obabel(1)

obabel(1) General Commands Manual (urm) obabel(1)

NAME

obabela converter for chemistry and molecular modeling data files

SYNOPSIS

obabel [-H help-options]

obabel [OPTIONS] [-i input-type | -: "SMILES-string"] infile [-o output-type] -O outfile

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, 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.

-: "SMILES-string"
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.
-a options
Format-specific input options. See -H format-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 2
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
-H format-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
-l #
For multiple entry input, stop import with molecule # as the last entry
-o format-ID
Specifies output format, see below for the available formats
-O outfile
Specify the output file. This option applies to obabel only.
-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
-x options
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:

  • acr -- Carine ASCI Crystal
  • alc -- Alchemy format
  • arc -- Accelrys/MSI Biosym/Insight II CAR format [Read-only]
  • bgf -- MSI BGF format
  • box -- Dock 3.5 Box format
  • bs -- Ball and Stick format
  • c3d1 -- Chem3D Cartesian 1 format
  • c3d2 -- Chem3D Cartesian 2 format
  • 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]
  • ccc -- CCC format [Read-only]
  • cdx -- ChemDraw binary format [Read-only]
  • cdxml -- ChemDraw CDXML format
  • cht -- Chemtool format [Write-only]
  • cif -- Crystallographic Information File
  • cml -- Chemical Markup Language
  • cmlr -- CML Reaction format
  • com -- Gaussian Cartesian Input [Write-only]
  • copy -- Copies raw text [Write-only]
  • crk2d -- Chemical Resource Kit 2D diagram format
  • 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
  • dmol -- DMol3 coordinates format
  • ent -- Protein Data Bank format
  • fa -- 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 format
  • fh -- Fenske-Hall Z-Matrix format [Write-only]
  • fix -- SMILES FIX format [Write-only]
  • fpt -- Fingerprint format [Write-only]
  • fract -- Free Form Fractional format
  • fs -- Open Babel FastSearching database
  • fsa -- 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 Cartesian Input [Write-only]
  • gjc -- Gaussian Cartesian Input [Write-only]
  • gjf -- Gaussian Cartesian Input [Write-only]
  • gpr -- Ghemical format
  • gr96 -- GROMOS96 format [Write-only]
  • gzmat -- Gaussian Z-Matrix Input
  • hin -- HyperChem HIN format
  • inchi -- 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 format
  • mmd -- MacroModel format
  • mmod -- MacroModel format
  • mol -- MDL MOL format
  • mol2 -- Sybyl Mol2 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]
  • mpc -- MOPAC Cartesian format
  • mpd -- 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 format
  • pdb -- Protein Data Bank format
  • pov -- POV-Ray input format [Write-only]
  • pqs -- Parallel Quantum Solutions format
  • prep -- 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 format
  • sd -- MDL MOL format
  • sdf -- MDL MOL format
  • smi -- SMILES format
  • sy2 -- Sybyl Mol2 format
  • tdd -- Thermo format
  • test -- Test format [Write-only]
  • therm -- Thermo format
  • tmol -- TurboMole Coordinate format
  • txyz -- Tinker MM2 format [Write-only]
  • unixyz -- UniChem XYZ format
  • vmol -- ViewMol format
  • xed -- XED format [Write-only]
  • xml -- General XML 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 -H<format-type>
e.g., -Hcml

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), obrotate(1), obrotamer(1). The web pages for Open Babel can be found at: <http://openbabel.org/>

AUTHORS

A cast of many, including the currrent maintainers Geoff Hutchison, Chris Morley, 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

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.

October 10, 2019 Open Babel 3.1