Field separators in quoted attributes cause error

[zwpwjwtz]

Testing this GTF file with gffutils and an AttributeStringError exception was raised on line 349, parser.py.
After some exploration I noticed that lines containing attributes with ";" (field separator) in it actually caused the malfunction of parser.

Example:
NC_000964.3 RefSeq CDS 410 1747 . + 0 gene_id "BSU_00010"; ...... note "Evidence 1a: Function from experimental evidences in the studied strain; PubMedId: 2167836, 2846289, 12682299, 16120674, 1779750, 28166228; Product type f : factor"; ......
Since the semicolons were first extracted as field separators, the sub-attributes ("Evidence 1a", "PubMedId" and "Product type f") were then broken into separated fields, and the numbers after "PubMedId" were parsed as multiple values associated with the (wrong) "PubMedId" key. Since dialect["repeated key"] had been set by multiple definition of field "db_xref", an exception mentioned above was thus triggered.

I suggest that quotes get parsed in priority, before the field separators getting located and parsed. Although this may require the parser to behave like a streaming parser rather than a structured one, it guarantees that no content between quotes can escape and contaminate the other fields.

[daler]

Thanks for reporting. Agreed, it would be nice to have this but I do not have the bandwidth to work on this at the moment. Happy to review pull requests on this though!

[daler]

See discussion in #215

[zwpwjwtz]

I can confirm that #215 fixed this issue using the test file. Another GTF that had the same problem can now be parsed smoothly. Thank you all for your help and contribution!

[zwpwjwtz]

Hi, it has been a while since the last update (#215) and I haven't encountered any problem. Shall I close this issue as completed, or just leave it open for more discussion?