# Regression in 6.1.0: vtkPVDReader fails to parse E+0N scientific-notation timestep values (works in 6.0)

**URL:** https://discourse.paraview.org/t/regression-in-6-1-0-vtkpvdreader-fails-to-parse-e-0n-scientific-notation-timestep-values-works-in-6-0/17620
**Category:** ParaView Support
**Created:** [June 15, 2026, 2:45pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/regression-in-6-1-0-vtkpvdreader-fails-to-parse-e-0n-scientific-notation-timestep-values-works-in-6-0/17620 "2026-06-15T14:45:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![ebreard](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/ebreard/32/2421_2.png) [@ebreard](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/ebreard)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2026, 2:45pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/regression-in-6-1-0-vtkpvdreader-fails-to-parse-e-0n-scientific-notation-timestep-values-works-in-6-0/17620/1 "2026-06-15T14:45:07Z")

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When opening a `.pvd` file in ParaView 6.1.0, the PVD reader fails to parse `timestep` attribute values that are written in scientific notation with an explicit-sign exponent (e.g. `0.8006087E+01`). For every timestep entry, it emits:

```auto
ERROR: In vtkPVDReader.cxx, line 175
vtkPVDReader (0x...): Could not parse timestep string: 0.8006087E+01 Setting time value to 0

```

As a result every timestep is set to `0`, so the dataset loads with no usable time information.

The same `.pvd` file:

- opens correctly in **ParaView 6.0.0** with all timesteps parsed, and

- the referenced `.vtu` files open without any problem in 6.1.0 (the issue is isolated to PVD timestep parsing, not the underlying data).

I attach the attach the `VSLICE_0000.zip` to reproduce the issue.

Best,

E.

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### Author: ![mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/mwestphal/32/17_2.png) [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2026, 8:44am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/regression-in-6-1-0-vtkpvdreader-fails-to-parse-e-0n-scientific-notation-timestep-values-works-in-6-0/17620/2 "2026-06-16T08:44:26Z")

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Sounds like vtk::format issue ?

@spyridon97 wdyt ?

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### Author: ![ebreard](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/ebreard/32/2421_2.png) [@ebreard](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/ebreard)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2026, 12:58pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/regression-in-6-1-0-vtkpvdreader-fails-to-parse-e-0n-scientific-notation-timestep-values-works-in-6-0/17620/3 "2026-06-16T12:58:03Z")

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I suppose so. I used version 6.1.0 with NetCDF files without any issues and just ran into the vtk issues.

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### Author: ![spyridon97](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/spyridon97/32/11569_2.png) [@spyridon97](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/spyridon97)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2026, 2:35pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/regression-in-6-1-0-vtkpvdreader-fails-to-parse-e-0n-scientific-notation-timestep-values-works-in-6-0/17620/4 "2026-06-16T14:35:13Z")

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The fix is here!

[https://gitlab.kitware.com/paraview/paraview/-/merge\_requests/7827](https://gitlab.kitware.com/paraview/paraview/-/merge_requests/7827)

thanks for finding this bug.