VCF (Variant Call Format) is a text file format for storing genetic variants. It is commonly used in bioinformatics to represent the results of variant calling, which is the process of identifying differences between two or more DNA sequences. VCF files can be used for a variety of purposes, including variant annotation, filtering, and analysis.
VCF files are typically tab-delimited and have a header line that describes the columns. The first column contains the chromosome name, the second column contains the position of the variant, and the third column contains the reference allele. The remaining columns contain the alternate alleles and other information about the variant, such as the quality of the call and the genotype of the individual.