Starting Figaro from the Unix shell

To start Figaro from the Unix shell simply type:

   % figaro

and it responds with a message similar to this:

 ----------- Initialising for  Figaro ------------
              General data reduction
            Version 5.6-1 19 September 2002
 
          Type "fighelp figaro" for help
      or "fighelp news" for news on changes
 
 Type "showme sun86" to browse HTML documentation
 
 Use "abbrev" and "noabbrev" to turn parameter name
 abbreviation on and off.

Once you have given this Figaro startup command you have about 200 new commands at your disposal, the Figaro commands (or Figaro applications; In Figaro, and other Starlink packages, commands are often referred to as `applications' because each command corresponds to an application program which performs some data reduction task). Each Figaro application can be invoked by two different commands. One is simply a name describing the application, the other the same name prefixed by `fig_'. E.g. the commands `istat' and `fig_istat' invoke the same application. The reason for this apparent duplication is that some common command names can also be used in other packages. The `fig_' prefix allows the Figaro commands to be specified unambiguously.

The Unix shell has some disadvantages in running Figaro commands. The most annoying feature is that so-called meta-characters like ()[]'" have special meaning to the Unix shell. If you need these characters to pass information in the command line to the Figaro command, then you have to take extra steps to make sure the information makes it through the interpretation by the Unix shell. Of less importance is that the Unix shell does not have floating point variables and arithmetics, and that it has no knowledge of the parameter system used by Figaro commands. Such features are rarely needed; once you get used to handling the shell meta-characters, you should be all right with the Unix shell.