xref: /netbsd-src/lib/libc/stdlib/getopt_long.3 (revision 481fca6e59249d8ffcf24fef7cfbe7b131bfb080)
1.\"	$NetBSD: getopt_long.3,v 1.3 2000/04/07 00:02:32 wiz Exp $
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34.\"     @(#)getopt.3	8.5 (Berkeley) 4/27/95
35.\"
36.Dd April 1, 2000
37.Dt GETOPT_LONG 3
38.Os
39.Sh NAME
40.Nm getopt_long
41.Nd get long options from command line argument list
42.Sh LIBRARY
43.Lb libc
44.Sh SYNOPSIS
45.Fd #include <getopt.h>
46.Ft int
47.Fn getopt_long "int argc" "char * const *argv" "const char *optstring" "struct options *long options" "int *index"
48.Sh DESCRIPTION
49The
50.Fn getopt_long
51function is similar to
52.Xr getopt 3
53but it accepts options in two forms: words and characters. The
54.Fn getopt_long
55function provides a superset of of the functionality of
56.Xr getopt 3 .
57.Fn getopt_long
58can be used in two ways. In the first way, every long option understood
59by the program has a corresponding short option, and the option
60structure is only used to translate from long options to short
61options. When used in this fashion,
62.Fn getopt_long
63behaves identically to
64.Xr getopt 3 .
65This is a good way to add long option processing to an existing program
66with the minimum of rewriting.
67.Pp
68In the second mechanism, a long option sets a flag in the
69.Fa option
70structure passed, or will store a pointer to the command line argument
71in the
72.Fa option
73structure passed to it for options that take arguments. Additionally,
74the long option's argument may be specified as a single argument with
75an equal sign, e.g.
76.Bd -literal
77myprogram --myoption=somevalue
78.Ed
79.Pp
80When a long option is processed the call to
81.Fn getopt_long
82will return 0. For this reason, long option processing without
83shortcuts is not backwards compatible with
84.Xr getopt 3 .
85.Pp
86It is possible to combine these methods, providing for long options
87processing with short option equivalents for some options. Less
88frequently used options would be processed as long options only.
89.Sh USAGE
90.Pp
91The
92.Fn getopt_long
93call requires a structure to be initialized describing the long
94options. The structure is:
95.Bd -literal
96struct option {
97	char *name;
98	int has_arg;
99	int *flag;
100	int val;
101};
102.Ed
103.Pp
104The
105.Fa name
106field should contain the option name without the leading double dash.
107.Pp
108The
109.Fa has_arg
110field should be one of:
111.Bl -tag -width "optional_argument"
112.It Li no_argument
113no argument to the option is expect.
114.It Li required_argument
115an argument to the option is required.
116.It Li optional_argument
117an argument to the option may be presented.
118.El
119.Pp
120If
121.Fa flag
122is non-NULL, then the integer pointed to by it will be set to the
123value in the
124.Fa val
125field. If the
126.Fa flag
127field is NULL, then the
128.Fa val
129field will be returned. Setting
130.Fa flag
131to NULL and setting
132.Fa val
133to the corresponding short option will make this function act just
134like
135.Xr getopt 3 .
136.Sh EXAMPLE
137.Bd -literal -compact
138extern char *optarg;
139extern int optind;
140int bflag, ch, fd;
141int daggerset;
142
143/* options descriptor */
144static struct option longopts[] = {
145	{ "buffy",	no_argument,		0, 		'b' },
146	{ "floride",	required_argument,	0, 	       	'f' },
147	{ "daggerset",	no_argument,		&daggerset,	1 },
148	{ 0, 		0,			0, 		0 }
149};
150
151bflag = 0;
152while ((ch = getopt_long(argc, argv, "bf:", longopts, NULL)) != -1)
153	switch(ch) {
154	case 'b':
155		bflag = 1;
156		break;
157	case 'f':
158		if ((fd = open(optarg, O_RDONLY, 0)) < 0) {
159			(void)fprintf(stderr,
160			    "myname: %s: %s\en", optarg, strerror(errno));
161			exit(1);
162		}
163		break;
164	case 0:
165		if(daggerset) {
166			fprintf(stderr,"Buffy will put use her dagger to "
167				       "apply floride to dracula's teeth\en");
168		}
169		break;
170	case '?':
171	default:
172		usage();
173}
174argc -= optind;
175argv += optind;
176.Ed
177.Sh HISTORY
178The
179.Fn getopt_long
180function first appeared in GNU libiberty. The first NetBSD implementation
181appeared in 1.5.
