pyABF
A simple Python interface for Axon Binary Format (ABF) files

pyABF is a Python package for reading electrophysiology data from Axon Binary Format (ABF) files. In contrast to the official interface (a 32-bit Windows-only DLL), pyABF is written in pure Python and runs on all operating systems (including 64-bit environments). PyABF’s API aims to be intuitive enough that when used with a predictive IDE, documentation is largely unnecessary.

Installation

pyABF is available on PyPi and can be installed with pip:

pip install --upgrade pyabf

Quickstart 

import pyabf
abf = pyabf.ABF("demo.abf")
abf.setSweep(sweepNumber: 3, channel: 0)
print(abf.sweepY) # displays sweep data (ADC)
print(abf.sweepX) # displays sweep times (seconds)
print(abf.sweepC) # displays command waveform (DAC)

Plot Sweeps with Matplotlib 

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import pyabf
abf = pyabf.ABF("demo.abf")
abf.setSweep(14)
plt.plot(abf.sweepX, abf.sweepY)
plt.show()

Documentation

  • The pyABF tutorial demonstrates how to use the common features of pyABF

Resources

Features

  • No obscure dependencies (just matplotlib and numpy)
  • Battle-tested and actively maintained (2017 - present)
  • Pythonic API (methods and data are easy to locate with a predictive IDE)
  • Pure python package with full cross-platform support (32-bit and 64-bit)
  • Can read ABF1 and ABF2 files (including ABF 2.9 files created by pCLAMP 11)
  • Can convert ABF2 to ABF1 format to allow analysis with legacy software
  • Epoch table stimulus waveforms can be generated
  • Automatically integrates with external ABF and ATF stimulus files
  • Digital output waveforms can be accessed

How to Cite pyABF

If pyABF facilitated your research, consider citing this project so it can benefit others too:

“Analysis of electrophysiological recordings was performed with custom software written for this project using Python 3.10 and the pyABF package¹.”

[1] Harden, SW (2022). pyABF 2.3.5. [Online]. Available: https://pypi.org/project/pyabf