{"action":"created","issue":{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/samtools/hts-specs/issues/135","repository_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/samtools/hts-specs","labels_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/samtools/hts-specs/issues/135/labels{/name}","comments_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/samtools/hts-specs/issues/135/comments","events_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/samtools/hts-specs/issues/135/events","html_url":"https://github.com/samtools/hts-specs/issues/135","id":139956224,"number":135,"title":"SAM and zero length Z, H, and B fields","user":{"login":"jkbonfield","id":2210525,"avatar_url":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/2210525?v=3","gravatar_id":"","url":"https://api.github.com/users/jkbonfield","html_url":"https://github.com/jkbonfield","followers_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jkbonfield/followers","following_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jkbonfield/following{/other_user}","gists_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jkbonfield/gists{/gist_id}","starred_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jkbonfield/starred{/owner}{/repo}","subscriptions_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jkbonfield/subscriptions","organizations_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jkbonfield/orgs","repos_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jkbonfield/repos","events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jkbonfield/events{/privacy}","received_events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jkbonfield/received_events","type":"User","site_admin":false},"labels":[{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/samtools/hts-specs/labels/sam","name":"sam","color":"0052cc"}],"state":"open","locked":false,"assignee":null,"assignees":[],"milestone":{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/samtools/hts-specs/milestones/2","html_url":"https://github.com/samtools/hts-specs/milestones/June%202016%20meeting","labels_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/samtools/hts-specs/milestones/2/labels","id":1787117,"number":2,"title":"June 2016 meeting","description":"Agenda items for the June 2016 GA4GH File Formats telephone meeting.","creator":{"login":"jmarshall","id":70921,"avatar_url":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/70921?v=3","gravatar_id":"","url":"https://api.github.com/users/jmarshall","html_url":"https://github.com/jmarshall","followers_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jmarshall/followers","following_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jmarshall/following{/other_user}","gists_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jmarshall/gists{/gist_id}","starred_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jmarshall/starred{/owner}{/repo}","subscriptions_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jmarshall/subscriptions","organizations_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jmarshall/orgs","repos_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jmarshall/repos","events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jmarshall/events{/privacy}","received_events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jmarshall/received_events","type":"User","site_admin":false},"open_issues":4,"closed_issues":2,"state":"open","created_at":"2016-05-25T10:50:42Z","updated_at":"2016-10-20T15:39:58Z","due_on":"2016-06-09T23:00:00Z","closed_at":null},"comments":7,"created_at":"2016-03-10T17:19:11Z","updated_at":"2016-10-21T14:59:29Z","closed_at":null,"body":"We occasionally find a tag like ```MC:Z:``` with no string after it, ie the zero length string. \r\nThis tag in BAM can be read by both samtools and picard, but in SAM both tools emit an error.\r\n\r\nThe SAM specification states Z has to take the form ```[ !-~]+```, ie 1 or more characters, so the above MC tag is illegal.\r\n\r\nHowever I can't really see any justification for it except accidental over specification. (It's always been this way though.)\r\n\r\nIs this something we care about improving, or just accept that the tag was bugged and indeed it shouldn't be possible to specify empty strings."},"comment":{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/samtools/hts-specs/issues/comments/255400480","html_url":"https://github.com/samtools/hts-specs/issues/135#issuecomment-255400480","issue_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/samtools/hts-specs/issues/135","id":255400480,"user":{"login":"jmarshall","id":70921,"avatar_url":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/70921?v=3","gravatar_id":"","url":"https://api.github.com/users/jmarshall","html_url":"https://github.com/jmarshall","followers_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jmarshall/followers","following_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jmarshall/following{/other_user}","gists_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jmarshall/gists{/gist_id}","starred_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jmarshall/starred{/owner}{/repo}","subscriptions_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jmarshall/subscriptions","organizations_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jmarshall/orgs","repos_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jmarshall/repos","events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jmarshall/events{/privacy}","received_events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/jmarshall/received_events","type":"User","site_admin":false},"created_at":"2016-10-21T14:59:29Z","updated_at":"2016-10-21T14:59:29Z","body":"The introduction of **B** arrays was discussed in [this epic samtools-devel thread](https://sourceforge.net/p/samtools/mailman/samtools-devel/thread/C9BA3FE9.4F63%25nils.homer%40lifetech.com/), and the question of 0‑length arrays was not considered."}}
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