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<H1 ALIGN=CENTER>Introduction</H1>

<P>
Most of this guide consists of UNIX <B>man</B> pages that describe the
applications included in the WFDB (Waveform Database) Software
Package (and related software from PhysioToolkit).  This introduction
contains important information about how to interpret the material in
the main sections of the guide, and about common conventions for using
all of the WFDB applications that are not described in the main sections.
The <A HREF="faq.htm">FAQ</A> contains additional information
that will be particularly helpful if you are using MS-Windows (but it
may be of interest even if you are not).

<H2>Using this Guide</H2>
<P>
The organization follows the traditional arrangement of the UNIX Reference
Manual:  section 1 contains programs, section 3 contains libraries, and
section 5 contains file formats.  In the UNIX Reference Manual, sections
2 and 4 are reserved for system calls and device interfaces respectively;
these sections do not exist in this guide.  Following convention, a
citation such as <A HREF="rdann-1.htm"><B>rdann</B>(1)</A> refers to the
page titled <B>rdann</B> in section 1 of this guide.

<P>
A <B>man</B> "page" may span more than one physical page, although most
do not.  Each <B>man</B> page in section 1 of this guide documents one or
more applications, as indicated in the <B>NAME</B> section at the top.
The <B>SYNOPSIS</B> appears next;  it illustrates the form of the
command line needed to run the application.  In the synopsis, <B>boldface</B>
indicates text to be typed as is, and <I>italics</I> indicate replaceable
arguments;  brackets ([], which are <I>not</I> to be typed) surround
arguments that may be omitted, and ellipses (...) follow arguments that
can be repeated.  The <B>DESCRIPTION</B> sections are intentionally terse;
this is a reference manual and not a tutorial introduction to the software
described within.  In those cases for which relevant tutorial material
exists elsewhere, references appear in the <B>SEE ALSO</B> sections of each
<B>man</B> page.  A unique feature of this guide is the <B>SOURCE</B> section
at the end of each page, which provides a URL where you may find the current
version of the source(s) for each application.

<P>
Under GNU/Linux or UNIX, if the WFDB Software Package has been installed
on your system, you can also access the information contained in the
main sections of this guide using <TT>man</TT> and related programs.  For
example, to see the manual page for <TT>rdsamp</TT>, run the command
<PRE>
	man rdsamp
</PRE>
(This also works under MS-Windows if you have installed the
Cygwin package, which includes the <TT>man</TT> utility for formatting
and reading manual pages.)  In some cases you may need to add
<TT>/usr/local/man</TT> to your <TT>MANPATH</TT> environment variable, in
order to make these pages accessible to <TT>man</TT>.

<H2>Using WFDB Applications</H2>
<P>
If you have not used any of these programs before, you may need to set up
your environment properly so that WFDB applications can find their
input files.  See <A HREF="setwfd-1.htm">setwfdb(1)</A> for information about
doing this;  a more detailed discussion may be found in the first chapter of
the <A HREF="../wpg/wpg.htm"><I>WFDB Programmer's Guide</I></A>, in
the section about <A HREF="../wpg/database-path.htm">the database path</A>.

