vscode-abaqus-inp

Abaqus .inp language support for VS Code.

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=JP.abaqus

Features

• Syntax highlighting for Abaqus keywords, parameters, comments, and data lines
• Block folding for *Part, *Assembly, *Instance, and *Step sections
• Snippets for common keywords (see Snippets below)
• Works with .inp, .inc, and .incl files
• Run Abaqus jobs from the VS Code built-in terminal without leaving the editor

Block Folding

Folding is now supported for every *KEYWORD block — each keyword line collapses to the next keyword. Click the fold gutter arrow (or press ⌘⌥[ / Ctrl+Shift+[) on any *KEYWORD line.

Paired blocks with explicit end markers fold precisely:

All other keyword blocks (e.g. *Node, *Element, *Nset, *Material) fold to just before the next *KEYWORD line. Keyword matching is case-insensitive; comment lines (**) are excluded.

Large File Support

VS Code disables syntax highlighting for very long individual lines (default limit: 20,000 characters). This extension raises that limit to 500,000 characters per line for all Abaqus files.

Highlighting on files larger than ~300 KB is also kept active automatically — editor.largeFileOptimizations is disabled by default for Abaqus files, so no manual settings change is needed.

Note: Disabling large-file optimisations on very large files (tens of MB) may slow down the editor. You can override this in your settings.json if needed:

"[abaqus]": { "editor.largeFileOptimizations": true }

If highlighting is not working on large files: check your user or workspace settings.json for a conflicting entry. Any value you set manually overrides the extension default. If you have "editor.largeFileOptimizations": true set anywhere, remove it or explicitly override it:

"[abaqus]": {
    "editor.largeFileOptimizations": false,
    "editor.maxTokenizationLineLength": 500000
}

Hard limit (VS Code engine): VS Code's tokenizer has a hard-coded 20 MB threshold. Files larger than ~20 MB will not be syntax-highlighted regardless of settings — this is a VS Code limitation, not an extension limitation. See #30180 and #191065.

Snippets

Type a keyword prefix and press Tab (or select from the IntelliSense suggestion list) to expand a snippet. All placeholders are tab-stops — press Tab again to jump to the next field.

Available snippets

Model structure

Mesh

Material

Sections

Analysis steps

Loads & boundary conditions

Contact

Constraints & connectors

Output

Example — inserting a node definition

1. In an .inp file, type * then NOD — the IntelliSense list shows NODE and NODE OUTPUT.
2. Select NODE and press Tab (or Enter).
3. The snippet completes inline on the same line:

   *NODE, NSET=nset_name
   node_number, x, y, z
   

4. The cursor lands on nset_name. Edit it, then press Tab to move to the next field.

Running Abaqus from the Terminal

The VS Code built-in terminal (Ctrl+`) lets you submit and monitor Abaqus jobs without leaving the editor.

Submit a job

abaqus job=my_model input=my_model.inp cpus=4 interactive

Common options

Check job status (while running without interactive)

abaqus job=my_model status

Open a terminal with Terminal → New Terminal or **Ctrl+**, navigate to your working directory, and run the command above. The .odb, .dat, and .msg` output files will appear in the same folder and can be opened in Abaqus/Viewer.

Troubleshooting — .inp files not recognised

If the extension stops highlighting .inp files after an update or reinstall:

1. Check the language mode — open an .inp file and look at the bottom-right corner of VS Code. It should show Abaqus. If it shows Plain Text or another language, click it and select Abaqus from the list.
2. Force file association — add this to your settings.json to permanently associate .inp with the extension:

   "files.associations": {
       "*.inp": "abaqus",
       "*.inc": "abaqus",
       "*.incl": "abaqus"
   }
   

3. Reload the window — run Developer: Reload Window from the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / ⌘⇧P).
4. Reinstall — if the above steps do not help, uninstall the extension, reload VS Code, then reinstall it.

Note

This extension is based on the Sublime Text package by SenhorLucas: https://github.com/SenhorLucas/AbaqusSublimePackage

Changelog

v1.2.3 — 2026-03-15

• Snippets expanded from 52 to 480 — every keyword in the Abaqus 2016 Keywords Reference Guide now has a completion entry.
• Added terminal usage guide to README.

v1.2.2 — 2026-02-27

• README: documented that manually setting editor.largeFileOptimizations: true in settings.json overrides the extension default and breaks highlighting on large files. Added troubleshooting steps and a note on VS Code's hard-coded 20 MB tokenization limit.

v1.2.1 — 2026-02-27

• Housekeeping: extension source moved to repo root; README and CHANGELOG now appear correctly on the marketplace page.

v1.2.0 — 2026-02-26

Block folding (all keywords)

• Added extension.js with a FoldingRangeProvider that folds every *KEYWORD block to the next keyword — not just the four paired block types. *Node, *Element, *Nset, *Material etc. are all now foldable.
• Fixed language-configuration.json folding markers: the (?i) Oniguruma flag is invalid in VS Code's JavaScript RegExp engine and was silently breaking all marker-based folding. Replaced with valid JS-compatible patterns.
• Added editor.showFoldingControls: always to extension defaults so fold arrows are always visible in the gutter.

Large file support (automatic)

• Added editor.largeFileOptimizations: false to configurationDefaults — syntax highlighting on large .inp files now works out of the box without any manual settings change.

Snippet completion (inline)

• Removed the leading \r\n and * from all snippet bodies. Snippets now complete inline on the current line: type * then a partial keyword, pick from IntelliSense, and the keyword expands on the same line.

Housekeeping

• Added .vscodeignore to keep the published package clean.
• Added examples/example_test.inp — a comprehensive test file covering all grammar rules and snippets.
• Corrected VS Code category from Languages to Programming Languages.

v1.1.0 — 2022-01-17

Large file syntax highlighting

• Added configurationDefaults to raise editor.maxTokenizationLineLength to 500,000 for all Abaqus files.

Block folding

• Added folding.markers to language-configuration.json for *Part, *Assembly, *Instance, *Step, and *Load Case paired blocks.

Snippets (expanded to 42)

• Added snippets for all common Abaqus keywords with tab-stop placeholders.
• Full step skeletons (STATIC, DYNAMIC, FREQUENCY, BUCKLE, HEAT TRANSFER) include output request blocks.

README

• Rewrote README with Block Folding, Large File Support, Snippets, and Troubleshooting sections.