4.7 IDL UIO Routines

The UIO package in IDL comes as a list of routines with names quite similar to the Fortran90 version. Instead of using global variables as in Fortran90 there are now common blocks in Include-files.

;******************************************************************************
; Routines, functions : uio_*.pro:
;               (!: most important, +: user-routine, -: comfortable, .:useful)
; . adkey1:     Add one keyword to term table, keyword-value=' ', no link character
; . adkey2:     Add one keyword to term table with keyword-value
; . adkey3:     Add one keyword to term table with keyword-value or default
; . chconv:     Actualize list of conversion types for all channels
; + chpos:      Give current file position or jump to specified position
; . chunit:     Initialize, store and actualize a list of free and occupied unit
;               numbers
; + closrd:     Close file after reading
; + closwr:     Close file after writing
; - cpentr:     Copy entry from one file to another
; + d:          Read data from uio-file(s) in quasi direct access mode
; + data:       Handle uio-file(s) in quasi direct access mode
; ! dataset_rd: Read uio file and put data into anonymous structure
; ! datasetlist_rd: Read data from list of files and put it into an. structure
;   deform:     Determine the default output format for numbers
;   dim2st:     Compose dimension string
; . exkeyw:     Extract value of keyword from table
;   ex1trm:     Extract one term from the input line
;   exmtrm:     Transform a list of items into its components
; . filcon:     Determine file contents: list of all entries with its positions
;   getenv:     Get information about environment
; ! init:       Initialization procedure for input/output routines
;   me1trm:     Merge the input term: 'keyword', 'value' -> 'keyword=value'
;   memtrm:     Merge a list of terms (keywords and their values) into a line table
;   mkcvls:     Make list with possible conversion types
; . nc2nt:      From column number or entry name find table entry number
; + openrd:     Open file for reading, read header
; + openwr:     Open file for writing, write header
; - pptrmt:     Print term table in pretty form
;   qmaadd:     Transform a string into a string with quotation marks if necessary
;   qmadel:     Parse string "inline" and remove quotation marks if necessary
; + rd:         Reading scalar and array data of all types
; . rdfifo:     Read file header
; + rdhdex:     Read header of variable and extract keywords
;   rdhead:     Read header
; + rdlabl:     Read label
; + rdtab:      Read table of integer, real, and/or character data from file
; + skipda:     Skip data block
; - slhdex:     Search header of variables given by list and extract keywords
; . st2dim:     Parse dimension string
; ! struct_rd:  Read uio file and put data into anonymous structure
; . tab0:       Create empty table structure
; + tabc:       Change and modify table contents: rearrange lines.
; + tabm:       Merge two tables in different ways
; + tabr:       Read 1d array from 2d table array (all types)
; + tabw:       Write 1d array into table (all types)
;   uclose:     Close file with special handling for conversion type
;   uopen:      Open file with special handling for conversion type
;   vnanrm:     Transform a string to give a correct name of a variable
;   wf2rf:      Produce from write format string corresponding read format string
; + wr:         Writing scalar and array data of all types
; . wrfifo:     Write file header
;   wrhdme:     Write header of variable, input: term table.
;   wrhead:     Write header of variable, input: line table.
; + wrlabl:     Write label
; + wrtab:      Write table of integer, real, and/or character data to file
;******************************************************************************
; Include-Files uio_*.pro:
;   filedefinc:
;   uiocstinc:  channel status information (common uio_chainf)
;   uiocvlinc:  convert type list of current machine (common uio_cvlist)
;   uionaminc:  names of types, keywords, identifiers; default formats
;               (common uio_defnam)
;   uiosizinc:  length of strings, size of tables (trmtab, lintab)
;   uiotabinc:  empty table structure (common uio_taborg)
;******************************************************************************

Most of the routines are low-level ones and do not have to be worried about because they rarely will be used directly.

For accessing data in UIO format within IDL the initialization routine uio_init (see Sect. 4.7.1) and the high-level reading routines (uio_struct_rd.pro, uio_dataset_rd.pro, and uio_datasetlist_rd.pro, see Sect. 4.7.3) might suffice.