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3.5 Supplied Input Handlers

The table input handlers supplied with STIL are listed in this section, along with notes on any peculiarities they have in turning a string into a StarTable. By default, any of these can be used in a StarTableFactory's named format mode, but only some of them in automatic format detection mode.

In most cases the string supplied to name the table that StarTableFactory should read is a filename or a URL, referencing a plain or compressed copy of the stream from which the file is available. In some cases an additional specifier can be given after a '#' character to give additional information about where in that stream the table is located.

This table summarises which input handlers are available, what format strings they use, and whether they are tried in automatic format detection mode.

    Format string  Format Read                          Automatic Format Mode?
    -------------  -----------                          ----------------------
    FITS           FITS BINTABLE or ASCII extension            yes
    FITS-plus      FITS with VOTable metadata in HDU#0         yes
    VOTable        VOTable 1.0/1.1                             yes
    colfits-plus   Column-oriented FITS with VOTable metadata  yes
    colfits-basic  Column-oriented FITS                         no
    ASCII          Whitespace-separated ASCII                   no
    CSV            Comma-separated values                       no
    IPAC           IPAC Table Format                            no
    WDC            World Data Centre format                     no


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STIL - Starlink Tables Infrastructure Library
Starlink User Note 252
STIL web page: http://www.starlink.ac.uk/stil/
Author email: m.b.taylor@bristol.ac.uk
Starlink: http://www.starlink.ac.uk/