CFITSIO(3pm)

NAME

Astro::FITS::CFITSIO - Perl extension for using the cfitsio library

SYNOPSIS

use Astro::FITS::CFITSIO;
use Astro::FITS::CFITSIO qw( :longnames );
use Astro::FITS::CFITSIO qw( :shortnames );
use Astro::FITS::CFITSIO qw( :constants );

DESCRIPTION

Perl interface to William Pence's cfitsio subroutine library. For more information on cfitsio, see http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/fitsio.

This module attempts to provide a wrapper for nearly every cfitsio
routine, while retaining as much cfitsio behavior as possible. As such, one should be aware that it is still somewhat low-level, in the sense
that handing an array which is not the correct size to a routine like
"fits_write_img()" may cause SIGSEGVs.

My goal is to eventually use these routines to build a more Perl-like
interface to many common tasks such as reading and writing of images
and ASCII and binary tables.

cfitsio API MAPPING
Astro::FITS::CFITSIO allows one to use either the long or short name
forms of the cfitsio routines. These work by using the exact same form of arguments as one would find in an equivalent C program.

There is also an object-oriented API which uses the same function names as the long-name API, but with the leading "fits_" stripped. To get a
Astro::FITS::CFITSIO "object" one would call "open_file()",
"create_file()" or "create_template()":

my $status = 0;
my $fptr = Astro::FITS::CFITSIO::open_file($filename,

Astro::FITS::CFITSIO::READONLY(),$status);

$fptr->read_key_str('NAXIS1',$naxis1,undef,$status);

Note that the object-oriented forms of function names are only
available for those cfitsio routines which accept a "fitsfile*" datatype as the first argument.

As an added benefit, whenever a filehandle goes out of scope, ffffccllooss(()) is automatically closed:

{

my $fptr = Astro::FITS::CFITSIO::open_file($filename,

Astro::FITS::CFITSIO::READWRITE(),$status);

[manipulate $fptr]

# neither of the following are needed
# ffclos($fptr,$status);
# $fptr->close_file($status);

}

It there is an error, it will ccrrooaakk(()).

NAME SPACE

All cfitsio routines, with the exception of "fits_iterate_data()" and
"fits_open_memfile()", are available in both long and short name forms (e.g., "fits_read_key" <=> "ffgky"), as well as all constants defined
in the fitsio.h header file. This raises the possibility of your name space being invaded by nearly 1000 function and constant names.

To deal with this situation, Astro::FITS::CFITSIO makes use of the
Exporter package support for %EXPORT_TAGS. You can import the longnamed functions with

use Astro::FITS::CFITSIO qw( :longnames );

and the short-named routines with

use Astro::FITS::CFITSIO qw( :shortnames );

Constants are actually implemented as AUTOLOADed functions, so
"TSTRING", for instance, would be accessed via
"Astro::FITS::CFITSIO::TSTRING()". Alternatively you can

use Astro::FITS::CFITSIO qw( :constants );

which would allow you to simply say "TSTRING".

DATA STORAGE DETAILS

Input Variables

If a routine expects an N-dimensional array as input, and you hand it a reference to a scalar, then Astro::FITS::CFITSIO simply uses the data
in the scalar which the argument is referencing. Otherwise it expects the argument to be a Perl array reference whose total number of
elements satisfies the input demands of the corresponding C routine.
Astro::FITS::CFITSIO then unpacks the array reference into a format
that the C routine can understand. If your input array does not hold
enough data for the C routine then a segfault is likely to occur.

cfitsio functions which take an optional NULL pointer - indicating no
output in that place is desired - can instead be given an "undef". In
other words, the following C and Perl statements which read a keyword
but ignore the comment would be roughly equivalent:

fits_read_key_lng(fptr,key,&value,NULL,&status);

fits_read_key_lng($fptr,$key,$value,undef,$status);

Output Variables

Calling cfitsio routines which read data from FITS files causes the
output variable to be transformed into a Perl array of the appropriate dimensions. The exception to this is if one wants the output to be in the machine-native format (e.g., for use with PDL). Then all output
variables will become scalars containing the appropriate data. The
exception here is with routines which read arrays of strings (e.g.,
"fits_read_col_str()"). In this case the output is again a Perl array reference.

There are two ways to specify how data are retrieved. The behavior can be specified either globally or on a per filehandle basis. The global selection is done by calling the PerlyUnpacking function. This sets the behavior for all file handles which do not explicitly choose not to follow it.

