TABLE(1)

📦
version 0.24 · 5 versions
, in epel 10, epel 9, nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💅 TABLE(1) — the manual page, but make it make sense 💅

okay so bestie, you opened the man page for Table from section 1 (User Commands). it's part of GNU Astronomy Utilities 0.24 and honestly? it eats. let's get into it 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

Table — read and write ASCII and FITS tables 🦋

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

asttable [OPTION...] ASTRdata

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so Table is one of the programs in GNU Astronomy Utilities 0.24. what does it do? three iconic things: view information, select columns, and convert tables. that's it, that's the vibe 💅

the inputs and outputs can be any of these:

  • plain text (with white-space or comma as delimiters)
  • FITS ascii tables
  • FITS binary tables

and the output columns? you can pick them:

  • by number (counting from 1)
  • by name
  • or with regular expressions

for the regex route, you enclose the value you hand to the --column (-c) option in slashes ('\', as in '-c\^mag\'). lowkey the slash thing trips people up, so clock it now.

want the selected columns printed right there on the command line? then just don't specify an output file. no output file, no problem, straight to stdout ✨

🎀 want more info? run these

if you need more, run any of these commands. and fr fr, the second one is the one with the very comprehensive explanation of how Table gets invoked: expected input(s), output(s), and a full description of all the options.

all options and their values:

$ asttable -P

inputs/outputs and options:

$ info asttable

full section in the manual/book:

$ info Table

full Gnuastro manual/book:

$ info gnuastro

and if the manual is not giving you the answer you need, you can get direct help from experienced Gnuastro users and developers. more info:

$ info help-gnuastro

✨ OPTIONS ✨

Table options, babes. buckle up, there's a lot and they're all important 👑

🌸 Input 🌸

  • -b, --noblank=STR[,STR] — removes rows that have a blank in the columns you name. bye blank rows 💀
  • -c, --column=STR — column number (counting from 1) or a search string. your main character option.
  • -C, --catcolumns=STR — the columns to use in --catcolumnfile.
  • -E, --noblankend=STR[,STR] — same energy as --noblank, but at the end (e.g., after arith.).
  • -h, --hdu=STR/INT — extension name or number of the input data.
  • --inpolygon=STR,STR — the coordinate columns that are inside --polygon.
  • -I, --ignorecase — ignore case when matching/searching columns. case? never heard of her.
  • -L, --catcolumnfile=FITS/TXT — file(s) to be concatenated by column.
  • --outpolygon=STR,STR — the coordinate columns that are outside --polygon.
  • -R, --catrowfile=FITS/TXT — file(s) to be concatenated by row.
  • --searchin=STR — select column(s) by: 'name', 'unit', 'comment'.
  • --stdintimeout=INT — micro-seconds to wait for standard input.
  • -u, --catcolumnhdu=STR/INT — HDU/Extension(s) in catcolumnfile.
  • -w, --wcsfile=FITS — file with WCS, if conversion is requested.
  • -W, --wcshdu=STR — HDU in the file with WCS, for conversion.
  • -X, --catrowhdu=STR/INT — HDU/Extension(s) in --catrowfile.

🌸 Output 🌸

  • -A, --txtf64format=STR — text output float64 format: 'fixed' or 'exp'.
  • -B, --txtf64precision=INT — text output float64 precision.
  • -D, --dontdelete — don't delete the output if it already exists.
  • -f, --txtf32format=STR — text output float32 format: 'fixed' or 'exp'.
  • --info-num-cols — only print the input table's number of columns.
  • --info-num-rows — only print the input table's number of rows.
  • -i, --information — only print the input table's information.
  • -K, --keepinputdir — keep the input directory for automatic output.
  • --outfitsnocommit — no Git commit in the 0-th HDU of the output FITS.
  • --outfitsnoconfig — no metadata in the 0-th HDU of the output FITS.
  • --outfitsnodate — no 'DATE' in the 0-th HDU of the output FITS.
  • --outfitsnoversions — no versions in the 0-th HDU of the output FITS.
  • -o, --output=STR — output file name.
  • -O, --colinfoinstdout — column info/metadata when printing to stdout.
  • -p, --txtf32precision=INT — text output float32 precision.
  • --tableformat=STR — table format: 'fits-ascii', 'fits-binary', 'txt'.
  • --wcslinearmatrix=STR — WCS linear matrix of the output ('pc' or 'cd').
  • -Y, --txteasy — short for '-Afixed -B6 -ffixed -p3'. one letter, so much power ✨

