diff --git a/HISTORY.md b/HISTORY.md
index 0c0f8a8..950571d 100644
--- a/HISTORY.md
+++ b/HISTORY.md
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
-v0.1.16-dev
-===========
+v0.1.16
+=======
 + `indexcov`: report and plot number of mapped and unmapped reads as reported by the index.
 + `covmed`: rename to `covstats`
 + `covstats`: report samplename(s) from read groups as well as bam path.
 + `covstats`: skip first 100K reads to give better estimates of depth.
 + `covstats`: report percent of bad (QC-Fail|Duplicate) and of umapped reads.
-
++ `indexcov`: automatically exclude chromosomes that match pattern: `^chrEBV$|^NC|_random$|Un_|^HLA\-|_alt$|hap\d$`.
+              this can be adjust from the command-line.
 
 v0.1.15
 =======
diff --git a/goleft.go b/goleft.go
index 0b22519..877b714 100644
--- a/goleft.go
+++ b/goleft.go
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 package goleft
 
-const Version = "0.1.16-dev"
+const Version = "0.1.16"
diff --git a/indexcov/functional-tests.sh b/indexcov/functional-tests.sh
index 3e2eed9..13f6da0 100644
--- a/indexcov/functional-tests.sh
+++ b/indexcov/functional-tests.sh
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@ run check_single_sample ./goleft_test indexcov -d /tmp/tt sample_name_0001.bam
 assert_exit_code 0
 assert_in_stderr "not plotting"
 assert_equal $(num_colcounts /tmp/tt/tt-indexcov.ped) 1
+assert_equal $(zgrep -wc ^1 /tmp/tt-indexcov.bed.gz ) 14748
+
+
 
 run check_sex ./goleft_test indexcov -d /tmp/tt --sex "X,Y" sample_name_0001.bam
 assert_exit_code 0
@@ -89,7 +92,13 @@ fi
 run check_cohort ./goleft_test indexcov -d /tmp/tt samples/*.bam
 assert_exit_code 0
 assert_equal $(num_colcounts /tmp/tt/tt-indexcov.ped) 1
-exit
+
+
+rm -f /tmp/tt/tt-indexcov.bed.gz
+run check_exclude ./goleft_test indexcov --excludepatt '^1$' -d /tmp/tt samples/sample_paper_0001.bam
+assert_equal $(zgrep -wc ^1 /tmp/tt/tt-indexcov.bed.gz ) 0
+assert_exit_code 0
+cat $STDERR_FILE
 
 run check_crai ./goleft_test indexcov --fai human_g1k_v37.fasta.fai -d /tmp/1kg NA21144.mapped.ILLUMINA.bwa.GIH.low_coverage.20130415.bam.cram.crai
 assert_exit_code 0
diff --git a/indexcov/indexcov.go b/indexcov/indexcov.go
index ed71922..1539b61 100644
--- a/indexcov/indexcov.go
+++ b/indexcov/indexcov.go
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"reflect"
+	"regexp"
 	"sort"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
@@ -34,14 +35,16 @@ import (
 var Ploidy = 2
 
 var cli = &struct {
-	Directory string   `arg:"-d,required,help:directory for output files"`
-	IncludeGL bool     `arg:"-e,help:plot GL chromosomes like: GL000201.1 which are not plotted by default"`
-	Sex       string   `arg:"-X,help:comma delimited names of the sex chromosome(s) used to infer sex. Set to '' if no sex chromosomes are present."`
-	Chrom     string   `arg:"-c,help:optional chromosome to extract depth. default is entire genome."`
-	Fai       string   `arg:"-f,help:fasta index file. Required when crais are used."`
-	Bam       []string `arg:"positional,required,help:bam(s) or crais for which to estimate coverage"`
-	sex       []string `arg:"-"`
-}{Sex: "X,Y"}
+	Directory   string         `arg:"-d,required,help:directory for output files"`
+	IncludeGL   bool           `arg:"-e,help:plot GL chromosomes like: GL000201.1 which are not plotted by default"`
+	ExcludePatt string         `arg:-p,help:regular expression of chromosome names to exclude"`
+	Sex         string         `arg:"-X,help:comma delimited names of the sex chromosome(s) used to infer sex. Set to '' if no sex chromosomes are present."`
+	Chrom       string         `arg:"-c,help:optional chromosome to extract depth. default is entire genome."`
+	Fai         string         `arg:"-f,help:fasta index file. Required when crais are used."`
+	Bam         []string       `arg:"positional,required,help:bam(s) or crais for which to estimate coverage"`
+	sex         []string       `arg:"-"`
+	exclude     *regexp.Regexp `arg:"-"`
+}{Sex: "X,Y", ExcludePatt: `^chrEBV$|^NC|_random$|Un_|^HLA\-|_alt$|hap\d$`}
 
 // MaxCN is the maximum normalized value.
 var MaxCN = float32(6)
@@ -135,7 +138,7 @@ func tint(f float32) int {
 // CountsAtDepth calculates the count of items in depths that are at 100 * d
 func CountsAtDepth(depths []float32, counts []int) {
 	if len(counts) != slots {
-		panic(fmt.Sprintf("indexcov: expecting counts to be length %d", slots))
+		panic(fmt.Sprintf("indexcov: expecting counts to be length %d, was: %d", slots, len(counts)))
 	}
 	for _, d := range depths {
 		counts[tint(d*(slots*float32(slotsMid))+0.5)]++
@@ -326,6 +329,9 @@ func Main() {
 	if len(cli.Sex) > 0 {
 		cli.sex = strings.Split(strings.TrimSpace(cli.Sex), ",")
 	}
+	if cli.ExcludePatt != "" {
+		cli.exclude = regexp.MustCompile(cli.ExcludePatt)
+	}
 
 	if exists, err := getDirectory(cli.Directory); err != nil || !exists {
 		log.Fatalf("indexcov: error creating specified directory: %s, %s", cli.Directory, err)
@@ -497,8 +503,13 @@ func run(refs []*sam.Reference, idxs []*Index, names []string, base string) (map
 	chromNames := make([]string, 0, len(refs))
 
 	fmt.Fprintf(bgz, "#chrom\tstart\tend\t%s\n", strings.Join(names, "\t"))
-	for ir, ref := range refs {
+	ir := -1
+	for _, ref := range refs {
 		chrom := ref.Name()
+		if cli.exclude != nil && cli.exclude.Match([]byte(chrom)) {
+			continue
+		}
+		ir++
 		// Some samples may not have all the data, so we always take the longest sample for printing.
 		longest, longesti := 0, 0