Output names

All output names may be created from wildcards and/or formed through indirection. However, this is not as flexible as the input scheme, and wildcards and indirection cannot be mixed. An example of an output specification is:

OUT > *

This means call all the output images the same as the input images and put them in the same directory. Not necessarily what you want to do. Alternatively:

OUT > *_debias

means call all the output images the same name as the associated input images, but append the string `_debias' to the names. A third option using wildcard methods is to replace the occurrences of a particular string within the input names with a new string, e.g.:

OUT > *|debias|flattened|

This will end with the image names having the string `debias' replaced with `flattened'. Indirection files follow the usual rules -- but if a wildcard is used in the file this must be the only entry -- and of course explicit names can be always be given for the output images in response to a prompt or on the command line.

When image names include the directories too, only the file name itself may be modified. Changing the directory of the output images (which otherwise will always be the same as the input images) is achieved by commands like:

IN > /temp/auser/raw/*_ccd
OUT > /home/auser/pro/*|_ccd|-pr|

Which in this case will take all the images `*_ccd' from one directory and create new images in the second directory replacing any occurrences of the string `_ccd' with `-pr'. Remember the `*' in output expressions represents only the names of the input images not the directory or any other information (such as the extension or the NDF's name within an HDS container file), these are only used if no `preferences' are shown in the output expression. To keep images from other directories in the current directory use commands like:

IN > elsewhere/*
OUT > ./*

If the input group was a set of images in an HDS container file, the output group will have the same structure. So if the file expo1234.sdf contains two NDFs called I1 and I2, then specifying

IN > expo1234
OUT > *-out

will write a new container file expo1234-out.sdf holding the output images as NDFs called I1 and I2.

In general the same rules apply for non-image output names (such as when position list access routines are not using image association to supply the name of the appropriate file), the only real difference is that when dealing with file names the complete name will be used (including the file type and directory information) and any substitutions must take this into account.

Output data frames are written as the format determined by your foreign data access setup. If you want to be sure of the type of your output images then append the appropriate file type (if you use the CONVERT defaults then output images without types are created as NDFs). So for instance repeating the above commands with FITS output images, you'd use:

OUT > *.fit

OUT > *_debias.fit

OUT > *.fit|debias|flattened|

IN > /temp/auser/raw/*_ccd.fit
OUT > /home/auser/pro/*.fit|_ccd|-pr|

IN > elsewhere/*.fit
OUT > ./*.fit