OBSYM(1)

💅 obsym(1) — your new fave lil tool from the User's Reference Manual ✨

okay so bestie, buckle in, because we're talking about obsym — the tool that detects 3D point group symmetry and honestly? it's giving main character energy in the most lowkey way possible. 🦋

---

🌸 NAME 🌸

obsym — detect 3D point group symmetry (yes that's literally it, and yes she ate 💅)

---

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

obsym filename

that's the whole vibe. one argument, one file, no cap. 🎀

---

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so what does she actually do? obsym detects 3D point group symmetry and writes out symmetrized coordinates. that's the entire flex. ngl it's a short description for such a slay little program, but it's honest work fr fr. 🌟

---

🧚 EXAMPLES 🧚

here's the iconic move:

obsym molecule1.cif > molecule2.cif

what's happening here? it symmetrizes the coordinates of molecule1.cif and writes them out to molecule2.cif. redirect queen 👑 — she reads from the file you pass as the argument, and off it goes to wherever you point your >. simple, gorgeous, done. 😭✨

---

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

• obgen(1) — go say hi to her sibling 🫶

also!! the web pages for Open Babel can be found at: <https://openbabel.org/> — literally bookmark it, iykyk 🌈

---

👑 AUTHORS 👑

Open Babel is developed by a cast of many, including current maintainers Geoff Hutchison, Chris Morley, Michael Banck, and innumerable others who have contributed fixes and additions. honestly an ensemble cast, no single main character, we love a collaborative moment 💜

for more contributors to Open Babel, see <https://openbabel.org/docs/Introduction/thanks.html> — go read the credits, they deserve it 🫶

---

🎀 COPYRIGHT 🎀

Copyright (C) 1998-2001 by OpenEye Scientific Software, Inc. Some portions Copyright (C) 2001-2007 by Geoffrey R. Hutchison and other contributors.

this program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation version 2 of the License. 💚 (yes, version 2 specifically, don't get cute about it 🙈)

⚠️ and here's the serious bit, keep it in mind: this program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. see the GNU General Public License for more details. no promises, bestie, that's the deal 💀

---

okay that's the whole page!! stay slay, stay symmetrized 💅✨

— with love, from Open Babel 3.2, dated May 26, 2026 🍓🎀 (that's the version and the date, go off calendar queen)