---
name: "geo"
section: "1rheolef"
platform: "linux"
package: "rheolef"
version: "7.2-4"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/geo"
---

# geo(1rheolef)

plot a finite element mesh (rheolef-7.2)

## NAME

geo - plot a finite element mesh (rheolef-7.2)

## SYNOPSIS

```
geo [options] file[.geo[.gz]]
```

## DESCRIPTION

Plot or upgrade a finite element mesh.

## EXAMPLES

Plot a mesh:

```
    geo square.geo
    geo box.geo
    geo box.geo -full
```

 Plot a mesh into a file:

```
    geo square.geo -image-format png
```

 Convert from a old geo file format to the new one:

```
    geo -upgrade - < square-old.geo > square.geo
```

 See below for the geo file format specification. The old file format does not contains edges and faces connectivity in 3d geometries, or edges connectivity in 2d geometries. The converter add it automatically into the upgraded file format. Conversely, the old file format is useful when combined with a translator from another file format that do not provides edges and faces connectivity.

## INPUT FILE SPECIFICATION

filename

 Specifies the name of the file containing the input mesh. The '.geo' suffix extension is assumed.

`-`

 Read mesh on standard input instead on a file.

`-name` *string*

 When mesh comes from standard input, the mesh name is not known and is set to 'output' by default. This option allows one to change this default. This option is useful when dealing with output formats (graphic, format conversion) that creates auxiliary files, based on this name.

 `-I`*dir* \
 `-I` *dir*

 Add *dir* to the Rheolef file search path. This mechanism initializes a search path given by the environment variable `RHEOPATH`. If the environment variable `RHEOPATH` is not set, the default value is the current directory.

`-check`

 Check the mesh file: numbering, bounds and that for all element, its orientation is positive.

## INPUT FORMAT OPTIONS

`-if` *format* \
 `-input-format` *format*

 Load mesh in a given file format. Supported input formats are: `geo`, `bamg`, `vtk`.

## RENDER SPECIFICATION

`-gnuplot`

 Use the `gnuplot` tool. This is the default for 1D geometry.

`-paraview`

 Use the `paraview` tool. This is the default for 2D and 3D geometries.

## RENDER OPTIONS

`-[no]lattice`

 When using a high order geometry, the lattice inside any element appears. Default is on.

`-[no]full`

 All internal edges appears, for 3d meshes. Default is off.

`-[no]fill`

 Fill mesh faces using light effects, when available.

 `-[no]stereo`

 Rendering mode suitable for red-blue anaglyph 3D stereoscopic glasses. Option only available with `paraview`.

`-[no]shrink`

 shrink elements (with `paraview` only).

`-[no]cut`

 cut by plane and clip (with `paraview` only).

`-[no]showlabel`

 Show or hide labels, boundary domains and various annotations. By default, domains are showed with a specific color.

- `-round [*float*]`

   Round the input up to the specified precision. This option, combined with `-geo`, leads to a round filter. Useful for non-regression test purpose, in order to compare numerical results between files with a limited precision, since the full double precision is machine-dependent.

## OUTPUT FORMAT OPTIONS

- `-geo`

   output mesh on standard output stream in geo text file format, instead of plotting it.

- `-upgrade`

   Convert from a old geo file format to the new one.

- `-gmsh`

   Output mesh on standard output stream in gmsh text file format, instead of plotting it.

- `-image-format` *string*

   The argument is any valid image format, such as bitmap `png`, `jpg`, `gif`, `tif`, `ppm`, `bmp` or vectorial `pdf`, `eps`, `ps`, `svg` image file formats. this option can be used with the `paraview` and the `gnuplot` renders. The output file is e.g. basename.`png` when basename is the name of the mesh, or can be set with the `-name` option.

`-resolution` *int* *int*

 The two arguments represent a couple of sizes, for the image resolution, e.g. 1024 and 768 for a 1024x768 image size. This option can be used together with the `-image-format` for any of the bitmap image formats. This option requires the `paraview` render.

## OTHERS OPTIONS

- `-subdivide` *int*

   Subdivide each edge in *k* parts, where *k* is the prescribed argument. The new vertices are numbered so that they coincide with the P*k* Lagrange nodes. It can be combined with the `-geo` option to get the subdivided mesh. In that case, default value is 1, i.e. no subdividing. It can also be combined with a graphic option, such that `-gnuplot` or `paraview`: When dealing with a curved high order geometry, *k* corresponds to the number of points per edge used to draw a curved element. In that case, this option is activated by default and value is the curved mesh order.

- `-add-boundary`

   Check for a domain named 'boundary'. If this domain does not exists, extract the boundary of the geometry and append it to the domain list. This command is useful for mesh converted from generators, as `bamg`, that cannot have more than one domain specification per boundary edge.

- `-rz` `-zr`

   Specifies the coordinate system. Useful when converting from `bamg` or `gmsh` format, that do not have any coordinate system specification.

`-[no]verbose`

 Print messages related to graphic files created and command system calls (this is the default).

