Creating a new Task

Lianne wrote on Nov 26, 2008

I'm trying to create a new task in Iraf. I have been given a script

procedure markit (reffile)

string reffile
string *flist

begin
flist = reffile

while ( fscan (flist, s1) != EOF ) {

if (access (s1) ) {
print ('Displaying ',s1 )
disp (s1, 1)
tvmark (1, s1//".mark", col=205, interactive=yes)
}
;
}

end


I put this into notepad++ and saved it into the directory where I am working on my images. I called it markit.cl. Then in iraf I used the command to make the task.

cl> task $markit = markit.cl

which works, then when I'm trying to call the task I get the following error:

cl> markit
**: begin
^
ERROR: syntax error, line 6
called as: 'markit ()'

Any help would be much appreciated.

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Mike Fitzpatrick wrote on Nov 26, 2008

Because the task has parameters (i.e. arguments in the procedure declaration, more generally, anything before the 'begin'), you must declare it without the '$', e.g.

task markit = /path/markit.cl

As for the syntax error, I think notepad may have put some control characters in the file that are causing the problem, the script runs fine for me (file created with 'vi').

-Mike

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Lianne wrote on Nov 26, 2008

Mike,

Ok, I changed the editor to vim, and entered the command

task markit = /iraf/markit.cl

There is now an error that comes up saying...

ERROR: task 'markit' has no param file

Thanks!
Lianne

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Mike Fitzpatrick wrote on Nov 26, 2008

Do an "cl> unlearn markit" before running the task, its still using the param definition from the first time that lives in your uparm directory.

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Lianne wrote on Nov 26, 2008

Ok, i did that, then logged out of iraf, then logged back in. Then I did it again
cl> unlearn markit

and it came back with:
ERROR: task 'markit' not found
called as: 'unlearn markit ()'

so I then created it again.

cl> task markit = markit.cl

and again it came up with no param file.

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Mike Fitzpatrick wrote on Nov 26, 2008

cl> task markit = markit.cl

Is markit.cl in the current directory or in /iraf/markit.cl as in your last post? Since the parameters are part of the script, a 'has no param file' could also mean the script doesn't exist where the task declaration said it lives (which is the current directory if you don't specify a path).

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Lianne wrote on Nov 26, 2008

The markit.cl file is in the current directory.

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Mike Fitzpatrick wrote on Nov 26, 2008

Did you do the 'unlearn' after the 'task' statement? Did you change directories after declaring the task?

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Lianne wrote on Nov 26, 2008

I did unlearn before the task statement, and I've been in the same directory for everything.

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Last post on Nov 26, 2008