diff --git a/src/test/core/org/apache/hadoop/fs/TestCommandFormat.java b/src/test/core/org/apache/hadoop/fs/TestCommandFormat.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3fdc253c16
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+++ b/src/test/core/org/apache/hadoop/fs/TestCommandFormat.java
@@ -0,0 +1,212 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.hadoop.fs;
+
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.*;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.HashSet;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Set;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.shell.CommandFormat;
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.shell.CommandFormat.NotEnoughArgumentsException;
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.shell.CommandFormat.TooManyArgumentsException;
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.shell.CommandFormat.UnknownOptionException;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+/**
+ * This class tests the command line parsing
+ */
+public class TestCommandFormat {
+  private static List<String> args;
+  private static List<String> expectedArgs;
+  private static Set<String> expectedOpts;
+  
+  @Before
+  public void setUp() {
+    args = new ArrayList<String>();
+    expectedOpts = new HashSet<String>();
+    expectedArgs = new ArrayList<String>();
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testNoArgs() {
+    checkArgLimits(null, 0, 0);
+    checkArgLimits(null, 0, 1);    
+    checkArgLimits(NotEnoughArgumentsException.class, 1, 1);
+    checkArgLimits(NotEnoughArgumentsException.class, 1, 2);
+  }
+  
+  @Test
+  public void testOneArg() {
+    args = listOf("a");
+    expectedArgs = listOf("a");
+
+    checkArgLimits(TooManyArgumentsException.class, 0, 0);
+    checkArgLimits(null, 0, 1);    
+    checkArgLimits(null, 1, 1);
+    checkArgLimits(null, 1, 2);
+    checkArgLimits(NotEnoughArgumentsException.class, 2, 3);
+  }
+  
+  @Test
+  public void testTwoArgs() {
+    args = listOf("a", "b");
+    expectedArgs = listOf("a", "b");
+
+    checkArgLimits(TooManyArgumentsException.class, 0, 0);
+    checkArgLimits(TooManyArgumentsException.class, 1, 1);
+    checkArgLimits(null, 1, 2);
+    checkArgLimits(null, 2, 2);
+    checkArgLimits(null, 2, 3);
+    checkArgLimits(NotEnoughArgumentsException.class, 3, 3);
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testOneOpt() {
+    args = listOf("-a");
+    expectedOpts = setOf("a");
+    
+    checkArgLimits(UnknownOptionException.class, 0, 0);
+    checkArgLimits(null, 0, 0, "a", "b");
+    checkArgLimits(NotEnoughArgumentsException.class, 1, 1, "a", "b");
+  }
+  
+  @Test
+  public void testTwoOpts() {
+    args = listOf("-a", "-b");
+    expectedOpts = setOf("a", "b");
+    
+    checkArgLimits(UnknownOptionException.class, 0, 0);
+    checkArgLimits(null, 0, 0, "a", "b");
+    checkArgLimits(null, 0, 1, "a", "b");
+    checkArgLimits(NotEnoughArgumentsException.class, 1, 1, "a", "b");
+  }
+  
+  @Test
+  public void testOptArg() {
+    args = listOf("-a", "b");
+    expectedOpts = setOf("a");
+    expectedArgs = listOf("b");
+
+    checkArgLimits(UnknownOptionException.class, 0, 0);
+    checkArgLimits(TooManyArgumentsException.class, 0, 0, "a", "b");
+    checkArgLimits(null, 0, 1, "a", "b");
+    checkArgLimits(null, 1, 1, "a", "b");
+    checkArgLimits(null, 1, 2, "a", "b");
+    checkArgLimits(NotEnoughArgumentsException.class, 2, 2, "a", "b");
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testArgOpt() {
+    args = listOf("b", "-a");
+    expectedOpts = setOf("a");
+    expectedArgs = listOf("b");
+
+    checkArgLimits(UnknownOptionException.class, 0, 0);
+    checkArgLimits(TooManyArgumentsException.class, 0, 0, "a", "b");
+    checkArgLimits(null, 0, 1, "a", "b");
+    checkArgLimits(null, 1, 1, "a", "b");
+    checkArgLimits(null, 1, 2, "a", "b");
+    checkArgLimits(NotEnoughArgumentsException.class, 2, 2, "a", "b");
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testOptArgOpt() {
+    args = listOf("a", "-b", "c");
+    expectedOpts = setOf("b");
+    expectedArgs = listOf("a", "c");
+
+    checkArgLimits(UnknownOptionException.class, 0, 0);
+    checkArgLimits(TooManyArgumentsException.class, 0, 0, "b");
+    checkArgLimits(TooManyArgumentsException.class, 1, 1, "b");
+    checkArgLimits(null, 0, 2, "b");
+    checkArgLimits(NotEnoughArgumentsException.class, 3, 3, "b");
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testOptDashArg() {
+    args = listOf("-b", "-", "c");
+    expectedOpts = setOf("b");
+    expectedArgs = listOf("-", "c");
+
+    checkArgLimits(UnknownOptionException.class, 0, 0);
+    checkArgLimits(TooManyArgumentsException.class, 0, 0, "b");
+    checkArgLimits(TooManyArgumentsException.class, 1, 1, "b");
+    checkArgLimits(null, 2, 2, "b");
+    checkArgLimits(NotEnoughArgumentsException.class, 3, 4, "b");
+  }
+  
+  @Test
+  public void testOldArgsWithIndex() {
+    String[] arrayArgs = new String[]{"ignore", "-a", "b", "-c"};
+    {
+      CommandFormat cf = new CommandFormat("", 0, 9, "a", "c");
+      List<String> parsedArgs = cf.parse(arrayArgs, 0);
+      assertEquals(setOf("a", "c"), cf.getOpts());
+      assertEquals(listOf("ignore", "b"), parsedArgs);
+    }
+    { 
+      CommandFormat cf = new CommandFormat("", 0, 9, "a", "c");
+      List<String> parsedArgs = cf.parse(arrayArgs, 1);
+      assertEquals(setOf("a", "c"), cf.getOpts());
+      assertEquals(listOf("b"), parsedArgs);
+    }
+    { 
+      CommandFormat cf = new CommandFormat("", 0, 9, "a", "c");
+      List<String> parsedArgs = cf.parse(arrayArgs, 2);
+      assertEquals(setOf("c"), cf.getOpts());
+      assertEquals(listOf("b"), parsedArgs);
+    }
+  }
+  
+  private static <T> CommandFormat checkArgLimits(
+      Class<? extends IllegalArgumentException> expectedErr,
+      int min, int max, String ... opts)
+  {
+    CommandFormat cf = new CommandFormat("", min, max, opts);
+    List<String> parsedArgs = new ArrayList<String>(args);
+    
+    Class<?> cfError = null;
+    try {
+      cf.parse(parsedArgs);
+    } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+      System.out.println(e.getMessage());
+      cfError = e.getClass();
+    }
+
+    assertEquals(expectedErr, cfError);
+    if (expectedErr == null) {
+      assertEquals(expectedArgs, parsedArgs);
+      assertEquals(expectedOpts, cf.getOpts());
+    }
+    return cf;
+  }
+  
+  private static <T> List<T> listOf(T ... objects) {
+    return Arrays.asList(objects);
+  }
+  
+  private static <T> Set<T> setOf(T ... objects) {
+    return new HashSet<T>(listOf(objects));
+  }
+}