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.\" ========================================================================
.IX Title "Getopt::Long 3"
.TH Getopt::Long 3 "2001-09-21" "perl v5.8.8" "Perl Programmers Reference Guide"
Getopt::Long \- Extended processing of command line options
\& my $data = "file.dat";
\& $result = GetOptions ("length=i" => \e$length, # numeric
\& "file=s" => \e$data, # string
\& "verbose" => \e$verbose); # flag
The Getopt::Long module implements an extended getopt function called
\&\fIGetOptions()\fR. This function adheres to the \s-1POSIX\s0 syntax for command
line options, with \s-1GNU\s0 extensions. In general, this means that options
have long names instead of single letters, and are introduced with a
double dash \*(L"\-\-\*(R". Support for bundling of command line options, as was
the case with the more traditional single-letter approach, is provided
but not enabled by default.
.SH "Command Line Options, an Introduction"
.IX Header "Command Line Options, an Introduction"
Command line operated programs traditionally take their arguments from
the command line, for example filenames or other information that the
program needs to know. Besides arguments, these programs often take
command line \fIoptions\fR as well. Options are not necessary for the
program to work, hence the name 'option', but are used to modify its
default behaviour. For example, a program could do its job quietly,
but with a suitable option it could provide verbose information about
Command line options come in several flavours. Historically, they are
preceded by a single dash \f(CW\*(C`\-\*(C'\fR, and consist of a single letter.
Usually, these single-character options can be bundled:
Options can have values, the value is placed after the option
character. Sometimes with whitespace in between, sometimes not:
Due to the very cryptic nature of these options, another style was
developed that used long names. So instead of a cryptic \f(CW\*(C`\-l\*(C'\fR one
could use the more descriptive \f(CW\*(C`\-\-long\*(C'\fR. To distinguish between a
bundle of single-character options and a long one, two dashes are used
to precede the option name. Early implementations of long options used
a plus \f(CW\*(C`+\*(C'\fR instead. Also, option values could be specified either
The \f(CW\*(C`+\*(C'\fR form is now obsolete and strongly deprecated.
.SH "Getting Started with Getopt::Long"
.IX Header "Getting Started with Getopt::Long"
Getopt::Long is the Perl5 successor of \f(CW\*(C`newgetopt.pl\*(C'\fR. This was the
first Perl module that provided support for handling the new style of
command line options, hence the name Getopt::Long. This module also
supports single-character options and bundling. Single character
options may be any alphabetic character, a question mark, and a dash.
Long options may consist of a series of letters, digits, and dashes.
Although this is currently not enforced by Getopt::Long, multiple
consecutive dashes are not allowed, and the option name must not end
To use Getopt::Long from a Perl program, you must include the
following line in your Perl program:
This will load the core of the Getopt::Long module and prepare your
program for using it. Most of the actual Getopt::Long code is not
loaded until you really call one of its functions.
In the default configuration, options names may be abbreviated to
uniqueness, case does not matter, and a single dash is sufficient,
even for long option names. Also, options may be placed between
non-option arguments. See \*(L"Configuring Getopt::Long\*(R" for more
details on how to configure Getopt::Long.
.IX Subsection "Simple options"
The most simple options are the ones that take no values. Their mere
presence on the command line enables the option. Popular examples are:
\& --all --verbose --quiet --debug
Handling simple options is straightforward:
\& my $verbose = ''; # option variable with default value (false)
\& my $all = ''; # option variable with default value (false)
\& GetOptions ('verbose' => \e$verbose, 'all' => \e$all);
The call to \fIGetOptions()\fR parses the command line arguments that are
present in \f(CW@ARGV\fR and sets the option variable to the value \f(CW1\fR if
the option did occur on the command line. Otherwise, the option
variable is not touched. Setting the option value to true is often
called \fIenabling\fR the option.
The option name as specified to the \fIGetOptions()\fR function is called
the option \fIspecification\fR. Later we'll see that this specification
can contain more than just the option name. The reference to the
variable is called the option \fIdestination\fR.
\&\fIGetOptions()\fR will return a true value if the command line could be
processed successfully. Otherwise, it will write error messages to
\&\s-1STDERR\s0, and return a false result.
.Sh "A little bit less simple options"
.IX Subsection "A little bit less simple options"
Getopt::Long supports two useful variants of simple options:
\&\fInegatable\fR options and \fIincremental\fR options.
A negatable option is specified with an exclamation mark \f(CW\*(C`!\*(C'\fR after the
\& my $verbose = ''; # option variable with default value (false)
\& GetOptions ('verbose!' => \e$verbose);
Now, using \f(CW\*(C`\-\-verbose\*(C'\fR on the command line will enable \f(CW$verbose\fR,
as expected. But it is also allowed to use \f(CW\*(C`\-\-noverbose\*(C'\fR, which will
disable \f(CW$verbose\fR by setting its value to \f(CW0\fR. Using a suitable
default value, the program can find out whether \f(CW$verbose\fR is false
by default, or disabled by using \f(CW\*(C`\-\-noverbose\*(C'\fR.
