## Structure.read() — read coordinates from a PDB file

`read(file, io=None)`

> Normally, coordinates are read automatically from Sequence.atom_file when needed (or when Structure.reread() is called). This function instead reads coordinates explicitly in PDB format from file, which is either a filename or a readable file handle (see modfile.File()), ignoring atom_file. This is useful if you want to load an alternative conformation, or you want to read the structure from a file handle rather than a named file. (The sequence of the PDB must still match that in the alignment, of course.)

> Note that Structure.reread(), and certain structural alignment functions (alignment.salign() and alignment.malign3d()) will overwrite this conformation with that named in Sequence.atom_file.