4.3.1 --usage ¶

If you give this option, the program will not run. It will only print a very concise message showing the options and arguments. Everything within square brackets ([]) is optional. For example, here are the first and last two lines of Crop’s --usage is shown:

$ astcrop --usage
Usage: astcrop [-Do?IPqSVW] [-d INT] [-h INT] [-r INT] [-w INT]
            [-x INT] [-y INT] [-c INT] [-p STR] [-N INT] [--deccol=INT]
            ....
            [--setusrconf] [--usage] [--version] [--wcsmode]
            [ASCIIcatalog] FITSimage(s).fits

There are no explanations on the options, just their short and long names shown separately. After the program name, the short format of all the options that do not require a value (on/off options) is displayed. Those that do require a value then follow in separate brackets, each displaying the format of the input they want, see Options. Since all options are optional, they are shown in square brackets, but arguments can also be optional. For example, in this example, a catalog name is optional and is only required in some modes. This is a standard method of displaying optional arguments for all GNU software.