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fitshead - dump the header of a fits file, or convert ascii to fits
header
fitshead in=fits_file [parameter=value]
fitshead
reads FITS file(s) from disk and dumps the headers. Since fits(3NEMO)
routines
are used, various FITS (mis)interpretations may be reported. Try using
scanfits(1NEMO)
if really stuck.
FITS Header-Data Unit’s (HDU) can be extracted
individually by using the hdu= keyword.
Since fitshead can only process
disk FITS files, FITS files on tape have to be extracted from tape using
dd(1)
or similar programs. See also notes in ccdfits(1NEMO)
how to process
fits files from tape.
The following parameters are recognized
in any order if the keyword is also given:
- in=input_file
- An input file.
It can either be a fits file, or, if out= is also specified, a regular
ascii file which is assumed to be in fits-header format. If the input file
is in fits format, it may contain several HDU’s, and the hdu= keyword can
be used to make sub-selections. [no default].
- hdu=integer_list
- List of file
numbers of the FITS file that need to be worked on. For now each Header+Data
counts as a FITS file, which is not perhaps meant to be its true meaning.
Extensions would be counted as a separate FITS file: in such cases file=1,2
would have to be supplied to copy both the primary HDU and its first extension.
Using a value of 0 will cause all FITS files to be read. [default: 0].
- blocking=factor
- Positive integer that denotes the blocking factor with which the input
file was written. It is the multiple of blocks of 2880 bytes. The FITS standard
allows the blocking factor to be from 1 to 10. [default: 1]. Not supported
yet
- out=
- Optional output if conversion from ascii text to FITS header format
is needed. If given, the input file should must be an ascii file, and not
contain strange control characters. (a NULL can trigger erroneous conversions).
However, no checking is done if the input file is properly formatted (see
fits(5NEMO)
).
- counter=t|fP
- Add line counter to output? Not used yet.
Consider
fixing the CTYPE1 and CTYPE2 keywords of a large number of FITS files from
’LL’,’MM’ to ’RA---TAN’,’DEC--TAN’:
% fitshead map1.fits | grep -i ctype > ctype.fix
% $EDITOR ctype.fix
% foreach f (*.fits)
scanfits $f $f.new delete=CTYPE1,CTYPE2 fix=ctype.fix
end
Generic editing of a FITS header can be done in the following way (assuming
there is only one HDU in the FITS file):
% fitshead map1.fits > map1.txt
% $EDITOR map1.txt
% fitshead map1.txt out=map1.head
% scanfits map1.fits map1.data select=data
% cat map1.head map1.data > map2.fits
The unix command fold(1)
can also - with some limitations - be used to view
a FITS header by specifying the width to be 80 characters, viz.
% fold -80 map1.fits | more
equally so, dd(1)
:
% dd cbs=80 conv=unblock in=map1.fits | more
Stripping trailing white space is sometimes needed to compare fits headers
with the diff(1)
program:
% fitshead ngc6503.fits | sed ’s/ *$//’ > ngc6503.fitshead
scanfits(1NEMO)
, fits(5NEMO)
, dd(1)
, fold(1)
, diff(1)
, sed(1)
fitsheader
is a popular program in many packages, e.g. in astropy-utils
Peter Teuben
~/src/image/fits fitshead.c
12-apr-91 V1.0 Written, cloned off scanfits - and docced PJT
13-apr-92 V1.1 Renamed file= to hdu= PJT
13-apr-94 V1.2a added out= to convert ascii to fits header PJT
23-may-95 V1.2b fixed bug in conversion to header format PJT
6-oct-11 V1.3b fixed bug for large files PJT
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