dpkg: need an action option
This error can occur when copy/pasting the command from online instructions rather than typing it yourself. So instead of '-' you end up with '–' and you get the error.
Use following:
dpkg -i google-chrome-stable_current_i386.debNotice the "-" infront of the parameter i.
I had this error even using -i. Then I tried using --install and it worked.
sudo dpkg --install google-chrome-stable_current_i386.deb