An incremental option is specified with a plus \f(CW\*(C`+\*(C'\fR after the
\& my $verbose = ''; # option variable with default value (false)
\& GetOptions ('verbose+' => \e$verbose);
Using \f(CW\*(C`\-\-verbose\*(C'\fR on the command line will increment the value of
\&\f(CW$verbose\fR. This way the program can keep track of how many times the
option occurred on the command line. For example, each occurrence of
\&\f(CW\*(C`\-\-verbose\*(C'\fR could increase the verbosity level of the program.
.Sh "Mixing command line option with other arguments"
.IX Subsection "Mixing command line option with other arguments"
Usually programs take command line options as well as other arguments,
for example, file names. It is good practice to always specify the
options first, and the other arguments last. Getopt::Long will,
however, allow the options and arguments to be mixed and 'filter out'
all the options before passing the rest of the arguments to the
program. To stop Getopt::Long from processing further arguments,
insert a double dash \f(CW\*(C`\-\-\*(C'\fR on the command line:
In this example, \f(CW\*(C`\-\-all\*(C'\fR will \fInot\fR be treated as an option, but
passed to the program unharmed, in \f(CW@ARGV\fR.
.Sh "Options with values"
.IX Subsection "Options with values"
For options that take values it must be specified whether the option
value is required or not, and what kind of value the option expects.
Three kinds of values are supported: integer numbers, floating point
If the option value is required, Getopt::Long will take the
command line argument that follows the option and assign this to the
option variable. If, however, the option value is specified as
optional, this will only be done if that value does not look like a
valid command line option itself.
\& my $tag = ''; # option variable with default value
\& GetOptions ('tag=s' => \e$tag);
In the option specification, the option name is followed by an equals
sign \f(CW\*(C`=\*(C'\fR and the letter \f(CW\*(C`s\*(C'\fR. The equals sign indicates that this
option requires a value. The letter \f(CW\*(C`s\*(C'\fR indicates that this value is
an arbitrary string. Other possible value types are \f(CW\*(C`i\*(C'\fR for integer
values, and \f(CW\*(C`f\*(C'\fR for floating point values. Using a colon \f(CW\*(C`:\*(C'\fR instead
of the equals sign indicates that the option value is optional. In
this case, if no suitable value is supplied, string valued options get
an empty string \f(CW''\fR assigned, while numeric options are set to \f(CW0\fR.
.Sh "Options with multiple values"
.IX Subsection "Options with multiple values"
Options sometimes take several values. For example, a program could
use multiple directories to search for library files:
\& --library lib/stdlib --library lib/extlib
To accomplish this behaviour, simply specify an array reference as the
destination for the option:
\& GetOptions ("library=s" => \e@libfiles);
Alternatively, you can specify that the option can have multiple
values by adding a \*(L"@\*(R", and pass a scalar reference as the
\& GetOptions ("library=s@" => \e$libfiles);
Used with the example above, \f(CW@libfiles\fR (or \f(CW@$libfiles\fR) would
contain two strings upon completion: \f(CW"lib/srdlib"\fR and
\&\f(CW"lib/extlib"\fR, in that order. It is also possible to specify that
only integer or floating point numbers are acceptable values.
Often it is useful to allow comma-separated lists of values as well as
multiple occurrences of the options. This is easy using Perl's \fIsplit()\fR
and \fIjoin()\fR operators:
\& GetOptions ("library=s" => \e@libfiles);
\& @libfiles = split(/,/,join(',',@libfiles));
Of course, it is important to choose the right separator string for
Warning: What follows is an experimental feature.
Options can take multiple values at once, for example
\& --coordinates 52.2 16.4 --rgbcolor 255 255 149
This can be accomplished by adding a repeat specifier to the option
specification. Repeat specifiers are very similar to the \f(CW\*(C`{...}\*(C'\fR
repeat specifiers that can be used with regular expression patterns.
For example, the above command line would be handled as follows:
\& GetOptions('coordinates=f{2}' => \e@coor, 'rgbcolor=i{3}' => \e@color);
The destination for the option must be an array or array reference.
It is also possible to specify the minimal and maximal number of
arguments an option takes. \f(CW\*(C`foo=s{2,4}\*(C'\fR indicates an option that
takes at least two and at most 4 arguments. \f(CW\*(C`foo=s{,}\*(C'\fR indicates one
or more values; \f(CW\*(C`foo:s{,}\*(C'\fR indicates zero or more option values.
.Sh "Options with hash values"
.IX Subsection "Options with hash values"
If the option destination is a reference to a hash, the option will
take, as value, strings of the form \fIkey\fR\f(CW\*(C`=\*(C'\fR\fIvalue\fR. The value will
be stored with the specified key in the hash.
\& GetOptions ("define=s" => \e%defines);
Alternatively you can use:
\& GetOptions ("define=s%" => \e$defines);
When used with command line options:
\& --define os=linux --define vendor=redhat
the hash \f(CW%defines\fR (or \f(CW%$defines\fR) will contain two keys, \f(CW"os"\fR
with value \f(CW\*(C`"linux\*(C'\fR and \f(CW"vendor"\fR with value \f(CW"redhat"\fR. It is
also possible to specify that only integer or floating point numbers
are acceptable values. The keys are always taken to be strings.
