def parserawcounts(countsfile):
    """parses the raw counts from a countsfile
    parameters
    ----------
    counts_file
        file containing the counts
    returns
    ----------
    raw_counts = dictionary containing raw counts per cluster
    """
    raw_counts = {}
    with open(countsfile, "r") as f:
        for line in f:
            if "*" not in line:
                line = line.strip()
                cluster, length, nreads, nnoreads = line.split("\t")
                raw_counts[cluster] = float(nreads)
    return (raw_counts)