Linux – Syslinux , what does ‘–‘ do

syslinux

What does the '–' do in a normal syslinux config ? I used to see "quiet" after that , but don't know why.

Here's an example from Ubuntu 12.04:

label install
    menu label ^Install
    menu default
    kernel ubuntu-installer/amd64/linux
    append vga=788 initrd=ubuntu-installer/amd64/initrd.gz -- quiet

Best Answer

Many commandline tools take arguments. There are one-letter, short, arguments and ... long arguments. They change the default behaviour of such a tool.

Short arguments are prefixed with a single dash - Long arguments are prefixed with a double dash --

Short arguments can be combined into ls -l -t -r is the same as ls -ltr. Long arguments need to be distinguished from combined singles, and to do that, a long argument is prefixed with a double dash ls -l -t --reverse or ls -lt --reverse

Long arguments are easier to remember, short ones faster to type.

Most commands have a manual page which explains these arguments in detail. Eg. man ls for the manual page of the ls command which I used in my examples above.

Related Question