# Demux summarize error: join() argument must be str or bytes, not 'float'
**URL:** https://forum.qiime2.org/t/demux-summarize-error-join-argument-must-be-str-or-bytes-not-float/5291
**Category:** User Support
**Tags:** pending-development, demux
**Created:** [July 27, 2018, 2:30pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/demux-summarize-error-join-argument-must-be-str-or-bytes-not-float/5291 "2018-07-27T14:30:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Molly\_Bletz](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/Molly_Bletz)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2018, 2:30pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/demux-summarize-error-join-argument-must-be-str-or-bytes-not-float/5291/1 "2018-07-27T14:30:30Z")
Hi,
I am experiencing an error with a new dataset I just received and I don't understand how to fix it. I can import and run the demultiplexing steps, but when I try to summarize the demultiplexing I get an error.
Here are the commands I have run:
qiime tools import --type EMPSingleEndSequences --input-path /Users/Molly-Mac/My\_FILES/16s\_july26\_Run/Data --output-path SmPro\_PlasmidTrial\_sequences.qza
qiime demux emp-single --i-seqs /Users/Molly-Mac/My\_FILES/6s\_july26\_Run/SmPro\_PlasmidTrial\_sequences.qza --m-barcodes-file /Users/Molly-Mac/My\_FILES/16s\_july26\_Run/SmPro\_Mapping.txt --m-barcodes-column BarcodeSequence --o-per-sample-sequences Demulti\_SmPro\_PlasmidTrial\_sequences3.qza
qiime demux summarize --i-data /Users/Molly-Mac/My\_FILES/16s\_july26\_Run/Demulti\_SmPro\_PlasmidTrial\_sequences3.qza --o-visualization Dmultivis\_SmPr\_PlasmidTrial3.qzv
Plugin error from demux:
join() argument must be str or bytes, not 'float'
Debug info has been saved to /var/folders/kk/ppfc6f0x2v36xxkd7lpln88w0000gn/T/qiime2-q2cli-err-qu75omdf.log
Is there a standard reason for this error to occur? I can seem to figure out how to file where the debug info has been saved so if there is any guidance on that I'd be happy to provide it.
Thanks!
Molly
---
### Author:  [@Nicholas\_Bokulich](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/Nicholas_Bokulich)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2018, 2:31pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/demux-summarize-error-join-argument-must-be-str-or-bytes-not-float/5291/2 "2018-07-27T14:31:09Z")
---
### Author:  [@ebolyen](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/ebolyen)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2018, 2:10pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/demux-summarize-error-join-argument-must-be-str-or-bytes-not-float/5291/3 "2018-07-30T14:10:00Z")
Hi @Molly_Bletz,
You can find the debug in this file:
```auto
/var/folders/kk/ppfc6f0x2v36xxkd7lpln88w0000gn/T/qiime2-q2cli-err-qu75omdf.log
```
Or perhaps an easier option would be to re-run but add this to the command:
```bash
--verbose
```
That should give us a stack trace which I can inspect.
The error definitely gives no particular clue as to what's wrong, so hopefully that will give us a starting point.
---
### Author:  [@ebolyen](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/ebolyen)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2018, 2:10pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/demux-summarize-error-join-argument-must-be-str-or-bytes-not-float/5291/4 "2018-07-30T14:10:03Z")
---
### Author:  [@Molly\_Bletz](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/Molly_Bletz)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2018, 12:54pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/demux-summarize-error-join-argument-must-be-str-or-bytes-not-float/5291/5 "2018-07-31T12:54:03Z")
Hi Evan,
Thanks for your response!
I re-ran with the --verbose and here are the details:
(qiime2-2018.6) eduroam121-33:16s\_july26\_Run Molly-Mac$ qiime demux summarize --i-data /Users/Molly-Mac/My\_FILES/16s\_july26\_Run/Demulti\_SmPro\_PlasmidTrial\_sequences.qza --o-visualization Dmultivis\_SmPr\_PlasmidTrial.qzv --verbose
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/Users/Molly-Mac/miniconda2/envs/qiime2-2018.6/lib/python3.5/site-packages/q2cli/commands.py", line 274, in **call**
results = action(\*\*arguments)
File "", line 2, in summarize
File "/Users/Molly-Mac/miniconda2/envs/qiime2-2018.6/lib/python3.5/site-packages/qiime2/sdk/action.py", line 232, in bound\_callable
output\_types, provenance)
File "/Users/Molly-Mac/miniconda2/envs/qiime2-2018.6/lib/python3.5/site-packages/qiime2/sdk/action.py", line 429, in _callable\_executor_
ret\_val = self.\_callable(output\_dir=temp\_dir, \*\*view\_args)
File "/Users/Molly-Mac/miniconda2/envs/qiime2-2018.6/lib/python3.5/site-packages/q2\_demux/\_summarize/\_visualizer.py", line 121, in summarize
lambda x: os.path.join(str(data), x))
File "/Users/Molly-Mac/miniconda2/envs/qiime2-2018.6/lib/python3.5/site-packages/pandas/core/series.py", line 3194, in apply
mapped = lib.map\_infer(values, f, convert=convert\_dtype)
File "pandas/\_libs/src/inference.pyx", line 1472, in pandas.\_libs.lib.map\_infer
File "/Users/Molly-Mac/miniconda2/envs/qiime2-2018.6/lib/python3.5/site-packages/q2\_demux/\_summarize/\_visualizer.py", line 121, in
lambda x: os.path.join(str(data), x))
File "/Users/Molly-Mac/miniconda2/envs/qiime2-2018.6/lib/python3.5/posixpath.py", line 89, in join
genericpath.\_check\_arg\_types('join', a, \*p)
File "/Users/Molly-Mac/miniconda2/envs/qiime2-2018.6/lib/python3.5/genericpath.py", line 143, in \_check\_arg\_types
(funcname, s. **class**. **name** )) from None
TypeError: join() argument must be str or bytes, not 'float'
Plugin error from demux:
join() argument must be str or bytes, not 'float'
See above for debug info.
