[TUHS] Of flags and keyletters

[Aaron]

Having written the first versions of getopt(3), getopt(1), and associated man pages around 1979, I do not recall any real orthodoxy in the use of ‘options’ vs ‘flags.’ In general, ‘flags’ seemed to be reserved for single arguments in the form of ‘-x’

I wrote getopt, and rewrote many commands to use it because I got annoyed at trying to remember which commands required “-x -y -z” vs “-xyz”, and which flags required or allowed optional  arguments.

Aaron 



> On Mar 2, 2024, at 5:22 PM, jnc at mercury.lcs.mit.edu wrote:
> 
> 
>> 
>> From: Bakul Shah
> 
>> Use of "flag" for this purpose seems strange. "option" makes more sense.
> 
> People on this list seem to forget that there were computers before UNIX.
> 
> The _syntax_ of "-f" probably predates any UNIX; Multics used it extensively.
> See the "Introduction to Multics", MAC-TR-123, January 1974 (a little after
> UNIX V1, but I expect I could probably track it back further in time, if I
> cared to put in the effort); pg. 3-24.
> 
> Interestingly, I looked though the CTSS manual, and CTSS did not seem to use
> this syntax for flag arguments: see, e.g., the SAVE command (section AH.3.03).
> 
> 
> The _name_ "flag" came in early on UNIX. (Multics called them "arguments";
> see above, pg. 3-27, top line.) We can see this happen - see:
> 
>  http://squoze.net/UNIX/v1man/man1/du
> 
> which calls the "-a" and "-s" "arguments"; but in:
> 
>  http://squoze.net/UNIX/v1man/man1/ld
> 
> "-s", "-u", etc are called "flag arguments".
> 
> Long enough ago that certainty about the etymology/rationale is probably now
> lost.
> 
>    Noel