sqlmapproject/sqlmap · error · SystemExit

[!] detected usage of long-option without a starting hyphen

Error message

[!] detected usage of long-option without a starting hyphen ('%s')

What it means

Error "[!] detected usage of long-option without a starting hyphen ('%s')" thrown in sqlmapproject/sqlmap.

Source

Thrown at lib/parse/cmdline.py:1184

                argv[i] = argv[i][:-1]
                conf.skipThreadCheck = True
            elif argv[i] == "--version":
                print(VERSION_STRING.split('/')[-1])
                raise SystemExit
            elif argv[i] in ("-h", "--help"):
                advancedHelp = False
                for group in get_groups(parser)[:]:
                    found = False
                    for option in get_actions(group):
                        if option.dest not in BASIC_HELP_ITEMS:
                            option.help = SUPPRESS
                        else:
                            found = True
                    if not found:
                        get_groups(parser).remove(group)
            elif '=' in argv[i] and not argv[i].startswith('-') and argv[i].split('=')[0] in longOptions and re.search(r"\A-{1,2}\w", argv[i - 1]) is None:
                dataToStdout("[!] detected usage of long-option without a starting hyphen ('%s')\n" % argv[i])
                raise SystemExit

        for verbosity in [_ for _ in argv if re.search(r"\A\-v+\Z", _)]:  # Note: list (not a generator) - the loop mutates argv (del), which would desync a live generator and leave a stray '-v' for argparse to choke on
            try:
                if argv.index(verbosity) == len(argv) - 1 or not argv[argv.index(verbosity) + 1].isdigit():
                    conf.verbose = verbosity.count('v')
                    del argv[argv.index(verbosity)]
            except (IndexError, ValueError):
                pass

        try:
            (args, _) = parser.parse_known_args(argv) if hasattr(parser, "parse_known_args") else parser.parse_args(argv)
        except UnicodeEncodeError as ex:
            dataToStdout("\n[!] %s\n" % getUnicode(ex.object.encode("unicode-escape")))
            raise SystemExit
        except SystemExit:
            if "-h" in argv and not advancedHelp:
                dataToStdout("\n[!] to see full list of options run with '-hh'\n")
            raise

View on GitHub (pinned to 0a35b20e39)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at lib/parse/cmdline.py:1184 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of sqlmapproject/sqlmap@0a35b20e39 (2026-08-26). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d5e1a12baaf152c0. Report an issue: GitHub.