now user can explicitly state number of UNION affected columns via --union-cols (e.g. --union-cols=5)

lib/core/option.py

@@ -1743,8 +1743,10 @@ def __basicOptionValidation():
         errMsg = "value for --time-sec option must be an integer greater than 0"
         raise sqlmapSyntaxException, errMsg
 
-    if isinstance(conf.uCols, basestring) and ("-" not in conf.uCols or len(conf.uCols.split("-")) != 2):
-        errMsg = "value for --union-cols must be a range with hyphon (e.g. 1-10)"
+    if isinstance(conf.uCols, basestring):
+        if not conf.uCols.isdigit() and ("-" not in conf.uCols or len(conf.uCols.split("-")) != 2):
+            errMsg = "value for --union-cols must be a range with hyphon "
+            errMsg += "(e.g. 1-10) or integer value (e.g. 5)"
             raise sqlmapSyntaxException, errMsg
 
     if conf.charset:

lib/techniques/blind/inference.py

@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ def bisection(payload, expression, length=None, charsetType=None, firstChar=None
 
     if conf.threads == 1 and not timeBasedCompare:
         warnMsg = "running in a single-thread mode. Please consider "
-        warnMsg += "usage of --threads switch to speedup data fetching"
+        warnMsg += "usage of --threads switch for faster data retrieval"
         singleTimeWarnMessage(warnMsg)
 
     if conf.verbose in (1, 2) and not showEta:

lib/techniques/inband/union/test.py

@@ -196,6 +196,10 @@ def __unionTestByCharBruteforce(comment, place, parameter, value, prefix, suffix
     query = agent.prefixQuery("UNION ALL SELECT %s" % kb.uChar)
     total = conf.uColsStop+1 - conf.uColsStart
 
+    # In case that user explicitly stated number of columns affected
+    if conf.uColsStop == conf.uColsStart:
+        count = conf.uColsStart
+    else:
         count = __findUnionCharCount(comment, place, parameter, value, prefix, suffix)
 
     if count:

lib/techniques/inband/union/use.py

@@ -113,7 +113,10 @@ def configUnion(char=None, columns=None):
             return
 
         columns = columns.replace(" ", "")
+        if "-" in columns:
             colsStart, colsStop = columns.split("-")
+        else:
+            colsStart, colsStop = columns, columns
 
         if not colsStart.isdigit() or not colsStop.isdigit():
             raise sqlmapSyntaxException, "--union-cols must be a range of integers"