Console_Getopt and 'ambiguous' options

Gents, and probably directly Andrei, We've been using Console_Getopts to quite a big success - it's very nice to use a package like this and not have to worry about decoding the user input, but instead be able to focus on the real development work. Recently we extended the functionality of one of our scripts, and we started getting these error messages about being ambiguous: Error: Console_Getopt: option --type is ambiguous. After a bit of head scratching I notice that this is actually expected behaviour in the manual. http://pear.php.net/manual/en/package.console.console-getopt.getopt.php --- Error code Error message Reason Solution NULL "Console_Getopt: option --$opt is ambiguous" Two or more long options starts with the same character. Change the naming of the options. It is also possible that the error is caused by a typing mistake. --- What's the reson for this (shortcoming)? (AFAIK this limits the options to 26 [english]) We (exclusively) use the long options to promote legibility and prevent cryptic 'programmer-centric' command line options. Wouldn't it be possible to separate the long options on Name: start with "--" ends with "=" Value: after "=" till " " (space). - or if first character after "=" is "'" or """ then till the ending "'" or """. This would allow "any number" of options and more importantly options with any names to be used. Thanks! /Jocke