diff --git a/lib/cmdline.c b/lib/cmdline.c
index 75cb23b0ee69c2f3a6921f06c39878c5a41f69ce..06d75efb7348516d8eae409476410f510aff15d1 100644
--- a/lib/cmdline.c
+++ b/lib/cmdline.c
@@ -45,6 +45,9 @@ static int get_range(char **str, int *pint, int n)
  *	1 - int found, no subsequent comma
  *	2 - int found including a subsequent comma
  *	3 - hyphen found to denote a range
+ *
+ *	Leading hyphen without integer is no integer case, but we consume it
+ *	for the sake of simplification.
  */
 
 int get_option(char **str, int *pint)
@@ -53,7 +56,10 @@ int get_option(char **str, int *pint)
 
 	if (!cur || !(*cur))
 		return 0;
-	*pint = simple_strtol(cur, str, 0);
+	if (*cur == '-')
+		*pint = -simple_strtoull(++cur, str, 0);
+	else
+		*pint = simple_strtoull(cur, str, 0);
 	if (cur == *str)
 		return 0;
 	if (**str == ',') {