To amplify mkmcconn's neat RTM answer, Getopt::Long does do exactly what you need.

I'm used to the very C-ish Getopt::Std, which is pretty much a reimplementation of the C function, so expected the same out of Getopt::Long, only word-oriented and using the BSDish -- flag indicator. Wrongo.

Getopt::Long has all sorts of DWIMmery to accept flags with one or two dashes, increment, and anything else. So, you can just use:

GetOptions('v+', \$verbose);

and you will get the behavior you desire from

scriptname -v -v -v

Thanks, mkmcconn!