The output file will contain all curves from the all of the input files. However, all curves with the same name will be merged into a single curve in the output file. This can be changed with the "-a" option which specifies that curves should only be merged if they have the same name and the same four API codes. This can also be completely suppressed by specifying the "-m" option.

By default, the depth range in the output file will be just big enough to contain the depth ranges of all input files. The depth range to output can be explicitly enlarged or restricted with the "-r" option.

By default, the depth increment and direction of the output file will be the same as the first input file. However, the output file can be made top down or bottom up using the "-t" and "-b" options respectively. The level spacing can also be specified explicitly using the "-l" option. However, the program will not interpolate, so this option would generally be used to increase the level spacing.

The absent value used in the output file will by default be the same absent value used in the first input file. The output absent value can be specified with the "-n" option.

Absent values will be filled in in the output file wherever a curve value is not available, such as beyond the range of a curve or where two different depth increments get merged together and no interpolation method has been specified or when the "-int 0" option was specified. The program will use linear interpolation if "-int 1" is specified and cubic spline interpolation if "-int 2" is specified. If an interpolation method was specified, gaps in the data will be filled with values as long as the number of consecutive missing values does not exceed 20. This threshold can be specified on the command line by using the "-gap". For example, the missing value fill threshold would be set to 30 by adding "-gap 30" to the command line.

If the depth ranges of two curves being merged overlap, the value from the first input file containing a non absent value for the curve will be used.

When the depth range of the files doesn't overlap at all, then the depth range in between will be filled with absent values so that the output file can have a consistent depth increment.

The output file will contain all comment information from the first file followed by all comment information from the second file, and so on. In the "LAS" format, comments are in the ~O section.

The output file will contain all constant information from all files. However if a constant has the same exact value in more than one input file, the constant will only appear once in the output file.

By default, the program will perform the merge without sending any messages to standard output. If the "-v" option is used, the program will print messages to show what it is doing, such as which input file it is reading, and what curves are being merged. It will also print the depth every 200 frames while it is merging the actual curve data. This sample print frequency can be changed with the "-d" option.

Summary of command line options:

-? Shows command line options.
-h Shows command line options.
-v Verbose.
-ia Set input ASCII file names to the following arguments.
-if Set input ASCII file formats to the following arguments.
-oa Set output ASCII file name to the following argument.
-of Set output ASCII file format to the following argument.
-t Make the data top down.
-b Make the data bottom up.
-a Include API codes in curve merging criteria.
-l Set level spacing to following argument.
-r Force depth range to following two arguments.
-n Set output null value to next argument.
-d Set data sample print frequency to next argument.
-s Use next argument as default curve selection file.
-m Don't merge curves together at all (except depth).
-int Set interpolation type (0=none(default), 1=linear, 2=cubic spline).
-gap Set number of absent values to not interpolate across. (default = 20)