(tar.info.gz) Short Options

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