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4.8 Table of Long Options

Here is a table of long options used by GNU programs. It is surely incomplete, but we aim to list all the options that a new program might want to be compatible with. If you use names not already in the table, please send bug-standards@gnu.org a list of them, with their meanings, so we can update the table.

after-date
-N’ in tar.
all
-a’ in du, ls, nm, stty, uname, and unexpand.
all-text
-a’ in diff.
almost-all
-A’ in ls.
append
-a’ in etags, tee, time; ‘-r’ in tar.
archive
-a’ in cp.
archive-name
-n’ in shar.
arglength
-l’ in m4.
ascii
-a’ in diff.
assign
-v’ in gawk.
assume-new
-W’ in Make.
assume-old
-o’ in Make.
auto-check
-a’ in recode.
auto-pager
-a’ in wdiff.
auto-reference
-A’ in ptx.
avoid-wraps
-n’ in wdiff.
background
For server programs, run in the background.
backward-search
-B’ in ctags.
basename
-f’ in shar.
batch
Used in GDB.
baud
Used in GDB.
before
-b’ in tac.
binary
-b’ in cpio and diff.
bits-per-code
-b’ in shar.
block-size
Used in cpio and tar.
blocks
-b’ in head and tail.
break-file
-b’ in ptx.
brief
Used in various programs to make output shorter.
bytes
-c’ in head, split, and tail.
c++
-C’ in etags.
catenate
-A’ in tar.
cd
Used in various programs to specify the directory to use.
changes
-c’ in chgrp and chown.
classify
-F’ in ls.
colons
-c’ in recode.
command
-c’ in su; ‘-x’ in GDB.
compare
-d’ in tar.
compat
Used in gawk.
compress
-Z’ in tar and shar.
concatenate
-A’ in tar.
confirmation
-w’ in tar.
context
Used in diff.
copyleft
-W copyleft’ in gawk.
copyright
-C’ in ptx, recode, and wdiff; ‘-W copyright’ in gawk.
core
Used in GDB.
count
-q’ in who.
count-links
-l’ in du.
create
Used in tar and cpio.
cut-mark
-c’ in shar.
cxref
-x’ in ctags.
date
-d’ in touch.
debug
-d’ in Make and m4; ‘-t’ in Bison.
define
-D’ in m4.
defines
-d’ in Bison and ctags.
delete
-D’ in tar.
dereference
-L’ in chgrp, chown, cpio, du, ls, and tar.
dereference-args
-D’ in du.
device
Specify an I/O device (special file name).
diacritics
-d’ in recode.
dictionary-order
-d’ in look.
diff
-d’ in tar.
digits
-n’ in csplit.
directory
Specify the directory to use, in various programs. In ls, it means to show directories themselves rather than their contents. In rm and ln, it means to not treat links to directories specially.
discard-all
-x’ in strip.
discard-locals
-X’ in strip.
dry-run
-n’ in Make.
ed
-e’ in diff.
elide-empty-files
-z’ in csplit.
end-delete
-x’ in wdiff.
end-insert
-z’ in wdiff.
entire-new-file
-N’ in diff.
environment-overrides
-e’ in Make.
eof
-e’ in xargs.
epoch
Used in GDB.
error-limit
Used in makeinfo.
error-output
-o’ in m4.
escape
-b’ in ls.
exclude-from
-X’ in tar.
exec
Used in GDB.
exit
-x’ in xargs.
exit-0
-e’ in unshar.
expand-tabs
-t’ in diff.
expression
-e’ in sed.
extern-only
-g’ in nm.
extract
-i’ in cpio; ‘-x’ in tar.
faces
-f’ in finger.
fast
-f’ in su.
fatal-warnings
-E’ in m4.
file
-f’ in info, gawk, Make, mt, and tar; ‘-n’ in sed; ‘-r’ in touch.
field-separator
-F’ in gawk.
file-prefix
-b’ in Bison.
file-type
-F’ in ls.
files-from
-T’ in tar.
fill-column
Used in makeinfo.
flag-truncation
-F’ in ptx.
fixed-output-files
-y’ in Bison.
follow
-f’ in tail.
footnote-style
Used in makeinfo.
force
-f’ in cp, ln, mv, and rm.
force-prefix
-F’ in shar.
foreground
For server programs, run in the foreground; in other words, don't do anything special to run the server in the background.
format
Used in ls, time, and ptx.
freeze-state
-F’ in m4.
fullname
Used in GDB.
gap-size
-g’ in ptx.
get
-x’ in tar.
graphic
-i’ in ul.
graphics
-g’ in recode.
group
-g’ in install.
gzip
-z’ in tar and shar.
hashsize
-H’ in m4.
header
-h’ in objdump and recode
heading
-H’ in who.
help
Used to ask for brief usage information.
here-delimiter
-d’ in shar.
