Is there a specific reason that parse_command_line has this signature? template<typename charT> basic_parsed_options< charT > parse_command_line(int argc, charT * argv, ^^^^^^^ Should this be charT **? const options_description & , int style = 0, function1< std::pair< std::string, std::string >, const std::string & > ext = ext_parser()); This makes parsing nested options (i.e. --param="some more options") unnecessarily difficult. It would be easier if it looked like this: template<typename Int, typename Buf> basic_parsed_options< charT > parse_command_line(Int argc, Buf argv, const options_description & , int style = 0, function1< std::pair< std::string, std::string >, const std::string & > ext = ext_parser()); This way I can use the boost string algorithms to tokenize the suboption string and pass it into another invocation of parse_command_line. Thoughts? Complaints? Smacks upside the head? -Dave