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### B.36.1 Usage

The usage of `tloop` is

       stilts <stilts-flags> tloop ocmd=<cmds>
                                   omode=out|meta|stats|count|checksum|cgi|discard|topcat|samp|plastic|tosql|gui
                                   out=<out-table> ofmt=<out-format>
                                   forcefloat=true|false
                                   [colname=]<value> [start=]<float-value>
                                   [end=]<float-value> [step=]<float-value>

If you don't have the `stilts` script installed, write "`java -jar stilts.jar`" instead of "`stilts`" - see Section 3. The available `<stilts-flags>` are listed in Section 2.1. For programmatic invocation, the Task class for this command is `uk.ac.starlink.ttools.task.TableLoop`.

Parameter values are assigned on the command line as explained in Section 2.3. They are as follows:

`colname = <value>` (String)
  Gives the name of the single column produced by this command.

  [Default: `i`]

`end = <float-value>` (Double)
  Gives the value which the loop variable will not exceed. Exceeding is in the positive or negative sense according to the sense of the `step` parameter, as usual for a `for`-type loop.
`forcefloat = true|false` (Boolean)
  Affects the data type of the loop variable column. If true, the column is always floating point. If false, and if the other parameters are all of integer type, the column will be an integer column.

  [Default: `false`]

`ocmd = <cmds>` (ProcessingStep[])
  Specifies processing to be performed on the output table, after all other processing has taken place. The value of this parameter is one or more of the filter commands described in Section 6.1. If more than one is given, they must be separated by semicolon characters (";"). This parameter can be repeated multiple times on the same command line to build up a list of processing steps. The sequence of commands given in this way defines the processing pipeline which is performed on the table.

  Commands may alternatively be supplied in an external file, by using the indirection character '`@`'. Thus a value of "`@filename`" causes the file `filename` to be read for a list of filter commands to execute. The commands in the file may be separated by newline characters and/or semicolons, and lines which are blank or which start with a '`#`' character are ignored. A backslash character '`\`' at the end of a line joins it with the following line.

`ofmt = <out-format>` (String)
  Specifies the format in which the output table will be written (one of the ones in Section 5.1.2 - matching is case-insensitive and you can use just the first few letters). If it has the special value "`(auto)`" (the default), then the output filename will be examined to try to guess what sort of file is required usually by looking at the extension. If it's not obvious from the filename what output format is intended, an error will result.

  This parameter must only be given if `omode` has its default value of "`out`".

  [Default: `(auto)`]

`omode = out|meta|stats|count|checksum|cgi|discard|topcat|samp|plastic|tosql|gui` (ProcessingMode)
  The mode in which the result table will be output. The default mode is `out`, which means that the result will be written as a new table to disk or elsewhere, as determined by the `out` and `ofmt` parameters. However, there are other possibilities, which correspond to uses to which a table can be put other than outputting it, such as displaying metadata, calculating statistics, or populating a table in an SQL database. For some values of this parameter, additional parameters (`<mode-args>`) are required to determine the exact behaviour.

  Possible values are

  - `out`
  - `meta`
  - `stats`
  - `count`
  - `checksum`
  - `cgi`
  - `discard`
  - `topcat`
  - `samp`
  - `plastic`
  - `tosql`
  - `gui`
  Use the `help=omode` flag or see Section 6.4 for more information.

  [Default: `out`]

`out = <out-table>` (TableConsumer)
  The location of the output table. This is usually a filename to write to. If it is equal to the special value "-" (the default) the output table will be written to standard output.

  This parameter must only be given if `omode` has its default value of "`out`".

  [Default: `-`]

`start = <float-value>` (Double)
  Gives the starting value of the loop variable. This will the the value in the first row of the table.

  [Default: `0.0`]

`step = <float-value>` (Double)
  Amount by which the loop variable will be incremented at each iteration, i.e. each table row.

  [Default: `1.0`]

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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