<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN"> <!--Converted with LaTeX2HTML 98.1p1 release (March 2nd, 1998) originally by Nikos Drakos (nikos@cbl.leeds.ac.uk), CBLU, University of Leeds * revised and updated by: Marcus Hennecke, Ross Moore, Herb Swan * with significant contributions from: Jens Lippmann, Marek Rouchal, Martin Wilck and others --> <HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Writing FITS</TITLE> <META NAME="description" CONTENT="Writing FITS"> <META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="vol1"> <META NAME="resource-type" CONTENT="document"> <META NAME="distribution" CONTENT="global"> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <LINK REL="STYLESHEET" HREF="vol1.css"> <LINK REL="previous" HREF="node124.html"> <LINK REL="up" HREF="node121.html"> <LINK REL="next" HREF="node126.html"> </HEAD> <BODY > <!--Navigation Panel--> <A NAME="tex2html2107" HREF="node126.html"> <IMG WIDTH="37" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="next" SRC="icons.gif/next_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME="tex2html2103" HREF="node121.html"> <IMG WIDTH="26" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="up" SRC="icons.gif/up_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME="tex2html2099" HREF="node124.html"> <IMG WIDTH="63" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="previous" SRC="icons.gif/previous_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME="tex2html2105" HREF="node1.html"> <IMG WIDTH="65" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="contents" SRC="icons.gif/contents_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME="tex2html2106" HREF="node216.html"> <IMG WIDTH="43" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="index" SRC="icons.gif/index_motif.gif"></A> <BR> <B> Next:</B> <A NAME="tex2html2108" HREF="node126.html">Bibliography</A> <B> Up:</B> <A NAME="tex2html2104" HREF="node121.html">Conversion between FITS and</A> <B> Previous:</B> <A NAME="tex2html2100" HREF="node124.html">Reading FITS</A> <BR> <BR> <!--End of Navigation Panel--> <H2><A NAME="SECTION001134000000000000000"> </A> <A NAME="ch07:writing-fits"> </A> <BR> Writing FITS </H2> Translation of MIDAS files to FITS format is done by the <TT>OUTTAPE</TT> command:<BLOCKQUOTE> <TT><TT>OUTTAPE cat[,list] device [flag] [dens,block] [type]</TT> </TT></BLOCKQUOTE>where the <TT>cat[,list]</TT> is a catalogue of files to be written with an optional list of numbers (see <TT>CREATE/xCAT</TT> for creation of catalogues). It can be defaulted by giving either `<TT>*</TT>' or `<TT>?</TT>' in which case all files in catalogues set by the <TT>SET/xCAT</TT> command are written out. A single file can be written by specifying it with its full name including extension. The <TT>device</TT> may specify an actual tape device, a prefix for disk files or an explicit file name for a single file. <P> The <TT>flag</TT> is an optional list of three one-character flags specifying the append mode, the amount of information listed on the senior terminal and in the log file and if the <TT>LHCUTS</TT> descriptor in the file should be used for scaling (see help file for full description). <P> Although the <TT>OUTTAPE</TT> command in principle can be used to write FITS files directly to disk, it is not convenient due to the naming scheme used. A better command for this purpose is:<BLOCKQUOTE> <TT><TT>OUTDISK/FITS in_files [out_spec] [option] [out_type]</TT></TT></BLOCKQUOTE>where <TT>in_files</TT> specifies the files to be converted to FITS (note: wildcard characters are supported). The <TT>out_spec</TT> can be used to control the names of the resulting FITS files where the basename of the input frame can be specified by given the string <TT>NAME=INPUT</TT>. For a more detailed description of the command check with the help-text. <P> <BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV ALIGN="CENTER"> <B>Note</DIV> <I>The default options of the <TT>OUTTAPE</TT> command will start at the current tape position. This may over-write previous data on the tape. Be sure to use the <TT>append</TT> flag if files have to be added to the tape. Or position the tape at end-of-information using operating system utilities before writing new files. Also use a <B>non-rewind</B> device name (<I>e.g.</I> <TT>/dev/nst1</TT>) when specifying a physical device - otherwise the operating system may rewind the tape by itself!</I></B></BLOCKQUOTE> <P> The <TT>dens,block</TT> parameter can specify the tape density (<I>e.g.</I> 1600 or 6250bpi) and a physical blocking factor in the range 1-10. By default, a blocking factor of 10 is used. Note that some old FITS readers may not be able to read blocked FITS files (<I>e.g.</I> IHAP) in which case a blocking on 1 must be given explicitly. The tape density is used only for 9-track 1/2-inch tapes. Some 1/2-inch tape devices require the density also to be set manually on the drive. <P> The <TT>type</TT> flag is used to specify the type of FITS format to write where `<TT>B</TT>' indicates basic FITS <I>i.e.</I> with integer format only. The default is `<TT>O</TT>' for original including floating point representation. <P> <HR> <!--Navigation Panel--> <A NAME="tex2html2107" HREF="node126.html"> <IMG WIDTH="37" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="next" SRC="icons.gif/next_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME="tex2html2103" HREF="node121.html"> <IMG WIDTH="26" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="up" SRC="icons.gif/up_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME="tex2html2099" HREF="node124.html"> <IMG WIDTH="63" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="previous" SRC="icons.gif/previous_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME="tex2html2105" HREF="node1.html"> <IMG WIDTH="65" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="contents" SRC="icons.gif/contents_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME="tex2html2106" HREF="node216.html"> <IMG WIDTH="43" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="index" SRC="icons.gif/index_motif.gif"></A> <BR> <B> Next:</B> <A NAME="tex2html2108" HREF="node126.html">Bibliography</A> <B> Up:</B> <A NAME="tex2html2104" HREF="node121.html">Conversion between FITS and</A> <B> Previous:</B> <A NAME="tex2html2100" HREF="node124.html">Reading FITS</A> <!--End of Navigation Panel--> <ADDRESS> <I>Petra Nass</I> <BR><I>1999-06-09</I> </ADDRESS> </BODY> </HTML>