hide-control-chars
-q’ in ls.
html
In makeinfo, output HTML.
idle
-u’ in who.
ifdef
-D’ in diff.
ignore
-I’ in ls; ‘-x’ in recode.
ignore-all-space
-w’ in diff.
ignore-backups
-B’ in ls.
ignore-blank-lines
-B’ in diff.
ignore-case
-f’ in look and ptx; ‘-i’ in diff and wdiff.
ignore-errors
-i’ in Make.
ignore-file
-i’ in ptx.
ignore-indentation
-I’ in etags.
ignore-init-file
-f’ in Oleo.
ignore-interrupts
-i’ in tee.
ignore-matching-lines
-I’ in diff.
ignore-space-change
-b’ in diff.
ignore-zeros
-i’ in tar.
include
-i’ in etags; ‘-I’ in m4.
include-dir
-I’ in Make.
incremental
-G’ in tar.
info
-i’, ‘-l’, and ‘-m’ in Finger.
init-file
In some programs, specify the name of the file to read as the user's init file.
initial
-i’ in expand.
initial-tab
-T’ in diff.
inode
-i’ in ls.
interactive
-i’ in cp, ln, mv, rm; ‘-e’ in m4; ‘-p’ in xargs; ‘-w’ in tar.
intermix-type
-p’ in shar.
iso-8601
Used in date
jobs
-j’ in Make.
just-print
-n’ in Make.
keep-going
-k’ in Make.
keep-files
-k’ in csplit.
kilobytes
-k’ in du and ls.
language
-l’ in etags.
less-mode
-l’ in wdiff.
level-for-gzip
-g’ in shar.
line-bytes
-C’ in split.
lines
Used in split, head, and tail.
link
-l’ in cpio.
lint
lint-old
Used in gawk.
list
-t’ in cpio; ‘-l’ in recode.
list
-t’ in tar.
literal
-N’ in ls.
load-average
-l’ in Make.
login
Used in su.
machine
Used in uname.
macro-name
-M’ in ptx.
mail
-m’ in hello and uname.
make-directories
-d’ in cpio.
makefile
-f’ in Make.
mapped
Used in GDB.
max-args
-n’ in xargs.
max-chars
-n’ in xargs.
max-lines
-l’ in xargs.
max-load
-l’ in Make.
max-procs
-P’ in xargs.
mesg
-T’ in who.
message
-T’ in who.
minimal
-d’ in diff.
mixed-uuencode
-M’ in shar.
mode
-m’ in install, mkdir, and mkfifo.
modification-time
-m’ in tar.
multi-volume
-M’ in tar.
name-prefix
-a’ in Bison.
nesting-limit
-L’ in m4.
net-headers
-a’ in shar.
new-file
-W’ in Make.
no-builtin-rules
-r’ in Make.
no-character-count
-w’ in shar.
no-check-existing
-x’ in shar.
no-common
-3’ in wdiff.
no-create
-c’ in touch.
no-defines
-D’ in etags.
no-deleted
-1’ in wdiff.
no-dereference
-d’ in cp.
no-inserted
-2’ in wdiff.
no-keep-going
-S’ in Make.
no-lines
-l’ in Bison.
no-piping
-P’ in shar.
no-prof
-e’ in gprof.
no-regex
-R’ in etags.
no-sort
-p’ in nm.
no-splash
Don't print a startup splash screen.
no-split
Used in makeinfo.
no-static
-a’ in gprof.
no-time
-E’ in gprof.
no-timestamp
-m’ in shar.
no-validate
Used in makeinfo.
no-wait
Used in emacsclient.
no-warn
Used in various programs to inhibit warnings.
node
-n’ in info.
nodename
-n’ in uname.
nonmatching
-f’ in cpio.
nstuff
-n’ in objdump.
null
-0’ in xargs.
number
-n’ in cat.
number-nonblank
-b’ in cat.
numeric-sort
-n’ in nm.
numeric-uid-gid
-n’ in cpio and ls.
nx
Used in GDB.
old-archive
-o’ in tar.
old-file
-o’ in Make.
one-file-system
-l’ in tar, cp, and du.
only-file
-o’ in ptx.
only-prof
-f’ in gprof.
only-time
-F’ in gprof.
options
-o’ in getopt, fdlist, fdmount, fdmountd, and fdumount.
output
In various programs, specify the output file name.
output-prefix
-o’ in shar.
override
-o’ in rm.
overwrite
-c’ in unshar.
owner
-o’ in install.
paginate
-l’ in diff.
paragraph-indent
Used in makeinfo.
parents
-p’ in mkdir and rmdir.
pass-all
-p’ in ul.
pass-through
-p’ in cpio.
port
-P’ in finger.
portability
-c’ in cpio and tar.
posix
Used in gawk.
prefix-builtins
-P’ in m4.
prefix
-f’ in csplit.
