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DOUBLE-ASC(1)

NAME

double-asc - convert a stream of IEEE doubles to ASCII text

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SYNOPSIS

double-asc [-a] [-c] [-f format] [-s squaresize] [-w width] [-n height] [-# depth] [file.d]

DESCRIPTION

double-asc reads a stream of binary, network-order (big-endian) IEEE double-precision floating-point values and writes them out as human-readable ASCII text, one logical sample per line. Input is read from the named file.d or, if no file is given, from standard input; the formatted text is written to standard output.

By default each line holds a single value formatted with " %g". The -# option groups several doubles together as one multi-column sample (for example, a 3-tuple per pixel), and the -f option overrides the output format string. The image-size options (-a, -s, -w, -n) exist so that, with -c, each sample can be labelled with its column and row coordinates within an image of the given dimensions.

This command is the inverse companion of tools that emit raw IEEE double data and is useful for inspecting or post-processing such streams with text utilities.

Note
double-asc is deprecated and scheduled for removal. Contact the developers if you rely on it.

OPTIONS

-a

Autosize the input. When reading from a file, attempt to infer the image width and height from the file size.

-c

Prepend the column and row cell coordinates to each output line. The coordinates wrap according to the configured image width.

-f format

Set the printf(3)-style format string applied to each double. The default is " %g".

-s squaresize

Set both the input width and height to squaresize pixels.

-w width

Set the input width in pixels (default 512).

-n height

Set the input height in pixels (default 512).

-# depth

Set the number of doubles per logical sample (output line). The default is 1.

-h, -?

Print a usage message and exit.

EXAMPLES

Example 1. Inspect a raw double-precision data file as text
double-asc samples.d | head

Dumps the contents of a binary IEEE-double file as plain numbers so the first few values can be eyed quickly.

Example 2. Label each pixel of a 256x256 three-channel double image
double-asc -c -w 256 -n 256 -# 3 image.d > image.txt

Treats the input as a 256-wide by 256-high image with three doubles per pixel and writes, for every pixel, its column and row followed by the three component values. The result is easy to filter with awk(1) or load into a plotting tool.

SEE ALSO

brlcad(1), asc2dsp(1), printf(3)

AUTHOR

BRL-CAD Team

This software is Copyright (c) 1989-2026 by the United States Government as represented by U.S. Army Research Laboratory.

BUG REPORTS

Reports of bugs or problems should be submitted via electronic mail to devs@brlcad.org