Many of the timing commands are given the input parameters via a parameter file. A parameter file is a standard ASCII file: each parameter must be preceded by a keyword. The lines beginning with the `!' character are considered to be comment lines and they are not read in by the programs. Any other unnecessary line will be read in and ignored by the parameter interpreter. Many of the parameters have default values and they can be omitted. The order of the parameters in the file is not relevant. An example of a typical parameter file is:
! ! This is an example of parameter file ! MODE BINNED ! this is a comment line N_OF_FILES 2 FILENAME_1 test1.tbl FILENAME_2 test2.tbl ! This line is an additional uninterpreted line ! OUTPUT_FILENAME test.tbl ! additional comment REBIN_FACTOR 2 STRETCH_LENGTH 4096 LOG_COMPR_FLAG 1 COMPR_FACTOR 0.25 ! ! The following parameter is valid only in ! the case MODE UNBINNED, but its presence ! is harmless. It is not interpreted. ! BIN_SIZE 10. ! end of parameter file