.Sh "User-defined subroutines to handle options"
.IX Subsection "User-defined subroutines to handle options"
Ultimate control over what should be done when (actually: each time)
an option is encountered on the command line can be achieved by
designating a reference to a subroutine (or an anonymous subroutine)
as the option destination. When \fIGetOptions()\fR encounters the option, it
will call the subroutine with two or three arguments. The first
argument is the name of the option. For a scalar or array destination,
the second argument is the value to be stored. For a hash destination,
the second arguments is the key to the hash, and the third argument
the value to be stored. It is up to the subroutine to store the value,
or do whatever it thinks is appropriate.
A trivial application of this mechanism is to implement options that
are related to each other. For example:
\& my $verbose = ''; # option variable with default value (false)
\& GetOptions ('verbose' => \e$verbose,
\& 'quiet' => sub { $verbose = 0 });
Here \f(CW\*(C`\-\-verbose\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`\-\-quiet\*(C'\fR control the same variable
\&\f(CW$verbose\fR, but with opposite values.
If the subroutine needs to signal an error, it should call \fIdie()\fR with
the desired error message as its argument. \fIGetOptions()\fR will catch the
\&\fIdie()\fR, issue the error message, and record that an error result must
be returned upon completion.
If the text of the error message starts with an exclamation mark \f(CW\*(C`!\*(C'\fR
it is interpreted specially by \fIGetOptions()\fR. There is currently one
special command implemented: \f(CW\*(C`die("!FINISH")\*(C'\fR will cause \fIGetOptions()\fR
to stop processing options, as if it encountered a double dash \f(CW\*(C`\-\-\*(C'\fR.
.Sh "Options with multiple names"
.IX Subsection "Options with multiple names"
Often it is user friendly to supply alternate mnemonic names for
options. For example \f(CW\*(C`\-\-height\*(C'\fR could be an alternate name for
\&\f(CW\*(C`\-\-length\*(C'\fR. Alternate names can be included in the option
specification, separated by vertical bar \f(CW\*(C`|\*(C'\fR characters. To implement
\& GetOptions ('length|height=f' => \e$length);
The first name is called the \fIprimary\fR name, the other names are
called \fIaliases\fR. When using a hash to store options, the key will
always be the primary name.
Multiple alternate names are possible.
.Sh "Case and abbreviations"
.IX Subsection "Case and abbreviations"
Without additional configuration, \fIGetOptions()\fR will ignore the case of
option names, and allow the options to be abbreviated to uniqueness.
\& GetOptions ('length|height=f' => \e$length, "head" => \e$head);
This call will allow \f(CW\*(C`\-\-l\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`\-\-L\*(C'\fR for the length option, but
requires a least \f(CW\*(C`\-\-hea\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`\-\-hei\*(C'\fR for the head and height options.
.Sh "Summary of Option Specifications"
.IX Subsection "Summary of Option Specifications"
Each option specifier consists of two parts: the name specification
and the argument specification.
The name specification contains the name of the option, optionally
followed by a list of alternative names separated by vertical bar
\& length option name is "length"
\& length|size|l name is "length", aliases are "size" and "l"
The argument specification is optional. If omitted, the option is
considered boolean, a value of 1 will be assigned when the option is
used on the command line.
The argument specification can be
The option does not take an argument and may be negated by prefixing
it with \*(L"no\*(R" or \*(L"no\-\*(R". E.g. \f(CW"foo!"\fR will allow \f(CW\*(C`\-\-foo\*(C'\fR (a value of
1 will be assigned) as well as \f(CW\*(C`\-\-nofoo\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`\-\-no\-foo\*(C'\fR (a value of
0 will be assigned). If the option has aliases, this applies to the
Using negation on a single letter option when bundling is in effect is
pointless and will result in a warning.
The option does not take an argument and will be incremented by 1
every time it appears on the command line. E.g. \f(CW"more+"\fR, when used
with \f(CW\*(C`\-\-more \-\-more \-\-more\*(C'\fR, will increment the value three times,
resulting in a value of 3 (provided it was 0 or undefined at first).
The \f(CW\*(C`+\*(C'\fR specifier is ignored if the option destination is not a scalar.
.IP "= \fItype\fR [ \fIdesttype\fR ] [ \fIrepeat\fR ]" 4
.IX Item "= type [ desttype ] [ repeat ]"
The option requires an argument of the given type. Supported types
String. An arbitrary sequence of characters. It is valid for the
argument to start with \f(CW\*(C`\-\*(C'\fR or \f(CW\*(C`\-\-\*(C'\fR.
Integer. An optional leading plus or minus sign, followed by a
Extended integer, Perl style. This can be either an optional leading
plus or minus sign, followed by a sequence of digits, or an octal
string (a zero, optionally followed by '0', '1', .. '7'), or a
hexadecimal string (\f(CW\*(C`0x\*(C'\fR followed by '0' .. '9', 'a' .. 'f', case
insensitive), or a binary string (\f(CW\*(C`0b\*(C'\fR followed by a series of '0'
Real number. For example \f(CW3.14\fR, \f(CW\*(C`\-6.23E24\*(C'\fR and so on.
The \fIdesttype\fR can be \f(CW\*(C`@\*(C'\fR or \f(CW\*(C`%\*(C'\fR to specify that the option is
list or a hash valued. This is only needed when the destination for
the option value is not otherwise specified. It should be omitted when
The \fIrepeat\fR specifies the number of values this option takes per
occurrence on the command line. It has the format \f(CW\*(C`{\*(C'\fR [ \fImin\fR ] [ \f(CW\*(C`,\*(C'\fR [ \fImax\fR ] ] \f(CW\*(C`}\*(C'\fR.
\&\fImin\fR denotes the minimal number of arguments. It defaults to 1 for
options with \f(CW\*(C`=\*(C'\fR and to 0 for options with \f(CW\*(C`:\*(C'\fR, see below. Note that
\&\fImin\fR overrules the \f(CW\*(C`=\*(C'\fR / \f(CW\*(C`:\*(C'\fR semantics.
\&\fImax\fR denotes the maximum number of arguments. It must be at least
\&\fImin\fR. If \fImax\fR is omitted, \fIbut the comma is not\fR, there is no
upper bound to the number of argument values taken.
.IP ": \fItype\fR [ \fIdesttype\fR ]" 4
.IX Item ": type [ desttype ]"
Like \f(CW\*(C`=\*(C'\fR, but designates the argument as optional.
If omitted, an empty string will be assigned to string values options,
and the value zero to numeric options.
Note that if a string argument starts with \f(CW\*(C`\-\*(C'\fR or \f(CW\*(C`\-\-\*(C'\fR, it will be
considered an option on itself.
.IP ": \fInumber\fR [ \fIdesttype\fR ]" 4
.IX Item ": number [ desttype ]"
Like \f(CW\*(C`:i\*(C'\fR, but if the value is omitted, the \fInumber\fR will be assigned.
.IP ": + [ \fIdesttype\fR ]" 4
.IX Item ": + [ desttype ]"
Like \f(CW\*(C`:i\*(C'\fR, but if the value is omitted, the current value for the
option will be incremented.
.SH "Advanced Possibilities"
.IX Header "Advanced Possibilities"
.Sh "Object oriented interface"
.IX Subsection "Object oriented interface"
Getopt::Long can be used in an object oriented way as well:
\& $p = new Getopt::Long::Parser;
\& $p->configure(...configuration options...);
\& if ($p->getoptions(...options descriptions...)) ...
Configuration options can be passed to the constructor:
\& $p = new Getopt::Long::Parser
\& config => [...configuration options...];
.IX Subsection "Thread Safety"
Getopt::Long is thread safe when using ithreads as of Perl 5.8. It is
\&\fInot\fR thread safe when using the older (experimental and now
obsolete) threads implementation that was added to Perl 5.005.
.Sh "Documentation and help texts"
.IX Subsection "Documentation and help texts"
Getopt::Long encourages the use of Pod::Usage to produce help
\& GetOptions('help|?' => \e$help, man => \e$man) or pod2usage(2);
\& pod2usage(1) if $help;
\& pod2usage(-exitstatus => 0, -verbose => 2) if $man;
\& sample - Using Getopt::Long and Pod::Usage
\& sample [options] [file ...]
\& -help brief help message
\& -man full documentation
\& Print a brief help message and exits.
\& Prints the manual page and exits.
\& B<This program> will read the given input file(s) and do something
\& useful with the contents thereof.
See Pod::Usage for details.
.Sh "Storing option values in a hash"
.IX Subsection "Storing option values in a hash"
Sometimes, for example when there are a lot of options, having a
separate variable for each of them can be cumbersome. \fIGetOptions()\fR
supports, as an alternative mechanism, storing options in a hash.
To obtain this, a reference to a hash must be passed \fIas the first
argument\fR to \fIGetOptions()\fR. For each option that is specified on the
command line, the option value will be stored in the hash with the
option name as key. Options that are not actually used on the command
line will not be put in the hash, on other words,
\&\f(CW\*(C`exists($h{option})\*(C'\fR (or \fIdefined()\fR) can be used to test if an option
was used. The drawback is that warnings will be issued if the program
runs under \f(CW\*(C`use strict\*(C'\fR and uses \f(CW$h{option}\fR without testing with
\&\fIexists()\fR or \fIdefined()\fR first.
