text " para_afh, the audio format handler tool, is a stand-alone program contained in the paraslash package for analyzing and streaming audio files. It can be used to - print tech info about the given audio file to stdout. In particular, the 'chunk table' of the audio file, an array of offsets within the audio file, may be printed. This table can be used by other programs unaware of the particular audio format to stream the audio file. - write selected parts of the given audio file in complete chunks without decoding. Thus para_afh can be used to 'cut' an audio file. - write selected parts of the given audio files 'just in time' to sdout. This may be useful for third-party software that is capable of reading from stdin. " option "loglevel" l #~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "set loglevel (0-6)" int typestr="level" default="4" optional defgroup "mode" #-------------- groupdesc=" There are two modes of operation: Info mode and stream mode, one of which must be selected by the corresponding option. See below. " required groupoption "info" i #~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "select info mode" group="mode" details=" In this mode, the program prints technical information about the given audio file to stdout. " groupoption "stream" s #~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "select stream mode" group="mode" details=" If this mode is selected, the selected parts of the content of the audio file are written to stdout. Only complete chunks with respect of the underlying audio format are written. For example, only complete frames in case of mp3 files. " section "Options for info mode" #============================== option "chunk_table" c #~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "print also the chunk table" flag off dependon="info" section "Options for stream mode" #================================ option "begin_chunk" b #~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "skip a number of chunks" int typestr="chunk_num" default="0" dependon="stream" optional details=" The chunk_num argument must be between -num_chunks and num_chunks - 1 inclusively where num_chunks is the total number of chunks which is printed when using the --info option. If chunk_num is negative, the given number of chunks are counted backwards from the end of the file. For example --begin_chunk -100 instructs para_afh to start output at chunk num_chunks - 100. This is mainly useful for cutting off the end of an audio file. " option "end_chunk" e #~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "only write up to chunk chunk_num" int typestr="chunk_num" dependon="stream" optional details=" For the chunk_num argument the same rules as for --begin_chunk apply. The default is to write up to the last chunk. " option "just_in_time" j #~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "use timed writes" flag off dependon="stream" details=" Write the specified chunks of data 'just in time', i.e. the write of each chunk is delayed until the time it is needed by the decoder/player in order to guarantee an uninterupted audio stream. " option "no_header" H #~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "do not write an audio file header" flag off dependon="stream" details=" If an audio format needs information about the audio file in a format-specific header in order to be understood by the decoding software, a suitable header is automatically send. This option changes the default behaviour, i.e. no header is written. "