XMM-Newton Science Analysis System: User Guide

2.6 Running a SAS task from the command line

Each SAS task has its own command-line help that can be invoked by typing its name on the command line followed by the option -h. For example:

 evselect -h

Individual tasks can be called using a set of parameters, which are entered on the command line. Every task has a Parameter Specification File which defines the name and type of each parameter and default values or allowed ranges. These parameters can also be accessed using the SAS GUI. The GUI reads the parameter specification file and provides a dialog window into which the user can enter values. The GUI then launches the task by generating a command line which can then be read in the sas_log file. The task parameter handling system (see: http://xmm-tools.cosmos.esa.int/external/sas/current/doc/param/), in addition to setting default values, is capable of handling complex expressions. Even further, some parameters can have child parameters, which are activated depending on the value of the parent parameter. For example:

 evselect --xcolumn=RAWX

implies

 --withimageset=yes

unless -withimageset=no is explicitly set.

All SAS tasks support the following command line options:

• -h provides information about the command line options
• -d launches the GUI for this specific task
• -p prints all parameters with their default and current value
• -t turns on tracing information from the libraries
• -m displays the HTML documentation of the task using a browser
• -c no clobber prevents files to be overwritten
• -v prints the version number of the task
• -V opt sets the verbosity level of the task to opt. The opt value ranges from 0 to 10 and the larger the verbosity value, the more log messages will be produced. The default value is 1, a value of 4 is recommended for a good verbose control. Larger values are only recommended for debugging purposes.
• -w opt suppresses warning messages. If no opt is given all warnings are suppressed. Multiple options can be given, e.g.: -w 10 -w NoAttitudeData -w LowDisk will suppress all warnings with code NoAttitudeData and LowDisk and shows only the first 10 of all other warnings.
• -param=value set the value of param to value

If the task uses the ODF Access Layer (OAL), the command line option -odf odf or -o odf is recognized as well. It specifies the ODF that is to be accessed by the OAL. The variable odf can be the name of an ODF summary file, as created by the task odfingest, or merely the name of a directory containing one. In the latter case, the summary file is assumed to have a name ending in *SUM.SAS.

If the task uses the Calibration Access Layer (CAL), the following command line options are recognized:

• -ccf cifname or -i cifname:

  cifname is the name of a data set comprising a table with the name CALINDEX. This will normally be a CIF created by the task cifbuild (see § 2.3.3). cifname can also be the name of a directory. In this case the CALINDEX table is sought in a data set with the default name ccf.cif in the specified directory.

• -ccffiles f1 ... or -f f1 ...

  Blanks, commas, or colons separated list of CCF constituents replace the corresponding ones in the CCF pointed at via the -ccf command line option or the environment variable SAS_CCF (see below). Each specified file must be a valid CCF constituent.

• -ccfpath dir1[:dir2 ... or -a dir1[:dir2 ... ]

  A list of directories separated by commas that defines a search path along which CCF constituents are to be sought. If a CCF replacement file is passed via -ccffiles with its full absolute path, any specified search path is not considered in trying to access this constituent.