the following is an excerpt i’ve taken directly from Terminal Info**. NOTE: this is not my text, but the text as copied from an official documentation of the software. The excerpt is presented here because i believe this to be a useful bit of knowledge, and i wish to have it available for quick access at a later date.

3.3.2 Short Option Style

File: tar.info, Node: Short Options, Next: Old Options, Prev: Mnemonic Options, Up: Styles

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.

the man pages

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Updated: $Date: 2006/06/27 13:34:03 $ $Author: gray $