3 ms·

I don't like combined single-hyphens for a different reason: sometimes they accept arguments, and it seems strange to me that `-a0` can variously mean `-a 0` an

by OJFord 3y ago

I don't like combined single-hyphens for a different reason: sometimes they accept arguments, and it seems strange to me that `-a0` can variously mean `-a 0` and `-a -0`. (I think some insist that argument-having options are long, and short options can only be flags, which sort of solves it, except for the existence of the others which makes it still confusing.) That said, in a script, which is the main time I'd have to read the way someone else has written it anyway, I favour everything being --long --anyway --to-make-it=really-clear. (Though there are a few that are so common I won't insist on, `cut -dX -fY` say.) You must like `find`.

klodolph 3y ago
>I don't like combined single-hyphens for a different reason: sometimes they accept arguments, and it seems strange to me that `-a0` can variously mean `-a 0` and `-a -0`. I think the answer to that is just to stop designing argument parsers that way—if you want -a 0 then maybe -a 0 is acceptable, maybe -a=0 is acceptable, but -a0 should not be. I don’t see how this part is controversial. For the same reason, -all should not be parsed as -a -l -l. >I favour everything being --long --anyway --to-make-it=really-clear. Yeah—I think it would be equally clear to write it like -long -anyway -to-make-it=really-clear, if we decided to make more parsers that worked that way. Some parsers do work that way. >You must like `find`. I have to assume that this is just sarcasm. The `find` command gives you a DSL for writing queries, and for some reason, the tokens in that DSL are option flags starting with -. Bizarre. I don’t think anybody wants to design something like that, and I don’t think there’s really anything to learn from find except maybe “sometimes, for historical reasons, the command-line arguments for standardized tools just plain suck.”

by OJFord 3y ago

klodolph 3y ago

>I don't like combined single-hyphens for a different reason: sometimes they accept arguments, and it seems strange to me that `-a0` can variously mean `-a 0` and `-a -0`. I think the answer to that is just to stop designing argument parsers that way—if you want -a 0 then maybe -a 0 is acceptable, maybe -a=0 is acceptable, but -a0 should not be. I don’t see how this part is controversial. For the same reason, -all should not be parsed as -a -l -l. >I favour everything being --long --anyway --to-make-it=really-clear. Yeah—I think it would be equally clear to write it like -long -anyway -to-make-it=really-clear, if we decided to make more parsers that worked that way. Some parsers do work that way. >You must like `find`. I have to assume that this is just sarcasm. The `find` command gives you a DSL for writing queries, and for some reason, the tokens in that DSL are option flags starting with -. Bizarre. I don’t think anybody wants to design something like that, and I don’t think there’s really anything to learn from find except maybe “sometimes, for historical reasons, the command-line arguments for standardized tools just plain suck.”