DBAMSG(1)						      General Commands Manual							 DBAMSG(1)

NAME

       dbamsg - Work with encoded meteorological data

SYNOPSIS

       dbamsg [command] [options] [args...]

DESCRIPTION

       Examine, dump and convert files containing meteorological data. It supports observations encoded in BUFR, CREX and AOF formats.

       dbamsg always requires a non-switch argument, that indicates what is the operation that should be performed:

       help
	      Print a help summary.

       help manpage
	      Print this manpage.

       scan [options] [filter] filename [filename [...]]
	      Summarise the contents of a file with meteorological data.

       dump [options] [filter] filename [filename [...]]
	      Dump the contents of a file with meteorological data.

       cat [options] [filter] filename [filename [...]]
	      Dump the raw data of a file with meteorological data.

       convert [options] [filter] filename [filename [...]]
	      Convert meteorological data between different formats.

       compare [options] filename1 [filename2]
	      Compare two files with meteorological data.

       fixaof [options] filename [filename1 [...]]]
	      Recomputes the start and end of observation period in the headers of the given AOF files.

       makebufr [options] filename [filename1 [...]]]
	      Read  a  simple  description of a BUFR file and output the BUFR file..  Read a simple description of a BUFR file and output the BUFR
	      file.  This only works for simple BUFR messages without attributes encoded with data present bitmaps.

       bisect [options] --test=testscript filename
	      Bisect filename and output the minimum subsequence found for which testscript fails..  Run testscript passing parts of  filename	on
	      its  stdin  and checking the return code.  Then divide the input in half and try on each half.  Keep going until testscript does not
	      fail in any portion of the file.	Output to stdout the smallest portion for which testscript fails.  This is useful to  isolate  the
	      few messages in a file that cause problems.

       head [options] [filter] filename [filename [...]]
	      Dump the contents of the header of a file with meteorological data.

OPTIONS

       dbamsg follows the usual GNU command line syntax, with long options starting with two dashes (`-').

   Options used to filter messages
       --category=num
	      match messages with the given data category

       --subcategory=num
	      match BUFR messages with the given data subcategory

       --check-digit=num
	      match CREX messages with check digit (if 1) or without check digit (if 0)

       --unparsable
	      match only messages that cannot be parsed

       --parsable
	      match only messages that can be parsed

       --index=expr
	      match messages with the index in the given range (ex.: 1-5,9,22-30)

   Option for command scan
       -?, --help
	      print an help message

       --verbose
	      verbose output

       -t type, --type=type
	      format of the input data ('bufr', 'crex', 'aof')

   Option for command dump
       -?, --help
	      print an help message

       --verbose
	      verbose output

       -t type, --type=type
	      format of the unput data ('bufr', 'crex', 'aof')

       --interpreted
	      dump the message as understood by the importer

       --precise
	      import messages using precise contexts instead of standard ones

       --text dump as text that can be processed by dbamsg makebufr

       --csv  dump in machine readable CSV format

       --dds  dump structure of data description section

       --structured
	      structured dump of the message contents

   Option for command cat
       -?, --help
	      print an help message

       --verbose
	      verbose output

       -t type, --type=type
	      format of the input data ('bufr', 'crex', 'aof')

   Option for command convert
       -?, --help
	      print an help message

       --verbose
	      verbose output

       -t type, --type=type
	      format of the input data ('bufr', 'crex', 'aof', 'csv')

       -d type, --dest=type
	      format of the data in output ('bufr', 'crex', 'aof')

       --template=name
	      template of the data in output (autoselect if not specified, 'list' gives a list)

       -r rep_memo, --report=rep_memo
	      force output data to be of this type of report

       --precise
	      import messages using precise contexts instead of standard ones

       --recompute-categories
	      recompute data categories and subcategories according to message contents

   Option for command compare
       -?, --help
	      print an help message

       --verbose
	      verbose output

       -t type, --type1=type
	      format of the first file to compare ('bufr', 'crex', 'aof')

       -d type, --type2=type
	      format of the second file to compare ('bufr', 'crex', 'aof')

   Option for command fixaof
       -?, --help
	      print an help message

       --verbose
	      verbose output

   Option for command makebufr
       -?, --help
	      print an help message

       --verbose
	      verbose output

   Option for command bisect
       -?, --help
	      print an help message

       --verbose
	      verbose output

       --test=cmd
	      command to run to test a message group

       -t type, --type=type
	      format of the input data ('bufr', 'crex', 'aof')

   Option for command head
       -?, --help
	      print an help message

       --verbose
	      verbose output

       -t type, --type=type
	      format of the input data ('bufr', 'crex', 'aof')

EXAMPLES

       Here are some example invocations of dbamsg:

	 # Convert an AOF message to BUFR
	 dbamsg convert file.aof > file.bufr

	 # Convert a BUFR message to CREX
	 dbamsg convert file.bufr -d crex > file.crex

	 # Convert BUFR messages to CREX, but skip all those not in january 2010
	 dbamsg convert year=2010 month=1 file.bufr -d crex > file.crex

	 # Dump the content of a message, as they are in the message
	 dbamsg dump file.bufr

	 # Dump the content of a message, interpreted as physical quantities
	 dbamsg dump --interpreted file.bufr

TEMPLATE NAMES

       This is a list of possible template names for the --template switch:

       acars
	      ACARS (autodetect)

       acars-ecmwf
	      ACARS ECMWF (4.145)

       acars-wmo
	      ACARS WMO

       airep
	      AIREP (autodetect)

       airep-ecmwf
	      AIREP ECMWF (4.142)

       amdar
	      AMDAR (autodetect)

       amdar-ecmwf
	      AMDAR ECMWF (4.144)

       amdar-wmo
	      AMDAR WMO

       buoy
	      Buoy (1.21)

       generic
	      Generic (255.0)

       metar
	      Metar (0.140)

       pilot
	      Pilot (2.91)

       pollution
	      Pollution (8.171)

       ship
	      Synop ship (autodetect)

       ship-abbr
	      Synop ship (abbreviated) (1.9)

       ship-auto
	      Synop ship (auto) (1.13)

       ship-plain
	      Synop ship (normal) (1.11)

       ship-reduced
	      Synop ship (reduced) (1.19)

       synop
	      Synop (autodetect)

       synop-ecmwf
	      Synop ECMWF (autodetect) (0.1)

       synop-ecmwf-auto
	      Synop ECMWF land auto (0.3)

       synop-ecmwf-land
	      Synop ECMWF land (0.1)

       synop-ecmwf-land-high
	      Synop ECMWF land high level station (0.1)

       synop-wmo
	      Synop WMO (0.1)

       temp
	      Temp (autodetect)

       temp-ecmwf
	      Temp ECMWF (autodetect)

       temp-ecmwf-land
	      Temp ECMWF land (2.101)

       temp-ecmwf-ship
	      Temp ECMWF ship (2.102)

       temp-ship
	      Temp ship (autodetect)

       temp-wmo
	      Temp WMO (2.101)

       wmo
	      WMO style templates (autodetect)

       --template=list will also print the list.

AUTHOR

       dbamsg has been written by Enrico Zini <enrico@enricozini.com> for ARPA Emilia Romagna, Servizio Idrometeorologico.

								   may 16, 2012 							 DBAMSG(1)