The program pikashu
is meant to read many types of atomic position files, and convert them to many other formats. A list of supported formats is given here. Additionnaly, pikashu
can also perform some simple transformations of atomic positions.
This program does not deal with data such as atom velocities, potential energies, forces or whatsoever. Only with atomic positions. Hence some data can be lost when converting from one format to another (again, only atomic positions are preserved).
To compile the program, simply enter the src
directory and type "make all
". This should work on most machines, otherwise read further instructions here.
This program is meant to be simple to use. If you know nothing about programming, do not know where to start, and/or only want to convert a file, simply run the program in a command-line:
pikashu
and the program will ask you what you want to do. Another way of using this program to convert a file is to use the so-called normal mode, which allows to convert a file into a specific format:
pikashu <inputfile> <format>
To display a brief reminder of command-line parameters, you can type:
pikashu -help
Despite this will of simplicity, pikashu
can also do elaborate things, like simultaneous output to multiple formats, conversion of multiple files, compute differences in atomic positions, merging two systems,apply some simple transformations to atomic positions... For more advanced use, refer to the sections in the online help.