filename – name of an ASCII textfile
ASCIIGET is a utility to print the characters in a text file to the console, together with the corresponding ASCII decimal code.
End of ASCIIGET
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NB: ALIAS is not currently included in the CDP distribution.
full_path – the location of the soundfile, specifying the drive, the directory (with subdirectories) in which it resides, and its name. E.g.,
name – the name of the shortcut soundfile; it may be the same as or different from that of the original name.d:\compositions\project6\whirr.wavExample command line to create an alias:
alias d:\compositions\project6\whirr.wav whirr.wav
A 'shortcut' on a PC system (Windows) is a path to a file. It does not duplicate that file. This can be particularly useful for soundfiles, which can be very large. If you create a shortcut to a soundfile, you can then access that file from your current directory simply by entering the alias name.
ALIAS creates a shortcut in the current directory. It can be treated as if it were an actual soundfile in the usual way.
To be recognised by CDP programs the alias name must include the extension (e.g. .wav), as shown in the above example.In DIRSF, a soundfile for which a shortcut has been created is shown with its additional .lnk extension: e.g., whirr.wav.lnk.
End of ALIAS
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For more information:columns -f to see all available flags
columns -g for generative operations
columns -l for list manipulation and editing
columns -m for mathematical operations
columns -M for musical operations
columns -R for randome operations
infile – input text file containing a column of numbers
outfile – optional output text file
-flag@ – flag to specify the operation to be performed on the input column of numbers. The '@' symbol indicates a numeric value to be supplied by the user, and may be optional (in square [] brackets).
'{' = less than: '}' = greater than
threshold is a numeric value and can only be used with R, a, m, d, P, c – the specified operation then applies only to values > or < the threshold value.
Although there are many operations available in COLUMNS, using the program is relatively straightforward. For example, the command
columns infile outfile -flag@will add 20 to every value in acol.txt and write the resultant column to acoladd.txt.
columns acol.txt acoladd.txt -a20
This is what the two files would look like:
acol.txt acoladd.txt 1 21 2 22 3 23 4 24 5 25What can sometimes be confusing is how COLUMNS handles the first value in the list and whether or not the sums accumulate. You are recommended to perform as simple a test as possible on an operation you wish to use and study the result to see exactly what calculation(s) COLUMNS has made.
COLUMNS is fully implemented in Sound Loom as the TABLE EDITOR and in Soundshaper as the DATA EDITOR. There is excellent documentation on the Data Editor in 'Help > Soundshaper Help > DATA EDITOR'.
More information and user feedback on this utility would be welcome.
ALSO SEE: PUTCOL, GETCOL, VECTORS and SNDINFO UNITS, which is designed as a 'music calculator'.
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copysfx [-d] [-hN] [-sN] [-tN] infile outfile
infile – a wav or aif soundfile
outfile – a wav or aif soundfile.
Default in all cases: outfile has the format of the infile.
-d – apply TPDF (2-LSB triangular) dither to a 16-bit outfile
-hN – write minimum header:
-sN – force output sample type to type N
- 0 = minimum (no extra data: this avoids incompatibility with software which cannot read the extra data)
- 1 = PEAK data only
- Default (flag not used): include PEAK data.
Available sample types:-tN – write outfile format as type NDefault (flag not used): format of infile
- 16-bit integers (shorts)
- 32-bit integer (longs)
- 32-bit floating-point
- 24-bit integer 'packed'
Possible formats:NB: Types 1 to 8 are for WAV format only.
- – (default) standard soundfile (.wav, .aif, .afc, .aifc)
- – generic WAVE_EX (no speaker assignments)
- – WAVE_EX mono/stereo/quad (LF, RF, LR, RR) – infile number of channels must match
- – WAVE_EX quad surround (L, C, R, S) – infile must be quad
- – WAVE_EX 5.1 format surround – infile must be 6-channel
- – WAVE_EX Ambisonic B-Format (W, X, Y, A ...) – the .amb extension is supported
- – WAVE_EX 5.0 surround – infile must be 5-channel
- – WAVE_EX 7.1 surround – infile must be 8-channel
- – WAVE_EX cube surround – infile must be 8-channel
- – WAVE_EX 6.1 Surround – infile must be 7-channel
COPYSFX is the primary workhorse program in the MULTI-CHANNEL TOOLKIT for copying and converting files from one format to another.
