Validation Tests on CIF-data (Related to but not equivalent to IUCR-Check)

Structural data provided in CIF-format may be validated in terms of consistency, missing relevant data, proper procedure and overlooked problems.

PLATON implements a large variety of such tests as detailed in an associated file check.def and associated VALIDATION.DOC.

The set includes many of the official IUCR Validation Procedures in use for the validation of Acta Cryst papers reporting single crystal structures.
This set is complemented with a more involved analysis of the data themselves with techniques available in PLATON (ADDSYM/VOIDS/Thermal Motion Analysis etc.)

The validation feature may be invoked in two ways:

1. via the VALIDATION button on the PLATON-Opening window.

2. via: 'platon -u data.cif'

3. with instruction 'VALID' from the keyboard

In all cases, a copy of the file 'check.def' should be present in the current directory.

Alternatively, the path to check.def may be given via the environment variable 'CHECKDEF'.

The results of the validation can be found on the file '<dataname>.chk'

The preparation of a small shell script may be helpful. Below is an example of such a script that can be made available systemwide by placing it in /usr/local/bin

#!/bin/csh
ln -sf /mnt/spea/acc/check.def
platon -u $1.cif
/usr/sbin/unlink check.def
less $1.chk

The validation than runs for CIF sk1000.cif by:

chk sk1000