# semi-colons added into taxa when combining feature table and taxonomy.tsv
**URL:** https://forum.qiime2.org/t/semi-colons-added-into-taxa-when-combining-feature-table-and-taxonomy-tsv/34266
**Category:** Technical Support
**Created:** [July 28, 2026, 4:32pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/semi-colons-added-into-taxa-when-combining-feature-table-and-taxonomy-tsv/34266 "2026-07-28T16:32:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ebirch](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/ebirch)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2026, 4:32pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/semi-colons-added-into-taxa-when-combining-feature-table-and-taxonomy-tsv/34266/1 "2026-07-28T16:32:47Z")
I am trying to combine my feature table and taxonomy.tsv. I have done this previously without issue. I have just updated my version of qiime to 2026.4.
my taxonomy.tsv file looks fine, i.e. the taxonomy of top couple of entries;
d\_\_Bacteria;p\_\_Thermodesulfobacteriota;c\_\_Syntrophia;o\_\_Syntrophales;f\_\_Smithellaceae;g\_\_Smithella;s\_\_uncultured\_bacterium
d\_\_Bacteria;p\_\_Pseudomonadota;c\_\_Gammaproteobacteria;o\_\_Pseudomonadales;f\_\_Pseudomonadaceae;g\_\_Pseudomonas
d\_\_Bacteria;p\_\_Verrucomicrobiota;c\_\_Verrucomicrobiia;o\_\_Pedosphaerales;f\_\_Pedosphaeraceae;g\_\_Ellin516;s\_\_uncultured\_bacterium
however, when i combine the two files, the taxonomy column has semi-colons entered between every character. i think it's similar to this issue, from a while ago; [Taxa names (each letter) are separated by semicolons after merging feature-table and taxonomy](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/taxa-names-each-letter-are-separated-by-semicolons-after-merging-feature-table-and-taxonomy/1318)
here is the first few entries in this combined tsv
d; \_; \_; B; a; c; t; e; r; i; a; ;; p; \_; \_; T; h; e; r; m; o; d; e; s; u; l; f; o; b; a; c; t; e; r; i; o; t; a; ;; c; \_; \_; S; y; n; t; r; o; p; h; i; a; ;; o; \_; \_; S; y; n; t; r; o; p; h; a; l; e; s; ;; f; \_; \_; S; m; i; t; h; e; l; l; a; c; e; a; e; ;; g; \_; \_; S; m; i; t; h; e; l; l; a; ;; s; \_; \_; u; n; c; u; l; t; u; r; e; d; \_; b; a; c; t; e; r; i; u; m
d; \_; \_; B; a; c; t; e; r; i; a; ;; p; \_; \_; P; s; e; u; d; o; m; o; n; a; d; o; t; a; ;; c; \_; \_; G; a; m; m; a; p; r; o; t; e; o; b; a; c; t; e; r; i; a; ;; o; \_; \_; P; s; e; u; d; o; m; o; n; a; d; a; l; e; s; ;; f; \_; \_; P; s; e; u; d; o; m; o; n; a; d; a; c; e; a; e; ;; g; \_; \_; P; s; e; u; d; o; m; o; n; a; s
d; \_; \_; B; a; c; t; e; r; i; a; ;; p; \_; \_; V; e; r; r; u; c; o; m; i; c; r; o; b; i; o; t; a; ;; c; \_; \_; V; e; r; r; u; c; o; m; i; c; r; o; b; i; i; a; ;; o; \_; \_; P; e; d; o; s; p; h; a; e; r; a; l; e; s; ;; f; \_; \_; P; e; d; o; s; p; h; a; e; r; a; c; e; a; e; ;; g; \_; \_; E; l; l; i; n; 5; 1; 6; ;; s; \_; \_; u; n; c; u; l; t; u; r; e; d; \_; b; a; c; t; e; r; i; u; m
code used for the combining;
biom add-metadata -i taxonomy/Metataxa/feature-table.biom -o taxonomy/Metataxa/filtered\_table\_with\_taxonomy.biom --observation-metadata-fp taxonomy/taxonomy.tsv --sc-separated taxonomy
biom convert -i taxonomy/Metataxa/filtered\_table\_with\_taxonomy.biom -o taxonomy/Metataxa/filtered\_table\_with\_taxonomy.tsv --to-tsv --header-key Taxon
any thoughts? it's surmountable with some excel or coding magic, but it's just weird! i did the exact same set of code only a couple of weeks ago, although on a older version of qiime, without issue.
---
### Author:  [@SoilRotifer](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/SoilRotifer)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2026, 5:11pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/semi-colons-added-into-taxa-when-combining-feature-table-and-taxonomy-tsv/34266/2 "2026-07-28T17:11:23Z")
Welcome to the forum @ebirch!
A much easier way to append your taxonomy to the feature-table is outlined [here](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/how-to-build-an-otu-table/26900/2).
You can then click to download the text file (containing the combined table & taxonomy) from the QZV.
-Mike
---
### Author:  [@system](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2026, 11:12pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/semi-colons-added-into-taxa-when-combining-feature-table-and-taxonomy-tsv/34266/3 "2026-08-28T23:12:18Z")
This topic was automatically closed 31 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.