All files used by Pcb
are read from the standard output of a command
or written to the standard input of one as plain seven bit ASCII
. This
makes it possible to use any editor to change the contents of a layout file.
It is the only way for element or font description files to be created.
To do so you'll need to study the example files example/*
and
default_font
which are shipped with Pcb
.
For an overview refer to Intro.
The following sections provide the necessary information about the syntax of
the files.
Netlist files are not created by Pcb
, but it does use them. For information
on the format of a netlist file see the :rn,
User Commands. Rat lines are added on the current layer using the current
The commands described allow you to add almost any additional
functionality you may need. Examples are compressed read and write access as
well as archives. The commands themselves are defined by the resources
elementCommand, fileCommand, fontCommand,
libraryCommand, libraryContentsCommand and saveCommand.
Note that the commands are not saved along with the data.
It is considered an advantage to have the layout file contain all necessary
information, independent of any other files.
One thing common to all files is they may include comments, newlines, and carriage returns at any place except within quoted strings.