Provided by: vmatch_2.3.1+dfsg-6_amd64 
NAME
vmatch - solve matching tasks
SYNOPSIS
vmatch [options] indexname
DESCRIPTION
The program vmatch allows one to solve a multitude of different matching tasks over an index constructed
by mkvtree. Each matching task is solved by a combination of options specifying
• the input,
• the kind of matches sought,
• additional constraints on the matches,
• the direction of the matches (in case of DNA),
• the kind of postprocessing to be done,
• the output mode and output format.
Additionally, if there is more than one algorithm to solve a certain matching task, vmatch allows one to
specify which algorithm is to be used. vmatch supports computing the following kinds of matches:
1. match all substrings of the database sequences against itself. The matches can be one of the
following kinds:
1. branching tandem repeats, i.e. repeats where the two instances of the repeat occur at consecutive
positions
2. maximal repeats, i.e. pairs of maximal substrings occurring more than once in the database
sequences
3. supermaximal repeats, i.e. pairs of maximal substrings occurring more than once in the database
sequences, but not in any other maximal repeat
2. match a set of query sequences (given in an extra query file) against the index. The matches can be
one of the following kinds:
1. maximal substring matches, i.e. the substrings of the query sequences matching substrings of the
database sequences. All matches exceeding some minimum length,extended maximally to the left and
to the right, are reported.
2. maximal unique matches, i.e. the substrings of the query sequences matching substrings of the
database sequences. A match is reported if it is unique in the database sequences as well as in
the query sequences.
3. complete matches, i.e. a query sequence must completely match (i.e. from the first character to
the last character) a substring of the database sequences.
For all these match kinds, the matches themselves can be direct or palindromic (i.e. on the reverse
strand, in case of DNA sequences). If required, DNA sequences are translated into six reading frames and
the matches are computed on the protein level, and reported on the DNA level. Besides exact matches, also
degenerate matches with a maximal number of errors (insertions, deletions, and mismatches) are supported.
Moreover, degenerate matches can be derived from exact matches by extending these using a greedy
extension strategy. This does not apply to complete matches. For all different match kinds, the matches
delivered by vmatch can be selected according to their E-value, their identity value, or their match
score.
In the default case, a match is reported as a formatted row of numbers, containing its lengths, the
positions where it occurs, the E-value, the number of errors it contains, the match score, and the
identity value. Optionally, an alignment of the sequences that are involved in the match can be reported.
An important feature of vmatch is the capability of directly postprocessing the matches found in the
following ways:
1. inverse output, i.e. report substrings of the database sequences or the query sequences not covered
by a match
2. masking substrings of the database sequences or the query sequences covered by a match
3. clustering of a set of database sequences according to the matches found between these sequences. The
output of this option can be a representation of the clusters, or a set of sequences each being
representative for a cluster.
4. chaining of a set of matches, i.e. finding optimal subsets of all matches which do not cross
5. clustering of matches according to the pairwise similarities on the sequences involved inthe match
6. clustering of matches according to the positions where they occur
Finally, to accommodate many more kinds of user defined post processing tasks, vmatch provides the
concept of selection functions. These provide an open interface which allow arbitrary on-the-fly
postprocessing of the matches without output and parsing of the matches. For more details on this
concept, see the manual.
OPTIONS
-q <file>
Specify files containing queries to be matched.
-dnavsprot <table>
Perform six frame translation. Specify codon translation table by a number in the range [1,23] except
for 7, 8, 17, 18, 19 and 20; (default is 1): 1 Standard 2 Vertebrate Mitochondrial 3 Yeast
Mitochondrial 4 Mold Mitochondrial; Protozoan Mitochondrial; Coelenterate Mitochondrial; Mycoplasma;
Spiroplasma 5 Invertebrate Mitochondrial 6 Ciliate Nuclear; Dasycladacean Nuclear; Hexamita Nuclear 9
Echinoderm Mitochondrial 10 Euplotid Nuclear 11 Bacterial 12 Alternative Yeast Nuclear 13 Ascidian
Mitochondrial 14 Flatworm Mitochondrial 15 Blepharisma Macronuclear 16 Chlorophycean Mitochondrial 21
Trematode Mitochondrial 22 Scenedesmus Obliquus Mitochondrial 23 Thraustochytrium Mitochondrial
-tandem
Compute right branching tandem repeats.