\& GetOptions (\e%h, 'length=i'); # will store in $h{length}
For options that take list or hash values, it is necessary to indicate
this by appending an \f(CW\*(C`@\*(C'\fR or \f(CW\*(C`%\*(C'\fR sign after the type:
\& GetOptions (\e%h, 'colours=s@'); # will push to @{$h{colours}}
To make things more complicated, the hash may contain references to
the actual destinations, for example:
\& my %h = ('length' => \e$len);
\& GetOptions (\e%h, 'length=i'); # will store in $len
This example is fully equivalent with:
\& GetOptions ('length=i' => \e$len); # will store in $len
Any mixture is possible. For example, the most frequently used options
could be stored in variables while all other options get stored in the
\& my $verbose = 0; # frequently referred
\& my $debug = 0; # frequently referred
\& my %h = ('verbose' => \e$verbose, 'debug' => \e$debug);
\& GetOptions (\e%h, 'verbose', 'debug', 'filter', 'size=i');
\& if ( $verbose ) { ... }
\& if ( exists $h{filter} ) { ... option 'filter' was specified ... }
.IX Subsection "Bundling"
With bundling it is possible to set several single-character options
at once. For example if \f(CW\*(C`a\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`v\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`x\*(C'\fR are all valid options,
Getopt::Long supports two levels of bundling. To enable bundling, a
call to Getopt::Long::Configure is required.
The first level of bundling can be enabled with:
\& Getopt::Long::Configure ("bundling");
Configured this way, single-character options can be bundled but long
options \fBmust\fR always start with a double dash \f(CW\*(C`\-\-\*(C'\fR to avoid
ambiguity. For example, when \f(CW\*(C`vax\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`a\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`v\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`x\*(C'\fR are all valid
would set \f(CW\*(C`a\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`v\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`x\*(C'\fR, but
would set \f(CW\*(C`vax\*(C'\fR.
The second level of bundling lifts this restriction. It can be enabled
\& Getopt::Long::Configure ("bundling_override");
Now, \f(CW\*(C`\-vax\*(C'\fR would set the option \f(CW\*(C`vax\*(C'\fR.
When any level of bundling is enabled, option values may be inserted
in the bundle. For example:
When configured for bundling, single-character options are matched
case sensitive while long options are matched case insensitive. To
have the single-character options matched case insensitive as well,
\& Getopt::Long::Configure ("bundling", "ignorecase_always");
It goes without saying that bundling can be quite confusing.
.IX Subsection "The lonesome dash"
Normally, a lone dash \f(CW\*(C`\-\*(C'\fR on the command line will not be considered
an option. Option processing will terminate (unless \*(L"permute\*(R" is
configured) and the dash will be left in \f(CW@ARGV\fR.
It is possible to get special treatment for a lone dash. This can be
achieved by adding an option specification with an empty name, for
\& GetOptions ('' => \e$stdio);
A lone dash on the command line will now be a legal option, and using
it will set variable \f(CW$stdio\fR.
.IX Subsection "Argument callback"
A special option 'name' \f(CW\*(C`<>\*(C'\fR can be used to designate a subroutine
to handle non-option arguments. When \fIGetOptions()\fR encounters an
argument that does not look like an option, it will immediately call this
subroutine and passes it one parameter: the argument name.
\& GetOptions ('width=i' => \e$width, '<>' => \e&process);
When applied to the following command line:
\& arg1 --width=72 arg2 --width=60 arg3
\&\f(CW\*(C`process("arg1")\*(C'\fR while \f(CW$width\fR is \f(CW80\fR,
\&\f(CW\*(C`process("arg2")\*(C'\fR while \f(CW$width\fR is \f(CW72\fR, and
\&\f(CW\*(C`process("arg3")\*(C'\fR while \f(CW$width\fR is \f(CW60\fR.
This feature requires configuration option \fBpermute\fR, see section
\&\*(L"Configuring Getopt::Long\*(R".
.SH "Configuring Getopt::Long"
.IX Header "Configuring Getopt::Long"
Getopt::Long can be configured by calling subroutine
\&\fIGetopt::Long::Configure()\fR. This subroutine takes a list of quoted
strings, each specifying a configuration option to be enabled, e.g.
\&\f(CW\*(C`ignore_case\*(C'\fR, or disabled, e.g. \f(CW\*(C`no_ignore_case\*(C'\fR. Case does not
matter. Multiple calls to \fIConfigure()\fR are possible.
Alternatively, as of version 2.24, the configuration options may be
passed together with the \f(CW\*(C`use\*(C'\fR statement:
\& use Getopt::Long qw(:config no_ignore_case bundling);
The following options are available:
This option causes all configuration options to be reset to their
This option causes all configuration options to be reset to their
default values as if the environment variable \s-1POSIXLY_CORRECT\s0 had
Allow option names to be abbreviated to uniqueness.
Default is enabled unless environment variable
\&\s-1POSIXLY_CORRECT\s0 has been set, in which case \f(CW\*(C`auto_abbrev\*(C'\fR is disabled.
Allow \f(CW\*(C`+\*(C'\fR to start options.
Default is enabled unless environment variable
\&\s-1POSIXLY_CORRECT\s0 has been set, in which case \f(CW\*(C`getopt_compat\*(C'\fR is disabled.
\&\f(CW\*(C`gnu_compat\*(C'\fR controls whether \f(CW\*(C`\-\-opt=\*(C'\fR is allowed, and what it should
do. Without \f(CW\*(C`gnu_compat\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`\-\-opt=\*(C'\fR gives an error. With \f(CW\*(C`gnu_compat\*(C'\fR,
\&\f(CW\*(C`\-\-opt=\*(C'\fR will give option \f(CW\*(C`opt\*(C'\fR and empty value.
