GDS-TXT

GDS-TXT is a human-readable text representation of GDSII data. It allows inspection, manual editing, and scripted manipulation of mask layout data using standard text tools.

Format Summary

Property	Value
Extensions	.gdstxt, .txt
Encoding	ASCII
Import	✓
Export	✓
License	GDS-TXT Option
Hierarchy	Full cell hierarchy (matching GDSII)
Layers	Numeric layers with datatypes

File Format

GDS-TXT uses a structured text syntax that mirrors the GDSII record structure:

HEADER 600
BGNLIB 2024-01-15 12:00:00
LIBNAME mydesign
UNITS 0.001 1e-9
BGNSTR 2024-01-15 12:00:00
STRNAME topcell
BOUNDARY
LAYER 1
DATATYPE 0
XY 0:0 1000:0 1000:1000 0:1000 0:0
ENDEL
ENDSTR
ENDLIB

Import Options

Option	Description	Default
(Standard GDSII options apply)	Same as GDSII import	—

Export Options

Option	Description	Default
(Standard GDSII options apply)	Same as GDSII export	—

Common Workflows

GDSII → GDS-TXT

Convert binary GDSII to text for inspection, diff, or version control.

GDS-TXT → GDSII

Reassemble a text-edited design back to binary GDSII for fabrication.

Scripted Layout Generation

Write GDS-TXT files programmatically (using Python, shell scripts, etc.) and convert to GDSII.

Technical Notes

• GDS-TXT is a lossless representation of GDSII — round-trip conversion preserves all data
• Coordinates use the X:Y format separated by spaces
• The file is human-readable and can be processed with standard text tools (grep, sed, diff)
• The GDS-TXT Option license bundle is required