NAME
vsearch \-\-shuffle — randomize the order of fasta or fastq entries
SYNOPSIS
vsearch \-\-shuffle fastxfile \-\-output fastafile [options]
DESCRIPTION
The vsearch command --shuffle (pseudo-)randomizes the order of fasta
or fastq entries (fastxfile), and writes to --output filename, in
fasta format. To illustrate:
>s1 >s3
AAAA TTTT
>s2 --- shuffle --> >s1
CCCC AAAA
>s3 >s2
TTTT CCCC
The number of entries written to filename can be limited with the
option --topn. For reproducibility, the seed for the pseudo-random
generator can be set with the option --randseed.
OPTIONS
mandatory options
--output filename
Write to filename, in fasta format.
core options
--randseed integer
Set the seed for the pseudo-random generator. A given seed always
produces the same results, which is useful for replicability. By
default, vsearch uses a pseudo-random seed if --randseed is not set,
or set to the special value zero (0).
--topn positive non-null integer
Write only the n first entries. The parameter n must be greater than
zero, and is silently ignored if it is greater than the total number of
entries.
secondary options
--bzip2_decompress
Specify that the input pipe is streaming data compressed using Huffman
coding. See bzip2(1) for more details. This option is not needed when
reading from a regular file compressed with bzip2.
--fasta_width positive integer
Set the maximal width of sequences when writing fasta files. Longer
sequences are folded and written on several lines. Default width is 80
nucleotides. Set to zero (0) to suppress folding.
--fastq_ascii 33|64
Specify the offset used as the basis for the fastq quality score when
reading fastq files. For example, an offset of 33 means that a quality
value of 41 is represented by the 74th ASCII symbol (33 + 41 = 74),
which is ‘J’. See ascii(7) for a view of the ASCII character set. The
offset value is either 33 or 64, default is 33.
--gzip_decompress
Specify that the input pipe is streaming data compressed using
Lempel-Ziv coding. See gzip(1) for more details. This option is not
needed when reading from a regular file compressed with gzip.
--label_suffix string
Add the suffix string to sequence headers when writing fasta or fastq
files. For example, with --label_suffix ";status=healthy", sequence
header ‘>seq1’ becomes ‘>seq1;status=healthy’.
--lengthout
Add a sequence length annotation (;length=integer) to each sequence
header when writing fasta or fastq files.
--log filename
Write messages to filename. Messages include program version, start
and finish times, elapsed time, amount of memory available, maximum
amount of memory consumed, number of cores and command line options, and
if need be, command-specific informational messages, warnings, and
errors.
--maxseqlength positive integer
Discard sequences longer than positive integer (50,000 nucleotides by
default).
--minseqlength positive integer
Discard sequences shorter than positive integer (1 nucleotide by
default).
--no_progress
Suppress the gradually increasing progress indicator normally written to
the standard error stderr(3).
--notrunclabels
Retain whole sequence headers in output files. By default, vsearch
truncates sequence headers at first space or tabulation. This option
suppresses truncation.
--quiet
Suppress messages to the standard output stdout(3) and standard
error stderr(3), except for warnings and error messages.
--relabel string
Replace sequence headers with the prefix string and a ticker (1, 2, 3,
etc.). For example, with --relabel "cluster:", the first sequence
header becomes ‘>cluster:1’, the second sequence header becomes
‘>cluster:2’, and so on. To retain annotations, use their corresponding
options (--lengthout, --eeout, and --sizeout). Use
--relabel_keep to also retain old sequence identifiers.
--relabel_keep
Retain old sequence identifiers by including them at the end of the new
headers, after a space.
--relabel_md5
Replace each sequence header with the MD5 digest derived from the
sequence itself. The sequence is converted to upper case, and each ‘U’
is replaced with a ‘T’ before computation of the digest. The MD5 digest
is a 128-bit value (16 bytes), represented using a string of 32 ASCII
characters. Each pair of characters encodes an hexadecimal value,
ranging from x00 to xff. See md5(3) for more details, and
--relabel_sha1 for an alternative hashing algorithm. To retain
annotations, use their corresponding options (--lengthout, --eeout,
and --sizeout). Use --relabel_keep to also retain old sequence
identifiers.
--relabel_self
Replace each sequence header with the sequence itself. To retain
annotations, use their corresponding options (--lengthout, --eeout,
and --sizeout). Use --relabel_keep to also retain old sequence
identifiers.
