Reading and Writing files

In this workshop we will learn how to get data in and out of Python using solely built-in Python functions and types, and we will then move on to see how we can use modules such as pyfits, asciitable and ATpy to read tables of data in various formats.

• Several ways to handle ASCII data
  • Reading and Writing files in Pure Python
  • Numpy
  • Asciitable
• Binary formats useful for astronomers
  • Pyfits - Reading and writing fits files
  • pickle: easy binary persistence
  • json: text file persistence
  • Reading IDL .sav files
• ATpy
  • Reading in an existing table
  • Creating a table from scratch
  • And much more!
• Miscellaneous formats

Authors:Tom Robitaille, Tom Aldcroft, Moritz Guenther Copyright:2011 Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory