.TH fitsort 1 "25 Jun 2001"
.SH NAME 
fitsort \- sort FITS header information from a list of files 
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B dfits 
<FITS files...> |
.B fitsort
<FITS keywords...>
.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
.B 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
.B dfits
utility.
.PP
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
.B fitsort
output into any spreadsheet, specify that fields shall be separated by
tabulations and entries separated by linefeeds.
.PP
Examples :
.br
.B dfits
*.fits |
.B fitsort
BITPIX NAXIS NAXIS1 NAXIS2
.PP
The output would look like:
.br
FILE           BITPIX   NAXIS    NAXIS1   NAXIS2
.br
file0001.fits  16       2        128      128
.br
file0002.fits  32       2        512      512
.br
\&.\.\.
.PP
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.
.PP
.B dfits
*.fits |
.B fitsort
"HIERARCH ESO INS LENS"
.PP
Another way of giving HIERARCH ESO keywords is to use the short FITS
notation, the above example can be given as:
.PP
.B dfits
*.fits |
.B fitsort
INS.LENS
.PP
Example: to retrieve the DPR keywords from an ESO FITS header, you would
use:
.PP
.B dfits
*.fits |
.B fitsort
To be completed...
DPR.CATG DPR.TYPE DPR.TECH
.PP
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
.B fitsort.
.PP
Notice that the keywords you give on the command-line are case-insensitive.
The above line is equivalent to:
.PP
.B dfits
*.fits |
.B fitsort
dpr.catg dpr.type dpr.tech
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.BI "-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
.B fitsort
from programs like awk or perl.
.SH FILES
.PP
Input files to 
.B dfits
shall all comply with FITS format.
.B fitsort
also supports HIERARCH ESO FITS format.
.SH SEE ALSO
.PP
.B dfits (1)