open_vcd - 2020.2 English

Open a Value Change Dump (VCD) file for capturing simulation output. This Tcl command models behavior of $dumpfile Verilog system task

Syntax

open_vcd [‑quiet] [‑verbose] [<file_name>]

Returns

Returns a Vcd Object and sets the current vcd to this object so that current_vcd command will return this object

Usage

Name	Description
`[-quiet]`	Ignore command errors
`[-verbose]`	Suspend message limits during command execution
`[<file_name>]`	file name. Defaults to dump.vcd (This is LRM standard) Default: dump.vcd

Description

Create or open a Value Change Dump (VCD) file to capture simulation output. This command operates like the Verilog $dumpfile simulator directive.

VCD is an ASCII file containing header information, variable definitions, and value change details of a set of HDL signals. The VCD file can be used to view simulation result in a VCD viewer or to estimate the power consumption of the design.

When a VCD file has been opened, you can write the value changes from the simulation into the VCD file using checkpoint_vcd, flush_vcd, or log_vcd. In addition, you can pause and resume the collection of value change data with the stop_vcd and start_vcd commands.

You can limit the size of the VCD file by using the limit_vcd command.

To close the VCD file, use the close_vcd command.

Note: You must use the open_vcd command before using any other *_vcd commands. Only one VCD file can be open at any time.

Arguments

-quiet - (Optional) Execute the command quietly, returning no messages from the command. The command also returns TCL_OK regardless of any errors encountered during execution.

Note: Any errors encountered on the command-line, while launching the command, will be returned. Only errors occurring inside the command will be trapped.

-verbose - (Optional) Temporarily override any message limits and return all messages from this command.

Note: Message limits can be defined with the set_msg_config command.

<file_name> - (Optional) Is the name of the file into which to dump the current VCD information. When a filename is not specified, the default filename of dump.vcd is used. If the specified VCD file already exists, then open_vcd resets the VCD file to a new state, overwriting the current contents.

Examples

The following example opens the specified VCD file (design1.vcd) so that value changes can be written to it. The log_vcd command identifies all ports in the /tb/UUT scope, and only that level of the design hierarchy, to be written to the VCD file. The simulation is run for a specified period of time, and flush_vcd writes the current values of the HDL objects to the VCD file. Then close_vcd closes the open file.

open_vcd design1.vcd  
log_vcd -level 1 [get_objects filter { type == port } /tb/UUT/* ]  
run 1000  
flush_vcd  
close_vcd