<P>
Certain types of command arguments are used by many of the applications
described in this guide.  These include:
<DL>
<a name="record">
<DT><I>record</I></a>
<DD>Where this appears, substitute the name of a WFDB record.  <B>A record
name is <I>not</I> a file name!</B>  The first part of the name of a
<TT>.hea</TT> file is the name of the record to which the <TT>.hea</TT> file
belongs;  so the record name corresponding to <TT>100.hea</TT> is <TT>100</TT>.
For example, MIT-BIH Arrhythmia Database record names are 3-digit numbers, AHA
Database record names are 4-digit numbers, and European ST-T Database record
names begin with lowercase `<TT>e</TT>', followed by a 4-digit number.
Record names may contain letters, digits, and underscores.  Case is
significant in record names that contain letters, even in environments
such as MS-Windows for which case translation is normally performed by the
operating system on file names; thus `<TT>e0104</TT>' is the name of a record
found in the European ST-T Database, whereas `<TT>E0104</TT>' is not.
Once again: a record name is <STRONG>not</STRONG> a file name;  record names
never include an extension (<TT>.hea</TT>, <TT>.dat</TT>, etc.).
<P>
Wherever a record name can be supplied to a WFDB application, you may include
path information if necessary.  For example, if the WFDB path includes the
current directory, and if the current directory includes a subdirectory named
<TT>my_records</TT>, and if that directory contains a record named
<TT>record_23</TT>, you can supply <TT>my_records/record_23</TT> as a
<I>record</I> argument.  See the <A HREF="../wpg/wpg.htm"><I>WFDB Programmer's
Guide</I></A> for further details on <A HREF="../wpg/records.htm">record
names</A>.

<P>
Each PhysioBank database directory includes a text file named <TT>RECORDS</TT>,
which lists the record names for all records in that directory.

<a name="annotator">
<DT><I>annotator</I></a>
<DD>Where this appears, substitute an annotator name.  <B>Annotator names are
<I>not</I> file names!</B>  The suffix (extension) of the name of an annotation
file is the annotator name for that file;  so, for example, the annotator name
for `<TT>e0104.atr</TT>' is `<TT>atr</TT>'.  The special annotator name
`<TT>atr</TT>' is used to name the set of <I>reference annotations</I>
supplied by the database developers.  Other annotation sets have annotator
names that may contain letters, digits, and underscores, as for record names.
.IP
Each PhysioBank database directory includes a text file named \fBANNOTATORS\fR,
which lists the annotator names for all annotation files in that directory.

<a name="time">
<DT><I>time</I></a>
<DD>Where this appears, substitute a string in <I>standard time format</I>.
<I>Time</I> arguments generally specify elapsed times from the beginning
of the record (for exceptions to this rule, see the section on the
<A HREF="../wpg/strtim.htm"><TT>strtim</TT></A> function in the
<A HREF="../wpg/wpg.htm"><I>WFDB Programmer's Guide</I></A>).  Examples of
standard time format:
<CENTER><TABLE>
<tr><td>2:14.875&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td><td>2 minutes + 14.875 seconds</td></tr>
<tr><td>143</td><td>143 seconds (2 minutes + 23 seconds)</td></tr>
<tr><td>4:02:01</td><td>4 hours + 2 minutes + 1 second</td></tr>
<tr><td>4:2:1</td><td>same as above</td></tr>
<tr><td>s12345</td><td>12345 sample intervals</td></tr>
<tr><td>e</td><td>time of the end of the record</td></tr>
</TABLE></CENTER>

<a name="signal">
<DT><I>signal</I></a>
<DD>Where this appears, substitute a signal number.  Signal numbers
are integers; the first signal in each record is signal 0.  In printed
documentation for the databases, signals always appear with signal 0
at the top, signal 1 beneath, etc.

<a name="signal-list">
<DT><I>signal-list</I></a>
<DD>Where this (or <I>signal ...</I>) appears, you may specify more
than one signal number in any desired order; separate
the signal numbers using spaces.  Unless otherwise noted, a signal may
appear more than once, or not at all, in a signal list.  In most cases,
the end of the signal list is unambiguous (since signal numbers are never
negative, an option argument beginning with '-' is a reliable indicator).
In unusual cases, you may need to arrange options so that the signal list
is at the end of the command, or so that it is followed by an argument that
cannot be interpreted as a signal number.

</DL>

<BR> <HR>
<P>
Your comments on this guide, and on the software that it documents, are
welcome.  Please send them to:
<P><I><ADDRESS>
<A HREF="mailto:george@mit.edu?subject=http://www.physionet.org/physiotools/wag/intro.htm">George B. Moody (<tt>george@mit.edu</tt>)</A></ADDRESS></I><BR>
<P>
LONGDATE
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