babel (1) Linux Manual Page
NAME
babel , obabel – a converter for chemistry and molecular modeling data files
SYNOPSIS
[-H help-options ]
[OPTIONS ] [-i input-type ] infile [-o output-type ] outfile
obabel [-H help-options ]
obabel [OPTIONS ] [-i input-type | –: Qo SMILES-string Qc infile ] [-o output-type ] –O outfile
DESCRIPTION
is a cross-platform program designed to interconvert between many file formats used in molecular modeling and computational chemistry and related areas.
obabel and are slightly different. The first is closer to the normal Unix convention for commandline programs and more flexible when the user needs to specify parameter values on options. With babel this only works when the option is the last on the line; with obabel no such restriction applies. It further has a shortcut for entering SMILES strings, which can be used in place of an input file.
Open Babel is also a complete programmers toolkit for developing chemistry software. For more information, se the Open Babel web pages <http://openbabel.org/>.
OPTIONS
If only input and output files are given, Open Babel will guess the file type from the filename extension.
-: QoSMILES-string Qc Enter SMILES string and use it in place of an input file. The SMILES string- should be enclosed in quotation marks. More than one can be used, and a molecule title can be included if enclosed in quotes.
-aoptions- Format-specific input options. See –
Hformat-ID for options allowed by a particular format –addtotitle- Append text to the current molecule title
–addformula- Append the molecular formula after the current molecule title
-b- Convert dative bonds: e.g., [N+]([O-])=O to N(=O)=O
-c- Center atomic coordinates at (0,0,0)
-C- Combine molecules in first file with others having the same name
-e- Continue after errors
-d- Delete Hydrogens
—errorlevel2- Filter the level of errors and warnings displayed:
1 = critical errors only
2 = include warnings too (default)
3 = include informational messages too
4 = include "audit log" messages of changes to data
5 = include debugging messages too -ffile …- For multiple entry input, start import with molecule # as the first entry
-F- Output the available fingerprint types
-h- Add hydrogens
-H- Output usage information
-Hformat-ID- Output formatting information and options for format specified
-Hall- Output formatting information and options for all formats
-i<format-ID>- Specifies input format, see below for the available formats
-j–join- Join all input molecules into a single output molecule entry
-k- Translate computational chemistry modeling keywords (e.g., GAMESS and Gaussian)
-m- Produce multiple output files, to allow:
Splitting one input file – put each molecule into consecutively- numbered output files
Batch conversion – convert each of multiple input files into a- specified output format
-lfile …- For multiple entry input, stop import with molecule # as the last entry
-oformat-ID- Specifies output format, see below for the available formats
-Ooutfile- Specify the output file. This option applies to
obabelonly. -p- Add Hydrogens appropriate for pH (use transforms in phmodel.txt)
–property- Add or replace a property (e.g., in an MDL SD file)
-sSMARTS- Convert only molecules matching the SMARTS pattern specified
–separate- Separate disconnected fragments into individual molecular records
-t- All input files describe a single molecule
–titletitle- Add or replace molecular title
-xoptions- Format-specific output options. See –
Hformat-ID for options allowed by a particular format -vSMARTS- Convert only molecules
NOTmatching SMARTS pattern specified -V- Output version number and exit
-z- Compress the output with gzip
FILE FORMATS
The following formats are currently supported by Open Babel:
acr — Carine ASCI Crystalalc — Alchemy formatarc — Accelrys/MSI Biosym/Insight II CAR format [Read-only]bgf — MSI BGF formatbox — Dock 3.5 Box formatbs — Ball and Stick formatc3d1 — Chem3D Cartesian 1 formatc3d2 — Chem3D Cartesian 2 formatcaccrt — Cacao Cartesian formatcache — CAChe MolStruct format [Write-only]cacint — Cacao Internal format [Write-only]can — Canonical SMILES formatcar — Accelrys/MSI Biosym/Insight II CAR format [Read-only]ccc — CCC format [Read-only]cdx — ChemDraw binary format [Read-only]cdxml — ChemDraw CDXML formatcht — Chemtool format [Write-only]cif — Crystallographic Information Filecml — Chemical Markup Languagecmlr — CML Reaction formatcom — Gaussian 98/03 Cartesian Input [Write-only]copy — Copies raw text [Write-only]crk2d — Chemical Resource Kit 2D diagram formatcrk3d — Chemical Resource Kit 3D formatcsr — Accelrys/MSI Quanta CSR format [Write-only]cssr — CSD CSSR format [Write-only]ct — ChemDraw Connection Table formatdmol — DMol3 coordinates formatent — Protein Data Bank formatfa — FASTA format [Write-only]fasta — FASTA format [Write-only]fch — Gaussian formatted checkpoint file format [Read-only]fchk — Gaussian formatted checkpoint file format [Read-only]fck — Gaussian formatted checkpoint file format [Read-only]feat — Feature formatfh — Fenske-Hall Z-Matrix format [Write-only]fix — SMILES FIX format [Write-only]fpt — Fingerprint format [Write-only]fract — Free Form Fractional formatfs — Open Babel FastSearching databasefsa — FASTA format [Write-only]g03 — Gaussian 98/03 Output [Read-only]g98 — Gaussian 98/03 Output [Read-only]gam — GAMESS Output [Read-only]gamin — GAMESS Input [Write-only]gamout — GAMESS Output [Read-only]gau — Gaussian 98/03 Cartesian Input [Write-only]gjc — Gaussian 98/03 Cartesian Input [Write-only]gjf — Gaussian 98/03 Cartesian Input [Write-only]gpr — Ghemical formatgr96 — GROMOS96 format [Write-only]hin — HyperChem HIN formatinchi — IUPAC InChI [Write-only]inp — GAMESS Input [Write-only]ins — ShelX format [Read-only]jin — Jaguar input format [Write-only]jout — Jaguar output format [Read-only]mdl — MDL MOL formatmmd — MacroModel formatmmod — MacroModel formatmol — MDL MOL formatmol2 — Sybyl Mol2 formatmolreport — Open Babel molecule report [Write-only]moo — MOPAC Output format [Read-only]mop — MOPAC Cartesian formatmopcrt — MOPAC Cartesian formatmopin — MOPAC Internalmopout — MOPAC Output format [Read-only]mpc — MOPAC Cartesian formatmpd — Sybyl descriptor format [Write-only]mpqc — MPQC output format [Read-only]mpqcin — MPQC simplified input format [Write-only]nw — NWChem input format [Write-only]nwo — NWChem output format [Read-only]pc — PubChem format [Read-only]pcm — PCModel formatpdb — Protein Data Bank formatpov — POV-Ray input format [Write-only]pqs — Parallel Quantum Solutions formatprep — Amber Prep format [Read-only]qcin — Q-Chem input format [Write-only]qcout — Q-Chem output format [Read-only]report — Open Babel report format [Write-only]res — ShelX format [Read-only]rxn — MDL RXN formatsd — MDL MOL formatsdf — MDL MOL formatsmi — SMILES formatsy2 — Sybyl Mol2 formattdd — Thermo formattest — Test format [Write-only]therm — Thermo formattmol — TurboMole Coordinate formattxyz — Tinker MM2 format [Write-only]unixyz — UniChem XYZ formatvmol — ViewMol formatxed — XED format [Write-only]xml — General XML format [Read-only]xyz — XYZ cartesian coordinates formatyob — YASARA.org YOB formatzin — ZINDO input format [Write-only]
FORMAT OPTIONS
Individual file formats may have additional formatting options.
Input format options are preceded by ‘a’, e.g. -as
Output format options are preceded by ‘x’, e.g. -xn
For further specific information and options, use -H<format-type>
EXAMPLES
Standard conversion:
"babel -ixyz ethanol.xyz -opdb ethanol.pdb"
Conversion from a SMI file in STDIN to a Mol2 file written to STDOUT:
"babel -ismi -omol2"
Split a multi-molecule file into new1.smi, new2.smi, etc.:
"babel infile.mol new.smi -m"
SEE ALSO
obenergy(1), obfit(1), obgrep(1), obminimize(1), obprop(1), obrotate(1), obrotamer(1). The web pages for Open Babel can be found at: <http://openbabel.org/>
AUTHORS
An -nosplit A cast of many, including the currrent maintainers An Geoff Hutchison , An Chris Morley , An Michael Banck , and innumerable others who have contributed fixes and additions. For more contributors to Open Babel, see <http://openbabel.org/wiki/THANKS>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 1998-2001 by OpenEye Scientific Software, Inc.
Some portions Copyright (C) 2001-2007 by Geoffrey R. Hutchison