This is the way \s-1GNU\s0 \fIgetopt_long()\fR does it.
This is a short way of setting \f(CW\*(C`gnu_compat\*(C'\fR \f(CW\*(C`bundling\*(C'\fR \f(CW\*(C`permute\*(C'\fR
\&\f(CW\*(C`no_getopt_compat\*(C'\fR. With \f(CW\*(C`gnu_getopt\*(C'\fR, command line handling should be
fully compatible with \s-1GNU\s0 \fIgetopt_long()\fR.
Whether command line arguments are allowed to be mixed with options.
Default is disabled unless environment variable
\&\s-1POSIXLY_CORRECT\s0 has been set, in which case \f(CW\*(C`require_order\*(C'\fR is enabled.
See also \f(CW\*(C`permute\*(C'\fR, which is the opposite of \f(CW\*(C`require_order\*(C'\fR.
Whether command line arguments are allowed to be mixed with options.
Default is enabled unless environment variable
\&\s-1POSIXLY_CORRECT\s0 has been set, in which case \f(CW\*(C`permute\*(C'\fR is disabled.
Note that \f(CW\*(C`permute\*(C'\fR is the opposite of \f(CW\*(C`require_order\*(C'\fR.
If \f(CW\*(C`permute\*(C'\fR is enabled, this means that
\& --foo arg1 --bar arg2 arg3
\& --foo --bar arg1 arg2 arg3
If an argument callback routine is specified, \f(CW@ARGV\fR will always be
empty upon successful return of \fIGetOptions()\fR since all options have been
processed. The only exception is when \f(CW\*(C`\-\-\*(C'\fR is used:
\& --foo arg1 --bar arg2 -- arg3
This will call the callback routine for arg1 and arg2, and then
terminate \fIGetOptions()\fR leaving \f(CW"arg2"\fR in \f(CW@ARGV\fR.
If \f(CW\*(C`require_order\*(C'\fR is enabled, options processing
terminates when the first non-option is encountered.
\& --foo arg1 --bar arg2 arg3
\& --foo -- arg1 --bar arg2 arg3
If \f(CW\*(C`pass_through\*(C'\fR is also enabled, options processing will terminate
at the first unrecognized option, or non\-option, whichever comes
.IP "bundling (default: disabled)" 12
.IX Item "bundling (default: disabled)"
Enabling this option will allow single-character options to be
bundled. To distinguish bundles from long option names, long options
\&\fImust\fR be introduced with \f(CW\*(C`\-\-\*(C'\fR and bundles with \f(CW\*(C`\-\*(C'\fR.
Note that, if you have options \f(CW\*(C`a\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`l\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`all\*(C'\fR, and
auto_abbrev enabled, possible arguments and option settings are:
\& using argument sets option(s)
\& ------------------------------------------
\& -al, -la, -ala, -all,... a, l
The surprising part is that \f(CW\*(C`\-\-a\*(C'\fR sets option \f(CW\*(C`a\*(C'\fR (due to auto
completion), not \f(CW\*(C`all\*(C'\fR.
Note: disabling \f(CW\*(C`bundling\*(C'\fR also disables \f(CW\*(C`bundling_override\*(C'\fR.
.IP "bundling_override (default: disabled)" 12
.IX Item "bundling_override (default: disabled)"
If \f(CW\*(C`bundling_override\*(C'\fR is enabled, bundling is enabled as with
\&\f(CW\*(C`bundling\*(C'\fR but now long option names override option bundles.
Note: disabling \f(CW\*(C`bundling_override\*(C'\fR also disables \f(CW\*(C`bundling\*(C'\fR.
\&\fBNote:\fR Using option bundling can easily lead to unexpected results,
especially when mixing long options and bundles. Caveat emptor.
.IP "ignore_case (default: enabled)" 12
.IX Item "ignore_case (default: enabled)"
If enabled, case is ignored when matching long option names. If,
however, bundling is enabled as well, single character options will be
With \f(CW\*(C`ignore_case\*(C'\fR, option specifications for options that only
differ in case, e.g., \f(CW"foo"\fR and \f(CW"Foo"\fR, will be flagged as
Note: disabling \f(CW\*(C`ignore_case\*(C'\fR also disables \f(CW\*(C`ignore_case_always\*(C'\fR.
.IP "ignore_case_always (default: disabled)" 12
.IX Item "ignore_case_always (default: disabled)"
When bundling is in effect, case is ignored on single-character
Note: disabling \f(CW\*(C`ignore_case_always\*(C'\fR also disables \f(CW\*(C`ignore_case\*(C'\fR.
.IP "auto_version (default:disabled)" 12
.IX Item "auto_version (default:disabled)"
Automatically provide support for the \fB\-\-version\fR option if
the application did not specify a handler for this option itself.
Getopt::Long will provide a standard version message that includes the
program name, its version (if \f(CW$main::VERSION\fR is defined), and the
versions of Getopt::Long and Perl. The message will be written to
standard output and processing will terminate.
