diff --git a/scour/scour.py b/scour/scour.py
index 7a93fb8..e26e09d 100644
--- a/scour/scour.py
+++ b/scour/scour.py
@@ -3723,7 +3723,7 @@ def generateDefaultOptions():
 
 
 # sanitizes options by updating attributes in a set of defaults options while discarding unknown attributes
-def sanitizeOptions(options):
+def sanitizeOptions(options=None):
     optionsDict = dict((key, getattr(options, key)) for key in dir(options) if not key.startswith('__'))
 
     sanitizedOptions = _options_parser.get_default_values()