Samtools view error message

[Jan]

I am attempting to generate a bam file with just chromosome 12 from my larger whole genome bam file. I entered the following code and got the following error message:

samtools view -b myfile.bam chr12 > myfile_chr12.bam
[main_samview] fail to get the reference name. Continue anyway.

I then tried adding in the -f command with the fai file of my reference thinking I need to have the fai file and got the same error message.

Have I used this command incorrectly? How can I remedy this problem?

[nilshomer]

I am attempting to generate a bam file with just chromosome 12 from my larger whole genome bam file. I entered the following code and got the following error message:

samtools view -b myfile.bam chr12 > myfile_chr12.bam
[main_samview] fail to get the reference name. Continue anyway.

I then tried adding in the -f command with the fai file of my reference thinking I need to have the fai file and got the same error message.

Have I used this command incorrectly? How can I remedy this problem?

What is the output of "samtools view -H myfile.bam"? Chromosome 12 should be in the header.

[Jan]

Tried the view -H

Here is the first bit of output that looked most relevant although I don't understand what it means (I'm a biologist by training so the learning curve is steep right now). Should I be typing "12" instead of chr12? Thanks!
@HD VN:0.1.2 SO:unsorted GO:none
@SQ SN:1 LN:247249719
@SQ SN:2 LN:242951149
@SQ SN:3 LN:199501827
@SQ SN:4 LN:191273063
@SQ SN:5 LN:180857866
@SQ SN:6 LN:170899992
@SQ SN:7 LN:158821424
@SQ SN:8 LN:146274826
@SQ SN:9 LN:140273252
@SQ SN:10 LN:135374737
@SQ SN:11 LN:134452384
@SQ SN:12 LN:132349534
@SQ SN:13 LN:114142980
@SQ SN:14 LN:106368585
@SQ SN:15 LN:100338915
@SQ SN:16 LN:88827254
@SQ SN:17 LN:78774742
@SQ SN:18 LN:76117153
@SQ SN:19 LN:63811651
@SQ SN:20 LN:62435964
@SQ SN:21 LN:46944323
@SQ SN:22 LN:49691432
@SQ SN:X LN:154913754
@SQ SN:Y LN:57772954
@SQ SN:MT LN:16571
@SQ SN:NT_113887 LN:3994
@SQ SN:NT_113947 LN:4262
@SQ SN:NT_113903 LN:12854
@SQ SN:NT_113908 LN:13036
@SQ SN:NT_113940 LN:19187
@SQ SN:NT_113917 LN:19840
@SQ SN:NT_113963 LN:24360

[nilshomer]

Here is the first bit of output that looked most relevant although I don't understand what it means (I'm a biologist by training so the learning curve is steep right now). Should I be typing "12" instead of chr12? Thanks!
@HD VN:0.1.2 SO:unsorted GO:none
@SQ SN:1 LN:247249719
@SQ SN:2 LN:242951149
@SQ SN:3 LN:199501827
@SQ SN:4 LN:191273063
@SQ SN:5 LN:180857866
@SQ SN:6 LN:170899992
@SQ SN:7 LN:158821424
@SQ SN:8 LN:146274826
@SQ SN:9 LN:140273252
@SQ SN:10 LN:135374737
@SQ SN:11 LN:134452384
@SQ SN:12 LN:132349534
@SQ SN:13 LN:114142980
@SQ SN:14 LN:106368585
@SQ SN:15 LN:100338915
@SQ SN:16 LN:88827254
@SQ SN:17 LN:78774742
@SQ SN:18 LN:76117153
@SQ SN:19 LN:63811651
@SQ SN:20 LN:62435964
@SQ SN:21 LN:46944323
@SQ SN:22 LN:49691432
@SQ SN:X LN:154913754
@SQ SN:Y LN:57772954
@SQ SN:MT LN:16571
@SQ SN:NT_113887 LN:3994
@SQ SN:NT_113947 LN:4262
@SQ SN:NT_113903 LN:12854
@SQ SN:NT_113908 LN:13036
@SQ SN:NT_113940 LN:19187
@SQ SN:NT_113917 LN:19840
@SQ SN:NT_113963 LN:24360

Type "12" instead of "chr12". It looks like your FASTA reference had chromsome 12 named "12" instead of "chr12" (1000 Genomes reference? ).

[Jan]

Thanks!

That did it! Now I know to run -H to check the header to avoid this problem in the future. Thank you!