Why qiime2 can't find the metadata.tsv and runs.txt in a folder

[Haze1 (Hazel)]

I trying to learn how to use qiime2 following on a youtube tutorial. In this tutorial we are using the Pollock's data on Coral tissue microbiome. I have created the runs.txt and metadata.tsv file following on from the video. I have created the directories needed but somehow when I ask qiime2 to list (ls) what is inside the folder it does not pick up the tsv and txt file that is in there.

I think my file path is correct because it can detect the subfolder where the tsv and txt files are but not the files inside, which is what I need to proceed because I am basically importing data from NCBI to qiime2.

Please help. Otherwise, do you of other tutorials with data. I tried using the one from qiime2 (moving pictures tutorial, sample metadata) but I get this error msg
There was an issue with loading the file sample-metadata.tsv as metadata:

Failed to locate header. The metadata file may be empty, or consists only of comments or empty rows.

There may be more errors present in the metadata file. To get a full report, sample/feature metadata files can be validated with Keemei: https://keemei.qiime2.org

Find details on QIIME 2 metadata requirements here: Metadata in QIIME 2 — QIIME 2 2024.2.0 documentation

[Mike_Stevenson]

Hi @Haze1

I think the reason it isn’t finding your files is because you are one folder away. You need to change directory (cd) to the subfolder in order for qiime to find them. Once you do this (cd ) you should be able to see the list of files when you type ‘ls’.

[Haze1 (Hazel)]

Hi Mike, I have done that, created a directory for the folder that contains the metadata and changed the directory but when I type ls, the files are still not listed like it's an empty folder.

[Mike_Stevenson]

Can you list the exact pathway of your folders/sub folders? Also, try right-clicking on the sub-folder and choose “open terminal from folder” or a a variation of that depending on what OS you’re using. You could also try manually searching for one of the files, go to properties of the file and the location will be listed. Then use that to cd to the exact location. Hope one of those works!