Command not found for --type

[Yongjie_Gao]

Hi, this is probably a dumb question. I'm using QIIME2 for the very first time and I typed:
--type 'SampleData[PairedEndSequencesWithQuality]'
Then I got the feedback:
-bash: --type: command not found

Could someone please tell me what I have done wrong? Thank you so much.

[Nicholas_Bokulich]

Hi @Yongjie_Gao,
--type is a parameter within a command, not a command itself. So if you just type --type into your terminal, the computer has no idea what you want it to do!

You are probably trying to do something like:

qiime tools import \
     --type SampleData[PairedEndSequencesWithQuality] \
     --input-path seqs.fasta \
     --output-path seqs.qza

(note that this command is broken up onto multiple lines for readability. The backslash at the end of each line indicates to the computer that the command continues onto the next line — not that these are separate commands)

I hope that helps!