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GMX-PAIRDIST(1) 		     GROMACS			 GMX-PAIRDIST(1)

NAME
     gmx-pairdist - Calculate pairwise distances between groups of positions

SYNOPSIS
	gmx pairdist [-f [<.xtc/.trr/...>]] [-s [<.tpr/.gro/...>]] [-n [<.ndx>]]
		     [-o [<.xvg>]] [-b <time>] [-e <time>] [-dt <time>]
		     [-tu <enum>] [-fgroup <selection>] [-xvg <enum>]
		     [-[no]rmpbc] [-[no]pbc] [-sf <file>] [-selrpos <enum>]
		     [-seltype <enum>] [-cutoff <real>] [-type <enum>]
		     [-refgrouping <enum>] [-selgrouping <enum>]
		     [-ref <selection>] [-sel <selection>]

DESCRIPTION
     gmx  pairdist calculates pairwise distances between one reference selection
     (given with -ref) and one or more other selections (given with  -sel).   It
     can  calculate  either  the  minimum distance (the default), or the maximum
     distance (with -type max).  Distances to each selection provided with  -sel
     are computed independently.

     By  default,  the	global minimum/maximum distance is computed.  To compute
     more distances (e.g., minimum distances to each residue in -ref), use -ref-
     grouping and/or -selgrouping to specify how the positions within  each  se-
     lection should be grouped.

     Computed distances are written to the file specified with -o.  If there are
     N groups in -ref and M groups in the first selection in -sel, then the out-
     put  contains N*M columns for the first selection. The columns contain dis-
     tances like this: r1-s1, r2-s1, ..., r1-s2, r2-s2, ...,  where  rn  is  the
     n'th  group  in  -ref and sn is the n'th group in the other selection.  The
     distances for the second selection comes  as  separate  columns  after  the
     first  selection,	and so on.  If some selections are dynamic, only the se-
     lected positions are used in the computation but the same number of columns
     is always written out.  If there are  no  positions  contributing	to  some
     group pair, then the cutoff value is written (see below).

     -cutoff sets a cutoff for the computed distances.	If the result would con-
     tain  a distance over the cutoff, the cutoff value is written to the output
     file instead. By default, no cutoff is used, but if you are not  interested
     in  values  beyond  a  cutoff,  or if you know that the minimum distance is
     smaller than a cutoff, you should set this option to allow the tool to  use
     grid-based searching and be significantly faster.

     If you want to compute distances between fixed pairs, gmx distance may be a
     more suitable tool.

OPTIONS
     Options to specify input files:

     -f [<.xtc/.trr/...>] (traj.xtc) (Optional)
	    Input  trajectory  or  single configuration: xtc trr cpt gro g96 pdb
	    tng h5md

     -s [<.tpr/.gro/...>] (topol.tpr) (Optional)
	    Input structure: tpr gro g96 pdb brk ent

     -n [<.ndx>] (index.ndx) (Optional)
	    Extra index groups

     Options to specify output files:

     -o [<.xvg>] (dist.xvg)
	    Distances as function of time

     Other options:

     -b <time> (0)
	    First frame (ps) to read from trajectory

     -e <time> (0)
	    Last frame (ps) to read from trajectory

     -dt <time> (0)
	    Only use frame if t MOD dt == first time (ps)

     -tu <enum> (ps)
	    Unit for time values: fs, ps, ns, us, ms, s

     -fgroup <selection>
	    Atoms stored in the trajectory file (if  not  set,	assume	first  N
	    atoms)

     -xvg <enum> (xmgrace)
	    Plot formatting: xmgrace, xmgr, none

     -[no]rmpbc (yes)
	    Make molecules whole for each frame

     -[no]pbc (yes)
	    Use periodic boundary conditions for distance calculation

     -sf <file>
	    Provide selections from files

     -selrpos <enum> (atom)
	    Selection  reference  positions:  atom,  res_com,  res_cog, mol_com,
	    mol_cog, whole_res_com, whole_res_cog, whole_mol_com, whole_mol_cog,
	    part_res_com, part_res_cog, part_mol_com, part_mol_cog, dyn_res_com,
	    dyn_res_cog, dyn_mol_com, dyn_mol_cog

     -seltype <enum> (atom)
	    Default selection output positions: atom, res_com, res_cog, mol_com,
	    mol_cog, whole_res_com, whole_res_cog, whole_mol_com, whole_mol_cog,
	    part_res_com, part_res_cog, part_mol_com, part_mol_cog, dyn_res_com,
	    dyn_res_cog, dyn_mol_com, dyn_mol_cog

     -cutoff <real> (0)
	    Maximum distance to consider

     -type <enum> (min)
	    Type of distances to calculate: min, max

     -refgrouping <enum> (all)
	    Grouping of -ref positions to compute the min/max  over:  all,  res,
	    mol, none

     -selgrouping <enum> (all)
	    Grouping  of  -sel	positions to compute the min/max over: all, res,
	    mol, none

     -ref <selection>
	    Reference positions to calculate distances from

     -sel <selection>
	    Positions to calculate distances for

SEE ALSO
     gmx(1)

     More information about GROMACS is available at <http://www.gromacs.org/>.

COPYRIGHT
     2026, GROMACS development team

2026.3				  Jun 25, 2026			 GMX-PAIRDIST(1)

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