~Molly
---
### Author:  [@thermokarst](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/thermokarst)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2018, 1:06pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/demux-summarize-error-join-argument-must-be-str-or-bytes-not-float/5291/6 "2018-07-31T13:06:25Z")
---
### Author:  [@thermokarst](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/thermokarst)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2018, 1:23pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/demux-summarize-error-join-argument-must-be-str-or-bytes-not-float/5291/7 "2018-08-02T13:23:40Z")
Thanks @Molly_Bletz!
> [@Molly\_Bletz](#):
>
> join() argument must be str or bytes, not βfloatβ
Hmm, this sounds like something funky is happening with your Sample IDs in this viz. Can you give us a sampling of a few Sample IDs in your metadata file? I suspect you just found a bug in this viz, this info will help confirm. Thanks!
---
### Author:  [@thermokarst](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/thermokarst)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2018, 1:23pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/demux-summarize-error-join-argument-must-be-str-or-bytes-not-float/5291/8 "2018-08-02T13:23:44Z")
---
### Author:  [@Molly\_Bletz](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/Molly_Bletz)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2018, 2:44pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/demux-summarize-error-join-argument-must-be-str-or-bytes-not-float/5291/9 "2018-08-02T14:44:29Z")
Hi Matthew,
No problem, here is a subset:
SmProDNA.NOVI-16
SmProDNA.NOVI-17
SmProDNA.EUWI-25
SmProDNA.NOVI-19
SmProDNA.NOVI-20
SmProDNA.EUWI-26
SmProDNA.NOVI-22
SmProDNA.NOVI-23
SmProDNA.NOVI-31
SmProDNA.NOVI-32
SmProDNA.NOVI-33
but I've also attached the full mapping file I've been using for the demultiplexing as there are a few with different structures.
Best,
Molly
[SmPro\_Mapping.txt](https://cdck-file-uploads-global.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/flex002/uploads/qiime21/original/2X/c/c8af267a0caf90836a1eb2b01e09d0667e8edf6e.txt) (30.9 KB)
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### Author:  [@Nicholas\_Bokulich](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/Nicholas_Bokulich)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2018, 1:29pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/demux-summarize-error-join-argument-must-be-str-or-bytes-not-float/5291/10 "2018-08-03T13:29:58Z")
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### Author:  [@thermokarst](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/thermokarst)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2018, 10:41pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/demux-summarize-error-join-argument-must-be-str-or-bytes-not-float/5291/11 "2018-08-06T22:41:36Z")
Thanks @Molly_Bletz - all looks good there - can you share `Demulti_SmPro_PlasmidTrial_sequences3.qza`? If not, can you run `qiime tools export` on it, run `ls -lah` on the output dir and provide those results here? Also, there will be a file in the dir called 'MANIFEST', please attach here, too (again, only if you can't share the qza)/ Feel free to DM a link to me if you don't want to post publicly. Thanks!
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### Author:  [@thermokarst](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/thermokarst)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2018, 10:41pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/demux-summarize-error-join-argument-must-be-str-or-bytes-not-float/5291/12 "2018-08-06T22:41:46Z")
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### Author:  [@Molly\_Bletz](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/Molly_Bletz)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2018, 1:29pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/demux-summarize-error-join-argument-must-be-str-or-bytes-not-float/5291/13 "2018-08-07T13:29:14Z")
Hi @thermokarst,
Here is a link to Demulti file.
[https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FVixs3Ype63yOaGM\_gtqT\_lXDfuLJQuU](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FVixs3Ype63yOaGM_gtqT_lXDfuLJQuU)
Let me know if you need anything else!
Thanks!
Best,
Molly
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### Author:  [@thermokarst](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/thermokarst)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2018, 1:29pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/demux-summarize-error-join-argument-must-be-str-or-bytes-not-float/5291/14 "2018-08-07T13:29:22Z")
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### Author:  [@thermokarst](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/thermokarst)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2018, 11:24pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/demux-summarize-error-join-argument-must-be-str-or-bytes-not-float/5291/15 "2018-08-08T23:24:18Z")
Thanks for sharing @Molly_Bletz! You found a bug! π I opened up an [issue here](https://github.com/qiime2/q2-demux/issues/86). This was caused by a `#` in a Sample ID (`SmProDNA.Va#2Control`). If you update your sample metadata to remove that `#` and re-run `demux emp-single` again, that will strip the `#` from the ID, then you should be good to go. Sorry, that is a bummer because it looks like it took about 80 min to demux the first time, but, this should get you moving. Keep us posted! π¦
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### Author:  [@thermokarst](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/thermokarst)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2018, 11:24pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/demux-summarize-error-join-argument-must-be-str-or-bytes-not-float/5291/16 "2018-08-08T23:24:22Z")
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### Author:  [@Molly\_Bletz](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/Molly_Bletz)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2018, 1:46am UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/demux-summarize-error-join-argument-must-be-str-or-bytes-not-float/5291/17 "2018-08-09T01:46:08Z")
Thanks @thermokarst Worked like a charm after removing that #. I usually remove those kinds of characters from the SampleIDs, but must have missed that one. π Thanks again!
~Molly
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2018, 7:46am UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/demux-summarize-error-join-argument-must-be-str-or-bytes-not-float/5291/18 "2018-09-09T07:46:10Z")
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