NAME
fitsort - sort FITS header information from a list of files
SYNOPSIS
dfits <FITS files...> | fitsort <FITS keywords...>
DESCRIPTION
fitsort extract keyword values from a set of FITS headers and outputs
it in an ASCII table format, which is compatible with most data
processing software packages. It shall only be used in combination with
the dfits utility.
The ASCII output is shown in columns. Columns are aligned with blank
characters and also separated by tabulations. Blank alignment allows
human readers to visualize the output in a pretty format, tabulations
are there for spreadsheet compatibility. If you want to load out
fitsort output into any spreadsheet, specify that fields shall be
separated by tabulations and entries separated by linefeeds.
Examples :
dfits *.fits | fitsort BITPIX NAXIS NAXIS1 NAXIS2
The output would look like:
FILE BITPIX NAXIS NAXIS1 NAXIS2
file0001.fits 16 2 128 128
file0002.fits 32 2 512 512
...
ESO specific features in the FITS header are also supported. To get
values for ’HIERARCH ESO’ keywords, just give the complete names within
double quotes. e.g.
dfits *.fits | fitsort "HIERARCH ESO INS LENS"
Another way of giving HIERARCH ESO keywords is to use the short FITS
notation, the above example can be given as:
dfits *.fits | fitsort INS.LENS
Example: to retrieve the DPR keywords from an ESO FITS header, you
would use:
dfits *.fits | fitsort To be completed... DPR.CATG DPR.TYPE DPR.TECH
This second way of requesting HIERARCH ESO keywords is not only shorter
to type, it also avoids typing quotes or double-quotes on the command-
line, making it easier to script with fitsort.
Notice that the keywords you give on the command-line are case-
insensitive. The above line is equivalent to:
dfits *.fits | fitsort dpr.catg dpr.type dpr.tech
OPTIONS
-d Do not print out the first output line. This option is useful to
get only the query results, without the top line (giving all
column names). This makes it easy to script fitsort from
programs like awk or perl.
FILES
Input files to dfits shall all comply with FITS format. fitsort also
supports HIERARCH ESO FITS format.
SEE ALSO
dfits (1)
25 Jun 2001 fitsort(1)