By default COPYSFX writes a PEAK chunk to the output soundfile. This stores the position and value of the first absolute maximum sample in each channel, together with a timestamp. Almost all the TOOLKIT programs print the PEAK data to the screen on completion. It can also be shown via SFPROPS. For integer formats, the value will of necessity be clipped to 1.0. For floating-point formats the value reflects the true peak values in the file.
It is still common for many applications to assume a fixed length header, and be broken by any file with additional chunks such as the PEAK data. For such applications, use the -h flag to write a "minimal" header with no extra chunks.
Note that while CHXFORMAT can save considerable disk space and time by changing the header of a file directly, it is inherently risky. COPYSFX is non-destructive and, if space and time permit, is still the recommended tool for format conversion. CHXFORMAT may however be required where it is desired to set an unusual or experimental speaker mask not supported by COPYSFX.
This function is also documented in the Multi-Channel Toolkit manual.
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(dirsf -h or dirsf -? displays the Usage)
'dirsf' on its own provides a full listing of sound data in the current directory with any of the following extensions:
- soundfiles (.wav or these varieties of .aif: .aif, .aiff, .aifc, .afc, .aic)
- analysis files (any extension is acceptable, .ana is the convention)
- envelope files (.evl) for binary files containing amplitude envelope data (.env is no longer used)
- formant files (binary files for which the system-provided extension is .for) (.fmt is no longer used)
- binary pitch data files (.frq), i.e., as produced by REPITCH GETPITCH
- binary data transposition files (.trn), i.e., as produced by REPITCH COMBINE
- soundfiles with a shortcut (.lnk is appended)
- breakpoint files (.brk by convention – or .txt)
Other text files such as the note data file used in TEXTURE (i.e., ASCII text files) can be displayed with the computer's normal dir (PC) or ls (MAC OS X) command.
dirsf filename.extension provides information for the named soundfile.
Note that the extension must be specified. This is because the same filename may have different extensions: e.g., owl.ana (analysis file) and owl.frq (binary pitch data file – the pitch trace – derived from that analysis file).
-l – list names only
-t – list modification dates and times
-dpath – list only files in directory path
path – location of the soundfile in the directory system
filespec – filenames specified with wildcards, e.g., s*.ana
End of DIRSFThe full soundfile display page shows, from left to right:
- Bytes
- the size of the soundfile in bytes
- Channel
- the number of channels. If the file is an analysis file, the number of channels shown is actually the number of filter channels in the analysis + 2 for header information.
- Sample
- the numerical format of the data (shorts or floats). CDP now supports the floating point soundfile standard, for greater fidelity, so a 'float' file can be either a soundfile or an analysis file.
- Rate
- the sample rate of the soundfile, i.e., the number of times per second the source sound has been 'sampled'. CDP supports the following sample rates: 96000 , 48000, 44100, 22050, 32000, 16000. If the file is an analysis file, the number of channels shown is actually the frame rate, i.e., the number of analysis frames in the file. The PVOC manual explains how this works.
- Seconds
- the duration of the soundfile in seconds
- fmt
- the format of the file: .wav or .aif etc. (whether a soundfile or an analysis file with .ana extension), or ? if not recognised by the system
- Name
- the name given to the soundfile
Example DIRSF display Bytes Channel Sample Rate Seconds fmt Name 785408 1 short 44100 8.905 W softspoken.wav 6357096 1026 float 172 9.006 W rmstr.ana DIRSF also handles and displays information about multi-channel file types. Also see CDP MCTOOLS.
in_textfile – input textfile from which to extract the column
out_textfile – output textfile to which to write this column
colno – integer to specify which column to extract (count starts at 1)
skiplines – number fo lines to skip from head of file (each blank line counts as one line)
GETCOL provides a mechanism with which one can extract a column of numbers from a text file containing two or more columns and save it to a separate file, for processing (or printing, etc.).
Using PUTCOL, it can later be placed in another file or returned to the source file.
The COLUMNS program provides many ways of manipulating data, usually as single columns. For example, you might use it to quantise MIDI pitches. GETCOL can extract a column from a breakpoint file to provide an input file for COLUMNS.
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Listaudevs provides a list of the audio devices (input and output) on your computer. It reports to the console, but you can redirect the output to a text file by typing listaudevs >filename.txt (PC) or ....(OS X).
