2QdxY4RzWzUUiLuE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote: > Now who told tar and ps that they don't need the dash? ;-) probably you didn't *really* want a history lesson (which i'm not *really* qualified to give), but in the 1980s there was an effort to standardize all this. earlier commands had, or hadn't, used a dash. dashes were now considered a requirement. but, there would have been a grandfather clause for, e.g., ps, tar, and friends. slightly later, but still, i think, in the 1980s, long options were standardized to use two dashes. but, again, grandfathered in were no dashes (like dd), one dash (like [n]mh). on the main subject, but still historical, i am reminded of the arguments we had about GUI versus command line interfaces for actual computer operators (tapes, disk drives, print out, card readers, etc.). for novice operators, or even experienced operators using rare commands, a GUI was desirable. for experienced operators doing the same thing over and over again, the command line. (sadly, i don't see the relevance here!) cheers, Greg
