> as is convention for named options on the command line.

Gosh, I really wish that people would follow a convention for named options on the command line. I don't even really care which one, as long as they were all consistent in picking one.

I've seen /, -, --, and +. Any other ones leap to mind?

I wonder if there's a complete list somewhere.

The usual convention is a single hyphen for short-form (single-letter) options, and a double hyphen for long-form options:

    > python -v

or

    > python —-version

It’s good practice to offer both. It should also be possible to set multiple options at once by appending one after another in short form following a single hyphen:

    > ls -alR

is the same as

    > ls -a -l -R

Long-form options are technically a GNU thing [0] and are not mentioned in the POSIX standard, but they’re conventional enough now that I think it’s good practice to include them in any CLI program.

There are also a number of looser conventions about the meaning of certain short-form options [1].

0. https://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/html_node/Command_002dLin...

1. http://www.catb.org/esr/writings/taoup/html/ch10s05.html

Thanks, this is what I meant in my original comment. I said "named" when I really meant "long-form," as you said.

> python -v

That's verbose mode, not Version. You want a capitalized V.

option=value, option:value, option/value and even option\value (without dashes). Not joking.