The format of the output list is amost identical to that produced by PAPLAY or PVPLAY (when invoked without parameters). Input and output devices are listed separately and the current default output is indicated by a leading asterisk before the device number. See examples in PAPLAY and PVPLAY below.
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paplay [-BN] [-dN] [-gN] [-hN] [-i] [-l] [-b[N] | -m[S]] [-u] [-x] soundfile [from] [to]
soundfile – handles a variety of standard and multi-channel soundfiles.
NB: You need to supply the extension explicitly with this program.
from – optional start-time in seconds (Default = 0).
to – optional end-time in seconds (Default= end-of-file)
Enables arbitrary block to be played and looped.
-dN – use output Device N
-gN – apply gain factor N to input
-BN – set memory buffer size to N frames (default: 32768)
N must be a power of 2 (e.g 4096, 8192, 16384 etc).
-hN – set hardware blocksize to N frames (32 < N <= BN/4). Default: from soundcard.
N is recommended to be a power of two size.
Where set, buffer sizes are doubled internally for sample rates >48KHz.
-i – play immediately (do not wait for keypress)
-l – loop file continuously, from start-time to end-time
-m[S] – render using channel map string S. (Use -m without parameter for usage.)
S (order string) = any combination of characters a-z inclusive.
No. of characters in S sets no. of output channels – must be supported by selected device.
Further details – see CHORDER orderstring
NB: -m cannot be combined with -b (B-Format decoding).
If channel mapping is used, a B-format file (AMB) will be rendered without decoding.
-u – suppress elapsed time updates
-x – apply WAVE_EX infile channel mask to Direct Sound audio stream (ignored if -m or -b used)
-bN – apply 1st-order B-Format decoding to a standard soundfile, which must have at least 3 channels.
B-Format (.amb) files will be decoded automatically.
The output channel order is anticlockwise from Centre Front except where indicated.
Layouts marked with an asterisk (*) are compatible with WAVE_EX speaker position order.
N sets the speaker layout to one of the following:Please also note:
- – * mono (= W signal only)
- – * stereo (quasi mid/side, = W +- Y)
- – square
- – * quad (FL, FR, RL, RR order) – default
- – pentagon
- – * 5.0 surround (WAVE_EX order)
- – * 5.1 surround (WAVE_EX order, silent LFE)
- – hexagon
- – octagon 1 (front pair, 45°)
- – octagon 2 (front centre speaker)
- – cube (as 3, low-high interleaved, Csound compatible)
- – * cube (as 4, low quad followed by high quad)
NB: no decoding is performed if the -m flag isused.
- On Windows, ASIO as well as DirectSound is supported.
- OS X version supports Jack as well as Core Audio.
- Windows only: use the -x flag option to send WAVE_EX speaker positions (for starred layouts) to the hardware. The default is to send a zero mask, so that channels map directly to successive hardware outputs.
- PAPLAY reads the PEAK chunk if present to rescale over-range floating-point ('floatsam') files.
- Type PAPLAY without arguments to display the usage message followed by a list of the available audio devices. Note that input and output devices are listed separately, so that the list can become quite long! The current default output is indicated by a leading asterisk before the device number (see example below).
- For ASIO multi-channel, you may need to select the highest device number, for example:
Device Input Output Name 0 2 0 Primary Sound Capture Driver 1 2 0 Microphone (Realtek High Definition Audio) 2 2 0 Monitor (M-Audio Delta Audiophile) 3 2 0 Line 1/2 (M-Audio Delta Audiophile) 4 2 0 S/PDIF (M-Audio Delta Audiophile) *5 0 2 Primary Sound Driver 6 0 2 Line 1/2 (M-Audio Delta Audiophile) 7 0 6 Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio) 8 0 2 S/PDIF (M-Audio Delta Audiophile) 9 0 2 Realtek Digital Output (Realtek High Definition Audio) 10 6 4 M-Audio Delta ASIO
The same B-Format decoding is employed here as in FMDCODE. As in that program, no shelf filters or nearfield compensation are employed.
The -i flag is provided primarily to enable the program to be invoked from a scripting language (e.g., TCL/Tk, MatLab, Octave, Tabula Vigilans, etc.) or from batch files, where it is inconvenient to interact with the program via the keyboard. Otherwise, note that when launched, the program waits for a keypress to commence playback. As the first block of data is pre-loaded, playback will effectively start immediately.
