To quote TFM: > This option can be used to separate command-line options from the list of files, (useful when filenames might be mistaken for command-line opti

To quote TFM: > This option can be used to separate command-line options from the list of files, (useful when filenames might be mistaken for command-line options). This is a common idiom, e.g., to grep a file for a pattern that matches a grep argument, > grep -- -e file Edit: fixed dash weirdness.