The first word (i.e. set of characters followed by a blank) of the explanation of a column may specify validity checks to be performed about:
The three different checks have to be specified in this order: range, NULL, order, without any embedded blank.
All these checks are performed by the standalone program anafile detailed in anafile web page.
Limits in a column can be specified in the explanation column, with values enclosed within square brackets [ or ]; the square bracket must be the first character of the explanation if present. The only exception arises when an asterisk is present before the first square bracket to indicate the presence of extended notes (see Notes).
3 A1 --- u_lab [ :?] Uncertainty flag on parameter labThe dash sign (-) may be used to specify consecutive characters, e.g. [A-F] for any character of the set {A,B,C,D,E,F}.
As an example, the following specifies a parameter 350 < λ< 650 :
75- 80 F6.2 nm lambda ]350,650[ Wavelength
Both limits are not required: to express that a value has to be strictly positive, use the expression ]0,]; the expression [,0] specifies a negative or null value. Writing [] is acceptable when no range checking applies; this writing is required if a not-NULL or a sorting order has to be specified.
When specified, limiting numbers should represent actual limits, and not the range of all possible values which can be inferred from the format (e.g. [-999,9999] for an I4 number).
Some labels have implicit limits, listed in the column Limits
of the tables in section 3.3. These defaults
are overridden (for numeric columns only) by the
limits specified within square brackets in the description file :
writing e.g.[] as the first word of the explanation of a column
labelled GLON removes the condition
The default rule is the following:
+ the value in the column is strictly increasing, val(n+1) > val(n) += the value in the column is increasing: val(n+1) >=val(n) – the value in the column is strictly decreasing: val(n+1) < val(n) –= the value in the column is decreasing: val(n+1) <=val(n)
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