--relabel_sha1
Replace each sequence header with the SHA1 digest derived from the
sequence itself. The sequence is converted to upper case, and each ‘U’
is replaced with a ‘T’ before computation of the digest. The SHA1 digest
is a 160-bit value (20 bytes), represented using a string of 40 ASCII
characters. Each pair of characters encodes an hexadecimal value,
ranging from x00 to xff. See sha1(3) for more details, and
--relabel_md5 for an alternative hashing algorithm. To retain
annotations, use their corresponding options (--lengthout, --eeout,
and --sizeout). Use --relabel_keep to also retain old sequence
identifiers.
--sample string
Add the the given sample identifier string to sequence headers when
writing fasta or fastq files. For instance, if string is ‘ABC’, the
text ;sample=ABC will be added to the headers. Note that string will
be truncated at the first ‘;’ or blank character. Other characters
(alphabetical, numerical and punctuations) are accepted.
--sizein
Use the abundance annotations present in sequence headers when reading
fasta or fastq file. Search for the pattern [>@;]size=integer[;].
Entries without abundance annotations are silently assumed to be of
size=1.
--sizeout
Add abundance annotations to sequence headers when writing fasta or
fastq files. Add the pattern ;size=integer. If option --sizein is
not used, abundance values are set to 1 for all entries. If --sizein
is used, existing abundance annotations are simply reported to output
files.
--xee
Strip expected error (ee) annotations from sequence headers when writing
fasta or fastq files. Search for the pattern [>@;]ee=float[;].
Expected error annotations are added by the synonymous options
--fastq_eeout and --eeout described in
vsearch-fastx_filter(1).
--xlength
Strip sequence length annotations from sequence headers when writing
fasta or fastq files. Search for the pattern [>@;]length=integer[;].
Sequence length annotations are added by the --lengthout option.
--xsize
Strip abundance annotations from sequence headers when writing fasta or
fastq files. Search for the pattern [>@;]size=integer[;]. Abundance
annotations are added by the --sizeout option.
ignored options
--fastq_qmax positive integer
Option is ignored and has no effect.
--fastq_qmin positive integer
Option is ignored and has no effect.
--threads positive non-null integer
Command is not multithreaded, option has no effect.
EXAMPLES
Read from input.fasta, do not write to the standard error (--quiet),
use a pseudo-random seed (--randseed is not set), write results to
output.fasta (--output), and record shuffling parameters in
output.log (--log):
vsearch \
--shuffle input.fasta \
--quiet \
--log output.log \
--output output.fasta
SEE ALSO
Sorting operations (complementary to shuffling):
vsearch-sortbylength(1),
vsearch-sortbysize(1)
CITATION
Rognes T, Flouri T, Nichols B, Quince C, Mahé F. (2016) VSEARCH: a versatile open source tool for metagenomics. PeerJ 4:e2584 doi: 10.7717/peerj.2584
REPORTING BUGS
Submit suggestions and bug-reports at https://github.com/torognes/vsearch/issues, send a pull request on https://github.com/torognes/vsearch, or compose a friendly or curmudgeont e-mail to Torbjørn Rognes (torognes@ifi.uio.no).
AVAILABILITY
Source code and binaries are available at https://github.com/torognes/vsearch.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 2014-2026, Torbjørn Rognes, Frédéric Mahé and Tomás Flouri
All rights reserved.
Contact: Torbjørn Rognes torognes@ifi.uio.no, Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, PO Box 1080 Blindern, NO-0316 Oslo, Norway
This software is dual-licensed and available under a choice of one of two licenses, either under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 3 or the BSD 2-Clause License.
GNU General Public License version 3
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.
The BSD 2-Clause License
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
-
Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
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Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS “AS IS” AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to thank the authors of the following projects for making their source code available:
- vsearch includes code from Google’s CityHash project by Geoff Pike and Jyrki Alakuijala, providing some excellent hash functions available under a MIT license.
- vsearch includes code derived from Tatusov and Lipman’s DUST program that is in the public domain.
- vsearch includes public domain code written by Alexander Peslyak for the MD5 message digest algorithm.
- vsearch includes public domain code written by Steve Reid and others for the SHA1 message digest algorithm.
- vsearch binaries may include code from the zlib library, copyright Jean-Loup Gailly and Mark Adler.
- vsearch binaries may include code from the bzip2 library, copyright Julian R. Seward.