diff --git a/lib/imc_channel.hpp b/lib/imc_channel.hpp
index 578957d..77450ec 100644
--- a/lib/imc_channel.hpp
+++ b/lib/imc_channel.hpp
@@ -375,9 +375,9 @@ namespace imc
       if ( sep == ' ' )
       {
         fou<<std::setw(width)<<std::left<<xname_
-          <<std::setw(width)<<std::left<<yname_<<"\n"
-          <<std::setw(width)<<std::left<<xunit_
-          <<std::setw(width)<<std::left<<yunit_<<"\n";
+           <<std::setw(width)<<std::left<<yname_<<"\n"
+           <<std::setw(width)<<std::left<<xunit_
+           <<std::setw(width)<<std::left<<yunit_<<"\n";
       }
       else
       {
@@ -388,7 +388,8 @@ namespace imc
       {
         if ( sep == ' ' )
         {
-          fou<<std::setw(width)<<std::left<<xdata_[i]
+          fou<<std::setprecision(9)<<std::fixed
+             <<std::setw(width)<<std::left<<xdata_[i]
              <<std::setw(width)<<std::left<<ydata_[i]<<"\n";
         }
         else
diff --git a/lib/imc_raw.hpp b/lib/imc_raw.hpp
index d7b590c..7893903 100644
--- a/lib/imc_raw.hpp
+++ b/lib/imc_raw.hpp
@@ -329,7 +329,7 @@ namespace imc
     {
       // check for given directory
       std::filesystem::path pd = output;
-      if ( std::filesystem::is_directory(pd) )
+      if ( !std::filesystem::is_directory(pd) )
       {
         throw std::runtime_error("given directory does not exist");
       }
@@ -338,7 +338,9 @@ namespace imc
                                                          it != channels_.end(); ++it)
       {
         // construct filename
-        std::string filenam = std::string("channel_") + it->first + std::string(".csv");
+        std::string chid = std::string("channel_") + it->first;
+        std::string filenam = it->second.name_.empty() ? chid + std::string(".csv")
+                                           : it->second.name_ + std::string(".csv");
         std::filesystem::path pf = pd / filenam;
 
         // and print the channel
diff --git a/src/main.cpp b/src/main.cpp
index e54bd58..660ff1a 100644
--- a/src/main.cpp
+++ b/src/main.cpp
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ void show_usage()
            // <<" -g, --listgroups        list channelgroups\n"
            <<" -c, --listchannels      list channels\n"
            <<" -b, --listblocks        list IMC key-blocks\n"
-           <<" -d, --output            output directory\n"
+           <<" -d, --output            output directory to print channels\n"
            <<" -h, --help              show this help message \n"
            <<" -v, --version           display version\n"
            <<"\n";
@@ -198,9 +198,13 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[])
     }
 
     // print channel(s) to certain directory
-    if ( cfgopts.count("directory") == 1 )
+    if ( cfgopts.count("output") == 1 )
     {
-      std::cout<<cfgopts.at("directory")<<"\n";
+      try {
+        imcraw.print_channels(cfgopts.at("output"));
+      } catch (const std::exception& e) {
+        std::cerr<<"failed to print channels for "<<rawfile<<": "<<e.what()<<"\n";
+      }
     }
 
   }