\&\f(CW\*(C`auto_version\*(C'\fR will be enabled if the calling program explicitly
specified a version number higher than 2.32 in the \f(CW\*(C`use\*(C'\fR or
\&\f(CW\*(C`require\*(C'\fR statement.
.IP "auto_help (default:disabled)" 12
.IX Item "auto_help (default:disabled)"
Automatically provide support for the \fB\-\-help\fR and \fB\-?\fR options if
the application did not specify a handler for this option itself.
Getopt::Long will provide a help message using module Pod::Usage. The
message, derived from the \s-1SYNOPSIS\s0 \s-1POD\s0 section, will be written to
standard output and processing will terminate.
\&\f(CW\*(C`auto_help\*(C'\fR will be enabled if the calling program explicitly
specified a version number higher than 2.32 in the \f(CW\*(C`use\*(C'\fR or
\&\f(CW\*(C`require\*(C'\fR statement.
.IP "pass_through (default: disabled)" 12
.IX Item "pass_through (default: disabled)"
Options that are unknown, ambiguous or supplied with an invalid option
value are passed through in \f(CW@ARGV\fR instead of being flagged as
errors. This makes it possible to write wrapper scripts that process
only part of the user supplied command line arguments, and pass the
remaining options to some other program.
If \f(CW\*(C`require_order\*(C'\fR is enabled, options processing will terminate at
the first unrecognized option, or non\-option, whichever comes first.
However, if \f(CW\*(C`permute\*(C'\fR is enabled instead, results can become confusing.
Note that the options terminator (default \f(CW\*(C`\-\-\*(C'\fR), if present, will
also be passed through in \f(CW@ARGV\fR.
The string that starts options. If a constant string is not
sufficient, see \f(CW\*(C`prefix_pattern\*(C'\fR.
.IX Item "prefix_pattern"
A Perl pattern that identifies the strings that introduce options.
Default is \f(CW\*(C`\-\-|\-|\e+\*(C'\fR unless environment variable
\&\s-1POSIXLY_CORRECT\s0 has been set, in which case it is \f(CW\*(C`\-\-|\-\*(C'\fR.
.IP "long_prefix_pattern" 12
.IX Item "long_prefix_pattern"
A Perl pattern that allows the disambiguation of long and short
prefixes. Default is \f(CW\*(C`\-\-\*(C'\fR.
Typically you only need to set this if you are using nonstandard
prefixes and want some or all of them to have the same semantics as
\&'\-\-' does under normal circumstances.
For example, setting prefix_pattern to \f(CW\*(C`\-\-|\-|\e+|\e/\*(C'\fR and
long_prefix_pattern to \f(CW\*(C`\-\-|\e/\*(C'\fR would add Win32 style argument
.IP "debug (default: disabled)" 12
.IX Item "debug (default: disabled)"
.IX Header "Exportable Methods"
.IX Item "VersionMessage"
This subroutine provides a standard version message. Its argument can be:
A string containing the text of a message to print \fIbefore\fR printing
A numeric value corresponding to the desired exit status.
If more than one argument is given then the entire argument list is
assumed to be a hash. If a hash is supplied (either as a reference or
as a list) it should contain one or more elements with the following
.ie n .IP """\-message""" 4
.el .IP "\f(CW\-message\fR" 4
.el .IP "\f(CW\-msg\fR" 4
The text of a message to print immediately prior to printing the
.ie n .IP """\-exitval""" 4
.el .IP "\f(CW\-exitval\fR" 4
The desired exit status to pass to the \fB\f(BIexit()\fB\fR function.
This should be an integer, or else the string \*(L"\s-1NOEXIT\s0\*(R" to
indicate that control should simply be returned without
terminating the invoking process.
.ie n .IP """\-output""" 4
.el .IP "\f(CW\-output\fR" 4
A reference to a filehandle, or the pathname of a file to which the
usage message should be written. The default is \f(CW\*(C`\e*STDERR\*(C'\fR unless the
exit value is less than 2 (in which case the default is \f(CW\*(C`\e*STDOUT\*(C'\fR).
You cannot tie this routine directly to an option, e.g.:
\& GetOptions("version" => \e&VersionMessage);
\& GetOptions("version" => sub { VersionMessage() });
This subroutine produces a standard help message, derived from the
program's \s-1POD\s0 section \s-1SYNOPSIS\s0 using Pod::Usage. It takes the same
arguments as \fIVersionMessage()\fR. In particular, you cannot tie it
directly to an option, e.g.:
\& GetOptions("help" => \e&HelpMessage);
\& GetOptions("help" => sub { HelpMessage() });
.SH "Return values and Errors"
.IX Header "Return values and Errors"
Configuration errors and errors in the option definitions are
signalled using \fIdie()\fR and will terminate the calling program unless
the call to \fIGetopt::Long::GetOptions()\fR was embedded in \f(CW\*(C`eval { ...
}\*(C'\fR, or \fIdie()\fR was trapped using \f(CW$SIG{_\|_DIE_\|_}\fR.
GetOptions returns true to indicate success.
It returns false when the function detected one or more errors during
option parsing. These errors are signalled using \fIwarn()\fR and can be
trapped with \f(CW$SIG{_\|_WARN_\|_}\fR.
