NAME

flcol -- List FITS table column information.

USAGE

        flcol filename[ext#]

DESCRIPTION

This task lists information about the columns in an ASCII or binary table extension in a FITS file. By default the output is written to the terminal (STDOUT), but the 'outfile' parameter may be used to direct the output to an ASCII file instead. There is one line of output for each column in the table, and each output line may contain the column name, FITS data type, and units of the column.

PARAMETERS

infile [file name]

A file name (and extension number in square brackets) for which column information is to be listed. If an asterisk is input for the extension number, then all table extensions in the FITS file will be listed (e.g., 'FILENAME.FITS[*]')

(nlist = 3) [integer, min=1, max=3]

The number of items to list. The output will consist of 'nlist' columns, one line for each column that is defined in the table. The items listed out are column name (displayed for all 'nlist' values), data type (displayed if 'nlist' is 2 or higher), and units (if 'nlist' is 3). If 'nlist = 1', only the column name will be displayed; the output list may be edited and used as input to other tasks such as 'ftabcopy'. Set 'nlist' to 3 to generate a list that can be used as an input column-description file for the 'fcreate' task.

(outfile = STDOUT) [file name]

An optional name of the output ASCII file into which the column information will be written. The default of 'STDOUT' directs output to the terminal. If preceeded by !, an existing file of the same name will be overwritten.

(clobber = no) [boolean]

If true, an existing file of the same name as the requested output filename will be overwritten.

EXAMPLES

1. Display the names, data types, and units of all the columns in all the table extensions in the FITS file 'test.fits':

     
             ft> flcol test.fits[*]

2. Display the column names in the first extension of the test.fits FITS file and write the output to an ASCII file called test.out:

     
             ft> flcol test.fits nlist=1 outfile=test.out

BUGS

SEE ALSO

ftlist, ftcopy, ftverify. fv, the interactive FITS file editor, can also be used to list the columns of a table.

CATEGORY