AIPS HELP file for OUTNAME in 31DEC18
As of Tue Apr 24 8:32:59 2018
HELP SECTION
OUTNAME
Type: Adverb (String*12)
Use: Data files are stored in AIPS under logical names which
have 3 parts: a 12-character "name" field, a 6-character
"class" field, and a numeric "sequence number" field.
OUTNAME is used to specify the "name" field for the
output data file from a verb or task. This adverb is
handled by AIPS tasks and verbs under special "wildcard"
rules. These rules determine how the default output name
is combined with the user-specified OUTNAME to create the
name field actually used. Except for '*', '?', and
trailing blanks (when an * is present), all characters
specified in OUTNAME are copied to the corresponding
character positions in the final name field. A '?' in
OUTNAME causes the corresponding character in the default
name to be used. An '*' in OUTNAME causes 0 or more
characters (as many as possible) from the default name to
be used beginning at the character position of the *. The
number of characters (excluding trailing blanks) which
follow the * in the user-specified OUTNAME determine how
many characters may be used. For the examples, assume
that the default name is '123456789012'. Then, OUTNAME
= '*' results in an actual name of '123456789012'.
OUTNAME = 'A?B*D' results is 'A2B45678901D' and OUTNAME
= '?????? ASCAL' results in '123456 ASCAL'.
Null value: ' '
Taken as '*' and the "default" value for OUTNAME is the
actual name field of the first input file (e.g. INNAME
with everything filled in) unless the Help file for the
specific task or verb states otherwise.
EXPLAIN SECTION