Jalview Command Line Arguments (version 2.11.3.0 and later)

From version 2.11.3.0 Jalview processes a new set of command line arguments which allow more powerful and flexible combinations of arguments, though can also be used for very simple use cases too.

These new arguments are all accessed with a --doubledash form of command line argument (with the one exception where simply opening one or more files can be performed without any arguments other than the filenames).

The old command line arguments can still be used (see the old page on command line arguments) so existing scripts utilising them should not break.

However, you cannot mix old and new style arguments, so if you use any -singledash arguments, they will all be interpreted as old style arguments with the new --doubledash arguments being ignored. If you have a script that uses the old arguments without any dashes, and uses the bare-word open then these will also be interpreted as old style arguments.
Note! If you use command line arguments without any dashes and don't use the bare-word argument open then all your arguments will be interpreted as alignment files to be opened by the new command line argument process.

To launch Jalview from the command line, see running Jalview from the command line.

Processing command line arguments

Jalview no longer necessarily processes arguments sequentially, although in typical use cases you may still want to think of it as doing so.
For more advanced use please see Advanced Command Line Arguments.

Typical Use Cases

Opening files (--open, --append, --newframe)

To simply open one or more alignment files in different frames just put the filenames as the first arguments:

  jalview filename1 filename2 ...
  

You can use shell-expanded wildcards:

  jalview this/filename* that/filename* other/filename*
  
and URLs:
  jalview https://rest.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P00221.fasta
  

(Using initial filenames is the same as using the --open argument, and further arguments can be used after the initial filenames.)

--open

Use the --open argument to open alignment files each in their own frame.

The following are equivalent:

  jalview --open filename1 filename2 ...

  jalview --open filename*

  jalview --open filename1 --open filename2 --open ...

  jalview filename1 filename2 ...
  

Similarly you can open URLs:

  jalview --open https://rest.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P00221.fasta
  

--append

To append several alignment files together use:

  jalview --open filename1.fa --append filename2.fa filename3.fa
  
or, if you haven't previously used --open then you can use --append to open one new frame and keep appending each set of alignments:
  jalview --append these/filename*.fa --append more/filename*.fa

  jalview --append https://rest.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P00221.fasta https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/A0A0K9QVB3/entry
  

--newframe

To append different sets of alignment files in different frames, use --newframe to move on to a new alignment frame:

  jalview --append these/filename*.fa --newframe --append other/filename*.fa
  

--open is like using --newframe --append applied to every filename/URL given to --open

()

--

  

Jalview processes arguments on the command line sequentially. If you would like to pass a 'JVL' file containing memory settings or any other launch parameters, then include it at the beginning of the command line to ensure they are processed before any remaining arguments.
Typical command line execution follows the following pattern:

  jalview -open <Alignment File/URL> [additional import arguments] [export arguments]
  
-nodisplay
Run Jalview without User Interface. (automatically disables questionnaire, version and usage stats checks)
-nowebservicediscovery
Do not query configured servers to discover web services (Since 2.11.2.0)
-open FILE/URL
Specify the alignment file to open or process by providing additional arguments.
-props FILE/URL
Use the given Jalview properties file instead of users default.
-setprop PROPERTY=value
(JalviewJS ONLY) sets the given property to the given value
-features FILE/URL

Use the given file to add sequence features to an alignment. See Features File (Known as Groups file prior to 2.08) description.

-colour COLOURSCHEME
Set the colourscheme for the alignment. This can be any of the built-in colourschemes, a name of a predefined colourscheme (defined in the Jalview properties file), or an 'inline' colourscheme (see the applet's colour parameter for more information).
-annotations FILE/URL
Add precalculated annotations to the alignment. See Annotation File description.
-no-annotation
Do not display annotation below the alignment.
-tree FILE/URL
Load the given newick format tree file onto the alignment
-questionnaire URL
Queries the given URL for information about any Jalview user questionnaires
-noquestionnaire
Turn off questionnaire check
-nonews
Disable check for Jalview news on startup (not recommended other than for classroom / demo usage)
-nousagestats
Turn off google analytics usage tracking
-[no]sortbytree
Enable or disable automatic sorting of associated view when a new tree is displayed
-groovy FILE/URL
Execute groovy script in FILE (where FILE may be 'STDIN' to read from the standard input) after all other arguments have been processed
-jabaws URL
Specify the URL of the preferred JABAWS server
-fasta FILE
Create alignment file FILE in Fasta format.
-clustal FILE
Create alignment file FILE in Clustal format.
-msf FILE
Create alignment file FILE in MSF format.
-pileup FILE
Create alignment file FILE in Pileup format.
-pir FILE
Create alignment file FILE in PIR format.
-pfam FILE
Create alignment file FILE in PFAM format.
-blc FILE
Create alignment file FILE in BLC format.
-json FILE
Create alignment file FILE in JSON format.
-jalview FILE
Create alignment file FILE in Jalview format.
-png FILE
Create PNG image FILE from alignment.
-imgMap FILE
Create HTML file FILE with image map of PNG image.
-eps FILE
Create EPS file FILE from alignment.
-svg FILE
Create Scalable Vector Graphics file FILE from alignment.
-biojsMSA FILE
Write an HTML page to display the alignment with the BioJS MSAviewer MSA
-jvmmempc=PERCENT
Only available with standalone executable jar or jalview.bin.Launcher. Limit maximum heap size (memory) to PERCENT% of total physical memory detected. This defaults to 90 if total physical memory can be detected. See Memory usage settings for Jalview for more details.
-jvmmemmax=MAXMEMORY
Only available with standalone executable jar or jalview.bin.Launcher. Limit maximum heap size (memory) to MAXMEMORY. MAXMEMORY can be specified in bytes, kilobytes(k), megabytes(m), gigabytes(g) or if you're lucky enough, terabytes(t). This defaults to 32g if total physical memory can be detected, or to 8g if total physical memory cannot be detected. See Memory usage settings for Jalview for more details.