starconvert(1)

💫 starconvert — the glow-up your messy star data deserves 💫

okay bestie, so this is a page from the General Commands Manual (section 1, the classics 💅), and it's all about starconvert. buckle up, we're converting stellar data files into StarPlot format and it's gonna be iconic ✨

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🌸 NAME 🌸

starconvert — convert text data files to StarPlot format. that's it. that's the whole job. she's a converter, she's a baddie, she doesn't do anything else 🎀

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

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

so it's giving options first, then the spec file, then the input file, then maybe an output file if you're feeling generous 🫶

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

okay so here's the situation. NASA and all these other astronomy organizations have stellar data files just... out there. publicly available. on the Internet. but the way that there is no set format for any of them?? it's a whole mess fr fr. every file is wearing a different outfit and none of them match 😭

and that's literally where starconvert comes in. she's the buffer between that chaos and the format StarPlot actually needs. she does this by using a specification file that spells out exactly how to pull the various fields of stellar data out — name, distance, right ascension, etc. — from the original data file. like a little translator, but for stars 👑

on the StarPlot web site there are some packages of data that come with both an original data file from NASA and a specification file. these packages are called "data sets", and starconvert can turn one into a data file in StarPlot format. for ease of use, you should lowkey do this through the starpkg(1) shell script instead of calling her directly 💖

the starconvert command takes the specifications in spec-file, converts input-file to StarPlot data format, and writes the results to output-file if you specified one — or to standard output if you didn't. the first two arguments are required, no skipping. and exactly ONE of them may be replaced with a dash - for reading from standard input. exactly one. not two. ONE. don't test her 🙈

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💅 OPTIONS 💅

• -- — signals the end of the options. this is how you get away with using a spec-file whose filename starts with the - character. she's a --starting filename, she's valid, she just needs you to say the magic word first ✨
• --add-sun — adds an entry for the Sun to the generated StarPlot-format data file, if it's not already hanging out in the original raw data file. ngl this is the default behavior, so this flag only actually does something if it reverses an earlier --no-add-sun. it's giving undo my undo 💀
• --no-add-sun — do not add an entry for the Sun to the generated StarPlot-format data file, unless it's already present in the original raw data file. adding the Sun is otherwise done by default, since most star catalogs just... don't include it. rude of them honestly 🌞

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📝 SPECIFICATION FILES 📝

for the detailed tea on how to write a specification file, go look at the example file listed below in FILES. 🍓

⚠️ heads up bestie: the author expects to change the default format of starconvert spec files after version 1.0, though starconvert will remain backwards-compatible. so like. the vibes may shift, but your old files will still work. no cap 🫶

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📂 FILES 📂

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

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👀 SEE ALSO 👀

starplot(1), starpkg(1) — go read these too, iykyk 💜

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

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

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! 🌈 this was the starconvert(1) manual page, dated Nov 2002, straight out of the General Commands Manual. go forth and convert those stars, you absolute main character 🎀💖✨