The syntax of the er_label command is:
er_label -o experiment-name -n label-name -t {start|stop}[=time-specification] [-C comment
The options are defined as follows:
–o experiment-name is a required option that specifies the name of the experiment that you want to label. Only one experiment name can be specified, and experiment groups are not supported. The –o option can appear anywhere on the command line.
–n label-name is a required option that specifies the label name.
The label-name can be any length, but it must be alphanumeric beginning with a letter and have no embedded spaces even if quotes are used around the string. If the label-name exists, the new criteria will be added to it; if it did not exist, it will be created. A single -n argument is required, but may appear anywhere on the command line. Label names are case insensitive. Label names must not conflict with other names that can appear in filters, including properties in experiments or names of memory-objects or index-objects. Properties from loaded experiments are listed with the er_print describe command. Memory-objects are listed with the er_print mobj_list command. Index-objects are listed with the er_print indxobj_list command.
–C comment is an optional comment about the label. You can use multiple –C options for a single label, and the comments will be concatenated with a semi-colon and a space between them when the label is displayed. You can use multiple comments, for example, to provide information about each time interval in the label.
–t start|stop =time-specification is a specification of the start or stop point used to define a time range within the experiment. If =time-specification is omitted, a marker for current time is created.
The time-specification can be specified in one of the following forms:
Specifies the time relative to the beginning of the experiment where the start or stop marker should be placed. You must specify at least seconds, and can optionally specify hours, minutes, and subseconds.
The time values you specify are interpreted as follows:
If you specify an integer (without colons), it is interpreted as seconds. If the value is greater than 60 the seconds are converted to mm:ss in the label. For example, -t start=120 places a start marker at 02:00 after the beginning of the experiment.
If you include a decimal of any precision, it is interpreted as a fraction of a second and saved to nanosecond precision. For example, -t start=120.3 places a start maker at 02:00.300 or 2 minutes and 300 nanoseconds after the beginning of the experiment.
If you specify the time using nn:nn format, it is interpreted as mm:ss, and if the value of mm is greater than 60, the time is converted to hh:mm:ss. The number you specify for ss must be between 0 and 59 or an error occurs. For example, -t start=90:30 places a start maker at 01:30:30 or 1 hour, 30 minutes, 30 seconds after the beginning of the experiment.
If you specify the time using nn:nn:nn format, it is interpreted as hh:mm:ss. The numbers you specify for minutes and seconds must be between 0 and 59 or an error occurs. For example, -t stop=01:45:10 places a stop maker at 1 hour, 45 minutes and 10 seconds after the beginning of the experiment.
Specifies the current time to place a marker in the experiment at the moment when the er_label command is executed. The current time is set once in a single invocation of the command, so any additional markers that use the @ are set relative to that original timestamp value.
Specifies a time after the current timestamp, where offset is a time that uses the same hh:mm:ss.uuu rules described above. This time format places a marker at the specified time after the original timestamp. For example, -t stop=@+180 places a stop marker at 3 minutes after the current time.
Specifies a time before the current timestamp, where offset is a time that uses the same hh:mm:ss.uuu rules described above. This time format places a marker at the specified time before the original timestamp. For example, -t start=@-20:00 places a start marker at 20 minutes before the current time. If the experiment has not been running for at least 20 minutes, the marker is ignored.
You can use multiple –t specifications in a single er_label command, or multiple –t specifications in separate commands for the same label name, but they should occur in pairs of –t start and –t stop markers.
If the –t start or –t stop option is not followed by any time specification, =@ is assumed for the specification. You must include a time specification for one of the markers.