On Mon, Jun 15, 2020 at 02:34:24PM -0500, David Wright wrote:
It appears you've also forgotten about man pages as well as google.
The man page explains the difference between hyphenated and
unhyphenated forms, and helpfully even gives a single example
written in both forms:
tar cfv a.tar /etc
tar -cvf a.tar /etc
For those who find that a challenge, there's even a broken-out
format of the same example for them to copy:
tar -c -v -f a.tar /etc
The last one is arguably the best form to use because it complies with system conventions and is less confusing/more intuitive for someone familiar with the linux command line but not with 40 year old pre-standard tar syntax. Unfortunately we're a lazy and cliquish lot so the oddball versions remain more popular. :) We'd also probably be much better off if the tar format just went away, but change is hard.