\`-\[no\]clean

 Clear temporary graphic files (this is the default).

`-[no]execute`

 Execute graphic command (this is the default). The `-noexecute` variant is useful in conjunction with the `-verbose` and `-noclean` options in order to modify some render options by hand.

- `-dump`

   Used for debug purpose.

## INQUIRE OPTIONS

- `-size` `-n-element`

   Print the mesh size, i.e. the number of elements and then exit.

- `-n-vertex`

   Print the number of elements and then exit.

- `-sys-coord`

   Print the coordinate system and then exit.

- `-hmin` `-hmax`

   Print the smallest (resp. largest) edge length and then exit.

- `-xmin` `-xmax`

   Print the bounding box lower-left (resp. top-right) corner and exit.

- `-min-element-measure` `-max-element-measure`

   Print the smallest (resp. largest) element measure and then exit.

## FILE FORMAT CONVERSION

For the `gmsh` and `bamg` mesh generators, automatic file conversion is provided by the `msh2geo` and `bamg2geo` commands (see **bamg2geo\_1** and **msh2geo\_1** ).

For conversion from the `.vtk` legacy ascii file format to the `.geo` one, simply writes:

```
geo -if vtk -geo - < input.vtk > output.geo
```

## THE GEO FILE FORMAT

This is the default mesh file format. It contains two entities, namely a mesh and a list of domains. The mesh entity starts with the `mesh` keyword, that should be at the beginning of a line. It is followed by the geo format version number: the current mesh format version number is 4. Next comes the header, containing global information: the space dimension (e.g. 1, 2 or 3), the number of nodes and the number of elements, for each type of element (tetrahedron, etc). When dimension is three, the number of faces (triangles, quadrangles) is specified, and then, when dimension is two or three, the number of edges is also specified. Follows the node coordinates list and the elements connectivity list. Each element starts with a letter indicating the element type:

```
    letter | element type
    -------|-------------
    p      | point
    e      | edge
    t      | triangle
    q      | quadrangle
    T      | tetrahedron
    P      | prism
    H      | hexahedron
```

 Then, for each element, comes the vertex indexes. A vertex index is numbered in the C-style, i.e. the first index started at 0 and the larger one is the number of vertices minus one. A sample mesh writes:

```
    mesh
    4
    header
     dimension 2
     nodes     4
     triangles 2
     edges     5
    end header
    0 0
    1 0
    1 1
    0 1
    t   0 1 3
    t   1 2 3
    e   0 1
    e   1 2
    e   2 3
    e   3 0
    e   1 3
```

 Note that information about edges for 2d meshes and faces for 3d one are required for maintaining P2 and higher order approximation fields in a consistent way: degrees of freedom associated to sides requires that sides are well defined.

The second entity is a list of domains, that finishes with the end of file. A domain starts with the `domain` keyword, that should be at the beginning of a line. It is followed by the domain name, a simple string. Then, comes the domain format version: the current domain version number is 2. Next, the domain dimension and its number of elements. Finally, the list of elements: they are specified by the element index in the mesh, preceded by its orientation. A minus sign specifies that the element (generally a side) has the opposite orientation, while the plus sign is omitted. A sample domain list writes:

```
    domain
    bottom
    2 1 1
    0
    domain
    top
    2 1 1
    2
```

 Copy and paste the previous sample mesh data in a file, e.g. 'square.geo'. Be carreful for the 'mesh' and 'domain' to be at the beginning of a line. Then enter:

```
geo square.geo
```

 and the mesh is displayed.

## THE SIMPLIFIED GEO FILE FORMAT

Information about edges for 2d meshes and faces for 3d one is not provided by most mesh generators (e.g. gmsh or bamg). It could be complex to build this list, so a simplified file format is also supported, without faces and/or edges connectivity, and the geo command proposes to build it automatically and save it in a more complete, upgraded geo file.

The simplified version of the previous mesh is:

```
    mesh
    4
    header
     dimension 2
     nodes     4
     triangles 2
    end header
    0 0
    1 0
    1 1
    0 1
    t   0 1 3
    t   1 2 3
```

 The domain list is no more able to refer to existing sides: edges are simply listed by their complete connectivity, thanks to the domain format version number 1. For the previous example, we have:

```
    domain
    bottom
    1 1 1
    e 0 1
    domain
    top
    1 1 1
    e 2 3
```

 Copy and paste the previous simplified sample mesh data in a file, e.g. `square0.geo`. Be carreful for the `mesh` and `domain` keywords to be at the beginning of a line. Then enter:

```
    geo -upgrade -geo square0.geo
```

 and the previous mesh with its complete connectivity is displayed: edges has been automatically identified and numbered, and domains now refers to edge indexes.

## IMPLEMENTATION

This documentation has been generated from file main/bin/geo.cc

## AUTHOR

Pierre  Saramito  \<Pierre.Saramito@imag.fr\>

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright   (C)  2000-2018  Pierre  Saramito  \<Pierre.Saramito@imag.fr\> GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later  \<http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html\>. This  is  free  software:  you  are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
