For which program/utility/script?
The flags are defined by the author(s) of the specific program/utility/script you are using.
For most programs that come with Linux you can type "man <program>" to get a manual for it that will tell you what each flag does.
For example if you're using the "ls" command and you type "man ls" it will contain information like:
Quote:
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-f do not sort, enable -aU, disable -lst
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and
Quote:
-L, --dereference
when showing file information for a symbolic link, show informa-
tion for the file the link references rather than for the link
itself
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However if you're using the "vim" command and you type "man vim" you'll see completely different meanings for these flags as used with that command:
Quote:
-f Foreground. For the GUI version, Vim will not fork and
detach from the shell it was started in. On the Amiga, Vim
is not restarted to open a new window. This option should
be used when Vim is executed by a program that will wait
for the edit session to finish (e.g. mail). On the Amiga
the ":sh" and ":!" commands will not work.
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and
Note that all programs do not have all flags. For example if you ran "man who" you'd see it does have flags but none of them are "-f" or "-L".
Also note that Linux is case sensitive so you might have for example both "-g" and "-G" with different meanings for the same command.
Flags
