5. KEYWORDS

Keywords are defined by strings delimited by double quotes <">. They have special meaning for they are interpreted by the programs of analysis. Keywords should be put at the head of the data file in the form "KEYWORD = VALUE". Two keywords are very important.

"TIME_UNITS = xxxxx"
This keyword provides the information about the time scale of the data acquisition. Only decimal scales are allowed (no years, months, etc.). The adopted rule is that a value equal to 1 means a time unit equal to seconds. Be careful, if no time units is specified our programs assume by default a time scale of milliseconds, i.e. equivalent to "TIME_UNITS = 0.001".

"TITLE(n) = 'any text you wish to type'  "
Titles are considered as a special class of privileged comments, where n can be any decimal number from 0 upward to 99. When the (n) suffix is not added it is understood that this is title number 0. The purpose of inserting comments into the data file by the TITLE keyword is to enable the user, later on, to specify which titles will be dispayed in the graphics that will be computed from the data file. For instance the user may wish to include information about date, author, and experimental conditions in such titles. The analyzing programs should enable to state later which titles will be included with the results of the analysis of the data.
It is important to note that the text of the title is enclosed in single quotes <'> , while the entire title is enclosed in double quotes <">. The text within the single quotes should occupy one line and cannot span over two lines.

The header of the file may look like:

      "TIME_UNITS = 1"
      "TITLE(0) = '12-MAY-1999:05:04.30' "
      "TITLE(1) = 'data recorded by Edward' "
      'The probes were calibrated overnight'
      'and the data acquisition could start without any problem'


In this case you see comments that will be considered later in the analysis and comments that are used only locally. Other keywords may exist and be of interest or should be specified for particular programs. These are not discussed here and will be introduced, if necessary, with the instructions and help files related to the programs of analysis.

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