disappearing getopt argument with only long options

[dotysan]

I'd like to use only long form options. However...

$ getopt --long special: -- foo bar --special baz
 --special 'baz' -- 'bar'

Where did foo go?!?

Are we really forced to also use short options?

$ getopt --options s --long special: -- foo bar --special baz
 --special 'baz' -- 'foo' 'bar'

[karelzak]

If you do not define --options,-o, then the first parameter is used instead of the --options.

 getopt --long special: -- foo bar --special baz

is the same as

getopt --options foo --long special: -- bar --special baz

See man page:

getopt [options] [--] optstring parameters
getopt [options] -o|--options optstring [options] [--] parameters

So, for your use case, the solution is

getopt -o '' --long special: -- foo bar --special baz

It seems strange, but it was probably originally designed mostly for short options.

[dotysan]

Thx, @karelzak!