Options options = new Options(); CommandLineParser parser = new DefaultParser(); try { CommandLine cmd = parser.parse(options, args); if (cmd.hasOption("help")) { } if (cmd.hasOption("verbose")) { } String filePath = cmd.getOptionValue("file"); } catch (ParseException e) { } HelpFormatter formatter = new HelpFormatter(); String[] remainingArgs = cmd.getArgs(); options.addOption(OptionBuilder.withLongOpt("file") .hasArg() .isRequired() .create("f"));