The following procedures can be used to read and write binary files that are not in standard FITS format (e.g, David Weinberg's catalog files). No provision is available for byte-swapping or conversion to/from non-IEEE format floating point representation. Thus, files are normally usable only on the platform where they are generated.

  • binRead Read binary data
  • binWrite Write binary data
  • *********************************************************************

    binRead

    Read binary data from an open file into storage specified by a Dervish handle.
    
    	Usage:	binRead  file  handle  [nbytes]
    
    	file:	Handle to a file (previously opened using the TCL
    		"open" statement)
    	handle: A Dervish handle
    	nbytes:	Number of bytes to read.  If not specified, the number
    		is taken to be the size given by the handle TYPE.
    *****************************************************************************
    

    binWrite

    Write binary data to an open file from storage specified by a Dervish handle.
    
    	Usage:	binWrite  file  handle  [nbytes]
    
    	file:	Handle to a file (previously opened using the TCL
    		"open" statement)
    	handle: A Dervish handle
    	nbytes:	Number of bytes to write.  If not specified, the number
    		is taken to be the size given by the handle TYPE.
    *****************************************************************************