Index: /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/io/loadvars.py
===================================================================
--- /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/io/loadvars.py	(revision 13937)
+++ /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/io/loadvars.py	(revision 13937)
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+import shelve
+import os.path
+
+def loadvars(*args):
+	"""
+	LOADVARS - function to load variables to a file.
+
+	This function loads one or more variables from a file.  The names of the variables
+	must be supplied.  If more than one variable is specified, it may be done with
+	a list of names or a dictionary of name as keys.  The output type will correspond
+	to the input type.  All the variables in the file may be loaded by specifying an
+	empty dictionary.
+
+	Usage:
+	   a=loadvars('a','file.dat')
+	   [a,b]=loadvars(['a','b'],'file.dat')
+	   nvdict=loadvars({'a':None,'b':None},'file.dat')
+	   nvdict=loadvars({},'file.dat')
+
+	"""
+
+	nvdict={}
+	filename=''
+
+	if   isinstance(args[0],(str,unicode)):    # (name,filename)
+		nvdict[args[0]]=None
+		if len(args) >= 2 and isinstance(args[1],(str,unicode)):
+			filename=args[1]
+
+	elif isinstance(args[0],list):    # ([names],filename)
+		for name in args[0]:
+			nvdict[name]=None
+		if len(args) >= 2 and isinstance(args[1],(str,unicode)):
+			filename=args[1]
+
+	elif isinstance(args[0],dict):    # ({names:values},filename)
+		nvdict=args[0]
+		if len(args) >= 2 and isinstance(args[1],(str,unicode)):
+			filename=args[1]
+
+	else:
+		raise TypeError("Unrecognized input arguments.")
+
+	if not filename:
+		filename='/tmp/shelve.out'
+	if os.path.exists(filename):
+		print "Loading variables from file '%s'." % filename
+	else:
+		raise IOError("File '%s' not found." % filename)
+
+	my_shelf = shelve.open(filename,'r') # 'r' for read-only
+
+	if nvdict:
+		for name in nvdict.iterkeys():
+			try:
+				nvdict[name] = my_shelf[name]
+				print "Variable '%s' loaded." % name
+			except KeyError:
+				value = None
+				print "Variable '%s' not found." % name
+
+	else:
+		for name in my_shelf.iterkeys():
+			nvdict[name] = my_shelf[name]
+			print "Variable '%s' loaded." % name
+
+	my_shelf.close()
+
+	if   isinstance(args[0],(str,unicode)):    # (name,filename)
+		return nvdict[args[0]]
+
+	elif isinstance(args[0],list):    # ([names],filename)
+		value=[nvdict[name] for name in args[0]]
+		return value
+
+	elif isinstance(args[0],dict):    # ({names:values},filename)
+		return nvdict
+
Index: /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/io/savevars.py
===================================================================
--- /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/io/savevars.py	(revision 13937)
+++ /issm/trunk-jpl/src/m/io/savevars.py	(revision 13937)
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+import shelve
+import os.path
+
+def savevars(*args):
+	"""
+	SAVEVARS - function to save variables to a file.
+
+	This function saves one or more variables to a file.  The names of the variables
+	must be supplied.  If more than one variable is specified, it may be done with
+	lists of names and values or a dictionary of name:value pairs.  All the variables
+	in the workspace may be saved by specifying the globals() dictionary, but this
+	may include a lot of extraneous data.
+
+	Usage:
+	   savevars('a',a,'file.dat')
+	   savevars(['a','b'],[a,b],'file.dat')
+	   savevars({'a':a,'b':b},'file.dat')
+	   savevars(globals(),'file.dat')
+
+	"""
+
+	nvdict={}
+	filename=''
+
+	if   isinstance(args[0],(str,unicode)):    # (name,value,filename)
+		nvdict[args[0]]=args[1]
+		if len(args) >= 3 and isinstance(args[2],(str,unicode)):
+			filename=args[2]
+
+	elif isinstance(args[0],list):    # ([names],[values],filename)
+		for name,value in zip(args[0],args[1]):
+			nvdict[name]=value
+		if len(args) >= 3 and isinstance(args[2],(str,unicode)):
+			filename=args[2]
+
+	elif isinstance(args[0],dict):    # ({names:values},filename)
+		nvdict=args[0]
+		if len(args) >= 2 and isinstance(args[1],(str,unicode)):
+			filename=args[1]
+
+	else:
+		raise TypeError("Unrecognized input arguments.")
+
+	if not filename:
+		filename='/tmp/shelve.out'
+	if os.path.exists(filename):
+		print "Shelving variables to existing file '%s'." % filename
+	else:
+		print "Shelving variables to new file '%s'." % filename
+
+	my_shelf = shelve.open(filename,'c') # 'c' for create if not exist, else 'n' for new
+
+	for name,value in nvdict.iteritems():
+		try:
+			my_shelf[name] = value
+			print "Variable '%s' shelved." % name
+		except TypeError:
+			print "Variable '%s' not shelved." % name
+
+	my_shelf.close()
+