tread: Browse through a table.

Package: nttools

Usage

tread table

Description

The 'tread' task is a read-only version of 'tedit', the screen editor for STSDAS tables. 'tread' lets you view a table by moving the cursor around the screen with the cursor keys. The screen scrolls both sideways and up and down as you move the cursor, so all elements of the table can be reached. Other editing commands are entered on the command line. To switch from table editing mode to command line mode, you press the exit key (generally bound to Control-Z, though this can be changed). When your command is completed, the editor returns to table editing mode, unless the command exits the editor. The most important commands in command mode are `help' and `exit'. The `help' command displays all the editing key bindings and the command line commands. The `exit' command will get you out of the editor.

Some editing commands are entered from the command line in command mode. To get to command line mode, press the exit key (Control-Z). If you enter a blank line, the editor will return to table editing mode. Some commands take arguments. They can be included when the command is entered, or if they are omitted, the editor will prompt you for their values. If the argument has embedded blanks, the argument should be enclosed in quotes if passed on the command line. No quotes should be used if the argument is entered interactively. When the editor interactively prompts you for a command argument it will also display a default value for the argument. Pressing the return key gets the default value. Some command names are two words long, for example, "find forward". Usually the second word is optional and modifies the meaning of the first. If the second word is not optional and you omit it, the editor will prompt you for it. All command names can be abbreviated to one or more letters. If the command name is two words long, both words can be abbreviated to one or more letters.

The following commands are used by 'tread':

exit: Exit the table editor.

find <expression>: Find the next row in the table which makes <expression> true and move the cursor to that row. The expression has the same syntax as an expression in a Fortran if statement. The variables in the expression are column names. For more information on the syntax of the expression, read the help for the 'tselect' task. The direction of the search depends upon previous find commands. By default the search direction is forward; however, if a "find backwards" command has been executed previously, searches will be done in a backwards direction until a "find forward" command is executed.

find forward <expression>: Find the next row in the table which makes <expression> true and move the cursor to that row. The search is done in the forwards direction.

find backwards <expression>: Find the next row in the table which makes <expression> true and move the cursor to that row. The search is done in the backwards direction.

goto <row> <column>: Move the cursor to <row> and <column>.

help: Display online help information for the table editor. The help includes a brief description of each command line command and the key bindings for table editing commands.

next: Repeat the previous find command, using the same expression and search direction that was used with it.

next forward: Repeat the previous find command, changing the search direction to forwards.

next backwards: Repeat the previous find command, changing the search direction to backwards.

quit: Exit the table editor.

The bindings to the table editing keys are read from the edcap file. This is the file that defines key bindings for the parameter editor and history editor. The edcap file defines key bindings that resemble those of commonly used text editors. Three edcap files are distributed with IRAF. They define key bindings which resemble EDT, Emacs, and vi. These edcap files are located in the 'dev$' directory and have the extension '.ed'. The appropriate file is chosen according to the value of the environment variable 'EDITOR'. If you want to customize the key bindings of the table editor, copy the appropriate edcap file from the 'dev$' directory to your 'home$' directory and edit the second column. The table editor searches your home directory first for the edcap file and if it does not find it, searches the 'dev$' directory.

The table editor also uses the termcap file to determine the screen size and the escape sequences used to modify the screen. There are entries in the termcap file for almost all terminal types. The proper entry is selected according to the environment variable terminal. To change your terminal type or the screen size, use the IRAF 'stty' command.

Parameters

table [string]: Name of the table to be edited. The editor checks for the existence of the table and its access mode before editing. The table must exist in order to edit it with 'tread'.

(columns = "") [string]

Names of the columns to be edited. A null or blank string means edit all columns. A column template consists of a list of either column names or column patterns containing the usual pattern matching meta-characters. The names or patterns are separated by commas or white space. The list can be placed in a file and the name of the file preceded by an "@" character. If the first character in the column template is a bang (!), all columns NOT named will be displayed. The 'tlcol' task (with the 'nlist' parameter set to 1) may be used to generate a list of column names so there is no question about spelling. This list may be edited to rearrange (or delete) the names, and then pass the list to this task by preceding the its file name with an "@", for example,

tt> tedit junk columns=@colnames.lis

(silent = no) [boolean]: Turn off the bell indicating warning messages?

Examples

1. Display only the columns 'SHARP' and 'ROUND' from the table 'm12b.tab':

tt> tread m12b columns="SHARP,ROUND"

Bugs

References

This task was written by Bernie Simon.