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#### 6.1.11 `colmeta`

Usage:

       colmeta [-name <name>] [-units <units>] [-ucd <ucd>]
               [-utype <utype>] [-xtype <xtype>] [-desc <descrip>]
               [-shape <n>[,<n>...][,*]] [-elsize <n>]
               <colid-list>

Modifies the metadata of one or more columns. Some or all of the name, units, ucd, utype, xtype, description, shape and elementsize of the column(s), identified by `<colid-list>` can be set by using some or all of the listed flags. Typically, `<colid-list>` will simply be the name of a single column.

The `-name`, `-units`, `-ucd`, `-utype`, `-xtype` and `-desc` flags just take textual arguments. The `-shape` flag can also be used, but is intended only for array-valued columns, e.g. `-shape 3,3` to declare a 3x3 array. The final entry only in the shape list may be a "`*`" character to indicate unknown extent. Array values with no specified shape effectively have a shape of "`*`". The `-elsize` flag may be used to specify the length of fixed length strings; use with non-string columns is not recommended.

Note if you want to change the data type of a column you should use instead the `replacecol` filter with one of the Conversions functions.

Syntax for the `<colid-list>` argument is described in Section 6.3.

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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