NAME¶
starconvert - convert text data files to StarPlot format
SYNOPSIS¶
starconvert [
options ]
spec-file input-file [
output-file ]
DESCRIPTION¶
Although many stellar data files are publicly available on the Internet from
NASA and other astronomical organizations, there is no set format for these
files. The program starconvert acts as a buffer between this confusion and the
format in which StarPlot requires data files. To do so, it uses a
specification file that details how various fields of stellar data (name,
distance, right ascension, etc.) may be extracted from the original data file.
On the StarPlot web site are available some packages of data that include both
an original data file from NASA, and also a specification file. These packages
are referred to as "data sets", from which starconvert can produce a
data file in StarPlot format. For ease of use, this should be done via the
starpkg(1) shell script.
The starconvert command uses the specifications in
spec-file to convert
input-file to StarPlot data format and writes the results to
output-file if specified, or standard output if not. The first two
arguments are required. Exactly ONE may be replaced with a dash `-' for
reading from standard input.
OPTIONS¶
- --
- Signals the end of the options. This allows you to use a spec-file whose
filename begins with the '-' character.
- --add-sun
- Add an entry for the Sun to the generated StarPlot-format data file, if it
is not already present in the original raw data file. This is the default
behavior, so this flag has an effect only if it reverses an earlier
--no-add-sun flag.
- --no-add-sun
- Do not add an entry for the Sun to the generated StarPlot-format data
file, unless it is present in the original raw data file. Adding the Sun
is otherwise done by default, since most star catalogs do not include
it.
SPECIFICATION FILES¶
For detailed information on how to write a specification file, see the example
file listed below. Be aware that I expect to change the default format of
starconvert spec files after version 1.0, although starconvert will remain
backwards-compatible.
FILES¶
/usr/share/doc/starplot/ - Contains documentation
/usr/share/doc/starplot/examples/example.spec - Example specification
file
SEE ALSO¶
starplot(1),
starpkg(1)
AUTHOR¶
Copyright © 2000-2002 under the GNU GPL by Kevin B. McCarty
<starplot@starplot.org>. The StarPlot web page is at
www.starplot.org.