Command: name

Usage:
name  target-name  spec

Usage:
name  frozen  target-name  spec

Usage:
name  list [ builtins  true | false ]

Usage:
name  delete ( target-name | all )

The name command defines a target-name to be used as a synonym for spec in subsequent commands. The target-name will also be listed in:

• the menu under Select... User-Defined Selectors
• the Basic Actions tool for easy showing/hiding (etc.) without commands

Defined targets are saved in sessions, and they can also be created with menu: Select... Define Selector. See also: alias, rename

Defining a name is useful to replace a long target specification string with something shorter and easier to type, or to name the current selection for easy access to its contents later. Occurrences of target-name (space- and/or semicolon-delimited) in commands will be translated to the corresponding items. A valid target-name:

• starts with an alphabetic character
• may contain alphanumeric characters, underscores ( _ ), and plus (+) and/or minus (-) signs

A target can be defined as evaluate-now or evaluate-later:

• An evaluate-later target created with name is simply expanded to the original spec string when it is used, for example:

  name tm1 /a:34-64
  color tm1 medium blue
  – is equivalent to –
  color /a:34-64 medium blue

  Evaluate-later targets can be defined automatically at ChimeraX startup by including name commands in the Startup preferences.

• A evaluate-now target created with name frozen specifies only the contents of spec at the time of creation. For example, if all leucines in currently open structures are defined as a target with:

  name frozen leus :leu

  ...the name leus will only refer to the leucines in that set of structures, and closing a model (even if it is reopened again) removes it from the set.

  To create a named selection, the spec would be sel. For example:

  select ligand :<5.5
  ~select solvent
  name frozen pocket sel

  ...the target pocket will not be affected by any subsequent changes in what is selected, and will refer solely to what was selected at the time it was defined.

The command name list reports all user-defined targets in the Log, with brief summaries of their contents; using builtins true also lists the built-in targets.

The command name delete can be used to “forget” a specific user-defined target or all user-defined targets.