@noelrappin

page 240, last paragraph, lines 5-7 : the short option can have a space

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … There’s one slight bit of weirdness here, which is
that a required argument is separated from a long option by a space but is flush against a
short option, so -xTHING

From the doc and experimentation, the marker can be separated by a space from the short option (it MUST be separated from a long option).

parser.on('-x XXX' … or parser.on('-xXXX' … have the same effect.

require "optparse"

parser = OptionParser.new

parser.on('-x XXX', '--xxx', 'Required argument via short name') do |value|
  puts "option -x is '-x XXX'"
end

parser.on('-zZZZ', '--zzz', 'Required argument via short name') do |value|
  puts "option -z is '-zZZZ'"
end

parser.parse!

% ruby -w rubyworld/option_doc.rb --help
Usage: option_doc [options]
    -x, --xxx XXX                    Required argument via short name
    -z, --zzzZZZ                     Required argument via short name

% ruby -w rubyworld/option_doc.rb -x x
option -x is '-x XXX'
% ruby -w rubyworld/option_doc.rb -z x
option -z is '-zZZZ'