vmstopy(1)                  General Commands Manual                 vmstopy(1)



NAME
       vmstopy - converts IMOD command file to Python script

SYNOPSIS
       vmstopy  [option]  com_filename  log_filename  [output_file]

DESCRIPTION
       Vmstopy is a Python program for converting an IMOD command file into a
       Python script that will run commands in the file and direct output to a
       log file.  Commands can consist of a single line running a program with
       command line arguments, or a line running a program followed by entries
       that the program will read from standard input.  Python statements can
       also be included in the file, and variables can be defined in Python
       then used in the command or standard input lines.  A small number of C-
       shell commands will also be recognized and translated to the appropri-
       ate Python statements.

       The easiest way to use this program is through the submfg script
       together with an alias to run submfg in the background, which is pro-
       vided in the IMOD startup scripts as the alias subm.  If you command
       file is named "stuff.pcm", you can give the command "subm stuff".  If
       it is named with a different extension, such as the traditional ".com",
       you need to indicate that the command file is to be run into vmstopy by
       using "subm -p stuff".  In either case, the file will be executed in
       background, a log file stuff.log will be created, and you will be noti-
       fied when the job is completed.  Type "submfg" to see the usage state-
       ment for more details.


   Special Characters
       Four special characters are used:

       $ at the start of a command line.  Commands may be continued on multi-
       ple lines by ending each line except the last one with a backslash (\).
       The continuation lines should not start with a $

       > at the start of a Python statement

       % for a variable to be substituted; this may occur anywhere in a com-
       mand line or a standard input line.  Variable substitution will always
       convert the variable to a string, so the value can be an unquoted
       string or a simple numeric value.  Lists of numbers should be quoted
       (e.g., '1-5').

       # at the start of a line with a comment.  A # later in a line will not
       be recognized as starting a comment.  $! at the start of a line is also
       recognized as a comment

       Standard input lines do not start with a special character.  The pro-
       gram will consider any lines between a command line and the next com-
       mand line or Python statement as lines to be fed to the command's stan-
       dard input.


   Indentation and Quoting
       If there are any Python statements starting with >, then indentation is
       significant, not only in the Python statements but also in the command
       lines.  Any commands that occur in a Python block must have the appro-
       priate indentation; i.e., with extra indentation if they follow a
       statement that starts a block; with the same indentation as the last
       statement if it is part of the same block, or with less indentation if
       it ends a block.  A line with a command to run must have the $ in the
       first column, and then the appropriate number of spaces of indentation
       before the command.  If you use no Python at all, spaces between the $
       and the command will be removed from command lines to avoid indentation
       errors.  Lines for standard input to programs need not be indented.

       The program will enclose the text that used to run a command, in single
       quotes (' ') and text that is input to programs in triple quotes ("""
       """).  If you need to pass a command line argument containing spaces to
       a program, enclose it in double quotes (" ").  Do not escape spaces
       with backslashes.  Backslashes should appear only in Windows file
       paths.  These will be converted to forward slashes.

   Translations
       The following translations will occur.  Some of these are generally
       useful, some are needed to support constructs in existing command files
       for tomogram processing.

       $goto label
       will skip forward to the next command line starting with
       $label:
       Unlike in C-shell, the goto can be used only to skip forward, and it
       cannot be part of a conditional statement.  The goto's and labels are
       recognized and removed in a first pass through the command file.  Any
       more complicated conditional execution must be coded with Python state-
       ments.

       $if (-e file) command
       will be converted to
       > if os.path.exists(file):
       $   command

       $if (! -e file) command
       will be converted to
       > if not os.path.exists(file):
       $   command

       $set tmpdir =
       and the 1-3 following lines will replaced by
       > tmpdir = imodTempDir()
       provided that either the following line contains "settmpdir", or the
       next three lines contain "if", "settmpdir", and "endif"

       $set variable = value   becomes   >variable = value
       and "value" is quoted unless it can be assigned to a numeric variable

       If "$set" has been used at all, $variable will be substituted just like
       %variable.

