NAME

Astro::Catalog::IO::FINDOFF - Catalog I/O for Astro::Catalog for Starlink FINDOFF

SYNOPSIS

    $cat = Astro::Catalog::IO::FINDOFF->_read_catalog(\@lines);
    $arrref = Astro::Catalog::IO::FINDOFF->_write_catalog($cat, %options);

DESCRIPTION

This class provides read and write methods for catalogs in the Starlink FINDOFF input and output file format. The methods are not public and should, in general only be called from the "Astro::Catalog" "write_catalog" and "read_catalog" methods.

METHODS

Private Methods

_read_catalog

Parses the catalog lines and returns a new "Astro::Catalog" object containing the catalog entries.

    $cat = Astro::Catalog::IO::FINDOFF->_read_catalog(\@lines, %options);

There are currently no supported options.

_write_catalog

Create an output catalog in the Starlink FINDOFF format and return the lines in an array.

    $ref = Astro::Catalog::IO::FINDOFF->_write_catalog($catalog);

The sole mandatory argument is an "Astro::Catalog" object.

As the Starlink FINDOFF is ID in column 1, X position in column 2, Y position in column 3, and miscellaneous information in the remaining columns that gets carried through to the output file, this method writes a new ID, X, and Y in the first three columns. A new ID is formed by removing any non-numbers from the original ID because FINDOFF cannot understand non-integer IDs. This ID is also written to the fourth column because FINDOFF trounces the original input ID when doing matching, and being able to have the original ID is a good thing.

COYPRIGHT

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Public License.

AUTHORS

Brad Cavanagh <b.cavanagh@jach.hawaii.edu>