21. N-tuples

This chapter describes functions for creating and manipulating ntuples, sets of values associated with events. The ntuples are stored in files. Their values can be extracted in any combination and booked in an histogram using a selection function.

The values to be stored are held in a user-defined data structure, and an ntuple is created associating this data structure with a file. The values are then written to the file (normally inside a loop) using the ntuple functions described below.

A histogram can be created from ntuple data by providing a selection function and a value function. The selection function specifies whether an event should be included in the subset to be analyzed or not. The value function computes the entry to be added to the histogram entry for each event.

All the ntuple functions are defined in the header file `gsl_ntuple.h'

21.1 The ntuple struct
21.2 Creating ntuples
21.3 Opening an existing ntuple file
21.4 Writing ntuples
21.5 Reading ntuples
21.6 Closing an ntuple file
21.7 Histogramming ntuple values
21.8 Example programs
21.9 References and Further Reading