Prints read alignments in samtools pileup format

Category Coverage Analysis

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Overview

Prints read alignments in samtools pileup format.

This tool emulates the functionality of samtools pileup. It prints the alignments in a format that is very similar to the samtools pileup format. For more details about the original format, see the Samtools Pileup format documentation. The output comprises one line per genomic position, listing the chromosome name, coordinate, reference base, bases from reads, and and corresponding base qualities from reads. In addition to these default fields, additional information can be added to the output as extra columns.

Note that if the reference is omitted from the command, reference bases in the output will be Ns.

Usage example

 gatk Pileup \
   -R reference.fasta \
   -I input.bam \
   -O output.txt
 

Emulated command:

  samtools pileup -f reference.fasta input.bam
 

Typical output format

     chr1 257 A CAA '&=
     chr1 258 C TCC A:=
     chr1 259 C CCC )A=
     chr1 260 C ACC (=<
     chr1 261 T TCT '44
     chr1 262 A AAA '?:
     chr1 263 A AGA 1'6
     chr1 264 C TCC 987
     chr1 265 C CCC (@(
     chr1 266 C GCC ''=
     chr1 267 T AAT 7%>
 

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Additional Information

Read filters

These Read Filters are automatically applied to the data by the Engine before processing by Pileup.

• NotSecondaryAlignmentReadFilter
• PassesVendorQualityCheckReadFilter
• MappedReadFilter
• NotDuplicateReadFilter
• WellformedReadFilter

Pileup specific arguments

This table summarizes the command-line arguments that are specific to this tool. For more details on each argument, see the list further down below the table or click on an argument name to jump directly to that entry in the list.

Argument name(s)	Default value	Summary
Required Arguments
--input  -I	[]	BAM/SAM/CRAM file containing reads
--output  -O	null	An output file created to be created by the walker. Will overwrite the contents if the file exists.
Optional Tool Arguments
--arguments_file	[]	read one or more arguments files and add them to the command line
--cloud-index-prefetch-buffer  -CIPB	-1	Size of the cloud-only prefetch buffer (in MB; 0 to disable). Defaults to cloudPrefetchBuffer if unset.
--cloud-prefetch-buffer  -CPB	40	Size of the cloud-only prefetch buffer (in MB; 0 to disable).
--disable-bam-index-caching  -DBIC	false	If true, don't cache bam indexes, this will reduce memory requirements but may harm performance if many intervals are specified. Caching is automatically disabled if there are no intervals specified.
--disable-sequence-dictionary-validation	false	If specified, do not check the sequence dictionaries from our inputs for compatibility. Use at your own risk!
--gcs-max-retries  -gcs-retries	20	If the GCS bucket channel errors out, how many times it will attempt to re-initiate the connection
--gcs-project-for-requester-pays	""	Project to bill when accessing "requester pays" buckets. If unset, these buckets cannot be accessed.
--help  -h	false	display the help message
--interval-merging-rule  -imr	ALL	Interval merging rule for abutting intervals
--intervals  -L	[]	One or more genomic intervals over which to operate
--max-depth-per-sample	0	Maximum number of reads to retain per sample per locus. Reads above this threshold will be downsampled. Set to 0 to disable.
--metadata	[]	Features file(s) containing metadata. The overlapping sites will be annotated with the corresponding source Feature identifier.
--output-insert-length	false	If enabled, inserts lengths will be added to the output pileup.
--reference  -R	null	Reference sequence
--show-verbose  -verbose	false	Add extra informative columns to the pileup output. The verbose output contains the number of spanning deletions, and for each read in the pileup it has the read name, offset in the base string, read length, and read mapping quality. These per read items are delimited with an '@' character.
--sites-only-vcf-output	false	If true, don't emit genotype fields when writing vcf file output.
--version	false	display the version number for this tool
Optional Common Arguments
--add-output-sam-program-record	true	If true, adds a PG tag to created SAM/BAM/CRAM files.
--add-output-vcf-command-line	true	If true, adds a command line header line to created VCF files.
--create-output-bam-index  -OBI	true	If true, create a BAM/CRAM index when writing a coordinate-sorted BAM/CRAM file.
--create-output-bam-md5  -OBM	false	If true, create a MD5 digest for any BAM/SAM/CRAM file created
--create-output-variant-index  -OVI	true	If true, create a VCF index when writing a coordinate-sorted VCF file.
--create-output-variant-md5  -OVM	false	If true, create a a MD5 digest any VCF file created.
--disable-read-filter  -DF	[]	Read filters to be disabled before analysis
--disable-tool-default-read-filters	false	Disable all tool default read filters (WARNING: many tools will not function correctly without their default read filters on)
--exclude-intervals  -XL	[]	One or more genomic intervals to exclude from processing
--gatk-config-file	null	A configuration file to use with the GATK.
--interval-exclusion-padding  -ixp	0	Amount of padding (in bp) to add to each interval you are excluding.
--interval-padding  -ip	0	Amount of padding (in bp) to add to each interval you are including.
--interval-set-rule  -isr	UNION	Set merging approach to use for combining interval inputs
--lenient  -LE	false	Lenient processing of VCF files
--QUIET	false	Whether to suppress job-summary info on System.err.
--read-filter  -RF	[]	Read filters to be applied before analysis
--read-index	[]	Indices to use for the read inputs. If specified, an index must be provided for every read input and in the same order as the read inputs. If this argument is not specified, the path to the index for each input will be inferred automatically.
--read-validation-stringency  -VS	SILENT	Validation stringency for all SAM/BAM/CRAM/SRA files read by this program. The default stringency value SILENT can improve performance when processing a BAM file in which variable-length data (read, qualities, tags) do not otherwise need to be decoded.
--seconds-between-progress-updates	10.0	Output traversal statistics every time this many seconds elapse
--sequence-dictionary	null	Use the given sequence dictionary as the master/canonical sequence dictionary. Must be a .dict file.
--tmp-dir	null	Temp directory to use.
--use-jdk-deflater  -jdk-deflater	false	Whether to use the JdkDeflater (as opposed to IntelDeflater)
--use-jdk-inflater  -jdk-inflater	false	Whether to use the JdkInflater (as opposed to IntelInflater)
--verbosity	INFO	Control verbosity of logging.
Advanced Arguments
--showHidden	false	display hidden arguments