preserve
Used in tar and cp.
preserve-environment
-p’ in su.
preserve-modification-time
-m’ in cpio.
preserve-order
-s’ in tar.
preserve-permissions
-p’ in tar.
print
-l’ in diff.
print-chars
-L’ in cmp.
print-data-base
-p’ in Make.
print-directory
-w’ in Make.
print-file-name
-o’ in nm.
print-symdefs
-s’ in nm.
printer
-p’ in wdiff.
prompt
-p’ in ed.
proxy
Specify an HTTP proxy.
query-user
-X’ in shar.
question
-q’ in Make.
quiet
Used in many programs to inhibit the usual output. Every program accepting ‘--quiet’ should accept ‘--silent’ as a synonym.
quiet-unshar
-Q’ in shar
quote-name
-Q’ in ls.
rcs
-n’ in diff.
re-interval
Used in gawk.
read-full-blocks
-B’ in tar.
readnow
Used in GDB.
recon
-n’ in Make.
record-number
-R’ in tar.
recursive
Used in chgrp, chown, cp, ls, diff, and rm.
reference-limit
Used in makeinfo.
references
-r’ in ptx.
regex
-r’ in tac and etags.
release
-r’ in uname.
reload-state
-R’ in m4.
relocation
-r’ in objdump.
rename
-r’ in cpio.
replace
-i’ in xargs.
report-identical-files
-s’ in diff.
reset-access-time
-a’ in cpio.
reverse
-r’ in ls and nm.
reversed-ed
-f’ in diff.
right-side-defs
-R’ in ptx.
same-order
-s’ in tar.
same-permissions
-p’ in tar.
save
-g’ in stty.
se
Used in GDB.
sentence-regexp
-S’ in ptx.
separate-dirs
-S’ in du.
separator
-s’ in tac.
sequence
Used by recode to chose files or pipes for sequencing passes.
shell
-s’ in su.
show-all
-A’ in cat.
show-c-function
-p’ in diff.
show-ends
-E’ in cat.
show-function-line
-F’ in diff.
show-tabs
-T’ in cat.
silent
Used in many programs to inhibit the usual output. Every program accepting ‘--silent’ should accept ‘--quiet’ as a synonym.
size
-s’ in ls.
socket
Specify a file descriptor for a network server to use for its socket, instead of opening and binding a new socket. This provides a way to run, in a non-privileged process, a server that normally needs a reserved port number.
sort
Used in ls.
source
-W source’ in gawk.
sparse
-S’ in tar.
speed-large-files
-H’ in diff.
split-at
-E’ in unshar.
split-size-limit
-L’ in shar.
squeeze-blank
-s’ in cat.
start-delete
-w’ in wdiff.
start-insert
-y’ in wdiff.
starting-file
Used in tar and diff to specify which file within a directory to start processing with.
statistics
-s’ in wdiff.
stdin-file-list
-S’ in shar.
stop
-S’ in Make.
strict
-s’ in recode.
strip
-s’ in install.
strip-all
-s’ in strip.
strip-debug
-S’ in strip.
submitter
-s’ in shar.
suffix
-S’ in cp, ln, mv.
suffix-format
-b’ in csplit.
sum
-s’ in gprof.
summarize
-s’ in du.
symbolic
-s’ in ln.
symbols
Used in GDB and objdump.
synclines
-s’ in m4.
sysname
-s’ in uname.
tabs
-t’ in expand and unexpand.
tabsize
-T’ in ls.
terminal
-T’ in tput and ul. ‘-t’ in wdiff.
text
-a’ in diff.
text-files
-T’ in shar.
time
Used in ls and touch.
timeout
Specify how long to wait before giving up on some operation.
to-stdout
-O’ in tar.
total
-c’ in du.
touch
-t’ in Make, ranlib, and recode.
trace
-t’ in m4.
traditional
-t’ in hello; ‘-W traditional’ in gawk; ‘-G’ in ed, m4, and ptx.
tty
Used in GDB.
typedefs
-t’ in ctags.
typedefs-and-c++
-T’ in ctags.
typeset-mode
-t’ in ptx.
uncompress
-z’ in tar.
unconditional
-u’ in cpio.
undefine
-U’ in m4.
undefined-only
-u’ in nm.
update
-u’ in cp, ctags, mv, tar.
usage
Used in gawk; same as ‘--help’.
uuencode
-B’ in shar.
vanilla-operation
-V’ in shar.
verbose
Print more information about progress. Many programs support this.
verify
-W’ in tar.
version
Print the version number.
version-control
-V’ in cp, ln, mv.
vgrind
-v’ in ctags.
volume
-V’ in tar.
what-if
-W’ in Make.
whole-size-limit
-l’ in shar.
width
-w’ in ls and ptx.
word-regexp
-W’ in ptx.
writable
-T’ in who.
zeros
-z’ in gprof.