SOS Formal Grammar

Standardized Operations Syntax (SOS) replaces loosely defined POSIX guidelines with a strict CFG based on the Standardized Operations Syntax.

Mandatory Flag Permutation

To prevent "greedy" consumption of positional arguments and ensure unambiguous parsing:

  • ENFORCED: --flag=value

  • DEPRECATED: -f value

Every long-form flag MUST use the equals sign for assignment. Positional arguments follow flags and are never consumed by them.

Key Syntax Rules

  1. Short Flags: -v, -f (atomic, no value assignment via space).

  2. Long Flags: --verbose, --file=path/to/script.

  3. Double Dash: -- terminates all flag parsing; all subsequent arguments are treated as positionals.

  4. Ordering: Tools must not be sensitive to flag ordering among themselves.