The xy file gives all of the information about the spectrum. It is contained in five columns:

  wavelength  flux  error_in_flux  continuum  flag

The wavelength is given in units of angstroms.
The flux, error in the flux, and continuum are all given in units of 10^-16 erg cm^-2 s^-1 Å^-1
The flag can be ignored as it used only by specific software.

List of lines that are greater than 5 sigma
This is the combined output of the h*.sLs files produced by findsl.
An example file is given below:

0014+813 3.384  2.7428   3.384   70.   .150   .150   250.   300.    -1. 
Line Lambda   sig     EW  sig    SL   FWHM      z         Line ID    
---- ------- -----  ----- ---- ----- -----  -----------  ----------  
  1  4555.75  0.05   1.20 0.08  16.0  1.50  0.00000( 0)              
  2  4558.98  0.06   1.55 0.09  16.3  2.26  0.00000( 0)              
  3  4562.53  0.05   1.35 0.09  15.9  1.90  0.00000( 0)              ... 

The first line contains:
quasar name
quasar redshift
redshift of lyman alpha at blue end of observed spectrum
redshift of lyman alpha at red end of range -- usually = quasar redshift, but not always.
resolution of data, km/sec
rest equivalent width threshold for data at z rest equivalent width threshold for data with z(em)-0.15 < z < z(em), Angstroms
fnu(mJy): at 911 A, as extrapolated from longer wavelengths
fnu(mJy): at 1450 A, for the HST sample we will measure the observed flux at 1450 A for most objects
fnu(mJy): at 911 A, as observed directly (Galactic reddening corrected) if
available, -1. if not observed directly

The first line has to be read by a formated read, to be retro-compatible,
let's make this :
format(a8,1x,f5.3,2x,f6.4,4x,f5.3,3x,f4.0,5x,f4.3,3x,f4.3,1x, f6.1,1x,f6.1,1x,f6.1)

The rest of the file is the findsl h*.SLs type file.

Each line has the start and stop wavelengths of a CHUNK of good data to be used. The chunks exclude all bad pixel regions and any identified strong metal line systems, e.g.

4555.8 4581.6
4585.4 4618.7
4618.7 4708.4
4725.0 4776.2
4780.7 4899.5
4899.5 4949.3 ...

Contains an integer, wavelength, nsigma threshold, 1-sigma threshold, dummy real number, e.g.

    1     4552.899       0.3824       0.0765 -10.00
    2     4555.649       0.3472       0.0694 -10.00
    3     4558.399       0.3378       0.0676 -10.00
    4     4561.149       0.3631       0.0726 -10.00
    5     4563.899       0.3575       0.0715 -10.00 ...

Information is displayed in 4 columns:

    integer, wavelength, 5sigma threshold

This is the smoothed version of the threshold file,
made by "thrust", generated by

thrust 15 < q0014p813.thr > q0014p813.sthr

the *.sthr file is what should be used in sewage