Testing audio routing
It is strongly recommended that users test their routing before trying to play a multi-channel file. The MULTI-CHANNEL TOOLKIT can itself be used to prepare suitable test materials.One approach is to create a special file (e.g., of spoken idents, or clearly distinguishable tones), with each channel clearly identified in sequence. The -l flag can be used to loop this or any file until stopped via CTRL-C, while any necessary adjustments to routing or levels are made. For B-Format playback, it is especially important that all speakers are as closely matched in level and distance as possible, and that any mixer or other level controls are ganged together.
Such a file is especially easy to create using Audacity: record each ident in sequence as a new track. Then use Export with Advanced Mixing Options enabled, to save each track as a channel of a multi-channel soundfile. You can use COPYSFX to convert this file into the required WAVE_EX format. Alternatively, use the Export Multiple option to save each track as a separate numbered file, and create the final multi-channel file using INTERLX. This approach is indicated, for example, when the same idents can be used, in different combinations, for a variety of multi-channel layouts.
To check that speaker levels are exactly matched, a file with test signals is required, with (ideally) a loudness meter at the listening position. This is especially important if unmatched speakers (and amplifiers) are employed!
OS X
It goes without saying that PAPLAY uses CoreAudio. OS X itself recognises both WAVE_EX files and the most standard speaker layouts and renders them (e.g., via Quicktime) appropriately, given multi-channel hardware. PAPLAY simply sends the channels in order to the chosen device.The historical limitations (and bugs) with respect to the WAVE formats associated with earlier Macintosh systems are long gone, and with the move to Intel processors the case for using WAVE (in general) over the AIFF formats is even stronger. The AIFF format is now arguably all but obsolete – such definitions as exist in the AIFF and AIFFC specifications for multi-channel files are variously obsolete and ambiguous. Apple's replacement for the AIFF family is the new CAF file format. Support for this may appear in later updates to the MULTI-CHANNEL TOOLKIT.
Windows
PAPLAY supports both the DirectSound and the ASIO APIs. Accordingly, the displayed list of devices will be longer than before, with the same hardware identified for each API as appropriate. In Windows, it is not necessary to set a device number if you wish to play the file on the default audio playback device set in Control Panel.Note the -x flag, exclusive to the Windows platform. Windows recognises a very limited set of standard speaker layouts. These can be selected (in this example, in XP) via the Advanced button on the Audio page of Sound and Audio device Properties. To play a multi-channel WAVE_EX file using Media Player or other Windows-standard player, users will need to check which layout is selected. If these is any mismatch, such as trying to play a 5.1 file to stereo speakers, the Windows kernel mixer will attempt to map the audio channels to that layout in some representative way. This has some virtues, such as being able to audition an arbitrary multi-channel file over stereo speakers. Many commercial editors and DAWs perform in much the same way, sending the WAVE_EX channel mask directly to the subsystem. Should the user want to replicate this behaviour using PAPLAY, the -x flag can be used. This flag is not available in the OS X version of PAPLAY.
Note, however, that when Windows plays, for example, a quad soundfile to a stereo device, the rear channels are typically rendered at a lower level.
For such tasks as B-Format decoding to relatively unorthodox layouts such as hexagon or octagon, this automatic remapping is not useful beyound a simple integrity check. The default behaviour of PAPLAY is to send a 'generic' mask value of zero to the audio subsystem, so that channels are simply mapped to successive device outputs.
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columnfile – input textfile containing the column to be placed
intofile – name of existing textfile into which the column will be placed
out_textfile – name of resultant textfile
colno – position number of the column to be added (count starts at 1)
-r – replace original column
-i – insert new column amongst the original columns
skiplines – number of lines to skip from head of intofile before writing the coluimn data, retaining the lines skipped over (each blank line counts as one line)
-skiplines – number of lines to skip from head of intofile before writing the coluimn data, discarding the lines skipped over (each blank line counts as one line)
-e – Ignore lines which contain only 'e' or 's' (possibly legacy values?) and comment lines starting with ';'. (Skipped lines should still be counted).
