`nextflow secrets set` does not work with values starting with `--`

[long-matt-r]

Bug report

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Expected behavior and actual behavior

I would like to set a secret to the contents of a private key file for use with key-pair database authentication; however, I am unable to set the secret due to the private key file starting with '------BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----' which is parsed as an argument no matter what I try.

I have tried:

• passing -- as a previous argument (Unknown option: -- -- Check the available commands and options and syntax with 'help'))
• preceding it with a '\' (gets included in the secret)
• passing the contents directly with single quotes (Unknown option: -----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----)
• other things

Having said that, if I edit the secrets store.json it works fine, so it's not a critical issue. Just would be nice if I didn't have to.

Steps to reproduce the problem

nextflow secrets set SNOWFLAKE_PRIVATE_KEY_RAW '-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----'

Program output

Unknown option: -----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY----- -- Check the available commands and options and syntax with 'help'

(Copy and paste the output produced by the failing execution. Please highlight it as a code block. Whenever possible upload the .nextflow.log file.)

Environment

• Nextflow version: 25.04.1.5946
• Java version: openjdk 23.0.2 2025-01-21
• Operating system: macOS
• Bash version: zsh 5.9 (arm64-apple-darwin24.0)

Additional context

(Add any other context about the problem here)