The earliest development of \f(CW\*(C`newgetopt.pl\*(C'\fR started in 1990, with Perl
version 4. As a result, its development, and the development of
Getopt::Long, has gone through several stages. Since backward
compatibility has always been extremely important, the current version
of Getopt::Long still supports a lot of constructs that nowadays are
no longer necessary or otherwise unwanted. This section describes
briefly some of these 'features'.
.Sh "Default destinations"
.IX Subsection "Default destinations"
When no destination is specified for an option, GetOptions will store
the resultant value in a global variable named \f(CW\*(C`opt_\*(C'\fR\fI\s-1XXX\s0\fR, where
\&\fI\s-1XXX\s0\fR is the primary name of this option. When a progam executes
under \f(CW\*(C`use strict\*(C'\fR (recommended), these variables must be
pre-declared with \fIour()\fR or \f(CW\*(C`use vars\*(C'\fR.
\& GetOptions ('length=i'); # will store in $opt_length
To yield a usable Perl variable, characters that are not part of the
syntax for variables are translated to underscores. For example,
\&\f(CW\*(C`\-\-fpp\-struct\-return\*(C'\fR will set the variable
\&\f(CW$opt_fpp_struct_return\fR. Note that this variable resides in the
namespace of the calling program, not necessarily \f(CW\*(C`main\*(C'\fR. For
\& GetOptions ("size=i", "sizes=i@");
with command line \*(L"\-size 10 \-sizes 24 \-sizes 48\*(R" will perform the
equivalent of the assignments
\& @opt_sizes = (24, 48);
.Sh "Alternative option starters"
.IX Subsection "Alternative option starters"
A string of alternative option starter characters may be passed as the
first argument (or the first argument after a leading hash reference
\& GetOptions ('/', 'length=i' => $len);
Now the command line may look like:
Note that to terminate options processing still requires a double dash
\&\f(CW\*(C`\-\-\*(C'\fR.
\&\fIGetOptions()\fR will not interpret a leading \f(CW"<>"\fR as option starters
if the next argument is a reference. To force \f(CW"<"\fR and \f(CW">"\fR as
option starters, use \f(CW"><"\fR. Confusing? Well, \fBusing a starter
argument is strongly deprecated\fR anyway.
.Sh "Configuration variables"
.IX Subsection "Configuration variables"
Previous versions of Getopt::Long used variables for the purpose of
configuring. Although manipulating these variables still work, it is
strongly encouraged to use the \f(CW\*(C`Configure\*(C'\fR routine that was introduced
in version 2.17. Besides, it is much easier.
.IX Header "Trouble Shooting"
.Sh "GetOptions does not return a false result when an option is not supplied"
.IX Subsection "GetOptions does not return a false result when an option is not supplied"
That's why they're called 'options'.
.Sh "GetOptions does not split the command line correctly"
.IX Subsection "GetOptions does not split the command line correctly"
The command line is not split by GetOptions, but by the command line
interpreter (\s-1CLI\s0). On Unix, this is the shell. On Windows, it is
\&\s-1COMMAND\s0.COM or \s-1CMD\s0.EXE. Other operating systems have other CLIs.
It is important to know that these CLIs may behave different when the
command line contains special characters, in particular quotes or
backslashes. For example, with Unix shells you can use single quotes
(\f(CW\*(C`'\*(C'\fR) and double quotes (\f(CW\*(C`"\*(C'\fR) to group words together. The following
alternatives are equivalent on Unix:
In case of doubt, insert the following statement in front of your Perl
\& print STDERR (join("|",@ARGV),"\en");
to verify how your \s-1CLI\s0 passes the arguments to the program.
.Sh "Undefined subroutine &main::GetOptions called"
.IX Subsection "Undefined subroutine &main::GetOptions called"
Are you running Windows, and did you write
.ie n .Sh "How do I put a ""\-?"" option into a Getopt::Long?"
.el .Sh "How do I put a ``\-?'' option into a Getopt::Long?"
.IX Subsection "How do I put a -? option into a Getopt::Long?"
You can only obtain this using an alias, and Getopt::Long of at least
\& GetOptions ("help|?"); # -help and -? will both set $opt_help
Johan Vromans <jvromans@squirrel.nl>
.SH "COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMER"
.IX Header "COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMER"
This program is Copyright 1990,2005 by Johan Vromans.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the Perl Artistic License or the
\&\s-1GNU\s0 General Public License as published by the Free Software
Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but \s-1WITHOUT\s0 \s-1ANY\s0 \s-1WARRANTY\s0; without even the implied warranty of
\&\s-1MERCHANTABILITY\s0 or \s-1FITNESS\s0 \s-1FOR\s0 A \s-1PARTICULAR\s0 \s-1PURPOSE\s0. See the
\&\s-1GNU\s0 General Public License for more details.
If you do not have a copy of the \s-1GNU\s0 General Public License write to
the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge,
\&\s-1MA\s0 02139, \s-1USA\s0.
projects / OpenSPARC-T2-SAM / blob