


GETOPT(3)           Linux Programmer's Manual           GETOPT(3)


NAME
       getopt - Parse command line options

SYNOPSIS
       #include <unistd.h>

       int getopt(int argc, char * const argv[],
                  const char *optstring);

       extern char *optarg;
       extern int optind, opterr, optopt;

       #include <getopt.h>

       int getopt_long(int argc, char * const argv[],
                  const char *optstring,
                  const struct option *longopts, int *longindex);

       int getopt_long_only(int argc, char * const argv[],
                  const char *optstring,
                  const struct option *longopts, int *longindex);

DESCRIPTION
       The  getopt()  function parses the command line arguments.
       Its arguments argc and argv are  the  argument  count  and
       array  as passed to the main() function on program invoca-
       tion.  An element of argv that starts with `-' (and is not
       exactly "-" or "--") is an option element.  The characters
       of this element (aside from the initial  `-')  are  option
       characters.   If getopt() is called repeatedly, it returns
       successively each of the option characters  from  each  of
       the option elements.

       If  getopt()  finds  another  option character, it returns
       that character, updating the external variable optind  and
       a  static  variable  nextchar  so  that  the  next call to
       getopt() can resume the scan  with  the  following  option
       character or argv-element.

       If  there  are no more option characters, getopt() returns
       EOF.  Then optind is the index in argv of the first  argv-
       element that is not an option.

       optstring  is  a  string  containing the legitimate option
       characters.  If such a character is followed by  a  colon,
       the  option  requires  an  argument,  so  getopt  places a
       pointer to the following text in the same argv-element, or
       the  text  of  the following argv-element, in optarg.  Two
       colons mean an option takes an optional arg; if  there  is
       text  in  the  current  argv-element,  it  is  returned in
       optarg, otherwise optarg is set to zero.

       By default, getargs() permutes the contents of argv as  it
       scans,  so  that eventually all the non-options are at the



GNU                        Aug 30, 1995                         1





GETOPT(3)           Linux Programmer's Manual           GETOPT(3)


       end.  Two other modes are also implemented.  If the  first
       character  of optstring is `+' or the environment variable
       POSIXLY_CORRECT is set, then option  processing  stops  as
       soon  as  a  non-option  argument  is encountered.  If the
       first character of optstring is `-', then each  non-option
       argv-element  is  handled as if it were the argument of an
       option with character code 1.  (This is used  by  programs
       that  were  written  to expect options and other argv-ele-
       ments in any order and that care about the ordering of the
       two.)   The special argument `--' forces an end of option-
       scanning regardless of the scanning mode.

       If getopt() does not recognize  an  option  character,  it
       prints an error message to stderr, stores the character in
       optopt, and returns `?'.  The calling program may  prevent
       the error message by setting opterr to 0.

       The getopt_long() function works like getopt() except that
       it also accepts long options, started out by  two  dashes.
       Long  option  names may be abbreviated if the abbreviation
       is unique or is an exact match for some defined option.  A
       long  option may take a parameter, of the form --arg=param
       or --arg param.

       longopts is a pointer to the first element of an array  of
       struct option declared in <getopt.h> as

          struct option {
              const char *name;
              int has_arg;
              int *flag;
              int val;
          };

       The meanings of the different fields are:

       name   is the name of the long option.

       has_arg
              is:  no_argument (or 0) if the option does not take
              an argument, required_argument (or 1) if the option
              requires  an  argument, or optional_argument (or 2)
              if the option takes an optional argument.

       flag   specifies how  results  are  returned  for  a  long
              option.    If  flag  is  NULL,  then  getopt_long()
              returns val.  (For example, the calling program may
              set  val to the equivalent short option character.)
              Otherwise, getopt_long() returns 0, and flag points
              to  a variable which is set to val if the option is
              found, but left unchanged  if  the  option  is  not
              found.

       val    is  the  value  to  return,  or  to  load  into the



GNU                        Aug 30, 1995                         2





GETOPT(3)           Linux Programmer's Manual           GETOPT(3)


              variable pointed to by flag.

       The last element of  the  array  has  to  be  filled  with
       zeroes.

       If longindex is not NULL, it points to a variable which is
       set to the index of the long option relative to  longopts.

       getopt_long_only()  is like getopt_long(), but `-' as well
       as `--' can indicate a long option.   If  an  option  that
       starts  with  `-'  (not `--') doesn't match a long option,
       but does match a short option, it is  parsed  as  a  short
       option instead.

RETURN VALUE
       The  getopt() function returns the option character if the
       option was found successfully, `:' if there was a  missing
       parameter  for  one  of  the  options,  `?' for an unknown
       option character, or EOF for the end of the option list.

       getopt_long()  and  getopt_long_only()  also  return   the
       option character when a short option is recognized.  For a
       long option, they return val if flag is NULL, and 0 other-
       wise.  Error and EOF returns are the same as for getopt(),
       plus `?' for an ambiguous match or an  extraneous  parame-
       ter.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
       POSIXLY_CORRECT
              If  this  is  set,  then option processing stops as
              soon as a non-option argument is encountered.

EXAMPLE
       The following  example  program,  from  the  source  code,
       illustrates the use of getopt_long() with most of its fea-
       tures.

       #include <stdio.h>

       int
       main (argc, argv)
            int argc;
            char **argv;
       {
         int c;
         int digit_optind = 0;

         while (1)
           {
             int this_option_optind = optind ? optind : 1;
             int option_index = 0;
             static struct option long_options[] =
             {
               {"add", 1, 0, 0},



GNU                        Aug 30, 1995                         3





GETOPT(3)           Linux Programmer's Manual           GETOPT(3)


               {"append", 0, 0, 0},
               {"delete", 1, 0, 0},
               {"verbose", 0, 0, 0},
               {"create", 1, 0, 'c'},
               {"file", 1, 0, 0},
               {0, 0, 0, 0}
             };

             c = getopt_long (argc, argv, "abc:d:012",
                        long_options, &option_index);
             if (c == -1)
            break;

             switch (c)
               {
               case 0:
                 printf ("option %s", long_options[option_index].name);
                 if (optarg)
                   printf (" with arg %s", optarg);
                 printf ("\n");
                 break;

               case '0':
               case '1':
               case '2':
                 if (digit_optind != 0 && digit_optind != this_option_optind)
                   printf ("digits occur in two different argv-elements.\n");
                 digit_optind = this_option_optind;
                 printf ("option %c\n", c);
                 break;

               case 'a':
                 printf ("option a\n");
                 break;

               case 'b':
                 printf ("option b\n");
                 break;

               case 'c':
                 printf ("option c with value `%s'\n", optarg);
                 break;

               case 'd':
                 printf ("option d with value `%s'\n", optarg);
                 break;

               case '?':
                 break;

               default:
                 printf ("?? getopt returned character code 0%o ??\n", c);
               }
           }



GNU                        Aug 30, 1995                         4





GETOPT(3)           Linux Programmer's Manual           GETOPT(3)


         if (optind < argc)
           {
             printf ("non-option ARGV-elements: ");
             while (optind < argc)
             printf ("%s ", argv[optind++]);
             printf ("\n");
           }

         exit (0);
       }

BUGS
       This manpage is confusing.

CONFORMING TO
       getopt():
              POSIX.1,   provided   the   environment    variable
              POSIXLY_CORRECT is set.  Otherwise, the elements of
              argv aren't really const, because we permute  them.
              We  pretend  they're  const  in the prototype to be
              compatible with other systems.




































GNU                        Aug 30, 1995                         5


