Almost every operation that you perform during an ABAQUS/CAE session can be duplicated by a script (script_name.py) containing a set of ABAQUS Scripting Interface commands. Conversely, running a script from within ABAQUS/CAE is equivalent to performing the corresponding operations using the menus, toolboxes, and dialog boxes that ABAQUS/CAE provides.

You can create scripts that duplicate operations you perform routinely during a session; for example, you might write a script that defines the material properties of a commonly used material or one that produces a contour plot of a particular variable shown in a particular view orientation.

ABAQUS/CAE commands are written in the Python scripting language, and you can use Python to enhance the scripts generated by ABAQUS/CAE. Commands are stored as ASCII text in the replay, journal, and recovery files and in ABAQUS/CAE scripts that you create. As a result, you can use a standard text editor to edit the contents of the files. For more information on commands, see the ABAQUS Scripting User's Manual.

To run a script, select FileRun Script from the main menu bar, and select the script to run from the Run Script dialog box.