.help hkunexpand Feb98 ftools.heasarc
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NAME
hkunexpand -- Compress an expanded ASCA housekeeping (HK) parameter FITS table.
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USAGE
hkunexpand infile[ext#] outfile
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DESCRIPTION
This task generates a compressed ASCA HK table from an uncompressed table.
The compressed table just contains 3 column (time, parameter name, and
parameter value) which list each HK parameter whenever its value
has changed. The input uncompressed HK table has an individual
column for the value of each parameter. Values are only written to
the compressed table when they have changed from their previous state.
The data type of the output value column can be either scalar(integer or
real) or character.  However, combinations of the scalar columns and 
string columns (character) are not allowed in the output file. The conversion 
from scalar columns  to  string columns or vice versa are also prohibited. 
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PARAMETERS
.ls infile [filename]
The file name and extension number in square brackets of the input
uncompressed HK table.
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.ls outfile [filename]
The name of the compressed HK table to be created.  This FITS file will
contain a null primary array followed by a binary table extension
containing the compressed HK parameters.
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.ls (name = "name") [string]
The column name in output file to contain the housekeeping parameter
names.
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.ls (value = "value") [string]
The column name in output file to contain the housekeeping parameter
values.
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.ls (time = "time") [string]
The column name in input and output tables containing the housekeeping
parameter time stamp.
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.ls (tnull = " ") [string]
The TNULL keyword value for undefined table values in output file. A blank
indicates no TNULL keywords are to be generated. However, for
string values (type "A"), the tnull is always " " regardless of 
what tnull string is given.

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.ls (outtype = " ") [string]
The datatype of output columns.
The outtype can be "B"(byte), "S"(2 byte short), "I"(4 byte integer), 
"F" or "E"(single precision real), "R" or "D" (double precision real) 
and "A" (string with 30 characters). If none of the above is given, 
for the  scalar input file, the outtype  will take  the highest 
one in the input columns according to  the hierarchy of  Byte < short integer <
(integer, single precision real) < double precision. For the string 
input file, the outtype will be "A". 
(OBSOLETE: The default is integer, unless outtype = "R".)
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.ls (copyall = yes) [boolean]
If true, all other extensions are copied to the output file.
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EXAMPLES
.nf
1.    Create a compressed HK file called unxhk.fits from the uncompressed
      HK FITS file hk.fits:

      ft> hkunexpand hk.fits unxhk.fits
.fi
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BUGS AND RESTRICTIONS
All columns in the input file must be either all numeric scalars, or 
all strings.  
Combinations of  the numeric scalar parameters  and character parameters 
are not allowed. This program also can not  perform the conversion 
between the scalar column and string column.
The array and complex number are not supported.
The extension type (ASCII or binary) of
the output table will be the same as that of the input table.
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SEE ALSO
hkexpand
.endhelp