🌸 Precedence (default: column operations first) 🌸

  • --rowfirst — apply row-based operations first.

🌸 Columns in output 🌸

  • --catcolumnrawname — don't touch the column names of --catcolumnfile.
  • --fromvector=STR,INT[,INT] — extract column(s) from a vector column.
  • -k, --keepvectfin — keep the inputs of '--tovector' & '--fromvector'.
  • -m, --colmetadata=ID,S,S,S — column metadata (S=STR: Name, Unit, Comments).
  • --tovector=STR,STR[,STR] — merge column(s) into a vector column.
  • --transpose — transpose the table (it must only contain vector cols).

🌸 Rows in output 🌸

  • -d, --descending — sort in descending order: largest first.
  • --envseed — use the GSL_RNG_SEED environment variable for '--rowrandom'.
  • -e, --equal=STR,FLT[,...] — column, and the values to keep in the output.
  • -H, --head=INT — only return the given number of top rows.
  • -n, --notequal=STR,FLT[,...] — column, and the values to remove from the output.
  • --polygon=FLT,FLT[:...] — polygon vertices, also a DS9 region file.
  • --rowrandom=INT — number of rows to select randomly.
  • --rowrange=INT,INT — only rows in this row-counter range.
  • -r, --range=STR,FLT:FLT — column, and the range to limit the output.
  • -s, --sort=STR/INT — column name or number for sorting.
  • -t, --tail=INT — only return the given number of bottom rows.

🌸 Operating modes 🌸

  • -?, --help — give this help list.
  • --checkconfig — list all config files and variables read.
  • --cite — BibTeX citation for this program.
  • --config=STR — read configuration file STR immediately.
  • --config-prefix=STR — custom prefix of option names config files.
  • --lastconfig — do not parse any more configuration files.
  • --log — information about output(s) in a log file.
  • --minmapsize=INT — min. bytes to avoid RAM automatically.
  • -N, --numthreads=INT — number of CPU threads to use.
  • --onlyversion=STR — only run if the program version is STR.
  • -P, --printparams — print parameter values to be used and abort.
  • --quietmmap — don't print the mmap'd file's name and size.
  • -q, --quiet — only report errors, remain quiet about steps.
  • -S, --setdirconf — set default values for this directory and abort.
  • --usage — give a short usage message.
  • -U, --setusrconf — set default values for this user and abort.
  • -V, --version — print program version.
🚨 little note bestie: mandatory or optional arguments to long options are also mandatory or optional for any corresponding short options. so like, don't think the short one is free of strings. it is not. 💅

GNU Astronomy Utilities home page: http://www.gnu.org/software/gnuastro/

✨ REPORTING BUGS ✨

found a bug? report bugs to bug-gnuastro@gnu.org. they want to know, fr fr 🙈

Copyright © 2015-2025 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU General public license version 3 or later.

This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.

There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. ⚠️

Written/developed by Mohammad Akhlaghi 👑

✨ SEE ALSO ✨

the full documentation for Table is maintained as a Texinfo manual. if the info and Table programs are properly installed at your site, this command:

info Table

should give you access to the complete manual. iykyk 📖✨

and that's the whole page, bestie 🫶 this was GNU Astronomy Utilities version 0.24, dated November 2025, and it's TABLE(1). slay, go sort some tables 💖🎀🦋

📦 where this page comes from