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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-26T08:55:47+00:00

I’ve been reading a bit about how programs handle command line parameters. But the

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I’ve been reading a bit about how programs handle command line parameters. But the information seems to be “incomplete”, things I’ve read:

  • Options may have a preceding ‘-‘ or ‘/’ sign if front of them.
  • Options can have additional arguments (which go without a – sign)
  • the option arguments follow the option directly, with or without a space.
  • Options can be a single letter or a full word.
  • optionscan be merged inside a single “option”: -abc equals -a -b -c

(Source)

Now I’m really wondering: What kind of options do you give a “-” sign and which not.
Also the merging of options into 1 seems to be incompatible with full-word options? “-file” can be a full word, but it might also mean “-f”, “-i”, “-l”, “-e”, 4 different switches. Or even: “-f” with “ile” as option_argument.

Am I understanding something wrong?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    On systems like Linux, there is the convention that options that are full words use two dashes (e.g. --file), while single-letter options use a single dash (e.g. -f.)

    Using slash to introduce options is from old DOS, and is being kept in Windows.

    Also, if an option is using a whole word, it can not be split into several options. This is in regards to your example with -file: -file can either be one option, or four different options (-f, -i, -l and -e).

    All in all, how options looks, or is handled, differ very much between programs, and there really isn’t any specific standard.

    I would suggest you find some way you like, and then use that.

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