Argument details

Arguments in this list are specific to this tool. Keep in mind that other arguments are available that are shared with other tools (e.g. command-line GATK arguments); see Inherited arguments above.

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--add-output-sam-program-record / -add-output-sam-program-record

If true, adds a PG tag to created SAM/BAM/CRAM files.

boolean  true

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--add-output-vcf-command-line / -add-output-vcf-command-line

If true, adds a command line header line to created VCF files.

boolean  true

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--arguments_file / NA

read one or more arguments files and add them to the command line

List[File]  []

---

--cloud-index-prefetch-buffer / -CIPB

Size of the cloud-only prefetch buffer (in MB; 0 to disable). Defaults to cloudPrefetchBuffer if unset.

int  -1  [ [ -∞  ∞ ] ]

---

--cloud-prefetch-buffer / -CPB

Size of the cloud-only prefetch buffer (in MB; 0 to disable).

int  40  [ [ -∞  ∞ ] ]

---

--create-output-bam-index / -OBI

If true, create a BAM/CRAM index when writing a coordinate-sorted BAM/CRAM file.

boolean  true

---

--create-output-bam-md5 / -OBM

If true, create a MD5 digest for any BAM/SAM/CRAM file created

boolean  false

---

--create-output-variant-index / -OVI

If true, create a VCF index when writing a coordinate-sorted VCF file.

boolean  true

---

--create-output-variant-md5 / -OVM

If true, create a a MD5 digest any VCF file created.

boolean  false

---

--disable-bam-index-caching / -DBIC

If true, don't cache bam indexes, this will reduce memory requirements but may harm performance if many intervals are specified. Caching is automatically disabled if there are no intervals specified.

boolean  false

---

--disable-read-filter / -DF

Read filters to be disabled before analysis

List[String]  []

---

--disable-sequence-dictionary-validation / -disable-sequence-dictionary-validation

If specified, do not check the sequence dictionaries from our inputs for compatibility. Use at your own risk!

boolean  false

---

--disable-tool-default-read-filters / -disable-tool-default-read-filters

Disable all tool default read filters (WARNING: many tools will not function correctly without their default read filters on)

boolean  false

---

--exclude-intervals / -XL

One or more genomic intervals to exclude from processing
Use this argument to exclude certain parts of the genome from the analysis (like -L, but the opposite). This argument can be specified multiple times. You can use samtools-style intervals either explicitly on the command line (e.g. -XL 1 or -XL 1:100-200) or by loading in a file containing a list of intervals (e.g. -XL myFile.intervals).

List[String]  []

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--gatk-config-file / NA

A configuration file to use with the GATK.

String  null

---

--gcs-max-retries / -gcs-retries

If the GCS bucket channel errors out, how many times it will attempt to re-initiate the connection

int  20  [ [ -∞  ∞ ] ]

---

--gcs-project-for-requester-pays / NA

Project to bill when accessing "requester pays" buckets. If unset, these buckets cannot be accessed.

String  ""

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--help / -h

display the help message

boolean  false

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--input / -I

BAM/SAM/CRAM file containing reads

R List[String]  []

---

--interval-exclusion-padding / -ixp

Amount of padding (in bp) to add to each interval you are excluding.
Use this to add padding to the intervals specified using -XL. For example, '-XL 1:100' with a padding value of 20 would turn into '-XL 1:80-120'. This is typically used to add padding around targets when analyzing exomes.

int  0  [ [ -∞  ∞ ] ]

---

--interval-merging-rule / -imr

Interval merging rule for abutting intervals
By default, the program merges abutting intervals (i.e. intervals that are directly side-by-side but do not actually overlap) into a single continuous interval. However you can change this behavior if you want them to be treated as separate intervals instead.

