PARAM = CHARACTER $\ast$ ( $\ast$ ) (Given)

XNAME = CHARACTER $\ast$ ( $\ast$ ) (Given)

ITEM = CHARACTER $\ast$ ( $\ast$ ) (Given)

COMP = INTEGER (Given)

STATUS = INTEGER (Given and Returned)

• Only header items in output images or those accessed for modification will be deleted by this routine.

• This subroutine will directly access an image if an association has not already been made.

• The FITS items ’HISTORY’, ’COMMENT’ and ’’ can have more than one occurrence. These can be deleted one-by-one by repetitive calls to this routine with a value of 1 for the COMP argument (since if you delete the first component what was the second component now becomes the first). A specific occurrence can be deleted by giving the correct component number. The number of occurrences may be queried using the HDR_NUMB subroutine.

• Item names from any source may be hierarchical (i.e. ING.DETHEAD deletes the FITS header item "ING DETHEAD"; BOUNDS.MAXX deletes the MAXX component of BOUNDS in a non-FITS source).

• This subroutine may be used to delete an item in the same source of more than one image dataset at a time by using multiple parameter names. Multiple parameter names are provided as a comma separated list (i.e. ’IN1,IN2,IN3’).