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3.4.3 Data Records in an ASCII Table Extension

The table data records begin with the record immediately following the last header record. Each record contains 2880 ASCII characters in the order defined by the header. The first entry of each row immediately follows the last entry of the previous row, and table entries do not necessarily begin at the beginning of a new record. After the end of the valid data, the last record should be filled with ASCII blanks. The table consists of NAXIS2 rows of length NAXIS1. Entries are in the FORTRAN-77 formats specified in the associated header. A-format fields should be encoded as plain text, without being encoded in string quotes. Numbers decoded with the I format may exceed the 16-bit integer range. Blank characters in a field are not interpreted as zeroes; all zeroes, even trailing zeroes, must be explicit. This rule is equivalent to setting the FORTRAN-77 OPEN statement specifier BLANK to NULL.

The w in the value of TFORMn specifies the width of field n. Field n begins in the position given by the value of TBCOLn and includes w characters. The sum of the widths of the different columns need not equal the value of NAXIS1, the length of a row. However, no field may extend beyond the end of the row, to column numbers greater than the value of NAXIS1. Blank columns may be included between fields, a good practice that enhances readability.


next up previous contents
Next: The Image Extension Up: ASCII Table Extension Previous: Reserved Keywords for ASCII