# method 1 use strict; die "you must provide command-line parameters" if ! @ARGV; print "command-line option: $_\n" for @ARGV; # method 2 use strict; use Getopt::Long; GetOptions ( 'useTR' => \{ my $useTR = 0 }, ); unless ( defined $useTR ) { die "Usage: $0 -useTR"; } # Then you use the $useTR variable onwards