How to gather files from subdirectories to run jobs in Snakemake? - snakemake

Question

I am currently working on this project where iam struggling with this issue.
My current directory structure is
/shared/dir1/file1.bam
/shared/dir2/file2.bam
/shared/dir3/file3.bam
I want to convert various .bam files to fastq in the results directory
results/file1_1.fastq.gz
results/file1_2.fastq.gz
results/file2_1.fastq.gz
results/file2_2.fastq.gz
results/file3_1.fastq.gz
results/file3_2.fastq.gz
I have the following code:
END=["1","2"]
(dirs, files) = glob_wildcards("/shared/{dir}/{file}.bam")
rule all:
input: expand( "/results/{sample}_{end}.fastq.gz",sample=files, end=END)
rule bam_to_fq:
input: {dir}/{sample}.bam"
output: left="/results/{sample}_1.fastq", right="/results/{sample}_2.fastq"
shell: "/shared/packages/bam2fastq/bam2fastq --force -o /results/{sample}.fastq {input}"
This outputs the following error:
Wildcards in input files cannot be determined from output files:
'dir'
Any help would be appreciated

Answer 1

You're just missing an assignment for "dir" in your input directive of the rule bam_to_fq. In your code, you are trying to get Snakemake to determine "{dir}" from the output of the same rule, because you have it setup as a wildcard. Since it didn't exist, as a variable in your output directive, you received an error.
input:
"{dir}/{sample}.bam"
output:
left="/results/{sample}_1.fastq",
right="/results/{sample}_2.fastq",
Rule of thumb: input and output wildcards must match
rule all:
input:
expand("/results/{sample}_{end}.fastq.gz", sample=files, end=END)
rule bam_to_fq:
input:
expand("{dir}/{{sample}}.bam", dir=dirs)
output:
left="/results/{sample}_1.fastq",
right="/results/{sample}_2.fastq"
shell:
"/shared/packages/bam2fastq/bam2fastq --force -o /results/{sample}.fastq {input}
NOTES
the sample variable in the input directive now requires double {}, because that is how one identifies wildcards in an expand.
dir is no longer a wildcard, it is explicitly set to point to the list of directories determined by the glob_wildcard call and assigned to the variable "dirs" which I am assuming you make earlier in your script, since the assignment of one of the variables is successful already, in your rule all input "sample=files".
I like and recommend easily differentiable variable names. I'm not a huge fan of the usage of variable names "dir", and "dirs". This makes you prone to pedantic spelling errors. Consider changing it to "dirLIST" and "dir"... or anything really. I just fear one day someone will miss an 's' somewhere and it's going to be frustrating to debug. I'm personally guilty, an thus a slight hypocrite, as I do use "sample=samples" in my core Snakefile. It has caused me minor stress, thus why I make this recommendation. Also makes it easier for others to read your code as well.
EDIT 1; Adding to response as I had initially missed the requirement for key-value matching of the dir and sample
I recommend keeping separate the path and the sample name in different variables. Two approaches I can think of:
Keep using glob_wildcards to make a blanket search for all possible variables, and then use a python function to validate which path+file combinations are legit.
Drop the usage of glob_wildcards. Propagate the directory name as a wildcard variable, {dir}, throughout your rules. Just set it as a sub-directory of "results". Use pandas to pass known, key-value pairs listed in a file to the rule all. Initially I suggest generating the key-value pairs file manually, but eventually, it's generation could just be a rule upstream of others.
Generalizing bam_to_fq a little bit... utilizing an external config, something like....
from pandas import read_table
rule all:
input:
expand("/results/{{sample[1][dir]}}/{sample[1][file]}_{end}.fastq.gz", sample=read_table(config["sampleFILE"], " ").iterrows(), end=['1','2'])
rule bam_to_fq:
input:
"{dir}/{sample}.bam"
output:
left="/results/{dir}/{sample}_1.fastq",
right="/results/{dir}/{sample}_2.fastq"
shell:
"/shared/packages/bam2fastq/bam2fastq --force -o /results/{sample}.fastq {input}
sampleFILE
dir file
dir1 file1
dir2 file2
dir3 file3