diff --git a/src/bed12ToBed6/bed12ToBed6.cpp b/src/bed12ToBed6/bed12ToBed6.cpp
index e5d2c9c9ba4abdf6b328c8943193a51f67d448e4..e97c577e66bdd41ead15a807946f6bf554e8f80c 100644
--- a/src/bed12ToBed6/bed12ToBed6.cpp
+++ b/src/bed12ToBed6/bed12ToBed6.cpp
@@ -41,11 +41,8 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
 	bool showHelp = false;
 
 	// input files
-	string bedFile;
-	bool haveBed         = false;
-
-	// check to see if we should print out some help
-	if(argc <= 1) showHelp = true;
+	string bedFile       = "stdin";
+	bool haveBed         = true;
 
 	for(int i = 1; i < argc; i++) {
 		int parameterLength = (int)strlen(argv[i]);
@@ -65,7 +62,6 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
 
 		if(PARAMETER_CHECK("-i", 2, parameterLength)) {
 			if ((i+1) < argc) {
-				haveBed = true;
 				bedFile = argv[i + 1];
 				i++;
 			}