# obspy.core.event.read_events

`read_events`(pathname_or_url=None, format=None, **kwargs)

  Read event files into an ObsPy Catalog object.

  The `read_events()` function opens either one or multiple event files given via file name or URL using the `pathname_or_url` attribute.

  Parameters: | pathname_or_url (str or StringIO.StringIO) String containing a file name or a URL or a open file-like object. Wildcards are allowed for a file name. If this attribute is omitted, an example `Catalog` object will be returned. format (str) Format of the file to read (e.g. `"QUAKEML"`). See the Supported Formats section below for a list of supported formats.
  Return type: | `Catalog`
  Returns: | An ObsPy `Catalog` object.

  Supported Formats

  Additional ObsPy modules extend the functionality of the `read_events()` function. The following table summarizes all known file formats currently supported by ObsPy.

  Please refer to the Linked Function Call of each module for any extra options available at the import stage.

  Format | Used Module | Linked Function Call
  --- | --- | ---
  CMTSOLUTION | `obspy.io.cmtsolution` | `obspy.io.cmtsolution.core._read_cmtsolution()`
  FNETMT | `obspy.io.nied` | `obspy.io.nied.fnetmt._read_fnetmt_catalog()`
  GSE2 | `obspy.io.gse2` | `obspy.io.gse2.bulletin._read_gse2()`
  IMS10BULLETIN | `obspy.io.iaspei` | `obspy.io.iaspei.core._read_ims10_bulletin()`
  MCHEDR | `obspy.io.pde` | `obspy.io.pde.mchedr._read_mchedr()`
  NDK | `obspy.io.ndk` | `obspy.io.ndk.core._read_ndk()`
  NLLOC_HYP | `obspy.io.nlloc` | `obspy.io.nlloc.core.read_nlloc_hyp()`
  NORDIC | `obspy.io.nordic` | `obspy.io.nordic.core.read_nordic()`
  QUAKEML | `obspy.io.quakeml` | `obspy.io.quakeml.core._read_quakeml()`
  SC3ML | `obspy.io.seiscomp` | `obspy.io.seiscomp.event._read_sc3ml()`
  SCARDEC | `obspy.io.scardec` | `obspy.io.scardec.core._read_scardec()`
  ZMAP | `obspy.io.zmap` | `obspy.io.zmap.core._read_zmap()`

  Next to the `read_events()` function the `write()` method of the returned `Catalog` object can be used to export the data to the file system.

### Thank you!

We would like to thank our contributors, whose efforts make this software what it is. These people have helped by writing code and documentation, and by testing. They have created and maintained this product, its associated libraries and applications, our build tools and our web sites.

#### Contributors

- Ackerley, Nick
- Allgeyer, Sebastien
- Ammon, Charles J.
- Antunes, Emanuel
- Arnarsson, Ólafur St.
- Bank, Markus
- Barsch, Robert
- Behr, Yannik
- Bernardi, Fabrizio
- Bernauer, Felix
- Bes de Berc, Maxime
- Beyreuther, Moritz
- Boltz, Shawn
- Bonaimé, Sébastien
- Carothers, Lloyd
- Chamberlain, Calum
- Chambers, Derrick
- Chen, Zhao
- Clark, Adam
- Danecek, Peter
- Egdorf, Sven
- Engels, Fabian
- Ermert, Laura
- Eulenfeld, Tom

- Fabbri, Tommaso
- Falco, Nicholas
- Fee, Jeremy
- Grellier, Clément
- Grunberg, Marc
- Hammer, Conny
- Heimann, Sebastian
- Heiniger, Lukas
- Hope, Gaute
- Igel, Heiner
- Inza, Adolfo
- Isken, Marius
- Ketchum, David
- Koymans, Mathijs
- Kremers, Simon
- Kress, Victor
- Krieger, Lars
- Krischer, Lion
- Kula, Damian
- Käufl, Paul
- Köhler, Andreas
- Lecocq, Thomas
- Leeman, John
- Legovini, Paride

- Lesage, Philippe
- Li, Yulin
- Lomax, Anthony
- Lopes, Rui L.
- MacCarthy, Jonathan
- Maggi, Alessia
- Martin, Henri
- Medlin, Andrew
- Megies, Tobias
- Meschede, Matthias
- Michelini, Alberto
- Miller, Nathaniel C.
- Morgenstern, Bernhard
- Nof, Ran Novitsky
- Panning, Mark P.
- Parker, Tom
- Pestourie, Romain
- Rapagnani, Giovanni
- Reyes, Celso
- Ringler, Adam
- Rothenhäusler, Nicolas
- Russo, Emiliano
- Sales de Andrade, Elliott

- Satriano, Claudio
- Saul, Joachim
- Scheingraber, Chris
- Schneider, Simon
- Sippl, Christian
- Snoke, Arthur
- Stange, Stefan
- Stähler, Simon C.
- Sullivan, Benjamin
- Tian, Dongdong
- Trabant, Chad
- Trani, Luca
- Uieda, Leonardo
- Walker, Andrew
- Walther, Marcus
- Wassermann, Joachim
- Williams, Mark C.
- Winkelman, Andrew
- Zaccarelli, Riccardo
- Zad, Seyed Kasra Hosseini
- Zhu, Lijun
- van Driel, Martin
- van Wijk, Kasper

#### Funds

ObsPy was partially funded by the

- German Science Foundation (DFG) via grant DFG IG 16/9-1
- German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), GEOTECHNOLOGIEN grant 03G0646H.
- NERA project (Network of European Research Infrastructures for Earthquake Risk Assessment and Mitigation) under the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) grant agreement n° 262330
- Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics (LIAG)
- VERCE EU-FP7 project (no. 283543)