The data structure of an AIF is comprised of comment lines and data blocks, which contain the required metadata and quantities related to the adsorption experiment, separated for adsorption and desorption (Figure ). Files can contain any number of data blocks to represent multiple experiments. Fundamentally, a data block is a data cell containing a sequence of data items, known as data loops. It starts with a data block code statement (data example) where a block code is a unique identifying code in a file. A data block is closed by either another data block code statement or the end of file. Comment lines can be placed anywhere in the file and are identified by a hash (#) symbol. As these comment lines do not necessarily represent structured data, which is able to be easily parsed, it is not recommended to solely include important experimental conditions in this way. Single values or strings can be included within a data block using the data name and data value pairs. Data values are preceded by an identifying data name that is identified by an underscore character, for example temperature. A data loop structure consists of a loop statement (loop ) followed by a list of data names and then a list of data, each of which contains data values that match the data names in the list of data names. Although data loops can be nested at any level, this is not necessary for the current implementation. Importantly, data values that follow the nested data declarations must be in exact multiples of the number of data names (which are referred to as loop packets). The data loops, as used here, are terminated by a new data item, a new data loop or an end of file. Thus, these data loops can straightforwardly represent the data recorded at each point of an adsorption and desorption experiment, for example, the pressure and quantities adsorbed. The above data structures of the STAR format prove ideal for describing the detailed quantities relating to an adsorption experiment. An entire experiment can be described within a single data block. Initially, data name and data value pairs can be used to identify quantities relating to the whole experiment, such as the date and time, temperature and adsorptive. The data points for the adsorption and desorption branch can then be detailed in separate data loops. For each point, quantities such as the absolute pressure, relative pressure and amount adsorbed can be detailed. This leads us to the general data structure for the AIF (Figure ).