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mne_dacq_annotator

Overview​

mne_dacq_annotator is a command-line tool for creating, listing, and editing event annotations associated with FIFF MEG/EEG measurement files.

Events are stored in the standard MNE event-file format — a three-column representation (sample, before, after) with optional comment fields. Events can be added explicitly by sample number or extracted automatically from a stimulus channel using a configurable threshold.

The original MNE-C mne_dacq_annotator was a Motif/X11 GUI tool used for real-time annotation during MEG acquisition. This C++ port keeps the same annotation model but exposes it as a scriptable command-line utility.

Usage​

mne_dacq_annotator [options]

Options​

OptionDescription
--meas <file>Input FIFF measurement file
--events <file>Event file to read/edit (default: <meas>-eve.fif)
--add <spec>Add event; spec is sample:before:after[:comment]
--remove <sample>Remove the event at the given sample number
--listList all events in the file
--out <file>Output event file (default: overwrite --events)
--stim-ch <name>Extract events from the named stimulus channel
--thresh <value>Threshold for stimulus-channel extraction (default: 1.0)
--helpPrint help
--versionPrint version

--add and --remove may be repeated to apply multiple edits in a single invocation.

Examples​

List all events stored next to a measurement file:

mne_dacq_annotator --meas sample_audvis_raw.fif --list

Add a manual annotation at sample 12345 with a 50-sample lead-in / 100-sample lead-out:

mne_dacq_annotator \
    --meas sample_audvis_raw.fif \
    --add 12345:50:100:button_press \
    --out sample_audvis-eve.fif

Extract events from STI 014 using a 0.5 V threshold:

mne_dacq_annotator \
    --meas sample_audvis_raw.fif \
    --stim-ch "STI 014" --thresh 0.5 \
    --out sample_audvis-eve.fif

See Also​