# turn ON unpacking into Perl arrays. This is the default
PerlyUnpacking(1);

# turn OFF unpacking into Perl arrays, i.e. put in machine-native
# format
PerlyUnpacking(0);

# retrieve the current state:
$state = PerlyUnpacking();

To change the behavior for a particular file handle, use the
perlyunpacking method. The default behavior for a file handle is to track what is done with PPeerrllyyUUnnppaacckkiinngg(())

# track PerlyUnpacking(). This is the default
$fptr->perlyunpacking(-1);

# turn ON unpacking into Perl arrays
$fptr->perlyunpacking(1);

# turn OFF unpacking into Perl arrays
$fptr->perlyunpacking(0);

# retrieve the current state:
$state = $fptr->perlyunpacking;

EXAMPLES

Take a look at testprog/testprog.pl under the distribution directory. It should produce output identical to testprog.c which comes with the cfitsio library. Additionally, the versions named
testprog_longnames.pl, testprog_OO.pl and testprog_pdl.pl test the long-name and object-oriented APIs, and machine-native unpacking with
PDL.

There is also an examples/ directory with scripts which do the following:

image_read.pl

reads a FITS primary image and displays it using PGPLOT

image_read_pdl.pl

same as above, but uses machine-native unpacking with PDL

bintable_read_pdl.pl

reads binary table column into PDL object, makes histogram and
plots it

CONSIDERATIONS

Ensure your input arrays contain enough data

The caller is responsible for ensuring that the input arrays given to Astro::FITS::CFITSIO routines are large enough to satisfy the
access demands of said routines. For example, if you tell
"fits_write_col()" to write a data column containing 100 elements, your Perl array should contain at least 100 elements. Segfaults
abound, so beware!

maxdim semantics

Some cfitsio routines take a parameter named something like
'"maxdim"', indicating that no more than that many elements should be placed into the output data area. An example of this would be
"fits_read_tdim()". In these cases Astro::FITS::CFITSIO will
automatically determine how much storage space is needed for the
full amount of output possible. As a result, the arguments expected in Astro::FITS::CFITSIO are slightly different than one would use
in a C program, in that the '"maxdim"' argument is unnecessary.

Currently the routines for which this is the case are
"fits_read_atblhdr()", "fits_read_btblhdr()", "fits_read_imghdr()", "fits_decode_tdim()", "fits_read_tdim()" "fits_test_expr()",
"fits_get_img_parm()" and "fits_get_img_size()".

Output arrays remain as undisturbed as possible

For routines like "fits_read_col()", Astro::FITS::CFITSIO unpacks
the output into a Perl array reference (unless PerlyUnpacking(0)
has been called, of course). Prior to doing this, it ensures the
scalar passed is a reference to an array large enough to hold the
data. If the argument is an array reference which is too small, it expands the array pointed to appropriately. But, if the array is large enough already, the data are just unpacked into the array.
The upshot: If you call "fits_read_col()", telling it to read 100
data elements, and the array you are placing the data into already has 200 elements, then after "fits_read_col()" returns your array
will still have 200 elements, only the first 100 of which actually correspond to the data read by the routine.

In more succinct language:

@output = (0..199);
fits_read_col_lng($fptr,2,1,1,100,0,\@output,$anynul,$status);

# @output still has 200 elements, only first 100 are from FITS # file

EXTRA COMMANDS

Some extra commands that use sets of cfitsio routines are supplied to
simplify some standard tasks:

fits_read_header(filename)

This command reads in a primary fits header (unless one is using
the extended filename sytax to move to a different HDU on open)
from the specified filename and returns the header as a hash
reference and a status (when called in an array context) or simply a hash reference (when called in a scalar context):

($hash_ref, $status) = fits_read_header ($file);
$hash_ref = fits_read_header($file);

An object-oriented interface is also provided for reading headers
from FITS files that have already been opened. In this case, the
header read is from the current HDU.

$fitsfile = Astro::FITS::CFITSIO::open_file($file);
$hash_ref = $fitsfile->read_header;
($hash_ref, $status) = $fitsfile->read_header;

sizeof_datatype(datatype)

Returns the size of the given Astro::FITS::CFITSIO datatype
constant (e.g., "Astro::FITS::CFITSIO::TSHORT()").

BUGS

FIXME

AUTHOR

Pete Ratzlaff <pratzlaff@cfa.harvard.edu>, with a great deal of code
taken from Karl Glazebrook's PGPLOT module.

Contributors include:

Tim Jenness <t.jenness@jach.hawaii.edu>

convenience routines

Tim Conrow <tim@ipac.caltech.edu>

function implementations, bug fixes

perl v5.10.0 2006-06-28 CFITSIO(3pm)