Hello, Following the discussion in http://lists.boost.org/boost-users/2009/12/54327.php, let me then request that the feature be implemented in program_options. The 2 systems that I know a little about are POSIX(thanks Ovanes) and Windows: .POSIX: Typically, the command line would options with the '-' being the delimiter, like for the 'ls' program on a linux system: ls --help .... -a, --all do not ignore entries starting with . -A, --almost-all do not list implied . and .. --author with -l, print the author of each file -b, --escape print octal escapes for nongraphic characters --block-size=SIZE use SIZE-byte blocks --help print this .... .Windows dir /?: Typically, the '/' is the delimiter. ... /B Uses bare format (no heading information or summary). ... So in fact, I have 2 feature requests :-) : 1. Detect automatically the OS platform and the appropriate delimiter ( / or - or -- ) for win or POSIX 2. Detect the special option (help) that dislays the usage, which is /? on windows and --help on POSIX, and treat it symbolically in the user code calling program_options, ie not having to test for the "help" string as shown in the tutorial. I can create the trac tickets if preferred, Regards,