tar: Short Options
1
1 3.3.2 Short Option Style
1 ------------------------
1
1 Most options also have a "short option" name. Short options start with
1 a single dash, and are followed by a single character, e.g., '-t' (which
1 is equivalent to '--list'). The forms are absolutely identical in
1 function; they are interchangeable.
1
1 The short option names are faster to type than long option names.
1
1 Short options which require arguments take their arguments
1 immediately following the option, usually separated by white space. It
1 is also possible to stick the argument right after the short option
1 name, using no intervening space. For example, you might write
1 '-f archive.tar' or '-farchive.tar' instead of using
1 '--file=archive.tar'. Both '--file=ARCHIVE-NAME' and '-f ARCHIVE-NAME'
1 denote the option which indicates a specific archive, here named
1 'archive.tar'.
1
1 Short options which take optional arguments take their arguments
1 immediately following the option letter, _without any intervening white
1 space characters_.
1
1 Short options' letters may be clumped together, but you are not
1 required to do this (as compared to old options; see below). When short
1 options are clumped as a set, use one (single) dash for them all, e.g.,
1 ''tar' -cvf'. Only the last option in such a set is allowed to have an
1 argument(1).
1
1 When the options are separated, the argument for each option which
1 requires an argument directly follows that option, as is usual for Unix
1 programs. For example:
1
1 $ tar -c -v -b 20 -f /dev/rmt0
1
1 If you reorder short options' locations, be sure to move any
1 arguments that belong to them. If you do not move the arguments
1 properly, you may end up overwriting files.
1
1 ---------- Footnotes ----------
1
1 (1) Clustering many options, the last of which has an argument, is a
1 rather opaque way to write options. Some wonder if GNU 'getopt' should
1 not even be made helpful enough for considering such usages as invalid.
1