[Chimera-users] explicit parentheses in atom selections

[Oliver Clarke]

Hi all,

Would it be possible at some point to allow the use of explicit parentheses when grouping selections on the command line? It would make it much easier/clearer when using multiple boolean operations (e.g "ligand z<5 &~ ligand &~ solvent” could be “ligand z<5 &~(ligand | solvent)”). Is there a reason why this kind of syntax is not used at the moment?

Also, just a random thought for a future version - it would be really handy to have something like the “Macro recorder” function of ImageJ or similar programs. This records whatever the user does using the GUI (while the recorder is active) and spits out the equivalent scripting commands to a dialog, where they can be saved and reused, or turned into a script. This can be a very powerful tool for learning the command line functionality of a complex application in an interactive manner.

Cheers,
Oliver.