Flags have always been poorly standardized outside of system apps and tools. Generally, -u should equal --update (and depending on how the app was written, may warn for --up: "Did you mean --update?") Single tick flags are generally combinable: -ua or -ls. I have seen long single tick flags somewhere, but can't remember where. (Your -update example.) Various python libraries than handle flags have helped a ton with getting people to use the same patterns, so that is nice.

You just summed up my first experience with systemd many years ago.

systemctl != sysctl. Both somehow got wedged into the same index in my brain and took years for me to correct. On top of that, was reversed to . (Or was it the other way around?)

I was convinced from my first experience with systemd that the person who wrote it was the purest form of evil. (It's leveled out a bit over the years, so it's tolerable to use these days. Still not a fan though.)