t he repeat count r is the ASCII representation of a non-negative integer specifying the number of elements in field n. The default value of r is 1; the repeat count need not be present if it has the default value
This is not handled in the hdureader and it is not able to read files correctly that use this.
The fits standard states:
This is not handled in the hdureader and it is not able to read files correctly that use this.