funfilters(7)							SAORD Documentation						     funfilters(7)

NAME

       Funfilters -  Filtering Rows in a Table

SYNOPSIS

       This document contains a summary of the user interface for filtering rows in binary tables.

DESCRIPTION

       Table filtering allows a program to select rows from an table (e.g., X-ray event list) by checking each row against one or more expres-
       sions involving the columns in the table. When a table is filtered, only valid rows satisfying these expressions are passed through for
       processing.

       A filter expression is specified using bracket notation appended to the filename of the data being processed:

	 foo.fits[pha==1&&pi==2]

       It is also possible to put region specification inside a file and then pass the filename in bracket notation:

	 foo.fits[@my.reg]

       Filters must be placed after the extension and image section information, when such information is present. The correct order is:

       o   file[fileinfo,sectioninfo][filters]

       o   file[fileinfo,sectioninfo,filters]

       where:

       o   file is the Funtools file name

       o   fileinfo is an ARRAY, EVENT, FITS extension, or FITS index

       o   sectioninfo is the image section to extract

       o   filters are spatial region and table (row) filters to apply

       See Funtools Files for more information on file and image section specifications.

       Filter Expressions

       Table filtering can be performed on columns of data in a FITS binary table or a raw event file.	Table filtering is accomplished by means
       of table filter specifications.	An table filter specification consists of one or more filter expressions Filter specifications also can
       contain comments and local/global processing directives.

       More specifically, a filter specification consist of one or more lines containing:

	 # comment until end of line
	 # include the following file in the table descriptor
	 @file
	 # each row expression can contain filters separated by operators
	 [filter_expression] BOOLOP [filter_expression2], ...
	 # each row expression can contain filters separated by the comma operator
	 [filter_expression1], [filter_expression2], ...
	 # the special row# keyword allows a range of rows to be processed
	 row#=m:n
	 # or a single row
	 row#=m
	 # regions are supported -- but are described elsewhere
	 [spatial_region_expression]

       A single filter expression consists of an arithmetic, logical, or other operations involving one or more column values from a table. Col-
       umns can be compared to other columns, to header values, or to numeric constants. Standard math functions can be applied to columns. Sepa-
       rate filter expressions can be combined using boolean operators.  Standard C semantics can be used when constructing expressions, with the
       usual precedence and associativity rules holding sway:

	 Operator				 Associativity
	 --------				 -------------
	 ()					 left to right
	 !! (logical not)			 right to left
	 !  (bitwise not) - (unary minus)	 right to left
	 *  /					 left to right
	 +  -					 left to right
	 < <= > >=				 left to right
	 == !=					 left to right
	 &  (bitwise and)			 left to right
	 ^  (bitwise exclusive or)		 left to right
	 |  (bitwise inclusive or)		 left to right
	 && (logical and)			 left to right
	 || (logical or)			 left to right
	 =					 right to left

       For example, if energy and pha are columns in a table, then the following are valid expressions:

	 pha>1
	 energy == pha
	 (pha>1) && (energy<=2)
	 max(pha,energy)>=2.5

       Comparison values can be integers or floats. Integer comparison values can be specified in decimal, octal (using '0' as prefix), hex (using
       '0x' as prefix) or binary (using '0b' as prefix). Thus, the following all specify the same comparison test of a status mask:

	 (status & 15) == 8	      # decimal
	 (status & 017) == 010	      # octal
	 (status & 0xf) == 0x8	      # hex
	 (status & 0b1111) == 0b1000  # binary

       The special keyword row# allows you to process a range of rows.	When row# is specified, the filter code skips to the designated row  and
       only processes the specified number of rows. The "*" character can be utilized as the high limit value to denote processing of the remain-
       ing rows. Thus:

	 row#=100:109

       processes 10 rows, starting with row 100 (counting from 1), while:

	 row#=100:*

       specifies that all but the first 99 rows are to be processed.

       Spatial region filtering allows a program to select regions of an image or rows of a table (e.g., X-ray events) using simple geometric
       shapes and boolean combinations of shapes.  For a complete description of regions, see Spatial Region Filtering.

