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4.1.1.15 TST

Tab-Separated Table, or TST, is a text-based table format used by a number of astronomical tools including Starlink's GAIA and ESO's SkyCat on which it is based. A definition of the format can be found in Starlink Software Note 75. The implementation here ignores all comment lines: special comments such as the "#column-units:" are not processed.

An example looks like this:

    Simple TST example; stellar photometry catalogue.

    A.C. Davenhall (Edinburgh) 26/7/00.

    Catalogue of U,B,V colours.
    UBV photometry from Mount Pumpkin Observatory,
    see Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (1988).

    # Start of parameter definitions.
    EQUINOX: J2000.0
    EPOCH: J1996.35

    id_col: -1
    ra_col: 0
    dec_col: 1

    # End of parameter definitions.
    ra<tab>dec<tab>V<tab>B_V<tab>U_B
    --<tab>---<tab>-<tab>---<tab>---
    5:09:08.7<tab> -8:45:15<tab>  4.27<tab>  -0.19<tab>  -0.90
    5:07:50.9<tab> -5:05:11<tab>  2.79<tab>  +0.13<tab>  +0.10
    5:01:26.3<tab> -7:10:26<tab>  4.81<tab>  -0.19<tab>  -0.74
    5:17:36.3<tab> -6:50:40<tab>  3.60<tab>  -0.11<tab>  -0.47
    [EOD]

This format cannot be automatically identified by its content, so in general it is necessary to specify that a table is in TST format when reading it.


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TOPCAT - Tool for OPerations on Catalogues And Tables
Starlink User Note253
TOPCAT web page: http://www.starlink.ac.uk/topcat/
Author email: m.b.taylor@bristol.ac.uk
Mailing list: topcat-user@jiscmail.ac.uk