Provided by: stilts_3.4.7-4_all bug

NAME

       stilts-tcat - Concatenates multiple similar tables

SYNOPSIS

       stilts tcat [in=<table> [<table> ...]] [ifmt=<in-format>] [multi=true|false]
                   [istream=true|false] [icmd=<cmds>] [ocmd=<cmds>]
                   [omode=out|meta|stats|count|checksum|cgi|discard|topcat|samp|tosql|gui]
                   [out=<out-table>] [ofmt=<out-format>] [seqcol=<colname>] [loccol=<colname>]
                   [uloccol=<colname>] [lazy=true|false] [countrows=true|false]

DESCRIPTION

       tcat  is  a  tool  for concatenating any number of similar tables one after the other. The
       tables must be of similar  form  to  each  other  (same  number  and  types  of  columns).
       Preprocessing  of  the  tables may be done using the icmd parameter, which will operate in
       the same way on all the input tables. Table parameters of the output table will  be  taken
       from the first of the input tables.

       Subject to some constraints on the details of the input and output formats and processing,
       tcat is capable of joining an unlimited number of tables together  to  produce  an  output
       table of unlimited length, without large memory requirements. If there are very many input
       files, it may be necessary to set the lazy parameter so that they are not all kept open at
       once.

       If   you   have   heterogeneous  tables,  in  different  formats  or  requiring  different
       preprocessing steps from each other before they can be concatenated, use tcatn instead.

OPTIONS

       in=<table> [<table> ...]
              Locations of the input tables. Either specify  the  parameter  multiple  times,  or
              supply the input tables as a space-separated list within a single use.

              The following table location forms are allowed:

                * A filename.

                * A URL.

                * The  special  value  "-", meaning standard input. In this case the input format
                  must be given explicitly using the ifmt parameter. Note that  not  all  formats
                  can be streamed in this way.

                * A scheme specification of the form :<scheme-name>:<scheme-args>.

                * A  system  command  line  with  either  a  "<" character at the start, or a "|"
                  character at the end ("<syscmd" or "syscmd|"). This executes the given pipeline
                  and  reads  from its standard output. This will probably only work on unix-like
                  systems.
               Compression in any of the supported compression formats (Unix  compress,  gzip  or
              bzip2) is expanded automatically.

              A  list  of  input  table  locations  may be given in an external file by using the
              indirction character '@'. Thus "in=@filename" causes the file filename to  be  read
              for  a list of input table locations. The locations in the file should each be on a
              separate line.

       ifmt=<in-format>
              Specifies the format of the input table as specified by  parameter  in.  The  known
              formats  are  listed in SUN/256. This flag can be used if you know what format your
              table is in. If it has the special value (auto) (the default), then an attempt will
              be made to detect the format of the table automatically. This cannot always be done
              correctly however, in which case the program will exit  with  an  error  explaining
              which  formats  were  attempted.  This  parameter  is  ignored for scheme-specified
              tables.

              The same format parameter applies to all the tables specified by in.

       multi=true|false
              Determines whether all tables, or just the first one, from input table  files  will
              be used. If set false, then just the first table from each file named by in will be
              used. If true, then all tables present in those input files will be used. This only
              has an effect for file formats which are capable of containing more than one table,
              which effectively means FITS and VOTable and their variants.

       istream=true|false
              If set true, the input table specified by the  in  parameter  will  be  read  as  a
              stream.  It  is necessary to give the ifmt parameter in this case. Depending on the
              required operations and processing mode, this may cause the read to fail (sometimes
              it  is necessary to read the table more than once). It is not normally necessary to
              set this flag; in most cases the data will be streamed automatically if that is the
              best  thing  to  do.  However  it  can sometimes result in less resource usage when
              processing large files in certain formats (such  as  VOTable).  This  parameter  is
              ignored for scheme-specified tables.

              The same streaming flag applies to all the tables specified by in.

       icmd=<cmds>
              Specifies  processing to be performed on each input table as specified by parameter
              in, before any other processing has taken place. The value of this parameter is one
              or  more  of  the  filter commands described in SUN/256. 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 alteratively 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.

       ocmd=<cmds>
              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  SUN/256.  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 alteratively 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.

       omode=out|meta|stats|count|checksum|cgi|discard|topcat|samp|tosql|gui
              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

                * tosql

                * gui
               Use the help=omode flag or see SUN/256 for more information.

       out=<out-table>
              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".

       ofmt=<out-format>
              Specifies  the format in which the output table will be written (one of the ones in
              SUN/256 - 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".

       seqcol=<colname>
              Name of a column to be added to the output table which will  contain  the  sequence
              number  of the input table from which each row originated. This column will contain
              1 for the rows from the first concatenated table, 2 for the second, and so on.

       loccol=<colname>
              Name of a column to be added to the output table which will  contain  the  location
              (as  specified  in  the  input parameter(s)) of the input table from which each row
              originated.

       uloccol=<colname>
              Name of a column to be added to the output table which will contain the unique part
              of  the  location  (as specified in the input parameter(s)) of the input table from
              which each row originated. If not null, parameters will also be added to the output
              table giving the pre- and post-fix string common to all the locations. For example,
              if the input tables are "/data/cat_a1.fits" and "/data/cat_b2.fits" then the output
              table  will contain a new column <colname> which takes the value "a1" for rows from
              the  first  table  and  "b2"  for  rows  from  the  second,  and   new   parameters
              "<colname>_prefix" and "<colname>_postfix" with the values "/data/cat_" and ".fits"
              respectively.

       lazy=true|false
              Whether to perform table resolution lazily. If true, each table  is  only  accessed
              when  the  time  comes to add its rows to the output; if false, then all the tables
              are accessed up front. This is mostly a tuning  parameter,  and  on  the  whole  it
              doesn't  matter  much  how  it is set, but for joining an enormous number of tables
              setting it true may avoid running out of resources.

       countrows=true|false
              Whether to count the rows  in  the  table  before  starting  the  output.  This  is
              essentially  a tuning parameter - if writing to an output format which requires the
              number of rows up front (such as normal FITS) it may result in skipping the  number
              of  passes  through the input files required for processing. Unless you have a good
              understanding of the internals of the software,  your  best  bet  for  working  out
              whether to set this true or false is to try it both ways

SEE ALSO

       stilts(1)

       If  the  package  stilts-doc  is installed, the full documentation SUN/256 is available in
       HTML format:
       file:///usr/share/doc/stilts/sun256/index.html

VERSION

       STILTS version 3.4.7-debian

       This is the Debian version of Stilts, which lack the support  of  some  file  formats  and
       network protocols. For differences see
       file:///usr/share/doc/stilts/README.Debian

AUTHOR

       Mark Taylor (Bristol University)

                                             Mar 2017                              STILTS-TCAT(1)