RLE (cellular automata)

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File Format
Name RLE (cellular automata)
Ontology
Extension(s) .rle, .l, .rle3
Released ≤1999?[1]

RLE is a format used for storing patterns of cellular automata. As the name suggests, it uses run-length encoding. It was designed by David Buckingham.[2] The basic format is very simple, but different people have made their own modified versions of it over the years.

Contents

Identification

Standard, minimal RLE files will begin with ASCII "x =".[3]

Specifications

Software

RLE seems to be very widely-supported; therefore, a list of programs supporting it would almost amount to a list of all CA software.

Variants

  • Extended RLE, used by the program Golly
  • dbLife, used for David I. Bell's collection dbLifeLib
  • RLE3, an extension for storing 3-dimensional patterns (see the Golly changelog, "Changes in version 3.2 (released July 2018)")

Links

See Also

References

  1. MCell, which was based on RLE, seems to have been released in 1999 (see its page for details)
  2. http://golly.sourceforge.net/Help/formats.html#rle
  3. http://www.mirekw.com/ca/ca_files_formats.html#RLE
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