Support non-Unix options (e.g. find -exec, bash +O shopt, cmd.exe /c, gcc -Wl,) #2468
Description
Child Tasks:
- Support alternative name/value separator #3026
- Support for single hyphen in long arguments #1210 (if we generalize it to this case)
Please complete the following tasks
- I have searched the discussions
- I have searched the existing issues
Describe your use case
There are many CLIs that do not follow the Unix way of short vs. long options. While it might not be a good idea for new programs to have such an interface, it may be needed for compatibility.
Examples
1. Long option with a single hyphen-minus (-) instead of a double hyphen-minus (--)
The examples are probably too many to count, as this is very common. From the output of find --help:
-ilname PATTERN -iname PATTERN -inum N -iwholename PATTERN -iregex PATTERN
-links N -lname PATTERN -mmin N -mtime N -name PATTERN -newer FILE
From the output of gcc --help:
-dumpspecs Display all of the built in spec strings.
-dumpversion Display the version of the compiler.
-dumpmachine Display the compiler's target processor.
From the output of ld --help:
-rpath PATH Set runtime shared library search path
-rpath-link PATH Set link time shared library search path
-shared, -Bshareable Create a shared library
-pie, --pic-executable Create a position independent executable
From the output of qemu-system-x86_64 --help
-serial dev redirect the serial port to char device 'dev'
-parallel dev redirect the parallel port to char device 'dev'
-monitor dev redirect the monitor to char device 'dev'
2. Long option with a single plus (+) instead of a double hyphen-minus (--)
I'm sure there are others, but I can point to the output of Xwayland --help for this:
+xinerama Enable XINERAMA extension
-xinerama Disable XINERAMA extension
...
+extension name Enable extension
-extension name Disable extension
3. Short option with a plus (+) instead of a hyphen-minus (-)
In this case it is a short option because it can be combined as +OO opt1 opt2. Although the value needs to be separated with a space: +Oopt1 does not work. From man 1 bash:
[-+]O [shopt_option]
shopt_option is one of the shell options accepted by the
shopt builtin (see SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS below). If
shopt_option is present, -O sets the value of that option; +O
unsets it. If shopt_option is not supplied, the names and
values of the shell options accepted by shopt are printed on
the standard output. If the invocation option is +O, the
output is displayed in a format that may be reused as input.
4. No space between option and value
As in short options, but the option is not a single character, so combining is not possible. From gcc --help:
-Wa,<options> Pass comma-separated <options> on to the assembler.
-Wp,<options> Pass comma-separated <options> on to the preprocessor.
-Wl,<options> Pass comma-separated <options> on to the linker.
(I guess it looks like W is the short option and the first value a/p/l signifies assembler, preprocessor, or linker. But combining such short options would not make sense.)
5. Long option with value after equals (=), but without the double hyphen-minus (--)
From dd --help
count=N copy only N input blocks
ibs=BYTES read up to BYTES bytes at a time (default: 512)
if=FILE read from FILE instead of stdin
iflag=FLAGS read as per the comma separated symbol list
obs=BYTES write BYTES bytes at a time (default: 512)
of=FILE write to FILE instead of stdout
oflag=FLAGS write as per the comma separated symbol list
6. Windows way: slash (/) instead of double hyphen-minus (--) and colon (:) instead of equals (=)
Not very familiar with Windows command line parameters, but from examples it seems only long options, mostly single-letter, are used. They are still "long" options since there is no combining. Option values are separated by a space or a colon (:). Also, /? is the equivalent of -h, --help.
cmd [/c|/k] [/s] [/q] [/d] [/a|/u] [/t:{<b><f> | <f>}] [/e:{on | off}] [/f:{on | off}] [/v:{on | off}] [<string>]
icacls <filename> [/grant[:r] <sid>:<perm>[...]] [/deny <sid>:<perm>[...]] [/remove[:g|:d]] <sid>[...]] [/t] [/c] [/l] [/q] [/setintegritylevel <Level>:<policy>[...]]
pathping [/n] [/h <maximumhops>] [/g <hostlist>] [/p <Period>] [/q <numqueries> [/w <timeout>] [/i <IPaddress>] [/4 <IPv4>] [/6 <IPv6>][<targetname>]
winnt32 [/checkupgradeonly] [/cmd: <CommandLine>] [/cmdcons] [/copydir:{i386|ia64}\<FolderName>] [/copysource: <FolderName>] [/debug[<Level>]:[ <FileName>]] [/dudisable] [/duprepare: <pathName>] [/dushare: <pathName>] [/emsport:{com1|com2|usebiossettings|off}] [/emsbaudrate: <BaudRate>] [/m: <FolderName>] [/makelocalsource] [/noreboot] [/s: <Sourcepath>] [/syspart: <DriveLetter>] [/tempdrive: <DriveLetter>] [/udf: <ID>[,<UDB_File>]] [/unattend[<Num>]:[ <AnswerFile>]]
Describe the solution you'd like
Instead of (or in addition to) specifying short vs. long, maybe we could specify:
- The prefix:
"-","--","/","+","" - Whether to combine as in short options or not
- Whether to allow, or require, or disallow space between the option name and its value
- The separator between the option name and its value(s):
"=",":"
Alternatives, if applicable
No response
Additional Context
No response