Although today you could say POSIX is the reason for many things including the use of "--" I hesitate to mention I and many others used that convention long before as a standard part of many UNIX utilities. Like many other such things, you build things first and by the time you standardize, ...
-----Original Message----- From: Python-list <python-list-bounces+avi.e.gross=gmail....@python.org> On Behalf Of 2qdxy4rzwzuui...@potatochowder.com Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2023 7:12 AM To: python-list@python.org Subject: Re: How to make argparse accept "-4^2+5.3*abs(-2-1)/2" string argument? On 2023-01-29 at 16:51:20 +1100, Cameron Simpson <c...@cskk.id.au> wrote: > They're unrelated. As others have mentioned, "--" is _extremely_ > common; almost _all_ UNIX command like programmes which handle -* > style options honour the "--" convention. _argparse_ itself honours > that convention, as does getopt etc. And why do UNIX programs behave this way? Because POSIX says they should: https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/V1_chap12.html -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list