PUTCOL saves typing time by placing a whole column of numbers into a textfile already containing at least one column of numbers. For example, if you have extracted and processed numbers extracted from a breakpoint file, you can use PUTCOL to replace the original column.
Note that, as with all CDP functions, the original file (intofile) is not actually over-written; instead you are writing to a new file (out_textfile).
The COLUMNS program provides many ways of manipulating data, usually as single columns. For example, you might use it to quantise MIDI pitches. PUTCOL can place the processed column into a revised version of the original file.
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pvplay [-BN] [-dN] [-gN] [-hN] [-i] [-l] [-b[N] [-u] [-x] infile [from] [to]
infile [.wav | .aif | .ana | .pvx] – analysis file or soundfile to be played. NB: You need to supply the extension explicitly, so that the program knows what kind of file is being played.
from – start time (secs) for playback and looping. (Default: 0)
. to – end time (secs) for playback and looping. (Default: end-of-file)
-dN – use output Device N
-gN – apply gain factor N to input
-BN – set memory buffer size to N frames (default: 32768)
N must be a power of 2 (e.g 4096, 8192, 16384 etc).
-hN – set hardware blocksize to N frames (32 < N <= BN/4). Default: set internally.
N is recommended to be a power of two size.
Where set, buffer sizes are doubled internally for sample rates >48KHz.
-i – play immediately (do not wait for keypress)
-l – loop file continuously, from start-time to end-time
-u – suppress elapsed time updates
-x – apply WAVE_EX infile channel mask to Direct Sound audio stream (ignored if -b used)
-bN – apply 1st-order B-Format decoding to a standard soundfile, which must have at least 3 channels.
B-Format (.amb) files will be decoded automatically.
The output channel order is anticlockwise from Centre Front except where indicated.
Layouts marked with an asterisk (*) are compatible with WAVE_EX speaker position order.
N sets the speaker layout to one of the following:Please also note:
- – * mono (= W signal only)
- – * stereo (quasi mid/side, = W +- Y)
- – square
- – * quad (FL, FR, RL, RR order) – default
- – pentagon
- – * 5.0 surround (WAVE_EX order)
- – * 5.1 surround (WAVE_EX order, silent LFE)
- – hexagon
- – octagon 1 (front pair, 45°)
- – octagon 2 (front centre speaker)
- – cube (as 3, low-high interleaved, Csound compatible)
- – * cube (as 4, low quad followed by high quad)
- On Windows, ASIO as well as DirectSound is supported.
- OS X version supports Jack as well as Core Audio.
- Windows only: use the -x flag option to send WAVE_EX speaker positions (for starred layouts) to the hardware. The default is to send a zero mask, so that channels map directly to successive hardware outputs.
- PVPLAY reads the PEAK chunk if present to rescale over-range floating-point ('floatsam') files.
- Type PVPLAY without arguments to display the usage message followed by a list of the available audio devices. Note that input and output devices are listed separately, so that the list can become quite long! The current default output is indicated by a leading asterisk before the device number (see example below).
- For ASIO multi-channel, you may need to select the highest device number, for example:
Device Input Output Name 0 2 0 Primary Sound Capture Driver 1 2 0 Microphone (Realtek High Definition Audio) 2 2 0 Monitor (M-Audio Delta Audiophile) 3 2 0 Line 1/2 (M-Audio Delta Audiophile) 4 2 0 S/PDIF (M-Audio Delta Audiophile) *5 0 2 Primary Sound Driver 6 0 2 Line 1/2 (M-Audio Delta Audiophile) 7 0 6 Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio) 8 0 2 S/PDIF (M-Audio Delta Audiophile) 9 0 2 Realtek Digital Output (Realtek High Definition Audio) 10 6 4 M-Audio Delta ASIO
PVPLAY enables you to audition spectral analysis files (with the extension .ana) – as well as soundfiles – through the device selected. The resynthesis is handled by PVPLAY in real-time.
PVPLAY makes it possible to audition the result of a spectral data manipulation process right away, prior to converting to a soundfile. This saves both time and disk space: you can hear and delete trial runs until achieving the desired result.
Because PVPLAY handles playback of both soundfiles and analysis files, it can be used as the default CDP play program. The Windows wave-mapper is useful as a way of finding a way to play back soundfiles which may not be supported by your main playback device.
