| name | window-bed |
| description | Use when you need to find features in one file that fall within a configurable window around features in another file, including strand-aware upstream and downstream proximity searches. |
| disable-model-invocation | true |
| user-invocable | true |
window-bed
Quick Start
- Command:
windowBed -a <bed/gff/vcf> -b <bed/gff/vcf> -w <bp>
- Local executable:
/home/vimalinx/miniforge3/envs/bio/bin/windowBed
- Full reference: See
references/help.md
When To Use This Tool
- Find nearby features in B around each feature in A without requiring direct overlap.
- Build promoter, enhancer, or neighborhood-style proximity joins.
- Use asymmetric windows with different upstream and downstream distances.
- Count, flag, or exclude nearby hits instead of returning full paired records.
Common Patterns
windowBed \
-a genes.bed \
-b peaks.bed \
-w 5000
windowBed \
-a transcripts.bed \
-b atac-peaks.bed \
-l 2000 \
-r 500 \
-sw \
-sm
windowBed \
-a genes.bed \
-b enhancers.bed \
-w 100000 \
-c
Recommended Workflow
- Decide whether you need the default paired-output join, a presence/absence view (
-u, -v), or counts (-c).
- Choose a symmetric window with
-w or an asymmetric design with -l and -r.
- Add
-sw only when upstream/downstream should be interpreted relative to strand, and add -sm or -Sm only when overlap partners must match or oppose strand.
- If A is BAM, switch to
-abam and choose whether output should stay BAM-like or be converted with -bed.
Guardrails
-a and -b are both required unless BAM input is supplied through -abam, which replaces -a.
- If you do not specify
-w, -l, or -r, bedtools uses a default symmetric window of 1000 bp.
- Default output emits the full A and full B record for every hit;
-u, -c, and -v change the row count and layout substantially.
-sw changes how left/right windows are interpreted relative to feature strand; it is different from -sm / -Sm, which filter the strand relationship between A and B.
- Prefer
-h for help; GNU-style --help and --version emit wrapper errors before usage text.