set -- -q -w e -r -t -y echo "*** no OPTIND, optstring:'w:et' args:$*" var=QWERTY OPTARG=ASDFGH while getopts "w:et" var; do echo "var:'$var' OPTIND:$OPTIND OPTARG:'$OPTARG'" OPTARG=ASDFGH done echo "exited: var:'$var' OPTIND:$OPTIND OPTARG:'$OPTARG'" set -- -w 1 -w2 -w -e -e -t -t echo "*** OPTIND=0, optstring:'w:et' args:$*" OPTIND=0 while getopts "w:et" var; do echo "var:'$var' OPTIND:$OPTIND OPTARG:'$OPTARG'" OPTARG=ASDFGH done echo "exited: var:'$var' OPTIND:$OPTIND OPTARG:'$OPTARG'"