       $setenv variable value   becomes   >os.environ['variable'] = 'value'

       This is generally to set the environment for programs that will be run,
       but these and other environment variables may be accessed within the
       command file provided that they are all upper case (A-Z, 0-9, and
       underscore are allowed) and enclosed in braces.  In other words,
       ${ENV_VAR}     becomes     os.environ('ENV_VAR').

       \rm, \rm -f, rm, and rm -f   all become   b3dremove -g

       cp or \cp   become   b3dcopy, and if the following line has a chmod, -p
       is added to the b3dcopy

       \rm -r, \rm -rf, rm -r and rm -rf   are all replaced by a call to
       shutil.rmtree

       mkdir   is replaced by a call to os.mkdir

       \mv   becomes   mv -f

       $if (-e file) mv file file~    is replaced by a call to the makeBackup-
       File function

       $echo text   becomes   >print "text"   after substituting variables in
       "text"

       $exit
       will cause the rest of the command file to be skipped, whereas
       $exit n
       will result in calling a function that terminates with sys.exit(n), but
       further lines will be processed.

       >print "text"   becomes   >prnstr("text", file=log)
       In other words, in Python statements, print commands not directed to a
       file will be redirected to the log file.  prnstr is function that works
       for printing with both Python 2.x and Python 3.x.

       b3dremove      becomes     b3dremove -g    on Windows
       On other systems, wildcards in the filename list are expanded by the
       shell that runs the command, but on Windows, b3dremove needs to glob
       the filenames.

       $if ($status) goto label
       When this construct is present, the program will collect lines between
       "label:" and "exit n" and move them into a function.  When the con-
       struct is encountered after running a command, a call to the function
       is inserted in the exception handler for the command.

       $vmstocsh com.log < com.com
       When this construct is encountered, the line containing it, through a
       line containing "csh -ef", are replaced with commands to run vmstopy
       and to run the resulting script.

       `hostname`    is substituted with the computer hostname upon execution;
       Note that "hostname" must be enclosed in back-quotes (as for command
       execution in a shell); this character may not appear properly here.

       $$     is replaced by the PID of the Python running the command file

       Certain commands are eliminated from the command file:
       $set nonomatch
       $matchshifts
       $sync    (on Windows)


OPTIONS
       -x     Execute the script with a new Python instance.

       -q     Suppress output messages about the progress of running the
              script.

       -c     Output "CHUNK DONE" to the log file after successful execution.

       -e VAR=val
              Set the environment variable VAR to the given value at the
              beginning of the script.  If no value is needed, "-e VAR" can be
              entered.  This option can be entered as many times as needed.

       -f dir Add the given directory to the front of the system path.  This
              command may be entered multiple times, or multiple directories
              can be included in one entry with the path separator, unless
              they are Windows paths that need conversion to Cygwin paths.

       -b dir Add the given directory to the back of the system path.  This
              command may be entered multiple times, or multiple directories
              can be included in one entry with the path separator, unless
              they are Windows paths that need conversion to Cygwin paths.

       -n #   Increment the process niceness by the given # at the beginning
              of the script.

       -p     Set permissions of the output script file to executable.

       -t     Run in test mode where all commands are prefixed by "echo2"; the
              output should be runnable in Python.

EXAMPLES
       # Example 1: Command file to align an image stack
       # Note the comments embedded in the input to xftoxg
       #
       $xftoxg
       0       global fit
       # Name of input file
       g5a.prexf
       # Name of output file
       g5a.prexg
       $newstack -fl 2 -mo 0 -xf g5a.prexg g5a.st g5a.preali


       # Example 2: Command file to split a stack into two sets of files
       # Note the indentation for Python and command lines
       #
       >for i in range(100):
       >  if i % 2:
       $    newstack -sec %i data.st oddsec.%i
       >  else:
       $    newstack -sec %i data.st evensec.%i
       $header data.st
       >print "Splitting done"


AUTHOR
       David Mastronarde,  mast at colorado dot edu

SEE ALSO
       vmstocsh

HISTORY
       Why vms and subm?  Parts of IMOD started under the VMS operating sys-
       tem.  The ability to submit command files in this kind of format to a
       queue and get a log file with the output was the one good feature of
       VMS.



IMOD                                4.11.0                          vmstopy(1)