Browse - Programming Tips - How can a bash script accept options with a dash (-) ?

Date: 2010feb21
Language: bash

Q.  How can a bash script accept options with a dash (-) ?

A.  Use the builtin getopts (not the external getopt) like this:

#!/bin/bash

VERBOSE=no
while getopts "v" flag; do
	## echo "$flag" $OPTIND $OPTARG
	if [[ $flag == v ]]; then
		VERBOSE=yes
	fi
done

... later on ...

if [[ $VERBOSE == yes ]]; then
	echo blah
fi