file_info

baseband.file_info(name, format=('dada', 'mark4', 'mark5b', 'vdif', 'guppi', 'gsb'), **kwargs)

Get format and other information from a baseband file.

The keyword arguments will only be used if needed, so if one is unsure what format a file is, but knows it was taken recently and has 8 channels, one would put in ref_time=Time('2015-01-01'), nchan=8. Alternatively, and perhaps easier, one can first call the function without extra arguments in which case the result will describe what is missing.

Parameters:

name : str or filehandle, or sequence of str

Raw file for which to obtain information. If a sequence of files is passed, returns information from the first file (see Notes).

format : str, tuple of str, optional

Formats to try. If not given, try all standard formats.

**kwargs

Any arguments that might help to get information. For instance, Mark 4 and Mark 5B do not have complete timestamps, which can be addressed by passing in ref_time. Furthermore, for Mark 5B, it is needed to pass in nchan. Arguments are checked for consistency with the file even if not used (see notes below).

Returns:

info : VLBIFileReaderInfo or VLBIStreamReaderInfo

The information on the file. Can be turned info a dict by calling it (i.e., info()).

Notes

All keyword arguments passed in are classified, ending up in one of the following (mostly useful if the file could be opened as a stream):

• used_kwargs: arguments that were needed to open the file.
• consistent_kwargs: not needed to open the file, but consistent.
• inconsistent_kwargs: not needed to open the file, and inconsistent.
• irrelevant_kwargs: provide information irrelevant for opening.