# xarray.decode_cf

`xarray.``decode_cf`(obj, concat_characters=True, mask_and_scale=True, decode_times=True, decode_coords=True, drop_variables=None)

  Decode the given Dataset or Datastore according to CF conventions into a new Dataset.

  Parameters:

  obj : Dataset or DataStore

  > Object to decode.

  concat_characters : bool, optional

  > Should character arrays be concatenated to strings, for example: [‘h’, ‘e’, ‘l’, ‘l’, ‘o’] -> ‘hello’

  mask_and_scale: bool, optional

  > Lazily scale (using scale_factor and add_offset) and mask (using _FillValue).

  decode_times : bool, optional

  > Decode cf times (e.g., integers since ‘hours since 2000-01-01’) to np.datetime64.

  decode_coords : bool, optional

  > Use the ‘coordinates’ attribute on variable (or the dataset itself) to identify coordinates.

  drop_variables: string or iterable, optional

  > A variable or list of variables to exclude from being parsed from the dataset. This may be useful to drop variables with problems or inconsistent values.

  Returns: | decoded : Dataset