SETUNITS

Sets a new units value for an NDF data structure

Description:

This routine sets a new value for the UNITS component  of an existing NDF  data structure. The NDF is accessed in update mode and any pre-existing UNITS component is over-written with a new value. Alternatively, if a ‘null’ value (!) is given for the UNITS parameter, then the NDF’s UNITS component will be erased.

There is also an option to modify the pixel values within the NDF to reflect the change in units (see Parameter MODIFY).

Usage:

setunits ndf units

Parameters:

NDF = NDF (Read and Write)
The NDF data structure whose UNITS component is to be modified.
MODIFY = _LOGICAL (Read)
If a TRUE value is supplied, then the pixel values in the DATA and VARIANCE  components of the NDF will be modified to reflect the change in units. For this to be possible, both the original Units value in the NDF and the new Units value must both correspond to the format for units strings described in the FITS WCS standard (see "Representations of world coordinates in FITS", Greisen & Calabretta, 2002, A&A–-available at (http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/ ∼egreisen/wcs_AA.ps.gz) If either of the two units strings are not of this form, or if it is not possible to find a transformation between them (for instance, because they represent different quantities), an error is reported. [FALSE]
UNITS = LITERAL (Read)
The value to be assigned to the NDF’s UNITS component (e.g. "J/(m∗∗2∗Angstrom∗s)" or "count/s"). This value may later be used by other applications for labelling graphs and other forms of display where the NDF’s data values are shown. The suggested default is the current value.

Examples:

setunits ngc1342 "count/s"
Sets the UNITS component of the NDF structure ngc1342 to have the value "count/s". The pixel values are not changed.
setunits ndf=spect units="J/(m∗∗2∗Angstrom∗s)"
Sets the UNITS component of the NDF structure spect to have the value "J/(m∗∗2∗Angstrom∗s)". The pixel values are not changed.
setunits datafile units=!
By specifying a null value (!), this example erases any previous value of the UNITS component in the NDF structure datafile. The pixel values are not changed.
setunits ndf=spect units="MJy" modify
Sets the UNITS component of the NDF structure spect to have the value "MJy". If possible, the pixel values are changed from their old units to the new units. For instance, if the UNITS component of the NDF was original "J/(m∗∗2∗s∗GHz)", the DATA values will be multiplied by 1.0E11, and the variance values by 1.0E22. However, if the original UNITS component was (say) "K" (Kelvin) then an error would be reported since there is no direct conversion from Kelvin to Megajansky.

Related Applications

KAPPA: AXUNITS, SETLABEL, SETTITLE.