short-only options

[major0]

I have a situation which effectively requires short-only options and wondering if/how that can be implemented.

As an example GNU/POSIX use case, I need the same/similar functionality as is found with the GNU ls command's --format=<format> and -Aa options.

E.g.
ls --format=<across|commas|horizontal|long|single-column|verbose|vertical>

The format can also be selected via:

• -x = --format=across
• -m = --format=commas
• -x = --format=horizontal
• -l = --format=long
• -1 = --format=single-column
• -l = --format=verbose
• -C = --format=vertical

In the above cases I would need a short-only option for the -x flag that acts as a selection and stores a per-determined value into a format variable.

Similarly, I need to support the equivalent of ls's -a and -A where either flag stores a pre-determined value into an always variable, this variable will default to something like Never, but will be set to Always should the -a flag be specified, or be set to AlmostAlways should the -A flag be specified. Subsequently, passing -aAaAaA shou.ld toggle the always variable for each occurrence of either flag, with the final -A setting the always variable to AlmostAlways.

I was thinking I be able to implement both of these using an Action, assuming I can set these up as short-only flags.