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scanfits - scan a fits file, optionally extract and convert.
scanfits
in=fits_file [parameter=value]
scanfits reads a FITS file.
It scans the header for various FITS (mis)interpretations, and reports
on bad behaviour. Some of it can be fixed, in which case the header and/or
data can be output to a file. It is also possible to insert new card images
in a header.
FITS Header-Data Unit’s (HDU) can be extracted individually by
using the hdu keyword. 0 typically signifies all of the HDU’s in a file,
you can select them by number, 1 being the first.
Since scanfits can only
process disk FITS files, FITS files on tape have to be extracted using
dd(1)
or similar programs. See also notes in ccdfits(1NEMO)
how to process
fits files from tape.
This program was written while the author was on the
first FITS panel. The cfitsio package is now also providing a FITS checker
called fitsverify.
The following parameters are recognized in
order; they may be given in any order if the keyword is also given. Use
--help to confirm this man page is up to date.
- in=fits-infile
- input file,
in fits(5)
format. The input fits file is allowed to have many HDU’s. [no
default].
- out=fits-outfile
- output file, in fits(5)
format. If split=t this
is the basename of the output filename. The basename can contain a standard
printf(3)
expression (e.g. try%d.fits), in which case the HDU will be automatically
encoded in the output filename(s). If no filename is given, the input fits
file is only scanned, and a summary of the selected HDU’s is presented
(see also print=). The header can also be fixed up (see delete=, keep=,
insert= and fix= below), though the data cannot be modified, but it is
guaranteed that the size of the data portion on disk will be a multiple
of the logical block size (blocking * 2880, see below), even if the last
did not have this. [default: none].
- hdu=integer_list
- List of HDU’s of the
FITS file that need to be processed. ( Note: currently only one at a time
can be processed) Using a value of 0 will cause all HDU’s (the whole fits
file) to be read. [default: 0].
- delete=pattern
- A list of patterns can be
given, separated by comma’s. Note that no spaces can be used: a space is
considered part of the pattern. Each of these is matched against the card
images. If a match is found, that particular card images is deleted by blanking
the card. Blank lines can then be deleted from the FITS header using fix=BLANK,
see below. The list can be empty, in which case no action is undertaken.
Note that only one of keep= and delete= can be given. [default: none].
- keep=pattern
- A list of patterns can be given, separated by comma’s. Each of these is matched
against the card images. When all the card images have been scanned, only
the ones which were part of the keep patterns will not be blanked out. Blank
lines can subsequently be deleted from the header by using fix=BLANK,
see below. The list can be empty, in which case no action is undertaken.
Note that only one of keep= and delete= can be given. Note: Be careful when
using this keyword, and that the required keywords are not deleted this
way. [default: none].
- insert=hfile
- A list of files with (currently valid
FITS header format) header cards, which will be inserted *as is* just
before the END keyword in the above selected HDU’s. Note that these insertions
are done after any of the above mentioned optional keep, delete, fix etc.
To get an example file, extract an editable ASCII header with e.g. fitshead,
or see the example below. NOTE: The lines need to be exactly 80 characters
wide, any lines shorter than this will be blankfilled according to the
FITS rules, and any lines wider than 80 will be cut. [Default: none].
- fix=options
- List of fixes, separated by comma’s. Possible options are: ING, TUCSON, LF,
BLANK, ZERO, DECORDER, FIRST, LAST, Y2K, UNY2K and IRAF0. For an description
see the section FIXES below. The list can be empty, in which case no fixes
are applied. [default: none].
- print=pattern
- A list of patterns with which
a FITS keyword (really: the first 8 characters on a FITS card image) begins.
For these keywords the value or HISTORY/COMMENT is printed on lines starting
with a # symbol. Different header sections are separated with the ## symbol
in the first column. Note that is either keep= or delete= has been used,
the blanked header cards cannot be seen anymore via the print= keyword.
Note that printout is only active in scanmode. If an output file is created,
this keyword is not active. [Default: not used].
- blocking=factor
- Positive
integer that denotes the blocking factor with which the input file was
written. The second number is the blocking factor for output. If the second
number if not supplied, it is taken the same as the first one. The blocking
factor is the multiple of blocks of 2880 bytes with which the data is
to be read/written. The FITS standard allows the blocking factor to be from
1 to 10. Be aware that datafiles that need a blocking factor larger than
1, may not need it once the data is written to disk. [default: 1,1].
- select=header|data
- Select data, header or both (separated by comma’s) for output. [Default:
header,data].
- split=t|f
- Boolean (t/f) to designate that when an output file
is selected (out=) AND multiple files to be copied (file=0) the output
file is split into it’s ‘‘file’’ components. The fits-outfile name will then be
a base filename, and the program generates its own numeric extension. [Default:
false].
This is a list of the currently supported fixes for the header.
