4.11 Multiple Access to the Same FITS File

CFITSIO supports simultaneous read and write access to multiple HDUs in the same FITS file. Thus, one can open the same FITS file twice within a single program and move to 2 different HDUs in the file, and then read and write data or keywords to the 2 extensions just as if one were accessing 2 completely separate FITS files. Since in general it is not possible to physically open the same file twice and then expect to be able to simultaneously (or in alternating succession) write to 2 different locations in the file, CFITSIO recognizes when the file to be opened (in the call to fits_open_file) has already been opened and instead of actually opening the file again, just logically links the new file to the old file. (This only applies if the file is opened more than once within the same program, and does not prevent the same file from being simultaneously opened by more than one program). Then before CFITSIO reads or writes to either (logical) file, it makes sure that any modifications made to the other file have been completely flushed from the internal buffers to the file. Thus, in principle, one could open a file twice, in one case pointing to the first extension and in the other pointing to the 2nd extension and then write data to both extensions, in any order, without danger of corrupting the file, There may be some efficiency penalties in doing this however, since CFITSIO has to flush all the internal buffers related to one file before switching to the other, so it would still be prudent to minimize the number of times one switches back and forth between doing I/O to different HDUs in the same file.