N.B. While PVPLAY can play multi-channel spectral analysis files, identified by the .pvx extension (see usage), these have not yet been implemented in the rest of the CDP system.
PVPLAY in Sound Loom
When set in Sound Loom as the default play program, the -i flag should be set. The file which contains the information for playback for Sound Loom is playcmd.cdp, which is placed in the '_cdpenv' directory. If PVPLAY were to be set as the default play program, playcmd.cdp should contain:
pvplay -i
The playcmd.cdp file is an editable text file, and you should check that it contains what you expect it to contain. If for example, you set it from within Sound Loom itself, the -i flag (for immediate playback without user intervention) may not have 'taken'. You can put the flag there by editing the file.
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outfile – output file in WAVE, AIFF or AIFC formats, determined by the file extension.
Use the extension .amb to create an ambisonic B-Format file.
-BN – set memory buffer size to N frames (default: 32768)
N must be a power of 2 (e.g 4096, 8192, 16384 etc).
-cN – number of channels to record (Range: 1 to 16; default = 2)
-dN – use input device N
Type recsf with no parameters for a list of available input devices.
Default device is marked with an asterisk (*). (See examples in PAPLAY and PVPLAY.)
For ASIO multi-channel, you may need to select the highest device number.
-hN – set hardware blocksize to N frames (32 < N <= BN/4). Default: set by device.
N is recommended to be a power of two size.
-i – start recording immediately (default: wait for keypress)
-p – suppress running peak level indicator
-rN – set sample rate to N Hz (default: 44100)
-tN – set sample type to N (default: 1)dur – optional fixed duration (secs) for the outfile (overriden by Ctrl-C).
- 0: 16 bit integer
- 1: 24 bit integer
- 2: 32 bit floating-point
Otherwise, use Ctrl_C to terminate recording.
RECSF inputs the sound from the device selected, creating a soundfile in the specified format. It is best to start the playback device just before running RECSF so that any impulse generated when the device begins is not recorded.
The program also interrogates your system and displays the available recording time in seconds for a 16-bit soundfile at a sample rate of 44100.
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-h – on-screen help message listing the flags
column1 – textfile with a list of numbers (on same or separate lines)
column2 – second textfile with a list of numbers (on same or separate lines)
outfile – text file to which the output is written. If not specified, output is to the screen.
flag – specifies the operation to perform. It can be one of:-a – add each corresponding value of column1 to column2
-s – subtract each corresponding value of column1 from column2
-m – multiply each value of column1 by the corresponding value of column2
-d – divide each value of column1 by the corresponding value of column2
-p – raise each value of column1 to the power expressed by the corresponding value of column2 (must be >=0)
-Ra – add a random value between + and - the corresponding value of column2
-Rm – multiply column1 value by a random value between 0 and the value in column2
-Rs – apply random variation to (ascending) values in column1 (cumulatively) by adding it to a random value, the range of which is defined by the corresponding number in column2 (which must be between 0 and 1); see further details below
-SN – substitute value N in column1 with the next value in column2
-qN – quantise column1 with column2 (ascending order); see further details below
-o – overwrite first and every Nth term of column1 with the corresponding value of column2
-iN – insert column2 at start and after every Nth term of column1
-I – interleave column2 alternately with column1
Along with COLUMNS, VECTORS provides another range of facilities to manipulate columns of numbers.
The output is a single column, in effect a massaged column1; thus column2 is being used to modify column1. This can be useful to 'loosen up' the use of numbers, to make them more 'plastic' and 'human'.-Rs flag (random variation): in effect, this is 'humanising' the column1 numbers with a random factor. Column2 defines the range – always between 0 and 1 – within which the number is selected. For example, a 1 in column2 means that the full 0-1 range will be used, whereas 0.5 in column2 means that only half the range will be used, i.e., the random value will lie between 0 and 0.5.
-q flag (quantise): the values in column1 are in effect 'snapped' to the nearest available value in column2.
For example:column1 column2 outfile Comment 2.5 3 3 4.5 4 4 6.5 9 4 6.5 is closer to 4 than to 9 8.5 10 9 8.5 is closer to 9 than to 10 10.5 12 10 10.5 is closer to 12 than to 10 12.5 15 12 12.5 is closer to 12 than to 15 16 no output outfile is truncated 18 no output
ALSO SEE: COLUMNS, GETCOL, PUTCOL.
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