A walk through tunnel - Survex data file syntax
From Fs_wiki
This section summarizes the synatx of survex datafile.
See {Tu06b} for more details.
Survex datafiles are text files with command lines and datalines. A command line begins with a keyword, a word which starts with an asterisk "*". The data lines are used for the survey data. There can be comments: everything on the line following a semicolon ";" is treated as a comment. Furthermore extra data on a data line are ignored.
Station names are referred in a namespace in which the left entry is the most general, and the right entry is the name of the station. For example, lost_cave.main_passage.14 is the full name of the station 14 in the survey main_passage of the cave lost_cave.
A survex datafile starts with a "*begin survey_name" command and ends with a "*end survey_name" command. Both commands take the name of the survey, which must be the same.
The "*data" command specifies the order of the survey data on the data
lines that follow. For example, *data normal from to length clino compass
states that the data have normal style,
and you have to insert the following data:
from_station, to_station, distance, inclination, and compass
measurements.
A data line following it might look like 1 2 4.30 17 217.
The "*entrance station_id" command states that a station is an entrance: for example *entrance 1 states that station 1 is a cave entrance.
The command "*equate station1 station2" defines the equivalence of two stations (possibly from different surveys). For example *equate 1 main_passage.14 defines that the station \it{14} of the main_passages coincides with the station 1 of the current survey.
A datafile can include other survex datafiles, with the command "*include datafile".
The command "*export station_id ..." lists the stations referable from other surveys. For example, survey main_passage should have the command *export 14 to make the station 14' referable in an "*equate" command of another survey. Or the global datafile can have the command "*export main_passage.14" before (or after?) including the datafile of the main_passage.
The command "*fix station_id X Y Z" specifies the coordinates of a station.
The command "*units measure [factor] unit" specifies the units used for a measure. For example, *units length 0.01 meter states that lengths are expressed in units of centimeters (0.01 m).
The command "*team person role(s)" list a surveyor team member and its role(s).
Here is a simple example, the complete file is included in the archive
of sample data files data.tgz:
*begin gm-01
*export 24
*units length metres
*title "Grazie Mille"
*team "..." compass clino
*entrance 1
*data normal from to length clino compass
1 2 5.70 -52 190
2 3 6.50 -50 205
3 4 2.80 -90 0
4 5 3.65 -50 193
5 6 4.35 -33 228
...
*end gm-01
