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APBS‎ > ‎User guide‎ > ‎Running APBS‎ > ‎Invocation‎ > ‎

APBS command-line binary

As mentioned in the installation and availability section, the main APBS binary is installed in ${APBS_PREFIX}/bin where ${APBS_PREFIX} is the top-level directory you chose for the installation. Of course, you can move the binary to any directory you choose. APBS is invoked with a very simple syntax:
apbs [options] input-file
Command line options include:
  • --outputfile=name  Sets the output logging path (as described in the output logging section of the manual) to name, or name_N for parallel runs, where N is the processor ID. If --outputformat is not specified, a flat-file format will be used as the default.
  • --outputformat=type  Sets the output logging format. Accepted values are:
    • flat  Flat-file format (default).
    • xml  XML format
  • --help  Displays command line usage
  • --version  Displays the current APBS version
input-file is an input file with a specific syntax described in the section Input files. Besides the output files specified from within input-file and the optional logs as specified by use of the --output-file command line option, APBS writes data to three additional places:
  • Standard output. This will appear on your screen (if you don't redirect it somewhere) and will contain all the basic information about the electrostatics calculation.
  • Standard error. This will also appear on your screen (if you don't redirect it somewhere) and will contain warnings and error messages.
  • The file io.mc (or io.mc_N for parallel runs, where N is the processor ID. This gives you detailed information about the progress of the run with a particular focus on the numerical solver.