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This section defines a basic set of routines that can be used to perform the most common types of read and write operations on FITS files. New users should start with these routines and then, as needed, explore the more advance routines described in the following chapter to perform more complex or specialized operations.
Each routine has 2 names: a long descriptive name and a short concise name. Both names are listed on the first line of the following descriptions, separated by a slash (/) character. It makes no difference which name is used in the source code.
A right arrow symbol (>) is used to separate the input parameters from the output parameters in the definition of each routine. This symbol is not actually part of the C calling sequence. Note that the status parameter is both an input and an output parameter and must be initialized = 0 prior to calling the CFITSIO routines.
Refer to Chapter 9 for the definition of all the parameters used by these interface routines.