def opt_string2dict(opt_string):
 opt_dict = {}
 for item in opt_string.split('-'):
  item = item.strip()
  if (' ' in item):
   (opt, value) = item.split(' ', 1)
   opt_dict[('-%s' % opt)] = value
  elif (item != ''):
   opt_dict[('-%s' % item)] = None
 for (key, value) in opt_dict.iteritems():
  if (value and value.isdigit()):
   opt_dict[key] = int(value)
 return opt_dict

def opt_string2dict ( opt_string ) : opt_dict = { } for item in opt_string . split ( '-' ) : item = item . strip ( ) if ( ' ' in item ) : ( opt , value ) = item . split ( ' ' , 1 ) opt_dict [ ( '-%s' % opt ) ] = value elif ( item != '' ) : opt_dict [ ( '-%s' % item ) ] = None for ( key , value ) in opt_dict . iteritems ( ) : if ( value and value . isdigit ( ) ) : opt_dict [ key ] = int ( value ) return opt_dict
breaks the mkfs .