### Initializing variables from external files

SIC allows easy initialization of variable from files in “foreign” format (i.e. not GILDAS images). This can be done with the ACCEPT command, which allows reading variables from formatted or unformatted files. This command is available in 3 major modes

- ACCEPT /ARRAY
  ACCEPT Var /ARRAY File [/FORMAT String] [/LINE Begin [End]]
  reads in free format or user specified format variable Var from file File, selecting a line range if specified. Var may have up to 4 dimensions.
- ACCEPT /BINARY
  ACCEPT Var /BINARY File [Skip]
  reads the binary file File to set variable Var. Skip is a number of BYTEs to skip before reading. Note that there is no type conversion in this command: the binary content of the file must match the type declared for the variable.
- ACCEPT /COLUMN
  ACCEPT V1 [V2 [...]] /COLUMN File [/FORMAT String] [/LINE Begin [End]]
  reads the formatted file File to set one or several 1-dimensional variables V1 V2 .... Free format is used by default, unless the /FORMAT option is specified. The special argument * can be used instead of the variable name to indicate a “dummy” variable, which is read from the file, but not assigned. This allows to skip a column in the input file.