NAME

Bio::SeqIO::table - sequence input/output stream from a delimited table

SYNOPSIS

  #It is probably best not to use this object directly, but
  #rather go through the SeqIO handler system. Go:

  $stream = Bio::SeqIO->new(-file => $filename, -format => 'table');

  while ( my $seq = $stream->next_seq() ) {
	# do something with $seq
  }

DESCRIPTION

This class transforms records in a table-formatted text file into Bio::Seq objects.

A table-formatted text file of sequence records for the purposes of this module is defined as a text file with each row corresponding to a sequence, and the attributes of the sequence being in different columns. Columns are delimited by a common delimiter, for instance tab or comma.

The module permits specifying which columns hold which type of annotation. The semantics of certain attributes, if present, are pre-defined, e.g., accession number and sequence. Additional attributes may be added to the annotation bundle.

FEEDBACK

Mailing Lists

User feedback is an integral part of the evolution of this and other Bioperl modules. Send your comments and suggestions preferably to one of the Bioperl mailing lists. Your participation is much appreciated.

bioperl-l@bioperl.org                  - General discussion
http://bioperl.org/wiki/Mailing_lists  - About the mailing lists

Reporting Bugs

Report bugs to the Bioperl bug tracking system to help us keep track the bugs and their resolution.

Bug reports can be submitted via email or the web:

http://bugzilla.open-bio.org/

AUTHOR - Hilmar Lapp

Email hlapp at gmx.net

APPENDIX

The rest of the documentation details each of the object methods. Internal methods are usually preceded with a _

new

Title   : new
Usage   : $stream = Bio::SeqIO->new(-file => $filename, -format => 'table')
Function: Returns a new seqstream
Returns : A Bio::SeqIO stream for a table format
Args    : Named parameters:

            -file    name of file to read
            -fh      filehandle to attach to
            -comment leading character(s) introducing a comment line
            -header  the number of header lines to skip; the first
                     non-comment header line will be used to obtain
                     column names; column names will be used as the
                     default tags for attaching annotation.
            -delim   the delimiter for columns as a regular expression;
                     consecutive occurrences of the delimiter will
                     not be collapsed.
            -display_id the one-based index of the column containing
                     the display ID of the sequence
            -accession_number the one-based index of the column
                     containing the accession number of the sequence
            -seq     the one-based index of the column containing
                     the sequence string of the sequence
            -species the one-based index of the column containing the
                     species for the sequence record; if not a
                     number, will be used as the static species
                     common to all records
            -annotation if provided and a scalar (but see below), a
                     flag whether or not all additional columns are
                     to be preserved as annotation, the tags used
                     will either be 'colX' if there is no column
                     header and where X is the one-based column
                     index, and otherwise the column headers will be
                     used as tags;

                     if a reference to an array, or a square
                     bracket-enclosed string of comma-delimited
                     values, only those columns (one-based index)
                     will be preserved as annotation, tags as before;

                     if a reference to a hash, or a curly
                     braces-enclosed string of comma-delimited key
                     and value pairs in alternating order, the keys
                     are one-based column indexes to be preserved,
                     and the values are the tags under which the
                     annotation is to be attached; if not provided or
                     supplied as undef, no additional annotation will
                     be preserved.
            -colnames a reference to an array of column labels, or a
                     string of comma-delimited labels, denoting the
                     columns to be converted into annotation; this is
                     an alternative to -annotation and will be
                     ignored if -annotation is also supplied with a
                     valid value.
            -trim    flag determining whether or not all values should
                     be trimmed of leading and trailing white space
                     and double quotes

          Additional arguments may be used to e.g. set factories and
          builders involved in the sequence object creation (see the
          POD of Bio::SeqIO).

next_seq

Title   : next_seq
Usage   : $seq = $stream->next_seq()
Function: returns the next sequence in the stream
Returns : Bio::Seq::RichSeq object
Args    :

comment_char

Title   : comment_char
Usage   : $obj->comment_char($newval)
Function: Get/set the leading character(s) designating a line as
          a comment-line.
Example :
Returns : value of comment_char (a scalar)
Args    : on set, new value (a scalar or undef, optional)
Title   : header
Usage   : $obj->header($newval)
Function: Get/set the number of header lines to skip before the
          rows containing actual sequence records.

          If set to zero or undef, means that there is no header and
          therefore also no column headers.

Example :
Returns : value of header (a scalar)
Args    : on set, new value (a scalar or undef, optional)

delimiter

Title   : delimiter
Usage   : $obj->delimiter($newval)
Function: Get/set the column delimiter. This will in fact be
          treated as a regular expression. Consecutive occurrences
          will not be collapsed to a single one.

Example :
Returns : value of delimiter (a scalar)
Args    : on set, new value (a scalar or undef, optional)

attribute_map

Title   : attribute_map
Usage   : $obj->attribute_map($newval)
Function: Get/set the map of sequence object initialization
          attributes (keys) to one-based column index.

