From 72c059b6bc966b8702e339c46ffd830a85ddb372 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: seanseannery <seansemail@example.com>
Date: Sat, 7 Mar 2026 16:49:35 -0800
Subject: [PATCH] fix(flags): parse all flags regardless of help flag position

Strip -h, --help, and -? from args before pflag parsing so that flags
appearing after the help flag are still parsed. Previously --help -D
would short-circuit pflag and discard -D.
---
 internal/flag_parser.go      | 32 ++++++++++++--------------------
 internal/flag_parser_test.go | 18 ++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 30 insertions(+), 20 deletions(-)

diff --git a/internal/flag_parser.go b/internal/flag_parser.go
index cae1599..5a20a96 100644
--- a/internal/flag_parser.go
+++ b/internal/flag_parser.go
@@ -64,33 +64,25 @@ Flags:`)
 		fs.PrintDefaults()
 	}
 
-	// -? is not a valid pflag name; strip it before fs.Parse so other flags
-	// (like -D) are still parsed and returned alongside ErrHelp.
-	helpQuestion := false
+	// Strip all help tokens (-h, --help, -?) before fs.Parse so that pflag
+	// does not short-circuit and skip flags that appear after the help flag
+	// (e.g. "--help -D /path" must still parse -D).
+	helpRequested := false
+	filtered := make([]string, 0, len(osArgs))
 	for _, a := range osArgs {
-		if a == "-?" {
-			helpQuestion = true
-			break
+		switch a {
+		case "-h", "--help", "-?":
+			helpRequested = true
+		default:
+			filtered = append(filtered, a)
 		}
 	}
-	if helpQuestion {
-		filtered := make([]string, 0, len(osArgs))
-		for _, a := range osArgs {
-			if a != "-?" {
-				filtered = append(filtered, a)
-			}
-		}
-		osArgs = filtered
-	}
 
-	if err := fs.Parse(osArgs); err != nil {
-		if errors.Is(err, pflag.ErrHelp) {
-			return OpsFlags{Directory: *dir, DryRun: *dryRun, List: *list, Silent: *silent, Version: *ver}, nil, ErrHelp
-		}
+	if err := fs.Parse(filtered); err != nil {
 		return OpsFlags{}, nil, err
 	}
 
-	if helpQuestion {
+	if helpRequested {
 		fs.Usage()
 		return OpsFlags{Directory: *dir, DryRun: *dryRun, List: *list, Silent: *silent, Version: *ver}, nil, ErrHelp
 	}
diff --git a/internal/flag_parser_test.go b/internal/flag_parser_test.go
index ba9fe34..fe3de6e 100644
--- a/internal/flag_parser_test.go
+++ b/internal/flag_parser_test.go
@@ -143,6 +143,24 @@ func TestParseOpsFlags(t *testing.T) {
 			wantFlags: OpsFlags{Directory: "/some/path"},
 			wantErr:   ErrHelp,
 		},
+		{
+			name:      "--help before -D preserves Directory",
+			input:     []string{"--help", "-D", "/some/path"},
+			wantFlags: OpsFlags{Directory: "/some/path"},
+			wantErr:   ErrHelp,
+		},
+		{
+			name:      "-h before -D preserves Directory",
+			input:     []string{"-h", "-D", "/some/path"},
+			wantFlags: OpsFlags{Directory: "/some/path"},
+			wantErr:   ErrHelp,
+		},
+		{
+			name:      "-? before -D preserves Directory",
+			input:     []string{"-?", "-D", "/some/path"},
+			wantFlags: OpsFlags{Directory: "/some/path"},
+			wantErr:   ErrHelp,
+		},
 		{
 			name:      "-D with empty string value",
 			input:     []string{"-D", "", "prod", "cmd"},