README

The filespec project contains the `filespec.py` python module and the 
script `specfile`.

The filespec python module gives full access to scans recorded in files 
writing with the spec file format.

The spec file format organizes scans (data from experimental acquisitions 
sequences) in blocks inside a file.  Each block of data if preceded by a 
header block containing the metadata associated with the acquisition.

For a full description of the format and the description of its organization 
and keywords refer to the documentation distributed with this package.

spec is an application by Certified Scientific Software http://www.certif.com/
specialized in instrument control and data acquisition in X-Ray diffraction 
experiments and it is largely used and many synchrotrons, universities 
and laboratories around the world.

Python programming example: ::

   from specpython.filespec import FileSpec
   fs = FileSpec("data/acq.dat")
 
   # List all the scans in the file
   for scan in fs:
       print scan.getNumber(), scan.getCommand()

   scan = fs[2]  # gets third scan in file
   print scan
   

The `specfile` format is a convenience script, based on the `filespec` python 
module allowing to list/extract data from spec files from the command line.

For a detailed list of options type::

   `specfile -h`