Each of them is applied in the order as they appear in the fix= keyword.
Their names have to be supplied in full, separated by commas. No spaces.
- ING
- Isaac Newton Group (ING) uses 9 blanks in the first column, followed
by the word ING, followed by a space, after which an ING specific keywords
start. If you want to promote these to regular keywords, a shift of 13 characters
to the left does the job. The 13 rightmost characters in the card image
are set to blank.
- TUCSON
- Certain FITS files coming out of NRAO TUCSON have card images starting
with SINGLDSH. The next 10 characters are used for another level of identification,
and at position 19 the actual FITS-like keyword starts. By using this option
the FITS keyword starting at position 19 is promoted to a real FITS keyword,
by shifting those 18 positions to the left. The 18 rightmost characters
in the card image are set to blank.
- LF
- Character 80 (the last one) in each header card image is patched with
a linefeed (newline) (hexadecimal 0x0A). This is useful to edit the header
with an ASCII editor on UNIX. It would normally be used with options=header.
See also fitshead(1NEMO)
if you don’t want to see trailing blanks.
- BLANK
- Delete all card images which are completeley blank. This is often
the result of either old style FITS files, or when card images had been
blanked before with delete=pattern or keep=pattern Since the fix is applied
after the blank only one run of scanfits is needed to blank out and delete
certain card images, e.g. scanfits in out delete=ING fix=BLANK.
- ZERO
- Replace all zero’s in the header by blanks.
- FIRST
- Retain only the first keyword if they occur multiple times in the
header. The other card images are blanked. HISTORY and COMMENT and anything
that does not have an ’=’ in column 9 are not affected.
- LAST
- Retain only the last keyword if they occur multiple times in the
header. The other card images are blanked. HISTORY and COMMENT and anything
that does not have an ’=’ in column 9 are not affected.
- Y2K
- If a keyword DATExxxx is present, and it matches the pattern "dd/mm/yy",
it will be transformed to "yyyy-mm-dd", which makes the file Y2K compliant.
FYI: the unix date(1)
command produces Y2K compliant with date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.%N,
where the subsecond .%N portion is optional. The old style is done with
date +%d/%m/%y, which does not sort lexically, and no timezone has been
applied. The TIME-OBS keyword has also been used before Y2K to record the
observation.
- UNY2K
- If a keyword DATExxxx is present, and it matches the pattern "yyyy-mm-dd",
it will be transformed to "dd/mm/yy", which makes the file non-Y2K compliant.
This might help you getting by some old readers. Highly discouraged of course.
- DECORDER
- If the keyword DECORDER is present, and it has a value T, it
will replace this keyword by a COMMENT and set a flag such that of all
data the bytes are byte swapped when read (or copied) according to abs(BITPIX).
- IRAF0
- Replace the FITS keyword HISTORY by COMMENT. This has been proven
useful to be able to see al that information by the iraf program imhead.
- PROMOTE
- Replace the first FITS keyword XTENSION with SIMPLE = T, so an
extension is promoted to become the primary HDU. Of course this only makes
sense if you are extracting single HDUs, e.g. via the hdu= or split=t options.
With all the possible editing capabilities, it is important
to know the processing order:
select the valid HDU’s, 0=all (hdu=)
delete header items by pattern matching (delete=)
keep header items by pattern matching (keep=)
insert new header items before the END card (insert=)
fix header items (in order of individual fix= components)
To extract the header in a pleasing manner, such that more(1)
can be used, one can use:
% scanfits in=junk.fits out=junk.header fix=LF select=header
or
% fitshead junk.fits > junk.header
where the latter example does not contain trailing blanks anymore.
ccdfits(1NEMO)
, dd(1)
, fits(5NEMO)
, fitshead(1NEMO)
, astfits(1)
https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/fitsio/
https://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/fits_verify.html
https://www.gnu.org/software/gnuastro/manual/html_node/Keyword-manipulation.html
Peter Teuben
~/src/image/fits scanfits.c
27-mar-90 V1.0 Written PJT
17-jul-90 V1.1 added fix=, blank= PJT
7-mar-91 V1.3 added split=,keep=, and TUSCON PJT
25-jul-91 V1.4 added the IRAF0 fix - blocking PJT
30-jul-91 V1.4b added Jeff Hesters brilliant DECORDER fix PJT
11-apr-92 V1.5 changed name of file= to hdu= PJT
7-aug-92 fixed ctype/ttype bugs in fits(3NEMO) PJT
13-jan-93 V1.7 insert= now implemented Arie! PJT
2-dec-98 V1.8 fix=PROMOTE for lgm’s nicmos PJT
15-oct-99 V1.8b fix=UNY2K (and Y2K)for Staguhn’s GILDAS pjt
23-dec-21 fixed -u flag for date PJT
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