starconvert(1)						      General Commands Manual						    starconvert(1)

NAME

       starconvert - convert text data files to StarPlot format

SYNOPSIS

       starconvert [ options ] spec-file input-file [ output-file ]

DESCRIPTION

       Although  many  stellar	data  files are publicly available on the Internet from NASA and other astronomical organizations, there is no set
       format for these files.	The program starconvert acts as a buffer between this confusion and the format in  which  StarPlot  requires  data
       files.	To do so, it uses a specification file that details how various fields of stellar data (name, distance, right ascension, etc.) may
       be extracted from the original data file.

       On the StarPlot web site are available some packages of data that include both an original data file from NASA, and also  a   specification
       file.   These packages are referred to as "data sets", from which starconvert can produce a data file in StarPlot format.  For ease of use,
       this should be done via the starpkg(1) shell script.

       The starconvert command uses the specifications in spec-file to convert input-file to StarPlot data format and writes the results  to  out-
       put-file  if  specified, or standard output if not.  The first two arguments are required.  Exactly ONE may be replaced with a dash `-' for
       reading from standard input.

OPTIONS

       --     Signals the end of the options.  This allows you to use a spec-file whose filename begins with the '-' character.

       --add-sun
	      Add an entry for the Sun to the generated StarPlot-format data file, if it is not already present in the	original  raw  data  file.
	      This is the default behavior, so this flag has an effect only if it reverses an earlier --no-add-sun flag.

       --no-add-sun
	      Do  not  add  an	entry  for the Sun to the generated StarPlot-format data file, unless it is present in the original raw data file.
	      Adding the Sun is otherwise done by default, since most star catalogs do not include it.

SPECIFICATION FILES

       For detailed information on how to write a specification file, see the example file listed below.  Be aware that I  expect  to  change  the
       default format of starconvert spec files after version 1.0, although starconvert will remain backwards-compatible.

FILES

       /usr/share/doc/starplot/ - Contains documentation
       /usr/share/doc/starplot/examples/example.spec - Example specification file

SEE ALSO

       starplot(1), starpkg(1)

AUTHOR

       Copyright (C) 2000-2002 under the GNU GPL by Kevin B. McCarty <starplot@starplot.org>.  The StarPlot web page is at www.starplot.org.

								     Nov 2002							    starconvert(1)