[Numpy-discussion] proposal: smaller representation of string arrays

[Phil Hodge]

On 04/20/2017 03:17 PM, Anne Archibald wrote:
> Actually if I understood the spec, FITS header lines are 80 bytes long 
> and contain ASCII with no NULLs; strings are quoted and trailing 
> spaces are stripped.
>

FITS BINTABLE extensions can have columns containing strings, and in 
that case the values are NULL terminated, except that if the string 
fills the field (i.e. there's no room for a NULL), the NULL will not be 
written.

Phil