       Separators Also Are Operators

       As mentioned previously, multiple filter expressions can be specified in a filter descriptor, separated by commas or new-lines.  When such
       a comma or new-line separator is used, the boolean AND operator is automatically generated in its place. Thus and expression such as:

	 pha==1,pi=2:4

       is equivalent to:

	 (pha==1) && (pi>=2&&pi<=4)

       [Note that the behavior of separators is different for filter expressions and spatial region expressions.  The former uses AND as the oper-
       ator, while the latter user OR. See Combining Region and Table Filters for more information about these conventions and how they are
       treated when combined.]

       Range Lists

       Aside from the standard C syntax, filter expressions can make use of IRAF-style range lists which specify a range of values. The syntax
       requires that the column name be followed by an '=' sign, which is followed by one or more comma-delimited range expressions of the form:

	 col = vv	       # col == vv in range
	 col = :vv	       # col <= vv in range
	 col = vv:	       # col >= vv in range
	 col = vv1:vv2	       # vv1 <= col <= vv2 in range

       The vv's above must be numeric constants; the right hand side of a range list cannot contain a column name or header value.

       Note that, unlike an ordinary comma separator, the comma separator used between two or more range expressions denotes OR.  Thus, when two
       or more range expressions are combined with a comma separator, the resulting expression is a shortcut for more complicated boolean logic.
       For example:

	 col = :3,6:8,10:

       is equivalent to:

	 (col=6 && col =10)

       Note also that the single-valued rangelist:

	 col = val

       is equivalent to the C-based filter expression:

	 col == val

       assuming, of course, that val is a numeric constant.

       Math Operations and Functions

       It is permissible to specify C math functions as part of the filter syntax.  When the filter parser recognizes a function call, it automat-
       ically includes the math.h and links in the C math library.  Thus, it is possible to filter rows by expressions such as these:

       o   (pi+pha)>(2+log(pi)-pha)

       o   min(pi,pha)*14>x

       o   max(pi,pha)==(pi+1)

       o   feq(pi,pha)

       o   div(pi,pha)>0

       The function feq(a,b) returns true (1) if the difference between a and b (taken as double precision values) is less than approximately
       10E-15.  The function div(a,b) divides a by b, but returns NaN (not a number) if b is 0. It is a safe way to avoid floating point errors
       when dividing one column by another.

       Include Files

       The special @filename directive specifies an include file containing filter expressions. This file is processed as part of the overall fil-
       ter descriptor:

	 foo.fits[pha==1,@foo]

       Header Parameters

       The filter syntax supports comparison between a column value and a header parameter value of a FITS binary tables (raw event files have no
       such header).  The header parameters can be taken from the binary table header or the primary header.  For example, assuming there is a
       header value MEAN_PHA in one of these headers, you can select photons having exactly this value using:

       o   pha==MEAN_PHA

       Table filtering is more easily described by means of examples.  Consider data containing the following table structure:

       o   double TIME

       o   int X

       o   int Y

       o   short PI

       o   short PHA

       o   int DX

       o   int DY

       Tables can be filtered on these columns using IRAF/QPOE range syntax or any valid C syntax.  The following examples illustrate the possi-
       bilities:

       o   pha=10

       o   pha==10

	   select rows whose pha value is exactly 10

       o   pha=10:50

	   select rows whose pha value is in the range of 10 to 50

       o   pha=10:50,100

	   select rows whose pha value is in the range of 10 to 50 or is equal to 100

       o   pha>=10 && pha<=50

	   select rows whose pha value is in the range of 10 to 50

       o   pi=1,2&&pha>3

	   select rows whose pha value is 1 or 2 and whose pi value is 3

       o   pi=1,2 || pha>3

	   select rows whose pha value is 1 or 2 or whose pi value is 3

       o   pha==pi+1

	   select rows whose pha value is 1 less than the pi value

       o   (pha==pi+1) && (time>50000.0)

	   select rows whose pha value is 1 less than the pi value and whose time value is greater than 50000

       o   (pi+pha)>20

	   select rows in which the sum of the pi and pha values is greater than 20

       o   pi%2==1

	   select rows in which the pi value is odd

       Currently, integer range list limits cannot be specified in binary notation (use decimal, hex, or octal instead). Please contact us if this
       is a problem.

SEE ALSO

       See funtools(7) for a list of Funtools help pages

version 1.4.2							  January 2, 2008						     funfilters(7)