NAME
obabel – a converter for chemistry and molecular modeling data files
SYNOPSIS
obabel -Hhelp-options
obabel [OPTIONS] [-iinput-type | -:SMILES-string] infile [-ooutput-type] -Ooutfile
DESCRIPTION
obabel is a cross-platform program designed to interconvert between many file formats used in molecular modeling and computational chemistry and related areas.
Open Babel is also a complete programmers toolkit for developing chemistry software. For more information, see the Open Babel web pages <https://openbabel.org/>.
OPTIONS
If only input and output files are given, Open Babel will guess the file type from the filename extension.
- -:SMILES-string
-
Enter SMILES string and use it in place of an input file. The SMILES-string might need to be enclosed in quotation marks to avoid shell interpretation. 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
- ---errorlevel n
-
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 - -f #
-
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
- -iformat-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
-
- -l #
-
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
- -p
-
Add Hydrogens appropriate for pH (use transforms in phmodel.txt)
- --property
-
Add or replace a property (e.g., in an MDL SD file)
- -s SMARTS
-
Convert only molecules matching the SMARTS pattern specified
- --separate
-
Separate disconnected fragments into individual molecular records
- -t
-
All input files describe a single molecule
- --title title
-
Add or replace molecular title
- -xoptions
-
Format-specific output options. See -H format-ID for options allowed by a particular format
- -v SMARTS
-
Convert only molecules NOT matching 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:
-
abinit — ABINIT Output Format [Read-only]
-
acesin — ACES input format [Write-only]
-
acesout — ACES output format [Read-only]
-
acr — ACR format [Read-only]
-
adf — ADF cartesian input format [Write-only]
-
adfband — ADF Band output format [Read-only]
-
adfdftb — ADF DFTB output format [Read-only]
-
adfout — ADF output format [Read-only]
-
alc — Alchemy format
-
aoforce — Turbomole AOFORCE output format [Read-only]
-
arc — Accelrys/MSI Biosym/Insight II CAR format [Read-only]
-
ascii — ASCII format [Write-only]
-
axsf — XCrySDen Structure Format [Read-only]
-
bgf — MSI BGF format
-
box — Dock 3.5 Box format
-
bs — Ball and Stick format
-
c09out — Crystal 09 output format [Read-only]
-
c3d1 — Chem3D Cartesian 1 format
-
c3d2 — Chem3D Cartesian 2 format
-
cac — CAChe MolStruct format [Write-only]
-
caccrt — Cacao Cartesian format
-
cache — CAChe MolStruct format [Write-only]
-
cacint — Cacao Internal format [Write-only]
-
can — Canonical SMILES format
-
car — Accelrys/MSI Biosym/Insight II CAR format [Read-only]
-
castep — CASTEP format [Read-only]
-
ccc — CCC format [Read-only]
-
cdjson — ChemDoodle JSON
-
cdx — ChemDraw binary format [Read-only]
-
cdxml — ChemDraw CDXML format
-
cht — Chemtool format [Write-only]
-
cif — Crystallographic Information File
-
cjson — Chemical JSON
-
ck — ChemKin format
-
cml — Chemical Markup Language
-
cmlr — CML Reaction format
-
cof — Culgi object file format
-
com — Gaussian Input [Write-only]
-
confabreport — Confab report format [Write-only]
-
CONFIG — DL-POLY CONFIG
-
CONTCAR — VASP format
-
CONTFF — MDFF format
-
copy — Copy raw text [Write-only]
-
crk2d — Chemical Resource Kit diagram(2D)
-
crk3d — Chemical Resource Kit 3D format
-
csr — Accelrys/MSI Quanta CSR format [Write-only]
-
cssr — CSD CSSR format [Write-only]
-
ct — ChemDraw Connection Table format
-
cub — Gaussian cube format
-
cube — Gaussian cube format
-
dallog — DALTON output format [Read-only]
-
dalmol — DALTON input format
-
dat — Generic Output file format [Read-only]
-
dmol — DMol3 coordinates format
-
dx — OpenDX cube format for APBS
-
ent — Protein Data Bank format
-
exyz — Extended XYZ cartesian coordinates format
-
fa — FASTA format
-
fasta — FASTA format
-
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 format
-
fh — Fenske-Hall Z-Matrix format [Write-only]
-
fhiaims — FHIaims XYZ format
-
fix — SMILES FIX format [Write-only]
-
fps — FPS text fingerprint format (Dalke) [Write-only]
-
fpt — Fingerprint format [Write-only]
-
fract — Free Form Fractional format
-
fs — Fastsearch format
-
fsa — FASTA format
-
g03 — Gaussian Output [Read-only]
-
g09 — Gaussian Output [Read-only]
-
g16 — Gaussian Output [Read-only]
-
g92 — Gaussian Output [Read-only]
-
g94 — Gaussian Output [Read-only]
-
g98 — Gaussian Output [Read-only]
-
gal — Gaussian Output [Read-only]
-
gam — GAMESS Output [Read-only]
-
gamess — GAMESS Output [Read-only]
-
gamin — GAMESS Input
-
gamout — GAMESS Output [Read-only]
-
gau — Gaussian Input [Write-only]
-
gjc — Gaussian Input [Write-only]
-
gjf — Gaussian Input [Write-only]
-
