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### 10.2 Referencing Parameter Values

Some tables have constant values associated with them; these may represent such things as the epoch at which observations were taken, the name of the catalogue, an angular resolution associated with all observations, or any number of other things. Such constants are known as table parameters (not to be confused with parameters passed to STILTS commands) and can be thought of as extra columns which have the same value for every row. The values of such parameters can be referenced in STILTS algebraic expressions as follows:

param$name
  If the parameter name has a suitable form (starting with a letter and continuing with letters or numbers) it can be referenced by prefixing that name with the string `param$`.
ucd$ucd-spec
  If the parameter has a Unified Content Descriptor it can be referenced by prefixing the UCD specifier with the string `ucd$`. Any punctuation marks in the UCD should be replaced by underscores, and a trailing underscore is interpreted as a wildcard. See Section 10.1 for more discussion.
utype$utype-spec
  If the parameter has a Utype, it can be referenced by prefixing the Utype specifier with the string `utype$`. Any punctuation marks in the Utype should be replaced by underscores. See Section 10.1 for more discussion.

Note that if a parameter has a name in an unsuitable form (e.g. containing spaces) and has no UCD then it cannot be referenced in an expression. One possible workaround for that is to use the `fixcolnames` filter.

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STILTS - Starlink Tables Infrastructure Library Tool Set
Starlink User Note256
STILTS web page: http://www.starlink.ac.uk/stilts/
Author email: m.b.taylor@bristol.ac.uk
Mailing list: topcat-user@jiscmail.ac.uk