Auto-indexing of Keywords

If a template keyword name ends with a "#" character, it is auto-indexed. The parser replaces the '#' with the current integer keyword index value in the FITS header. The first keyword field encountered in a given HDU definition ending with '#' is used as the index value incrementor. Each time this keyword field (also ending with '#') is encountered in the header definition the index value is incremented by 1.

All keyword fields ending with '#' encountered between index value incrementor keyword fields are assigned the current index value. The resulting FITS keyword (i.e., after the '#' is replaced with the index value) must be 8 characters or less in length. The following example demonstrates the auto-indexing feature:

Template Record          Resulting keyword (in GROUP HDU add 6)
DUMMY                     DUMMY
PARAM#                    PARAM1
DUMMY#                    DUMMY1
PARAM                     PARAM
PARAM#                    PARAM2
TEST#                     TEST2
PARAM#                    PARAM3
TEST#                     TEST3

The index value and index value incrementor keyword field are reset to 1 for each HDU or to 7 for each GROUP defined in the template.