diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 211a3d9..7653110 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@ For breaking changes, check [here](#breaking-changes).
 
 [Babashka CLI](https://github.com/babashka/cli): turn Clojure functions into CLIs!
 
+## Unreleased
+
+- [#126](https://github.com/babashka/cli/issues/126): `-` value accidentally parsed as option, e.g. `--file -`
+
 ## v0.8.66 (2025-07-12)
 
 - [#122](https://github.com/babashka/cli/issues/122): introduce new
diff --git a/src/babashka/cli.cljc b/src/babashka/cli.cljc
index 04288f0..e36af4f 100644
--- a/src/babashka/cli.cljc
+++ b/src/babashka/cli.cljc
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@
     (try
       (let [s ^String s
             fst-char (first-char s)
-            #?@(:clj [leading-num-char (if (= fst-char \-)
+            #?@(:clj [leading-num-char (if (= \- fst-char)
                                          (second-char s)
                                          fst-char)])]
         (cond (or (= "true" s)
@@ -239,6 +239,7 @@
         snd-char (second-char arg)
         hyphen-opt? (and (not= :keywords mode)
                          (= \- fst-char)
+                         (> (count arg) 1)
                          (let [k (keyword (subs arg 1))]
                            (or
                             (contains? known-keys k)
diff --git a/test/babashka/cli_test.cljc b/test/babashka/cli_test.cljc
index e8932d2..b3dd800 100644
--- a/test/babashka/cli_test.cljc
+++ b/test/babashka/cli_test.cljc
@@ -654,3 +654,7 @@
          (cli/parse-args ["--foo" "1" "--foo" "2"] {:repeated-opts true :spec {:foo {:coerce []}}})))
   (is (= {:args ["2"], :opts {:foo [1]}}
          (cli/parse-args ["--foo" "1" "2"] {:repeated-opts true :spec {:foo {:coerce []}}}))))
+
+(deftest issue-126-test
+  (is (= {:file "-"} (cli/parse-opts ["--file" "-"])))
+  (is (= {:file "-"} (cli/parse-opts ["-"] {:args->opts [:file]}))))