NAME

       fitsort - sort FITS header information from a list of files

SYNOPSIS

       dfits <FITS files...> | fitsort <FITS keywords...>

DESCRIPTION

       fitsort extract keyword values from a set of FITS headers and outputs it in an ASCII table
       format, which is compatible with most data processing software packages. It shall only  be
       used in combination with the dfits utility.

       The  ASCII  output is shown in columns. Columns are aligned with blank characters and also
       separated by tabulations. Blank alignment allows human readers to visualize the output  in
       a  pretty format, tabulations are there for spreadsheet compatibility. If you want to load
       out fitsort output into any  spreadsheet,  specify  that  fields  shall  be  separated  by
       tabulations and entries separated by linefeeds.

       Examples :
       dfits *.fits | fitsort BITPIX NAXIS NAXIS1 NAXIS2

       The output would look like:
       FILE           BITPIX   NAXIS    NAXIS1   NAXIS2
       file0001.fits  16       2        128      128
       file0002.fits  32       2        512      512
       ...

       ESO  specific  features in the FITS header are also supported. To get values for 'HIERARCH
       ESO' keywords, just give the complete names within double quotes. e.g.

       dfits *.fits | fitsort "HIERARCH ESO INS LENS"

       Another way of giving HIERARCH ESO keywords is to use the short FITS notation,  the  above
       example can be given as:

       dfits *.fits | fitsort INS.LENS

       Example: to retrieve the DPR keywords from an ESO FITS header, you would use:

       dfits *.fits | fitsort To be completed...  DPR.CATG DPR.TYPE DPR.TECH

       This  second  way of requesting HIERARCH ESO keywords is not only shorter to type, it also
       avoids typing quotes or double-quotes on the command-line, making it easier to script with
       fitsort.

       Notice  that  the  keywords  you give on the command-line are case-insensitive.  The above
       line is equivalent to:

       dfits *.fits | fitsort dpr.catg dpr.type dpr.tech

OPTIONS

       -d     Do not print out the first output line. This option is useful to get only the query
              results,  without  the  top  line  (giving all column names). This makes it easy to
              script fitsort from programs like awk or perl.

FILES

       Input files to dfits shall all comply with FITS format.  fitsort  also  supports  HIERARCH
       ESO FITS format.

SEE ALSO

       dfits (1)

                                           25 Jun 2001                                 fitsort(1)