diff --git a/src/complementBed/complementMain.cpp b/src/complementBed/complementMain.cpp
index a384c7eb830dbc4653683a41548f189d3c38730b..ea4fc549684f4005b0a8ac64089c445b646c8a6f 100644
--- a/src/complementBed/complementMain.cpp
+++ b/src/complementBed/complementMain.cpp
@@ -30,15 +30,12 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
 	bool showHelp = false;
 
 	// input files
-	string bedFile;
+	string bedFile = "stdin";
 	string genomeFile;
 
-	bool haveBed = false;
+	bool haveBed = true;
 	bool haveGenome = false;
 
-	// check to see if we should print out some help
-	if(argc <= 1) showHelp = true;
-
 	for(int i = 1; i < argc; i++) {
 		int parameterLength = (int)strlen(argv[i]);
 
@@ -57,7 +54,6 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
 
  		if(PARAMETER_CHECK("-i", 2, parameterLength)) {
 			if ((i+1) < argc) {
-				haveBed = true;
 				bedFile = argv[i + 1];
 				i++;
 			}