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vcif
vcif is a small program developed by the IUCr Chester offices and
used to validate the syntax of CIF data and dictionary files. It is used as
part of the Acta Crystallographicacheckcif procedure.
Distribution
The software (written in C) is available in two forms:
vcif - validate syntax of Crystallographic Information File
SYNOPSIS
vcif [-option ...] file-name
DESCRIPTION Vcif
reads a file in CIF(5) format, and writes to standard output any syntax errors
it finds. Unlike a strict CIF parser, which will exit on encountering the
first syntax error in a file,
vcif
attempts to recover and report further errors. However, certain errors
(such as unterminated text fields) can confuse the program.
If file-name is "-", vcif will read from standard input.
OPTIONS
-lnn
Maximum line length. Report lines exceeding
nn
characters in length (the default is the CIF standard value of 80).
-wnn
Maximum length of datanames or data_ block headers. Report any exceeding
nn
characters in length (the default is the implied CIF standard value of 74).
-q
Quiet. Report no errors. The return value of the program is a count of
the number of errors encountered.
-v
Verbose. Give a more complete account of each error on its first occurrence.
This mode will only report the first 20 errors, unless this is over-ridden
by the -e option.
-s
Do not flag extra STAR(5) file syntax features, such as global_ and
save_ frames, as errors. Useful for checking the syntax of CIF dictionary
files, which have these additional features.
-enn
Number of errors to report. The default is 20 in verbose mode, and unlimited
otherwise.
-h
Print help information and exit.
-V
Print version information and exit.
-Ddebug-file-name
Write (copious) debugging output to the named file.
BUGS
Embedded nulls in an input file will confuse the program.
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