ReadStdin ReadStdin icon

ReadStdin allows communication with Chimera through standard input (stdin) and output (stdout). Only instructions to Chimera that can be expressed as commands can be used.

There are several ways to start ReadStdin, a tool in the Utilities category. After ReadStdin has been started, text from stdin will be interpreted as Chimera commands. Messages resulting from the execution of those commands will be sent to stdout instead of the Reply Log (although certain messages that require an answer will still raise a dialog).

Each command string entered via stdin will be echoed to stdout with "CMD " appended at the front. Messages resulting from execution of the command will be sent to stdout, followed by "END" to denote the end of output for that command. End-of-output signaling is useful for synchronizing an outside program with Chimera. ReadStdin can be halted with an end-of-file character (Ctrl-d on Unix).

Messages resulting from operations performed with the menu, graphical interfaces, or commands entered directly in the Command Line will still be sent to the Reply Log, not stdout.


UCSF Computer Graphics Laboratory / March 2006