CLI reference

The asciichem CLI provides conversion, linting, and round-trip verification. Install via gem install asciichem.

convert

Convert AsciiChem source to an output format.

asciichem convert -i "H_2O" -t mathml
asciichem convert -i "2Na+ + SO_4^2- -> Na_2SO_4" -t cml
asciichem convert -f input.asciichem -t html
echo "H_2O" | asciichem convert -i - -t latex

Options

Flag	Description
-i, --input	AsciiChem source text (or - for stdin)
-f, --file	Read source from a file
-t, --format	Output format: mathml (default), text, html, latex, svg, cml

lint

Run chemistry validation checks. Exits 1 if any errors found.

asciichem lint -i "H_2 + O_2 -> H_2O"
asciichem lint -i "crystal[x](a=-1){Na@f(0,0,0)}" -f json

Options

Flag	Description
-i, --input	AsciiChem source text
-f, --format	Output format: text (default) or json

JSON output is an array of {severity, message, node} objects.

roundtrip

Parse and re-emit text; exit non-zero if output differs from input.

asciichem roundtrip -i "H_2O"

parse-cml

Parse CML XML and emit AsciiChem text.

asciichem parse-cml -i "<cml xmlns=\"http://www.xml-cml.org/schema\">...</cml>"

version

asciichem version
asciichem --version