prefixed_msg_init 'ensure_packages_of_tags'
 prefixed_msg 'starting'
 
+_APT_ARG="-q -q -o 'Dpkg::Options::=--force-confnew' install"
 for _TAG in $@; do
     prefixed_msg_no_nl "For tag '${_TAG}', "
     if [ "$(echo ${_TAG} | cut -d':' -f1)" = 'keep_if_installed' ]; then
         printf 'checking if installed … '
         if dpkg-query -Wf '${Package}\n' | grep '^'"${_PACKAGE}"'$' > /dev/null; then
             echo 'yup, keeping!'
-            apt_get_digested '-q -q -o "Dpkg::Options::=--force-confnew" install' "${_PACKAGE}"
+            apt_get_digested "${_APT_ARG} ${_PACKAGE}"
         else 
             echo 'nope, nothing to keep.'
         fi
         echo 'nothing to install.'
     else
         echo "ensuring installation of: ${_PACKAGES}"
-        apt_get_digested '-q -q -o "Dpkg::Options::=--force-confnew" install' "${_PACKAGES}"
+        apt_get_digested "${_APT_ARG} ${_PACKAGES}"
     fi
 done
 prefixed_msg 'finished'