The --interval-merging-rule argument is an enumerated type (IntervalMergingRule), which can have one of the following values:

ALL

OVERLAPPING_ONLY

IntervalMergingRule  ALL

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--interval-padding / -ip

Amount of padding (in bp) to add to each interval you are including.
Use this to add padding to the intervals specified using -L. For example, '-L 1:100' with a padding value of 20 would turn into '-L 1:80-120'. This is typically used to add padding around targets when analyzing exomes.

int  0  [ [ -∞  ∞ ] ]

---

--interval-set-rule / -isr

Set merging approach to use for combining interval inputs
By default, the program will take the UNION of all intervals specified using -L and/or -XL. However, you can change this setting for -L, for example if you want to take the INTERSECTION of the sets instead. E.g. to perform the analysis only on chromosome 1 exomes, you could specify -L exomes.intervals -L 1 --interval-set-rule INTERSECTION. However, it is not possible to modify the merging approach for intervals passed using -XL (they will always be merged using UNION). Note that if you specify both -L and -XL, the -XL interval set will be subtracted from the -L interval set.

The --interval-set-rule argument is an enumerated type (IntervalSetRule), which can have one of the following values:

UNION

Take the union of all intervals

INTERSECTION

Take the intersection of intervals (the subset that overlaps all intervals specified)

IntervalSetRule  UNION

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--intervals / -L

One or more genomic intervals over which to operate

List[String]  []

---

--lenient / -LE

Lenient processing of VCF files

boolean  false

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--max-depth-per-sample / -max-depth-per-sample

Maximum number of reads to retain per sample per locus. Reads above this threshold will be downsampled. Set to 0 to disable.

int  0  [ [ -∞  ∞ ] ]

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--metadata / -metadata

Features file(s) containing metadata. The overlapping sites will be annotated with the corresponding source Feature identifier.
This enables annotating the pileup to show overlaps with metadata from a Feature file(s). For example, if the user provide a VCF and there is a SNP at a given location covered by the pileup, the pileup output at that position will be annotated with the corresponding source Feature identifier.

List[FeatureInput[Feature]]  []

---

--output / -O

An output file created to be created by the walker. Will overwrite the contents if the file exists.

R File  null

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--output-insert-length / -output-insert-length

If enabled, inserts lengths will be added to the output pileup.
Adds the length of the insert each base comes from to the output pileup. Here, "insert" refers to the DNA insert produced during library generation before sequencing.

boolean  false

---

--QUIET / NA

Whether to suppress job-summary info on System.err.

Boolean  false

---

--read-filter / -RF

Read filters to be applied before analysis

List[String]  []

---

--read-index / -read-index

Indices to use for the read inputs. If specified, an index must be provided for every read input and in the same order as the read inputs. If this argument is not specified, the path to the index for each input will be inferred automatically.

List[String]  []

---

--read-validation-stringency / -VS

Validation stringency for all SAM/BAM/CRAM/SRA files read by this program. The default stringency value SILENT can improve performance when processing a BAM file in which variable-length data (read, qualities, tags) do not otherwise need to be decoded.

The --read-validation-stringency argument is an enumerated type (ValidationStringency), which can have one of the following values:

STRICT

LENIENT

SILENT

ValidationStringency  SILENT

---

--reference / -R

Reference sequence

String  null

---

--seconds-between-progress-updates / -seconds-between-progress-updates

Output traversal statistics every time this many seconds elapse

double  10.0  [ [ -∞  ∞ ] ]

---

--sequence-dictionary / -sequence-dictionary

Use the given sequence dictionary as the master/canonical sequence dictionary. Must be a .dict file.

String  null

---

--show-verbose / -verbose

Add extra informative columns to the pileup output. The verbose output contains the number of spanning deletions, and for each read in the pileup it has the read name, offset in the base string, read length, and read mapping quality. These per read items are delimited with an '@' character.
In addition to the standard pileup output, adds 'verbose' output too. The verbose output contains the number of spanning deletions, and for each read in the pileup it has the read name, offset in the base string, read length, and read mapping quality. These per read items are delimited with an '@' character.

boolean  false

---

--showHidden / -showHidden

display hidden arguments

boolean  false

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--sites-only-vcf-output / NA

If true, don't emit genotype fields when writing vcf file output.

boolean  false

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--tmp-dir / NA

Temp directory to use.

GATKPathSpecifier  null

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--use-jdk-deflater / -jdk-deflater

Whether to use the JdkDeflater (as opposed to IntelDeflater)

boolean  false

---

--use-jdk-inflater / -jdk-inflater

Whether to use the JdkInflater (as opposed to IntelInflater)

boolean  false

---

--verbosity / -verbosity

Control verbosity of logging.

The --verbosity argument is an enumerated type (LogLevel), which can have one of the following values:

ERROR

WARNING

INFO

DEBUG

LogLevel  INFO

---

--version / NA

display the version number for this tool

boolean  false

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GATK version 4.1.2.0 built at Sat, 23 Nov 2019 17:42:42 -0500.