ad5ec2b50760d02c3e59524d50da9a11d5be799bdaffba2e166e8ca8858512e3c0bd665d-primary.xml.zst | Documentation for nco | https://github.com/nco/nco/ - MacPorts - nco: normalized package name match | MacPorts ports tree: science/nco/Portfile from https://api.github.com/repos/macports/macports-ports/git/trees/master?recursive=1 ## Related links - [Terminal utility packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/terminal-utilities/) - Matched terminal and command-line workflow metadata. - [Networking and protocol packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/networking-protocol-tools/) - Matched network, protocol, or remote-service metadata. - [Database and data packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/database-data-tools/) - Matched database, SQL, migration, or data-store metadata. - [Scientific computing packages](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/scientific-computing-tools/) - Matched scientific computing metadata. - [gettext](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/gettext/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [gsl](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/gsl/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [netcdf](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/netcdf/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [texinfo](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/texinfo/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [udunits](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/udunits/) - Runtime dependency declared by Homebrew. - [openjdk](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/openjdk/) - Build dependency declared by Homebrew. - [cdi](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/cdi/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, climate, netcdf, science. - [pnetcdf](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/pnetcdf/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, netcdf, science, scientific-data. - [libdap](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/libdap/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, science, scientific-data. - [magics](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/magics/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, science, scientific-data. - [metview](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/metview/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, netcdf, science. - [ncview](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/ncview/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, netcdf, science. - [aamath](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/aamath/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, science. - [abpoa](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/abpoa/) - Shares av.db curated category or tags: cli, science. - [root](https://www.automicvault.com/pkg/brew/root/) - Local package facts share a topical domain. Shared terms: cli, data, gsl, science, scientific. ## Combined YAML source View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/nco.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/nco.yml) ## Sources - Nucleus package database - Geiger risk classifier - package-page enrichment - curated package history - package version freshness - av.db category and tag curation - package relationship graph - external package-manager database matches - cross-ecosystem install command graph