DataFile.find_col

DataFile.find_col(col, force_list=False)

Indexes the column headers in order to locate a column of data.shape.

Indexing can be by supplying an integer, a string, a regular expression, a slice or a list of any of the above.

• Integer indices are simply checked to ensure that they are in range

• String indices are first checked for an exact match against a column header if that fails they are then compiled to a regular expression and the first match to a column header is taken.

• A regular expression index is simply matched against the column headers and the first match found is taken. This allows additional regular expression options such as case insensitivity.

• A slice index is converted to a list of integers and processed as below

• A list index returns the results of feading each item in the list at find_col() in turn.

Parameters:

col (int, a string, a re, a slice or a list) – Which column(s) to retuirn indices for.

Keyword Arguments:

force_list (bool) – Force the output always to be a list. Mainly for internal use only

Returns:

int, list of ints – The matching column index as an integer or a KeyError