Invalid value for '--m-metadata-file': There was an issue with retrieving column 'Type\xa0' from the metadata

[Giorgio_Gargari]

Hi,
I have a problem with my metadata columns name.

$ qiime diversity beta-group-significance \ --i-distance-matrix weighted_unifrac_distance_matrix.qza \ --m-metadata-column 'Type' \ --p-method permanova \ --o-visualization Permanova_unweig.qzv \ --verbose \ --m-metadata-file metadata.tsv

ERROR:
(1/1) Invalid value for '--m-metadata-file': There was an issue with

retrieving column 'Type\xa0' from the metadata.

Qiime version: (qiime2-2021.8)

Head of my metadata tab-delimited:
#SampleID Name Group Type Age Description
#q2:types categorical categorical categorical categorical categorical

[colinbrislawn (Colin J Brislawn)]

Hello Giorgio,

Welcome to the forums!

It looks like there's a strange character in your command or metadata file.

@Giorgio_Gargari

There was an issue with retrieving column 'Type\xa0' from the metadata.

The character \xa0 is a 'non-breaking space' and it should not be there! (I wonder if this was introduced when copying this command from MS Word or something )

Try typing that command again and see if that removes the mystery character.

[Giorgio_Gargari]

I noted that the copy-paste from "terminal" to .txt adds this hidden character. Typing denovo all the command line, it works.