182.Sh IMPLEMENTATION DIFFERENCES
183.Pp
184This section describes differences to the GNU implementation
185found in glibc-2.1.3:
186.Bl -tag -width "xxx"
187.It Li o
188handling of - as first char of option string in presence of
189environment variable POSIXLY_CORRECT:
190.Bl -tag -width "NetBSD"
191.It Li GNU
192ignores POSIXLY_CORRECT and returns non-options as
193arguments to option '\e1'.
194.It Li NetBSD
195honors POSIXLY_CORRECT and stops at the first non-option.
196.El
197.It Li o
198handling of :: in options string in presence of POSIXLY_CORRECT:
199.Bl -tag -width "NetBSD"
200.It Li Both
201GNU and NetBSD ignore POSIXLY_CORRECT here and take :: to
202mean the preceding option takes an optional argument.
203.El
204.It Li o
205return value in case of missing argument if first character
206(after + or -) in option string is not ':':
207.Bl -tag -width "NetBSD"
208.It Li GNU
209returns '?'
210.It NetBSD
211returns ':' (since NetBSD's getopt does).
212.El
213.It Li o
214handling of --a in getopt:
215.Bl -tag -width "NetBSD"
216.It Li GNU
217parses this as option '-', option 'a'.
218.It Li NetBSD
219parses this as '--', and returns -1 (ignoring the a).  (Because
220the original getopt does.)
221.El
222.It Li o
223setting of optopt for long options with flag != NULL:
224.Bl -tag -width "NetBSD"
225.It Li GNU
226sets optopt to val.
227.It Li NetBSD
228sets optopt to 0 (since val would never be returned).
229.El
230.It Li o
231handling of -W with W; in option string in getopt (not getopt_long):
232.Bl -tag -width "NetBSD"
233.It Li GNU
234causes a segfault.
235.It Li NetBSD
236returns -1, with optind pointing past the argument of -W
237(as if `-W arg' were `--arg', and thus '--' had been found).
238.\" How should we treat W; in the option string when called via
239.\" getopt?  Ignore the ';' or treat it as a ':'? Issue a warning?
240.El
241.It Li o
242setting of optarg for long options without an argument that are
243invoked via -W (W; in option string):
244.Bl -tag -width "NetBSD"
245.It Li GNU
246sets optarg to the option name (the argument of -W).
247.It Li NetBSD
248sets optarg to NULL (the argument of the long option).
249.El
250.It Li o
251handling of -W with an argument that is not (a prefix to) a known
252long option (W; in option string):
253.Bl -tag -width "NetBSD"
254.It Li GNU
255returns -W with optarg set to the unknown option.
256.It Li NetBSD
257treats this as an error (unknown option) and returns '?' with
258optopt set to 0 and optarg set to NULL (as GNU's man page
259documents).
260.El
261.It Li o
262The error messages are different.
263.It Li o
264NetBSD does not permute the argument vector at the same points in
265the calling sequence as GNU does.  The aspects normally used by
266the caller (ordering after -1 is returned, value of optind relative
267to current positions) are the same, though.  (We do fewer variable
268swaps.)
269.El
270.Sh BUGS
271The implementation, can completelely replace
272.Xr getopt 3 ,
273but right now we are using separate code.
274