Shell script to take an argument list and expand any grouped short options. For example; -lotr becomes -l -o -t -r.Compatible with most shells. Tested on Bash, Dash and BusyBox.

split_opts.sh

#!/bin/bash
#
# Chris Marsh 2016
# Written for compatibility. Tested on Bash and BusyBox.
#
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Takes an argument list and expand any group short arguments into seperate
# options. 
# Usage:  eval "set -- $(split_opts "$@")"
#         eval "set -- $(split_opts "-lotr -file /some/file.txt)"
# The first example passes the cli argument list which returns a split version.
# The second example would return '-l' '-o' '-t' '-r' '-f' '/some/file.txt'
split_opts() {
    local args=""
    for arg in "$@"; do
        if [ "${#arg}" -gt 1 ] && [ "${arg:0:1}" = "-" ]; then
            if [ "${arg:1:1}" = "-" ]; then
                args="$args '$arg'";
            else
                for i in $(seq 1 ${#arg}); do
                    opt=${arg:$i:1}
                    if [ ${#opt} -gt 0 ]; then
                        args="$args '-$opt'";
                    fi
                done;
            fi
        else
            args="$args '$arg'";
        fi
    done
    echo $args
}

eval "set -- $(split_opts "$@")"
while [[ $1 ]]; do
    case "$1" in
        '-l'|'--lord')
            echo "'lord' (-l) was selected"
            ;;
        '-o'|'--of')
            echo "'of' (-o) was selected"
            ;;
        '-t'|'--the')
            echo "'The' (-t) was selected"
            ;;
        '-r'|'--rings')
            echo "'Rings' (-r) was selected"
            ;;
        '-f'|'--file')
            file=$2
            shift
            echo "'File' (-f) was selected and was ... $file"
            ;;
        -*)
            echo "Option '$1' is not valid.\nTry '$0 --help for more information."
            ;;
        *)
            echo "Extra option was used. This may be intended or an error: $1"
            ;;
    esac
    shift
done

Arguments with spaces, assuming passed into the app in quotes, are preserved.
No order is imposed on the arguments.
Options which take a second argument, eg (-f some_file.txt) will always use the next argument.
Eg
$ MyApp -rwf file.txt
Will work. -> -r -w -f file.text ... -f find 'file.txt'
$ MyApp -rfw file.txt
will not. -> -r -f -w file.text .... -f finds

$ ./split_opts.sh -r -f "/my/file thing.txt" --lord
'Rings' (-r) was selected
'File' (-f) was selected and was ... /my/file thing.txt
'lord' (-l) was selected