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NAME

Bio::ASN1::Sequence - Regular expression-based Perl Parser for ASN.1-formatted NCBI Sequences.

SYNOPSIS

use Bio::ASN1::Sequence;

my $parser = Bio::ASN1::Sequence->new('file' => "downloaded.asn1");
while(my $result = $parser->next_seq)
{
  # extract data from $result, or Dumpvalue->new->dumpValue($result);
}

# a new way to get the $result data hash for a particular sequence id:
use Bio::ASN1::Sequence::Indexer;
my $inx = Bio::ASN1::Sequence::Indexer->new(-filename => 'seq.idx');
my $seq = $inx->fetch_hash('AF093062');

# for creation of .idx index files please refer to
# Bio::ASN1::Sequence::Indexer perldoc

PREREQUISITE

None.

INSTALLATION

Bio::ASN1::Sequence is part of the Bio::ASN1::EntrezGene package. Bio::ASN1::EntrezGene package can be installed & tested as follows:

perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
make install

DESCRIPTION

Bio::ASN1::Sequence is a regular expression-based Perl Parser for ASN.1-formatted NCBI sequences. It parses an ASN.1-formatted sequence record and returns a data structure that contains all data items from the sequence record.

The parser will report error & line number if input data does not conform to the NCBI Sequence annotation file format.

The sequence parser is basically a modified version of the high-performance Bio::ASN1::EntrezGene parser. However, I created a standalone module for sequence since it is more efficient to keep Sequence-specific code out of EntrezGene.pm.

In fact it is possible to provide reading of all NCBI's ASN.1-formatted files through simple variations of the Entrez Gene parser (I need more investigation to be sure, but at least the sequence parser works well).

Since demand for parsing NCBI ASN.1-formatted sequences is much lower than EntrezGene, this module is more like a beta version that works on the examples I checked, but I did not check all available records or data definitions. The error-reporting function of this module has to be useful sometimes. :)

SEE ALSO

The parse_sequence_example.pl script included in this package (please see the Bio-ASN1-EntrezGene-x.xx/examples directory) shows the usage.

Please check out perldoc for Bio::ASN1::EntrezGene for more info.

AUTHOR

Dr. Mingyi Liu <mingyi.liu@gpc-biotech.com>

COPYRIGHT

The Bio::ASN1::EntrezGene module and its related modules and scripts are copyright (c) 2005 Mingyi Liu, GPC Biotech AG and Altana Research Institute. All rights reserved. I created these modules when working on a collaboration project between these two companies. Therefore a special thanks for the two companies to allow the release of the code into public domain.

You may use and distribute them under the terms of the Perl itself or GPL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html).

CITATION

Liu, M and Grigoriev, A (2005) "Fast Parsers for Entrez Gene" Bioinformatics. In press

OPERATION SYSTEMS SUPPORTED

Any OS that Perl runs on.

METHODS

new

Parameters: maxerrstr => 20 (optional) - maximum number of characters after
              offending element, used by error reporting, default is 20
            file or -file => $filename (optional) - name of the file to be
              parsed. call next_seq to parse!
            fh or -fh => $filehandle (optional) - handle of the file to be
              parsed.
Example:    my $parser = Bio::ASN1::Sequence->new();
Function:   Instantiate a parser object
Returns:    Object reference
Notes:      Setting file or fh will reset line numbers etc. that are used
              for error reporting purposes, and seeking on file handle would 
              mess up linenumbers!

maxerrstr

Parameters: $maxerrstr (optional) - maximum number of characters after
              offending element, used by error reporting, default is 20
Example:    $parser->maxerrstr(20);
Function:   get/set maxerrstr.
Returns:    maxerrstr.
Notes:

parse

Parameters: $string that contains Sequence record,
            $trimopt (optional) that specifies how the data structure
              returned should be trimmed. 2 is recommended and 
              default
            $noreset (optional) that species that line number should not
              be reset
            DEPRECATED as external function!!! Do not call this function
              directly!  Call next_seq() instead
Example:    my $value = $parser->parse($text); # DEPRECATED as
              # external function!!! Do not call this function
              # directly!  Call next_seq() instead
Function:   Takes in a string representing Sequence record, parses
              the record and returns a data structure.
Returns:    A data structure containing all data items from the sequence
              record.
Notes:      DEPRECATED as external function!!! Do not call this function
              directly!  Call next_seq() instead
            $string should not contain 'Seq-entry ::= set' at beginning!

input_file

Parameters: $filename for file that contains Sequence record(s)
Example:    $parser->input_file($filename);
Function:   Takes in name of a file containing Sequence records.
            opens the file and stores file handle
Returns:    none.
Notes:      Attemps to open file larger than 2 GB even on Perl that
              does not support 2 GB file (accomplished by calling
              "cat" and piping output. On OS that does not have "cat"
              error message will be displayed)

next_seq

Parameters: $trimopt (optional) that specifies how the data structure
              returned should be trimmed. option 2 is recommended and
              default
Example:    my $value = $parser->next_seq();
Function:   Use the file handle generated by input_file, parses the next
              the record and returns a data structure.
Returns:    A data structure containing all data items from the sequence
              record.
Notes:      Must pass in a filename through new() or input_file() first!
            For details on how to use the $trimopt data trimming option
              please see comment for the trimdata method. An option
              of 2 is recommended and default
            The acceptable values for $trimopt include:
              1 - trim as much as possibile
              2 (or 0, undef) - trim to an easy-to-use structure
              3 - no trimming (in version 1.06, prior to version
                  1.06, 0 or undef means no trimming)

trimdata

Parameters: $hashref or $arrayref
            $trimflag (optional, see Notes)
Example:    trimdata($datahash); # using the default flag
Function:   recursively process all attributes of a hash/array
            hybrid and get rid of any arrayref that points to
            one-element arrays (trims data structure) depending on
            the optional flag.
Returns:    none - trimming happenes in-place
Notes:      This function is useful to compact a data structure produced by
              Bio::ASN1::Sequence::parse.
            The acceptable values for $trimopt include:
              1 - trim as much as possibile
              2 (or 0, undef) - trim to an easy-to-use structure
              3 - no trimming (in version 1.06, prior to version
                  1.06, 0 or undef means no trimming)
            This function is duplicate to EntrezGene.pm's and code should
              be compressed in the future (using util module & subclass).

fh

Parameters: $filehandle (optional)
Example:    trimdata($datahash); # using the default flag
Function:   getter/setter for file handle
Returns:    file handle for current file being parsed.
Notes:      Use with care!
            Line number report would not be corresponding to file's line 
              number if seek operation is performed on the file handle!

rawdata

Parameters: none
Example:    my $data = $parser->rawdata();
Function:   Get the sequence data file that was just parsed
Returns:    a string containing the ASN1-formatted sequence record
Notes:      Must first parse a record then call this function!
            Could be useful in interpreting line number value in error
              report (if user did a seek on file handle right before parsing 
              call)