got — GULP format [Read-only]
-
gpr — Ghemical format
-
gr96 — GROMOS96 format [Write-only]
-
gro — GRO format
-
gukin — GAMESS-UK Input
-
gukout — GAMESS-UK Output
-
gzmat — Gaussian Z-Matrix Input
-
hin — HyperChem HIN format
-
HISTORY — DL-POLY HISTORY [Read-only]
-
inchi — InChI format
-
inchikey — InChIKey [Write-only]
-
inp — GAMESS Input
-
ins — ShelX format [Read-only]
-
jin — Jaguar input format
-
jout — Jaguar output format [Read-only]
-
k — Compare molecules using InChI [Write-only]
-
lmpdat — The LAMMPS data format [Write-only]
-
log — Generic Output file format [Read-only]
-
lpmd — LPMD format
-
mae — Maestro format
-
maegz — Maestro format
-
mcdl — MCDL format
-
mcif — Macromolecular Crystallographic Info
-
MDFF — MDFF format
-
mdl — MDL MOL format
-
ml2 — Sybyl Mol2 format
-
mmcif — Macromolecular Crystallographic Info
-
mmd — MacroModel format
-
mmod — MacroModel format
-
mna — Multilevel Neighborhoods of Atoms (MNA) [Write-only]
-
mol — MDL MOL format
-
mol2 — Sybyl Mol2 format
-
mold — Molden format
-
molden — Molden format
-
molf — Molden format
-
molreport — Open Babel molecule report [Write-only]
-
moo — MOPAC Output format [Read-only]
-
mop — MOPAC Cartesian format
-
mopcrt — MOPAC Cartesian format
-
mopin — MOPAC Internal
-
mopout — MOPAC Output format [Read-only]
-
mp — Molpro input format [Write-only]
-
mpc — MOPAC Cartesian format
-
mpd — MolPrint2D format [Write-only]
-
mpo — Molpro output format [Read-only]
-
mpqc — MPQC output format [Read-only]
-
mpqcin — MPQC simplified input format [Write-only]
-
mrv — Chemical Markup Language
-
msi — Accelrys/MSI Cerius II MSI format [Read-only]
-
msms — M.F. Sanner's MSMS input format [Write-only]
-
nul — Outputs nothing [Write-only]
-
nw — NWChem input format [Write-only]
-
nwo — NWChem output format [Read-only]
-
orca — ORCA output format [Read-only]
-
orcainp — ORCA input format [Write-only]
-
out — Generic Output file format [Read-only]
-
outmol — DMol3 coordinates format
-
output — Generic Output file format [Read-only]
-
paint — Painter format [Write-only]
-
pc — PubChem format [Read-only]
-
pcjson — PubChem JSON
-
pcm — PCModel Format
-
pdb — Protein Data Bank format
-
pdbqt — AutoDock PDBQT format
-
png — PNG 2D depiction
-
pointcloud — Point cloud on VDW surface [Write-only]
-
pos — POS cartesian coordinates format [Read-only]
-
POSCAR — VASP format
-
POSFF — MDFF format
-
pov — POV-Ray input format [Write-only]
-
pqr — PQR format
-
pqs — Parallel Quantum Solutions format
-
prep — Amber Prep format [Read-only]
-
pwscf — PWscf 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]
-
rinchi — RInChI [Write-only]
-
rsmi — Reaction SMILES format
-
rxn — MDL RXN format
-
sd — MDL MOL format
-
sdf — MDL MOL format
-
siesta — SIESTA format [Read-only]
-
smi — SMILES format
-
smiles — SMILES format
-
smy — SMILES format using Smiley parser [Read-only]
-
stl — STL 3D-printing format [Write-only]
-
svg — SVG 2D depiction [Write-only]
-
sy2 — Sybyl Mol2 format
-
t41 — ADF TAPE41 format [Read-only]
-
tdd — Thermo format
-
text — Read and write raw text
-
therm — Thermo format
-
tmol — TurboMole Coordinate format
-
txt — Title format
-
txyz — Tinker XYZ format
-
unixyz — UniChem XYZ format
-
VASP — VASP format
-
vmol — ViewMol format
-
wln — Wiswesser Line Notation [Read-only]
-
xed — XED format [Write-only]
-
xml — General XML format [Read-only]
-
xsf — XCrySDen Structure Format [Read-only]
-
xyz — XYZ cartesian coordinates format
-
yob — YASARA.org YOB format
-
zin — 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 -Hformat-type, e.g., -Hcml
ENVIRONMENT
- OB_RANDOM_SEED
-
Seed for pseudo random number generator; random seed is used if unset or null. This feature is effective if Open Babel is built with -DOB_USE_OBRANDOMMT cpreprocessor flag (will be automatically enabled when version 4 is released).
EXAMPLES
Standard conversion:
obabel ethanol.xyz -Oethanol.pdb
Conversion from a SMI file in STDIN to a Mol2 file written to STDOUT:
obabel -ismi -omol2
Split a multi-molecule file into new1.smi, new2.smi, etc.:
obabel infile.mol -Onew.smi -m
SEE ALSO
obenergy(1), obfit(1), obgrep(1), obminimize(1), obprop(1), obrotamer(1), obrotate(1). The web pages for Open Babel can be found at: <http://openbabel.org/>
AUTHORS
A cast of many, including the current maintainers Geoff Hutchison, Chris Morley, Michael Banck, and innumerable others who have contributed fixes and additions. For more contributors to Open Babel, see <https://openbabel.org/docs/Introduction/thanks.html>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 1998-2001 by OpenEye Scientific Software, Inc.
Some portions Copyright (C) 2001-2007 by Geoffrey R. Hutchison
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation version 2 of the License.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.