-supermax
Compute supermaximal matches.
-mum
Compute maximal unique matches.
-complete
Specify that query sequences must match completely.
-dbnomatch <arg>
Mask all database substrings containing a match; optional argument:
• keepleft means to not mask the left instance of a match
• keepright means to not mask the right instance of a match
• keepleftifsamesequence means to not mask the left instance of the match if the right instance
occurs in the same sequence
• keeprightifsamesequence means to not mask the right instance of the match if the left instance
occurs in the same sequence
-qnomatch
Show all query substrings not containing a match.
-dbmaskmatch <arg>
Mask all database substrings containing a match; optional argument:
• keepleft means to not mask the left instance of a match
• keepright means to not mask the right instance of a match
• keepleftifsamesequence means to not mask the left instance of the match if the right instance
occurs in the same sequence
• keeprightifsamesequence means to not mask the right instance of the match if the left instance
occurs in the same sequence
-qmaskmatch
Mask all query substrings containing a match.
-pp
Generic postprocessing of matches.
-online
Run algorithms online without using the index.
-qspeedup <level>
Specify speedup level when matching queries (0: fast, 2: faster; default is 2), beware of time/space
tradeoff.
-d
Compute direct matches (default).
-p
Compute palindromic (i.e. reverse complemented matches).
-h <dist>
Specify the allowed hamming distance > 0. In combination with option -complete one can switch on the
percentage search mode or the best search mode for the percentage search mode use an argument of the
form ip (where i is a positive integer). This means that up to i*100/m mismatches are allowed in a
match of a query of length m. For the best search mode use an argument of the form ib where i is a
positive integer. This means that in a first phase the minimum threshold q is determined such that
there is still a match with q mismatches. q is in the range 0 to i*100/m.
-e <dist>
Specify the allowed edit distance > 0. In combination with option -complete one can switch on the
percentage search mode or the best search mode for the percentage search mode use an argument of the
form ip (where i is a positive integer). This means that up to i*100/m differences are allowed in a
match of a query of length m. For the best search mode use an argument of the form ib where i is a
positive integer. This means that in a first phase the minimum threshold q is determined such that
there is still a match with q differences. q is in the range 0 to i*100/m.
-allmax
Show all maximal matches in the order of their computation.
-seedlength <length>
Specify the seed length.
-hxdrop <value>
Specify the xdrop value for hamming distance extension.
-exdrop <value>
Specify the xdrop value for edit distance extension.
-i
Give information about number of different matches.
-dbcluster <args>
Cluster the database sequences.
• first argument is percentage of shorter string to be included in match,
• second argument is percentage of larger string to be included in match,
• third optional argument is filenameprefix,
• fourth optional argument is (minclustersize, maxclustersize)
-nonredundant
Generate file with non-redundant set of sequences; only works together with option -dbcluster.
-selfun <file>
Specify shared object file containing selection function.
-l <length>
Specify that match must have the given length, optionally specify minimum and maximum size of gaps
between repeat instances.
-leastscore <score>
Specify the minimum score of a match.
-evalue <value>
Specify the maximum E-value of a match.
-identity <value>
Specify minimum identity of match in range [1..100%].
-sort <mode>
Sort the matches, additional argument is mode: la: ascending order of length ld: descending order of
length ia: ascending order of first position id: descending order of first position ja: ascending
order of second position jd: descending order of second position ea: ascending order of Evalue ed:
descending order of Evalue sa: ascending order of score sd: descending order of score ida: ascending
order of identity idd: descending order of identity
-best <n>
Show the best matches (those with smallest E-values), default is best 50.
-s
Show the alignment of matching sequences.
-showdesc
Show sequence description of match.
-f
Show filename where match occurs.
-absolute
Show absolute positions.
-nodist
Do not show distance of match.
-noevalue
Do not show E-value of match.
-noscore
Do not show score of match.
-noidentity
Do not show identity of match.
-v
Verbose mode.
-version
Show the version of the Vmatch package.
-help
Show basic options.
-help+
Show all options.
SEE ALSO
vmatchselect(1)
VMATCH(1)