Encyclopaedia Index

Q1EAR file

  1. What it is
  2. Why it is useful
  3. Where Q1EARs can be found

(a) A file called Q1EAR is created in the current directory, whenever a SATELLITE run ends.

Its content "echoes" the settings made during the satellite run, whether in "silent", "text-interactive" or "menu-interactive" modes, in very nearly the same format as is used for the data-setting print-out at the top of the RESULT file, when the command ECHO = T has been issued.

It therefore differs in appearance from the Q1 file which gave rise to the settings; and it differs also in being in "numerical" rather than "algebraic" terms.

Consider for example the differences between the files which are displayed by clicking on here and here, the first being the Q1 and the second the Q1EAR.

Thus a PATCH argument which in the original Q1 appeared as NX/2 will appear in Q1EAR (if NX=20) simply as 10.

Similarly, the Q1EAR file is entirely free from any signs of the READVDU, IF..THEN..ELSE..ENDIF and other PIL constructs which gave rise to the settings.

The Q1EAR is created from the final state of the variables in Satellite memory, and thus reflects the responses made to any READVDU statements in the Q1.

Lines in the Q1 file between DISPLAY and ENDDIS, and between PHOTON USE and ENDUSE, are copied into the Q1EAR file.

The Q1EAR file, if re-named as Q1, can itself be read by the SATELLITE, which will then produce an EARDAT which is identical, in all significant respects, to that which was produced in the previous SATELLITE run.


(b) Inspection of the Q1EAR file produced by a satellite run is useful because:


(c) A sub-directory called Q1EARS can be found in each INPLIB (i.e. Input Library).

It contains Q1EAR files which correspond to the Q1s which reside in the upper directory, with identical names and ( .htm) extensions.

It is these files which are addressed by the library-search procedure.

(d) A recent addition is the file q1ears.htm which is a browsable file containing: