old_contents: #!/usr/bin/env python
  # encoding: utf-8
  """
  Reader for XVISTA .prof tables.
  """
  
  import numpy as np
  from astropy.table import Table
  from astropy.io import registry
  
  
  def xvista_table_reader(filename):
      dt = [('R', np.float), ('SB', np.float), ('SB_err', np.float),
            ('ELL', np.float), ('PA', np.float), ('EMAG', np.float),
            ('ELLMAG', np.float), ('ELLMAG_err', np.float), ('XC', np.float),
            ('YC', np.float), ('FRACONT', np.float), ('A1', np.float),
            ('A2', np.float), ('A4', np.float), ('CIRCMAG', np.float)]
      data = np.genfromtxt(filename, dtype=np.dtype(dt), skiprows=15,
                           missing_values='*', filling_values=np.nan)
      return Table(data)
  
  
  registry.register_reader('xvistaprof', Table, xvista_table_reader)
  
new_contents: #!/usr/bin/env python
  # encoding: utf-8
  """
  Reader for XVISTA .prof tables.
  """
  
  import numpy as np
  from astropy.table import Table
  from astropy.io import registry
  
  
  def xvista_table_reader(filename):
      dt = [('R', np.float), ('SB', np.float), ('SB_err', np.float),
            ('ELL', np.float), ('PA', np.float), ('EMAG', np.float),
            ('ELLMAG', np.float), ('ELLMAG_err', np.float), ('XC', np.float),
            ('YC', np.float), ('FRACONT', np.float), ('A1', np.float),
            ('A2', np.float), ('A4', np.float), ('CIRCMAG', np.float)]
      data = np.genfromtxt(filename, dtype=np.dtype(dt), skip_header=15,
                           missing_values='*', filling_values=np.nan)
      return Table(data)
  
  
  registry.register_reader('xvistaprof', Table, xvista_table_reader)
  
subject: Update genfromtxt skip_header for numpy 1.10+