---
name: "mTblSort"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "montage"
version: "6.1+dfsg-1+b1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/mTblSort"
---

# mTblSort(1)

Sorts a table on numeric values

## NAME

mTblSort - Sorts a table on numeric values

## SYNOPSIS

mTblSort \[-d\] in.tbl colname out.tbl

## DESCRIPTION

Sorts a table on numeric values.

## OPTIONS

- \-d

  Turns on debugging

## ARGUMENTS

- in.tbl

  Path to input table

- colname

  Name of column to sort on (column must contain numeric values)

- out.tbl

  Path to output table

## RESULT

\[struct stat="OK", count=*nrows*\]

where *nrows* is the number of rows in the table.

## MESSAGES

- OK

  \[struct stat="OK", count=*nrows*\]

- ERROR

  Cannot allocate memory for data

- ERROR

  Cannot open input file

- ERROR

  Cannot open output file

- ERROR

  Table file open failed for \[*in.tbl*\]

- ERROR

  Table file does not have fixed-length records

- ERROR

  Table does not contain column \[*colname*\]

## EXAMPLES

- $ mTblSort images.tbl ra ra\_sorted.tbl

  \[struct stat="OK", count=5, nmatches=3\]

ra\_sorted.tbl is now sorted on the column "ra".

## BUGS

The drizzle algorithm has been implemented but has not been tested in this release.

If a header template contains carriage returns (i.e., created/modified on a Windows machine), the cfitsio library will be unable to read it properly, resulting in the error: \[struct stat="ERROR", status=207, msg="illegal character in keyword"\]

It is best for the background correction algorithms if the area described in the header template completely encloses all of the input images in their entirety. If parts of input images are "chopped off" by the header template, the background correction will be affected. We recommend you use an expanded header for the reprojection and background modeling steps, returning to the originally desired header size for the final coaddition. The default background matching assumes that there are no non-linear background variations in the individual images (and therefore in the overlap differences). If there is any uncertainty in this regard, it is safer to turn on the "level only" background matching (the "-l" flag in mBgModel.

## COPYRIGHT

2001-2015 California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California

If your research uses Montage, please include the following acknowledgement: "This research made use of Montage. It is funded by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number ACI-1440620, and was previously funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Earth Science Technology Office, Computation Technologies Project, under Cooperative Agreement Number NCC5-626 between NASA and the California Institute of Technology."

The Montage distribution includes an adaptation of the MOPEX algorithm developed at the Spitzer Science Center.