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docs/options-taking-varying-arguments.md

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+# Options taking varying numbers of option-arguments
+
+The README covers declaring and using options, and mostly parsing will work the way you and your users expect. This page covers some special cases
+and subtle issues in depth.
+
+- [Options taking varying numbers of option-arguments](#options-taking-varying-numbers-of-option-arguments)
+  - [Parsing ambiguity](#parsing-ambiguity)
+    - [Alternative: Make  `--` part of your syntax](#alternative-make----part-of-your-syntax)
+    - [Alternative: Put options last](#alternative-put-options-last)
+    - [Alternative: Use options instead of command-arguments](#alternative-use-options-instead-of-command-arguments)
+  - [Combining short options, and options taking arguments](#combining-short-options-and-options-taking-arguments)
+    - [Combining short options as if boolean](#combining-short-options-as-if-boolean)
+  - [Terminology](#terminology)
+
+Certain options take a varying number of arguments:
+
+```js
+program
+   .option('-c, --compress [percentage]') // 0 or 1
+   .option('--preprocess <file...>') // 1 or more
+   .option('--test [name...]') // 0 or more
+```
+
+This page uses examples with options taking 0 or 1 arguments, but the discussions also apply to variadic options taking more arguments.
+
+## Parsing ambiguity
+
+There is a potential downside to be aware of. If a command has both
+command-arguments and options with varying option-arguments, this introduces a parsing ambiguity which may affect the user of your program.
+Commander looks for option-arguments first, but the user may
+intend the argument following the option as a command or command-argument.
+
+```js
+program
+  .name('cook')
+  .arguments('[technique]')
+  .option('-i, --ingredient [ingredient]', 'add cheese or given ingredient')
+  .action((technique, options) => {
+    console.log(`technique: ${technique}`);
+    const ingredient = (options.ingredient === true) ? 'cheese' : options.ingredient;
+    console.log(`ingredient: ${ingredient}`);
+  });
+
+program.parse();
+```
+
+```sh
+$ cook scrambled
+technique: scrambled
+ingredient: undefined
+
+$ cook -i
+technique: undefined
+ingredient: cheese
+
+$ cook -i egg
+technique: undefined
+ingredient: egg
+
+$ cook -i scrambled  # oops
+technique: undefined
+ingredient: scrambled
+```
+
+The explicit way to resolve this is use `--` to indicate the end of the options and option-arguments:
+
+```sh
+$ node cook.js -i -- egg
+technique: egg
+ingredient: cheese
+```
+
+If you want to avoid your users needing to learn when to use `--`, there are a few approaches you could take.
+
+### Alternative: Make  `--` part of your syntax
+
+Rather than trying to teach your users what `--` does, you could just make it part of your syntax.
+
+```js
+program.usage('[options] -- [technique]');
+```
+
+```sh
+$ cook --help
+Usage: cook [options] -- [technique]
+
+Options:
+  -i, --ingredient [ingredient]  add cheese or given ingredient
+  -h, --help                     display help for command
+
+$ cook -- scrambled
+technique: scrambled
+ingredient: undefined
+
+$ cook -i -- scrambled
+technique: scrambled
+ingredient: cheese
+```
+
+### Alternative: Put options last
+
+Commander follows the GNU convention for parsing and allows options before or after the command-arguments, or intermingled.
+So by putting the options last, the command-arguments do not get confused with the option-arguments.
+
+```js
+program.usage('[technique] [options]');
+```
+
+```sh
+$ cook --help
+Usage: cook [technique] [options]
+
+Options:
+  -i, --ingredient [ingredient]  add cheese or given ingredient
+  -h, --help                     display help for command
+
+$ node cook.js scrambled -i
+technique: scrambled
+ingredient: cheese
+```
+
+### Alternative: Use options instead of command-arguments
+
+This is a bit more radical, but completely avoids the parsing ambiguity!
+
+```js
+program
+  .name('cook')
+  .option('-t, --technique <technique>', 'cooking technique')
+  .option('-i, --ingredient [ingredient]', 'add cheese or given ingredient')
+  .action((options) => {
+    console.log(`technique: ${options.technique}`);
+    const ingredient = (options.ingredient === true) ? 'cheese' : options.ingredient;
+    console.log(`ingredient: ${ingredient}`);
+  });
+```
+
+```sh
+$ cook -i -t scrambled
+technique: scrambled
+ingredient: cheese
+```
+## Combining short options, and options taking arguments
+
+Multiple boolean short options can be combined after a single `-`, like `ls -al`. You can also include just
+a single short option which might take a value, as any following characters will
+be taken as the value.
+
+This means that by default you can not combine short options which may take an argument.
+
+```js
+program
+  .name('collect')
+  .option("-o, --other [count]", "other serving(s)")
+  .option("-v, --vegan [count]", "vegan serving(s)")
+  .option("-l, --halal [count]", "halal serving(s)");
+program.parse(process.argv);
+
+const opts = program.opts();
+if (opts.other) console.log(`other servings: ${opts.other}`);
+if (opts.vegan) console.log(`vegan servings: ${opts.vegan}`);
+if (opts.halal) console.log(`halal servings: ${opts.halal}`);
+```
+
+```sh
+$ collect -o 3
+other servings: 3
+$ collect -o3 
+other servings: 3
+$ collect -l -v
+vegan servings: true
+halal servings: true
+$ collect -lv  # oops
+halal servings: v
+```
+
+If you wish to use options taking varying arguments as boolean options, you need to specify them separately.
+
+```
+$ collect -a -v -l
+any servings: true
+vegan servings: true
+halal servings: true
+```
+
+### Combining short options as if boolean
+
+Before Commander v5, combining a short option and the value was not supported, and combined short flags were always expanded.
+So `-avl` expanded to `-a -v -l`.
+
+If you want backwards compatible behaviour, or prefer combining short options as booleans to combining short option and value, 
+you may change the behavior.
+
+To modify the parsing of options taking an optional value:
+
+```js
+.combineFlagAndOptionalValue(true)  // `-v45` is treated like `--vegan=45`, this is the default behaviour
+.combineFlagAndOptionalValue(false) // `-vl` is treated like `-v -l`
+```
+
+## Terminology
+
+_Work in progress: this section may move to the main README, or a page of its own._
+
+The command line arguments are made up of options, option-arguments, commands, and command-arguments.
+
+| Term | Explanation |
+| --- | --- |
+| option | an argument which is a `-` followed by a character, or `--` followed by a word (or hyphenated words), like `-s` or `--short` |
+| option-argument| some options can take an argument |
+| command | a program or command can have subcommands |
+| command-argument | argument for the command (and not an option or option-argument) |
+
+For example:
+
+```sh
+my-utility command -o --option option-argument command-argument-1 command-argument-2
+```
+
+In other references options are sometimes called flags, and command-arguments are sometimes called positional arguments or operands.