1starconvert(1) General Commands Manual starconvert(1)
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6 starconvert - convert text data files to StarPlot format
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9 starconvert [ options ] spec-file input-file [ output-file ]
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12 Although many stellar data files are publicly available on the Internet
13 from NASA and other astronomical organizations, there is no set format
14 for these files. The program starconvert acts as a buffer between this
15 confusion and the format in which StarPlot requires data files. To do
16 so, it uses a specification file that details how various fields of
17 stellar data (name, distance, right ascension, etc.) may be extracted
18 from the original data file.
19 On the StarPlot web site are available some packages of data that
21 include both an original data file from NASA, and also a specification
22 file. These packages are referred to as "data sets", from which star‐
23 convert can produce a data file in StarPlot format. For ease of use,
24 this should be done via the starpkg(1) shell script.
25 The starconvert command uses the specifications in spec-file to convert
27 input-file to StarPlot data format and writes the results to out‐
28 put-file if specified, or standard output if not. The first two argu‐
29 ments are required. Exactly ONE may be replaced with a dash `-' for
30 reading from standard input.
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33 -- Signals the end of the options. This allows you to use a
34 spec-file whose filename begins with the '-' character.
35 --add-sun
37 Add an entry for the Sun to the generated StarPlot-format data
38 file, if it is not already present in the original raw data
39 file. This is the default behavior, so this flag has an effect
40 only if it reverses an earlier --no-add-sun flag.
41 --no-add-sun
43 Do not add an entry for the Sun to the generated StarPlot-format
44 data file, unless it is present in the original raw data file.
45 Adding the Sun is otherwise done by default, since most star
46 catalogs do not include it.
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49 For detailed information on how to write a specification file, see the
50 example file listed below. Be aware that I expect to change the
51 default format of starconvert spec files after version 1.0, although
52 starconvert will remain backwards-compatible.
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55 /usr/share/doc/starplot/ - Contains documentation
56 /usr/share/doc/starplot/examples/example.spec - Example specification
57 file
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60 starplot(1), starpkg(1)
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63 Copyright © 2000-2002 under the GNU GPL by Kevin B. McCarty
64 <starplot@starplot.org>. The StarPlot web page is at www.starplot.org.
65 Nov 2002 starconvert(1)