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Label
Syntax: label {<string>}
label
<boolean>
The RasMol label command allows an arbitrary formatted text string to be
associated with each currently selected atom. This string may contain embedded 'expansion
specifiers' which display properties of the atom being labelled. An expansion specifier
consists of a '%' character followed by a single alphabetic character specifying the
property to be displayed (similar to C's printf syntax). An actual '%' character may be
displayed by using the expansion specifier '%%'.
Atom labelling for the currently selected atoms may be turned off with the command label
off. By default, if no string is given as a parameter RasMol uses labels
appropriate for the current molecule. RasMol uses the label "%n%r:%c.%a" if the
molecule contains more than one chain; "%e%i" if the molecule has only a single
residue (a small molecule); and "%n%r.%a" otherwise.
The color of each label may be changed using the color label command. By default, each label is drawn in the
same color as the atom to which it is attached. The size of the displayed text may be
changed using the set fontsize
command.
The following table lists the current expansion specifiers:
%a Atom
Name
%b %t B-factor/Temperature
%c %s Chain Identifier
%e Element
Atomic Symbol
%i Atom
Serial Number
%m single letter
amino acid code
%n Residue Name;
three letter code
%r Residue
Number
The syntax of RasMol atom expressions allows the selection of individual molecule
conformations if present in an NMR file. The simplest form of the atom expression
is the syntax "::25" to select model 25 from the molecule. This is equivalent to
the atom expression, "model = 25", as the keyword model may now be used
in comparison expressions. The most general form of atom expression is now CYS32:A:25.SG
which denotes the gamma sulfur of residue cysteine-32 in chain A of model 25.
Individual chains may be specified by the syntax ":A" for chain A, or
":1" for chain 1 (i.e. the wildcard may be dropped from the expression
"*:A"). This may also be extended to NMR models; ":A:4" denotes chain
A of model 4, and even more terse, "::4" means all atoms in all chains of NMR
model 4.
Load
Syntax: load {<format>} <filename>
load
{<format>} inline
Load a molecule coordinate file into RasMol. Valid molecule file formats are pdb
(Brookhaven Protein Databank), mdl (Molecular Design Limited's MOL file
format), alchemy (Tripos' Alchemy file format), mol2
(Tripos' Sybyl Mol2 file format), mopac (mopac file format; either
Cartesian or z-matrix format), nmrpdb (nmr multi-pdb file format), charmm
(CHARMm file format) or xyz (MSC's XMol XYZ file format). If no file
format is specified, pdb is assumed by default. Only a single molecule may
be loaded at a time. To delete a molecule prior to loading another, use the RasMol zap command.
The load command selects all the atoms in the molecule, centers it on the
screen and renders it as a CPK colored wireframe model. If the molecule contains no bonds
(i.e. contains only alpha carbons), it is drawn as an alpha carbon backbone. If the
file specifies less bonds than atoms, RasMol determines connectivity using the connect command.
The load inline command also allows the storing of atom coordinates in
scripts to allow better integration with WWW browsers. A load command executed inside a
script file may now specify the keyword inline instead of a conventional
filename. This option specifies that the coordinates of the molecule to load are stored in
the same file as the currently executing commands. Typically this is used in the command load
pdb inline, which is followed by a number of RasMol commands terminated by the
command exit. The exit command terminates execution of the
current script and returns control to the command line (or the calling script). This means
any lines following exit are never interpreted by RasMol. These may be
used to store atomic coordinates in PDB file format. Because in Brookhaven PDB file
format, any line not recognized by the parser should be ignored, only lines beginning
ATOM, HETATM, TER, etc. are examined. Hence a file may be both a RasMol script and
a PDB file simultaneously. This allows both coordinate and representation data to be
transmitted as a single file. One possible use is a standard RasMol script prefix that may
be concatenated with an appropriate PDB file on-the-fly.
Monitor
Syntax: monitor <number> <number>
monitor
{<boolean>}
The RasMol monitor command allows the display of distance monitors. A
distance monitor is a dashed (dotted) line between an arbitrary pair of atoms, optionally
labelled by the distance between them. The RasMol command monitor <number>
<number> adds such a distance monitor between the two atoms specified by
the atom serial numbers given as parameters.
Distance monitors are turned off with the command monitors off. By
default, monitors display the distance between its two end points as a label at the center
of the monitor. These distance labels may be turned off with the command set monitors off, and
re-enabled with the command set
monitors on. Like most other representations, the color of a monitor is taken
from the color of its end points unless specified by the color
monitors command.
Distance monitors may also be added to a molecule interactively with the mouse, using the set picking monitor command.
Clicking on an atom results in its being identified on the rasmol command line. In
addition every atom picked increments a modulo counter such that in monitor mode, every
second atom displays the distance between this atom and the previous one. The shift key
may be used to form distance monitors between a fixed atom and several consecutive
positions. A distance monitor may also be removed (toggled) by selecting the appropriate
pair of atom end points a second time.
Pause
Syntax:
pause
The RasMol pause command is used in script files to stop the script file
for local manipulation by a mouse, until any key is pushed to restart the script file. Wait
is synonymous with pause.
This command may be executed in RasMol script files to suspend the sequential execution of
commands and allow the user to examine the current image. When RasMol executes a pause
command in a script file, it suspends execution of the rest of the file, refreshes the
image on the screen and allows the manipulation of the image using the mouse and scroll
bars, or resizing of the graphics window. Once a key is pressed, control returns to the
script file at the line following the pause command. While a script is
suspended the molecule may be rotated, translated, scaled, slabbed and picked as usual,
but all menu commands are disabled. The pause can probably be used most
effectively with echo commands
in education pre-scripted demonstrations, where a description of the current image is
presented to the user/student. Typically the command before a pause should
be "echo Press any key to continue".
Execution of a script can be cancelled by pressing Control-D or Control-Z (on VAX/VMS,
Control-C) while standing at a pause. The command set picking none disables picking, which avoids the
display of spurious messages whilst a script is suspended at a pause.
Print
Syntax:
print
The RasMol print command sends the currently displayed image to the local
default printer using the operating system's native printer driver. Note: this command is
not yet supported under UNIX or VMS. It is intended to take advantage of Microsoft Windows
and Apple Macintosh printer drivers. For example, allowing images to be printed directly
on a dot matrix printer.
When using RasMol on a UNIX or VMS system this functionality may be achieved either by
generating a PostScript file using the RasMol write ps or write
vectps commands and printing that, or generating a raster image file and
using a utility to dump that to the local printer.
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D-H I-P Q-Se Se-St T-Z