"A. Pagaltzis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >> Something like ++ instead of --. > > I think thatʼs ugly. Iʼd suggest simply addding another dash [...]
I find it very interesting to note that although we're talking about quite different semantics, everyone seems to be wanting to stick to the ancient syntax of "-"-style command line options. It's like wanting to have a shell window on Windows/XP, and then control GUI applications from the command line. Nobody would want that. I have several tools that take different syntax on the command line, specific for the task. For example, subcommands: mycmd init db=$HOME/mydb mycmd load db=$HOME/mydb data1 mycmd load --trace db=$HOME/mydb data1 mycmd --trace load db=$HOME/mydb data1 Note that the 3rd and 4th commands behave significantly different. Now, I could have forced this in the "-"-style command line look: mycmd --command=init --db=$HOME/mydb mycmd --command=load --db=$HOME/mydb data1 mycmd --command=load --trace --db=$HOME/mydb data1 mycmd --trace --command=load --db=$HOME/mydb data1 but besides requiring more typing, it looses the distinction that --command and --db are not options in the common sense. --db is not an option, it's mandatory. And the (sub)command selection controls which (real command line) options are further recognized. So if you want something different, why not do it differently? -- Johan