          Attributes will usually need to be prefixed by a dash, just
          as if they were passed to the new() method of the sequence
          class.

Example :
Returns : value of attribute_map (a reference to a hash)
Args    : on set, new value (a reference to a hash or undef, optional)

annotation_map

Title   : annotation_map
Usage   : $obj->annotation_map($newval)
Function: Get/set the mapping between one-based column indexes
          (keys) and annotation tags (values).

          Note that the map returned by this method may change after
          the first next_seq() call if the file contains a column
          header and no annotation keys have been predefined in the
          map, because upon reading the column header line the tag
          names will be set automatically.

          Note also that the map may reference columns that are used
          as well in the sequence attribute map.

Example :
Returns : value of annotation_map (a reference to a hash)
Args    : on set, new value (a reference to a hash or undef, optional)

keep_annotation

Title   : keep_annotation
Usage   : $obj->keep_annotation($newval)
Function: Get/set flag whether or not to keep values from
          additional columns as annotation.

          Additional columns are all those columns in the input file
          that aren't referenced in the attribute map.

Example :
Returns : value of keep_annotation (a scalar)
Args    : on set, new value (a scalar or undef, optional)

annotation_columns

Title   : annotation_columns
Usage   : $obj->annotation_columns($newval)
Function: Get/set the names (labels) of the columns to be used for
          annotation.

          This is an alternative to using annotation_map. In order to
          have any effect, it must be set before the first call of
          next_seq(), and obviously there must be a header line (or
          row) too giving the column labels.

Example :
Returns : value of annotation_columns (a reference to an array)
Args    : on set, new value (a reference to an array of undef, optional)

trim_values

Title   : trim_values
Usage   : $obj->trim_values($newval)
Function: Get/set whether or not to trim leading and trailing
          whitespace off all column values.
Example :
Returns : value of trim_values (a scalar)
Args    : on set, new value (a scalar or undef, optional)

Internal methods

All methods with a leading underscore are not meant to be part of the 'official' API. They are for use by this module only, consider them private unless you are a developer trying to modify this module.

_attribute_map

Title   : _attribute_map
Usage   : $obj->_attribute_map($newval)
Function: Get only. Same as attribute_map, but zero-based indexes.

          Note that any changes made to the returned map will change
          the map used by this instance. You should know what you are
          doing if you modify the returned value (or if you call this
          method in the first place).

Example :
Returns : value of _attribute_map (a reference to a hash)
Args    : none

_annotation_map

Title   : _annotation_map
Usage   : $obj->_annotation_map($newval)
Function: Get only. Same as annotation_map, but with zero-based indexes.

          Note that any changes made to the returned map will change
          the map used by this instance. You should know what you are
          doing if you modify the returned value (or if you call this
          method in the first place).

Example :
Returns : value of _annotation_map (a reference to a hash)
Args    : none

_header_skipped

Title   : _header_skipped
Usage   : $obj->_header_skipped($newval)
Function: Get/set the flag whether the header was already
          read (and skipped) or not.
Example :
Returns : value of _header_skipped (a scalar)
Args    : on set, new value (a scalar or undef, optional)

_next_record

Title   : _next_record
Usage   :
Function: Navigates the underlying file to the next record.

          For row-based records in delimited text files, this will
          skip all empty lines and lines with a leading comment
          character.

          This method is here is to serve as a hook for other formats
          that conceptually also represent tables but aren't
          formatted as row-based text files.

Example :
Returns : TRUE if the navigation was successful and FALSE
          otherwise. Unsuccessful navigation will usually be treated
          as an end-of-file condition.
Args    :

_parse_header

Title   : _parse_header
Usage   :
Function: Parse the table header and navigate past it.

          This method is called if the number of header rows has been
          specified equal to or greater than one, and positioned at
          the first header line (row). By default the first header
          line (row) is used for setting column names, but additional
          lines (rows) may be skipped too. Empty lines and comment
          lines do not count as header lines (rows).

          This method will call _next_record() to navigate to the
          next header line (row), if there is more than one header
          line (row). Upon return, the file is presumed to be
          positioned at the first record after the header.

          This method is here is to serve as a hook for other formats
          that conceptually also represent tables but aren't
          formatted as row-based text files.

          Note however that the only methods used to access file
          content or navigate the position are _get_row_values() and
          _next_record(), so it should usually suffice to override
          those.

Example :
Returns : TRUE if navigation past the header was successful and FALSE
          otherwise. Unsuccessful navigation will usually be treated
          as an end-of-file condition.
Args    :

_get_row_values

Title   : _get_row_values
Usage   :
Function: Get the values for the current line (or row) as an array in
          the order of columns.

          This method is here is to serve as a hook for other formats
          that conceptually also represent tables but aren't
          formatted as row-based text files.

Example :
Returns : An array of column values for the current row.
Args    :