Simple Name File Format

We try to use the same input/output format for names as much as possible throughout genepidgin.

The simple name file format is a flat text file. It’s human-readable and was designed with simple database interactions in mind.

Each line has three columns:

1. A unique identifier, for example a database id, or simply a blank space.
2. A tab character (\t)
3. The name, until the first tab character.

Ignored:

• Lines beginning with #
• Any information following the second tab in a line

An example of a simple name file:

id1    the name can be any length
id2    and have any character but a newline
# this line is ignored
id3    this name is not ignored
id4    name followed by tab                   this information is ignored