diff --git a/sh/tmpfiles.sh.in b/sh/tmpfiles.sh.in
index f711b1da..95b8b932 100644
--- a/sh/tmpfiles.sh.in
+++ b/sh/tmpfiles.sh.in
@@ -264,6 +264,32 @@ _Z() {
 BOOT=0 CREATE=0 REMOVE=0 CLEAN=0 VERBOSE=0 DRYRUN=0 error=0 LINENO=0
 EXCLUDE=
 PREFIX=
+
+while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
+	case $1 in
+		--boot) BOOT=1 ;;
+		--create) CREATE=1 ;;
+		--remove) REMOVE=1 ;;
+		--clean) CLEAN=1 ;; # TODO: Not implemented
+		--verbose) VERBOSE=1 ;;
+		--dryrun|--dry-run) DRYRUN=1 ;;
+		--exclude-prefix=*) EXCLUDE="${EXCLUDE}${1##--exclude-prefix=} " ;;
+		--prefix=*) PREFIX="${PREFIX}${1##--prefix=} " ;;
+		-*) invalid_option "$1" ;;
+	esac
+	shift
+done
+
+if [ $(( CLEAN )) -eq 1 ] ; then
+	printf '%s clean mode is not implemented\n' "${0##*/}"
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+if [ "$CREATE$REMOVE" = '00' ]; then
+	printf 'usage: %s [--exclude-prefix=path] [--prefix=path] [--boot] [--create] [--remove] [--clean] [--verbose] [--dry-run]\n' "${0##*/}"
+	exit 1
+fi
+
 FILE=
 fragments=
 # XXX: The harcoding of /usr/lib/ is an explicit choice by upstream
@@ -294,31 +320,6 @@ for b in $tmpfiles_basenames ; do
 	[ -f "${real_f}" ] && tmpfiles_d="${tmpfiles_d} ${real_f}"
 done
 
-while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
-	case $1 in
-		--boot) BOOT=1 ;;
-		--create) CREATE=1 ;;
-		--remove) REMOVE=1 ;;
-		--clean) CLEAN=1 ;; # TODO: Not implemented
-		--verbose) VERBOSE=1 ;;
-		--dryrun|--dry-run) DRYRUN=1 ;;
-		--exclude-prefix=*) EXCLUDE="${EXCLUDE}${1##--exclude-prefix=} " ;;
-		--prefix=*) PREFIX="${PREFIX}${1##--prefix=} " ;;
-		-*) invalid_option "$1" ;;
-	esac
-	shift
-done
-
-if [ $(( CLEAN )) -eq 1 ] ; then
-	printf '%s clean mode is not implemented\n' "${0##*/}"
-	exit 1
-fi
-
-if [ "$CREATE$REMOVE" = '00' ]; then
-	printf 'usage: %s [--exclude-prefix=path] [--prefix=path] [--boot] [--create] [--remove] [--clean] [--verbose] [--dry-run]\n' "${0##*/}"
-	exit 1
-fi
-
 error=0
 
 # loop through the gathered fragments, sorted globally by filename.