Retrieve a large dataset of biological sequences with Perl

Question

[Helder Gomes]

Hi

I am trying a Perl script from NCBI´s EUtils to retrieve a large dataset of sequences of the microbiome of Xestospongia testudinaria.

use LWP::Simple;
use warnings;
# Download FASTA records linked to xestospongia testudinaria on Nucleotide.

$db1 = 'pubmed';
$db2 = 'nuccore';
$linkname = 'pubmed_nuccore';
$query = 'xestospongia testudinaria';

#assemble the esearch URL
$base = 'http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/';
$url = $base . "esearch.fcgi?db=$db1&term=$query&usehistory=y";
#post the esearch URL
$output = get($url);

#parse WebEnv and QueryKey
$web1 = $1 if ($output =~ /<WebEnv>(\S+)<\/WebEnv>/);
$key1 = $1 if ($output =~ /<QueryKey>(\d+)<\/QueryKey>/);

#assemble the elink URL
$base = 'http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/';
$url = $base . "elink.fcgi?dbfrom=$db1&db=$db2";
$url .= "&query_key=$key1&WebEnv=$web1";
$url .= "&linkname=$linkname&cmd=neighbor_history";
print "$url\n";

#post the elink URL
$output = get($url);
print "$output\n";

#parse WebEnv and QueryKey
$web2 = $1 if ($output =~ /<WebEnv>(\S+)<\/WebEnv>/);
$key2 = $1 if ($output =~ /<QueryKey>(\d+)<\/QueryKey>/);

#assemble the efetch URL
$url = $base . "efetch.fcgi?db=$db2&query_key=$key2&WebEnv=$web2";
$url .= "&rettype=fasta&retmode=text";
#post the efetch URL
$data = get($url);
print "$data";

The script is ALMOST working except for one thing: it is displaying all the info (including the sequences) in my command line instead of in a document. Can you help me?

[mxs]

And that is because:

1. You stated that you wish to print it into your "command line": print "$data"; says print to stdout
2. You did not specify the output file.

A simple fix would be to redirect the stdout to a file: perl your_script.pl > myfile

[Helder Gomes]

Thanks mxs. It works great!