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INTERACTIVE

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Revision as of 06:40, 15 June 2026 by Kresse (talk | contribs) (Improved wording for the tim)

INTERACTIVE = [logical]
Default: INTERACTIVE = .FALSE. 

Description: INTERACTIVE enables an interactive mode in which a series of structures is piped into VASP via stdin.


INTERACTIVE = .TRUE. enables the interactive mode. The interactive mode (IBRION = 11) is executed by inputting a series of structures into the VASP executable, i.e.:

vasp_std < POSCAR.interactive

The number of ionic steps NSW should be set to the number of structures in the POSCAR.interactive file plus one (or any larger value); the number of atoms in these input structures must be constant. Bear in mind that POSCAR.interactive is just a dummy name for a file that pipes the structures to the executable. Each input structure will then be calculated according to the INCAR file and the output will be written as normal.

Fixed lattice (ISIF < 3)

For a fixed lattice ISIF < 3, the lattice is defined by the POSCAR file. The input structure (e.g., POSCAR.interactive, or any other name) is as follows:

  0.51602654  0.60200207  0.48355839
  0.47803882  0.52340268  0.50869036
  0.56717477  0.65578242  0.53100206
  0.45116332  0.63676166  0.43537938
  0.31530340  0.74388198  0.64715720
  0.60071504  0.49851047  0.37872126

  0.44216661  0.56361173  0.52960446
  0.36537533  0.54238027  0.56342416
  0.50398907  0.58877046  0.59064245
  0.43618126  0.61788131  0.46024981
  0.45532341  0.84599587  0.53226938
  0.50724841  0.41695239  0.46229896

  0.53802286  0.56353392  0.51036499
  0.47205503  0.63101620  0.50503092
  0.55908887  0.54004979  0.59586980
  0.61484211  0.57816646  0.45750405
  0.42364771  0.83966876  0.53596644
  0.46803897  0.42328326  0.47142822

with the coordinates of the ions for each structure given in fractional/ direct coordinates (Cartesian coordinates are not supported), followed by a blank line, then the next structure, etc. These calculations will then be performed on these structures. As each file is read in, the following will be printed to the stdout:

POSITIONS: reading from stdin

POSITIONS: read from stdin

Variable lattice (ISIF ≥ 3)

When the lattice is not fixed ISIF ≥ 3, the input structure (direct or Cartesian) requires that the lattice also be defined, i.e., POSCAR.interactive is a list of POSCAR files (i.e., the same format as an XDATCAR file):

unknown system
           1
    -5.608199   -5.441585   -0.050512
    -5.462972   -0.042950   -5.505922
     0.000000   -5.460525   -5.460525
   Si
    16
Direct configuration=          29
   0.16107731  0.07535964  0.14569368
   0.08094105  0.11968075  0.63676797
   0.12674262  0.62205394  0.16549329
   ...
   0.76282682  0.79675752  0.20047467
   0.72878930  0.77068250  0.75446889
unknown system
           1
    -5.614679   -5.440682   -0.050669
    -5.464721   -0.042862   -5.507583
     0.000000   -5.461359   -5.461359
   Si
    16
Direct configuration=          30
   0.16122201  0.07550654  0.14846295
   0.08038750  0.12050178  0.63429276
   0.12832567  0.62549860  0.16421982
   ...
   0.76048160  0.79907085  0.19846135
   0.73319285  0.76646271  0.75715487

As each structure is read in, the following will be printed to stdout:

POSITIONS AND LATTICE: reading from stdin

POSITIONS AND LATTICE: read from stdin

Related tags and articles

Tags: IBRION, ISIF, NSW

Files: POSCAR, XDATCAR

How-to: Using metadynamics to train a machine-learned force field

Workflows that use this tag