flagcmd – Flagging task based on batches of flag-commands – data editing task

Description

The flagcmd task allows several batch-operations using flag commands.

Flag commands follow the mode and parameter names from the flagdata task (also explained below). The available modes are: manual, clip, shadow, quack, elevation, tfcrop, rflag and extend. The summary mode is not supported in this task. Use the flagdata task for that.

The flagcmd task will flag data based on the commands input on inpmode :

table = input from FLAG_CMD table in MS list = input from text file or list of strings given in inpfile xml = input from Flag.xml in the MS given by vis

Batch operations include : apply/unapply/list/plot/clear/extract

IMPORTANT: The FLAG_CMD sub-table is meant only for meta-data selections such as online flags.

Using it to save other parameters (from modes such as clip, quack, shadow, etc) is possible but carries a risk that in future releases these parameters maybe renamed or changed their default values. Use it at your own risk! There will be no automatic way to rename any parameter that changes in the future.

There is no way to guarantee that a command from the COMMAND column has been applied or not to the MS, even if the APPLIED column is set to True. If you use other ways to flag such as interactive flagging in plotms, the FLAG_CMD will not be updated! Use at your own risk.

It is possible to flag cal tables using this task, although we recommend using the flagdata task for this.

When using this task to flag cal tables, only the ‘apply’ and ‘list’ actions are supported. Because cal tables do not have a FLAG_CMD sub-table, the default inpmode=’table’ can only be used if an MS is given in the ‘inpfile’ parameter so that flags from the MS are applied to the cal table. Otherwise, the flag commands must be given using inpmode=’list’, either from a file(s) or from a list of strings. See below for more information about these parameters. Data selection for calibration tables is limited to field, scan, antenna, time, spw and observation. If the calibration table was created before CASA 4.1, this task will create a dummy OBSERVATION column and OBSERVATION sub-table in the input calibration table to adapt it to the new cal table format.

Parameters

Title

Parameter	Default	Description
vis	''
inpmode	'table'
inpfile	''
tablerows	numpy.array( [  ] )
reason	'any'
useapplied	False
tbuff	float(0.0)
ants	''
action	'apply'
flagbackup	True
clearall	False
rowlist	numpy.array( [  ] )
plotfile	''
savepars	False
outfile	''
overwrite	True

Parameter Explanations

vis

''

Name of MS file or calibration table to flag

inpmode

'table'

Input mode for flag commands(table/list/xml)

inpfile

''

Source of flag commands

tablerows

numpy.array( [  ] )

Rows of inpfile to read

reason

'any'

Select by REASON types

useapplied

False

Select commands whose rows have APPLIED column set to True

tbuff

float(0.0)

Time buffer (sec) to pad flags

ants

''

Allowed flag antenna names to select by

action

'apply'

Action to perform in MS and/or in inpfile (apply/unapply/list/plot/clear/extract)

flagbackup

True

Automatically backup the FLAG column before execution

clearall

False

Delete all rows from FLAG_CMD

rowlist

numpy.array( [  ] )

FLAG_CMD rows to clear

plotfile

''

Name of output file to save plot

savepars

False

Save flag commands to the MS or to a file

outfile

''

Name of output file to save commands

overwrite

True

Overwrite an existing file to save the flag commands