Scripting

Abaqus Python has been updated from Python version 2.7.15 to Python version 3.10.5.

Python 3 introduces a number of changes that break backward-compatibility with existing Python 2 code. As a result, scripts originally written using Python 2 syntax might not run without modification in Python 3. However, in most cases it is possible to modify your scripts so that they will run in both Python 2.7 and Python 3.

The following Abaqus functionality is impacted:

• Abaqus/CAE and Abaqus/Viewer scripting
• Abaqus/CAE and Abaqus/Viewer plugins
• The abaqus_v6.env environment file (see Using the Abaqus environment files)
• Custom applications (see Creating a customized application)
• Standalone Abaqus Python scripts; for example, scripts run with abaqus python myscript.py (see Python Execution)
• *PARAMETER (see Parametric Modeling)
• Parametric studies—.psf files (see Parametric Studies)
• Batch scheduling scripts (Dassault Systèmes Knowledge Base, https://support.3ds.com/knowledge-base)

A conversion utility is provided to assist with converting Python 2 syntax to Python 3. While it will automatically convert many common syntax changes, not all Python 2 syntax can be converted automatically; therefore, some manual conversion might be required to ensure that Python scripts run properly with the new version. You can invoke the conversion utiility from the command line using the command

abaqus python -m abqPy2to3 <script/directory>

The utility writes a log file and saves the original versions of the files on which it operates. If you provide a directory to the utility, it recursively traverses through that directory and subdirectories looking for *.py files. You can include -future False on the command line if you are not worried about maintaining Python 2.7 forward compatibility. You can also access the conversion utility as part of the script upgrade plug-in utility in Abaqus/CAE (available from Plug-Ins > Abaqus > Upgrade Scripts). It is run if you upgrade scripts to 2024.

Additional information related to converting Python code for Abaqus is available in the SIMULIA Community at go.3ds.com/AbaqusPython.