Using symfony/console's ArgvInput standalone.

import_sql.php

<?php

use Symfony\Component\Console\Input\ArgvInput;
use Symfony\Component\Console\Input\InputDefinition;
use Symfony\Component\Console\Input\InputArgument;
use Symfony\Component\Console\Input\InputOption;

$input = new ArgvInput($argv, new InputDefinition([
    new InputArgument('sql', InputArgument::REQUIRED),
    new InputOption('update', 'u', InputOption::VALUE_NONE),
]));

$update = $input->getOption('update');
$sql = $input->getArgument('sql');

// do fun stuff ...

You call the script by running:

$ import/sql -u "DROP TABLE IF EXISTS foo"
$ import/sql "SELECT * FROM foo"

@igorw You could use getopt() too.

Or docopt :

<?php
$doc = <<<DOC
Usage:
  import/sql [-u | --update] sql
  import/sql (-h | --help)
  import/sql --version

Options:
  -h --help     Show this screen.
  --version     Show version.
  -u --update  Fun stuff.

DOC;

require('path/to/src/docopt.php');
$args = Docopt\docopt($doc, array('version'=>'import SQL 2.0'));