# pandas.read_hdf

`pandas.``read_hdf`(path_or_buf, key=None, mode='r', **kwargs)

  read from the store, close it if we opened it

  Retrieve pandas object stored in file, optionally based on where criteria

  Parameters:

  path_or_buf : path (string), buffer or path object (pathlib.Path or

  > py._path.local.LocalPath) designating the file to open, or an already opened pd.HDFStore object

  > New in version 0.19.0: support for pathlib, py.path.

  key : group identifier in the store. Can be omitted if the HDF file

  > contains a single pandas object.

  mode : string, {‘r’, ‘r+’, ‘a’}, default ‘r’. Mode to use when opening

  > the file. Ignored if path_or_buf is a pd.HDFStore.

  where : list of Term (or convertable) objects, optional

  start : optional, integer (defaults to None), row number to start

  > selection

  stop : optional, integer (defaults to None), row number to stop

  > selection

  columns : optional, a list of columns that if not None, will limit the

  > return columns

  iterator : optional, boolean, return an iterator, default False

  chunksize : optional, nrows to include in iteration, return an iterator

  Returns: | The selected object

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