All command line options

deepTools version: 1.5.7 (February 2014)

Here, you will find all the options available for the command line (99% are also available in Galaxy, perhaps named slightly different).

A typical deepTools command could look like this:

$ /deepTools/bin/bamCoverage --bam myAlignedReads.bam \
--outFileName myCoverageFile.bigWig \
--outFileFormat bigwig \
--fragmentLength 200 \
--ignoreDuplicates \
--scaleFactor 0.5

There are several types of options and parameters in the command. To tell a program to use a certain option (e.g. to ignore duplicate reads), you will have to give the option name preceded by two hyphens (e.g. --ignoreDuplicates). In the tables on this page, we try to list:

• the option name as recognized by the program
• the kind of value that is sometimes expected after the option name (see the annotated figure below)
• a verbose explanation of what the option actually does

The texts here are adjusted for readability and easy understanding, they might not match the help text that you see in the command line word by word.

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bamCompare

Mandatory arguments

Command	Expected Input	Explanation
--bamfile1	FILENAME	Sorted BAM file 1. Usually the BAM file for the treatment. (default: None)
--bamIndex1	FILENAME	Index for the bam file1. Default is to consider the path of the BAM file and adding the .bai suffix. (default: None)
--bamfile2	FILENAME	Sorted BAM file 2. Usually the BAM file for the control. (default: None)
--bamIndex2	FILENAME	Index for the bam file1. Default is to consider the path of the bam file adding the .bai suffix. (default: None)
--scaleFactorsMethod	{readCount,SES}	Method to use to scale the samples. Default "readCount". (default: readCount)
--sampleLength	INT	Length in base pairs used to sample the genome and compute the size or scaling factors to compare the two BAM files (default: 1000)
--scaleFactors	NUMBER:NUMBER	Set this parameter to avoid the computation of scaleFactors. The format is scaleFactor1:scaleFactor2. For example 0.7:1 to scale the first BAM file by 0.7 while not scaling the second BAM file (default: None)
--pseudocount	NUMBER	small number to avoid log2(x/0) (default: 1)
--ratio	{log2,ratio,subtract,add,reciprocal_ratio}	The default is to output the log2ratio between the two samples. The reciprocal ratio returns the the negative of the inverse of the ratio if the ratio is less than 0. The resulting values are interpreted as negative fold changes. (default: log2)
--normalizeTo1x		(only when --ratio subtract) Report normalized coverage to 1x sequencing depth. Sequencing depth is defined as the total number of mapped reads*fragment length / effective genome size. To use this option, the effective genome size has to be given. Common values are: mm9: 2150570000, hg19:2451960000, dm3:121400000 and ce10:93260000. The default is not to use any normalization. (default: None)
--normalizeUsingRPKM	only to be set when --ratio subtract is selected	Use RPKM to normalize the number of reads per bin. The formula is: RPKM (per bin) = #reads per bin / ( # of mapped reads (millions) * bin length (KB)). This is the default normalization method.
--numberOfSamples	INT	How many times the genome should be sampled to compute the scaling factors (default: 100000)
--missingDataAsZero	{yes,no}	Default is "yes". This parameter determines if missing data should be treated as zeros. If set to "no", missing data will be ignored and not included in the output file. Missing data is defined as those regions for which both BAM files have 0 reads. (default: yes)
--ignoreForNormalization	LIST	A list of chromosome names separated by comma and limited by quotes, containing those chromosomes that you want to be excluded for computing the normalization. For example, --ignoreForNormalization "chrX, chrM" (default: None)

bamCompare: optional arguments

Command	Expected Input	Explanation
--version		show program's version number and exit
--binSize	INT	Size of the bins in bp for the output of the bigwig/bedgraph file. (default: 50)
--region	CHR:START:END	Region of the genome to limit the operation to - this is useful when testing parameters to reduce the computing time. The format is chr:start:end, for example --region chr10 or --region chr10:456700:891000. (default: None)
--numberOfProcessors	INT	Number of processors to use. Type "max/2" to use half the maximum number of processors or "max" to use all available processors. (default: max/2)
--verbose		Set to see processing messages.

bamCompare: BAM to bedGraph/bigWig processing options

Command	Expected Input	Explanation
--fragmentLength	INT	Length of the average fragment size. Reads will be extended to match this length unless they are paired- end, in which case they will be extended to match the fragment length. If this value is set to the read length or smaller, the read will not be extended. Warning the fragment length affects the normalization to 1x (see --normalizeUsingSequencingDepth). The formula to normalize using the sequencing depth is genomeSize/(number of mapped reads * fragmentLength). NOTE: If the BAM files contain mated and unmated paired-end reads, unmated reads will be extended to match the --fragmentLength. (default: 200)
--smoothLength	INT	The smooth length defines a window, larger than the binSize, to average the number of reads. For example, if the --binSize is set to 20 bp and the --smoothLength is set to 60 bp, then, for each binSize the average of it and its left and right neighbors is considered. Any value smaller than the --binSize will be ignored and no smoothing will be applied. (default: None)
--doNotExtendPairedEnds		If set, reads are not extended to match the fragment length reported in the BAM file, instead they will be extended to match the --fragmentLength. Default is to extend the reads if paired end information is available. (default: False)
--ignoreDuplicates		If set, reads that have the same orientation and start position will be considered only once. If reads are paired, the mate position also has to coincide to ignore a read. (default: False)
--minMappingQuality	INT	If selected and accompanied by a number, only reads that have a mapping quality score higher than the given number are considered (e.g. --minMappingQuality 10)(default: None)

bamCompare: output options

Command	Expected Input	Explanation
--outFileName	FILENAME	Output file name. (default: None)
--outFileFormat	{bigwig,bedgraph}	Output file type.

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