What Does ‐‐ (double dash) Mean In SSH Shell Command? nixCraft Updated Tutorials/Posts

What does a double-Dash in shell commands mean?

In other words, a -- (double-dash) in a shell command indicates the end of options and incapacitates further option processing for the Unix or Linux command.

## safe examples ##
ssh nixcraft@server1.cyberciti.biz -- --commandName --arg1 --arg2

This kind of behavior is mostly defined and handled by the ssh command and not by your bash/ksh/csh/sh/fish or any other Unix shell. This is also true for many other Linux and macOS commands.

When is it needed?

So now you know more about double-dash, and specific Unix commands only support it. Sadly, not all Linux commands support the double-dash syntax and feature. So when is it needed? For example you can not create or view a file named --file or -f using cat command, run:

## This should fail ##
cat --file
cat -f

Instead try passing double dash “--” to instruct cat command not to try to parse what comes after command line options:

## This should work ##
cat -- --file
cat -- -f

Let us try to remove a file named ‘--file‘:

rm --file # fail #
rm -- '--file' # works

You can pass options to the rm command as follows:

rm -v -i -- '--file'
rm -f -v -i -- '--f'

What does “--” (double-dash) mean under Linux, macOS or Unix-like OS?

Shell script example

We can use the lxc command command as follows to update the Linux container powered by LXD as follows:

lxc exec bash-wiki -- apt update
lxc exec bash-wiki -- apt -y upgrade
lxc exec nginx-proxy --env DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive -- sh -c "/usr/bin/apt-get update && /usr/bin/apt-get -y upgrade"

Not all commands support -- syntax

A word of caution, not all commands support -- syntax, and it will not work with all Unix or Linux commands. For instance:

/usr/bin/echo -- -n
echo -- --test

From bash documentation:

Unless otherwise noted, each builtin command documented in this section as accepting options preceded by - accepts -- to signify the end of the options. The :, true, false, and test/[ builtins do not accept options and do not treat -- specially. The exit, logout, return command, break command, continue command, let command, and shift command builtins accept and process arguments beginning with - without requiring --. Other builtins that accept arguments but are not specified as accepting options interpret arguments beginning with - as invalid options and require -- to prevent this interpretation.

Conclusion

We explained what the double-dash (--) do in shell commands or commands executed using ssh. The first -- command-line argument that is not an option-argument should be accepted as a delimiter indicating the end of options. Any following arguments should be treated as operands, even if they begin with the ‘-‘ or ‘--‘ character. It is a safety feature, but we also know that not all Linux/Unix commands support such options. You may also want to read the following tutorial useful:

Make sure you read bash man page by tying the following man command or help command for internal commands:
man bash
man ssh
man rm
help :
help echo
help printf
help let
help exit
help logout


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