How about supporting -- to break out of the option loop? The rest of the script will support files named --help just fine but the option parser will just spit out usage information. [...] > +while : ; do > + case "$1" in > + -n) > + show_only=true > + ;; > + -v) > + verbose=--verbose > + ;; > + -f) > + remove_files=true > + ;; > + -*) > + usage > + ;; > + *) > + break > + ;; > + esac > + shift > +done [...] Also I don't think the -f option's whitespace matches the others... -- Shawn. - : send the line "unsubscribe git" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html