It is possible that the length of a parameter value can become large (indeed quite huge). In this case, it is convenient to store the parameter value in a file and then to use the file name in place of the parameter value.
To do this, the file name should be preceded by an `at' sign (@).
For example, assuming the file name contains the text
chicyg , then
% histo in=@nameis equivalent to
% histo in=chicygThese
@ files can be nested, and multiple @ files can appear on a
line (separated by commas). Indeed an @ file and other parameter
values can be intermixed, separated by commas.
The @ file can contain many lines. An end-of-line is treated like
a comma.
As mentioned before in Section 2.1, parameter input can also be made easier by using the -f flag when MIRIAD commands are given directly from the shell.