docs: def scan(self, seq, threshold = '', factor=0.7):
          """
          m.scan(seq, threshold = '', factor=0.7) -- Scan the sequence.  Returns three lists:
                                                     matching sequences, endpoints, and scores.  The value of 
                                                     'factor' is multiplied by m.maxscore to get a match threshold
                                                     if none is supplied
          """
          if len(seq) < self.width:
              return(self._scan_smaller(seq,threshold))
          else:
              return(self._scan(seq,threshold,factor=factor))