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| 129 | .\" ======================================================================== |
| 130 | .\" |
| 131 | .IX Title "Getopt::Long 3" |
| 132 | .TH Getopt::Long 3 "2001-09-21" "perl v5.8.8" "Perl Programmers Reference Guide" |
| 133 | .SH "NAME" |
| 134 | Getopt::Long \- Extended processing of command line options |
| 135 | .SH "SYNOPSIS" |
| 136 | .IX Header "SYNOPSIS" |
| 137 | .Vb 7 |
| 138 | \& use Getopt::Long; |
| 139 | \& my $data = "file.dat"; |
| 140 | \& my $length = 24; |
| 141 | \& my $verbose; |
| 142 | \& $result = GetOptions ("length=i" => \e$length, # numeric |
| 143 | \& "file=s" => \e$data, # string |
| 144 | \& "verbose" => \e$verbose); # flag |
| 145 | .Ve |
| 146 | .SH "DESCRIPTION" |
| 147 | .IX Header "DESCRIPTION" |
| 148 | The Getopt::Long module implements an extended getopt function called |
| 149 | \&\fIGetOptions()\fR. This function adheres to the \s-1POSIX\s0 syntax for command |
| 150 | line options, with \s-1GNU\s0 extensions. In general, this means that options |
| 151 | have long names instead of single letters, and are introduced with a |
| 152 | double dash \*(L"\-\-\*(R". Support for bundling of command line options, as was |
| 153 | the case with the more traditional single-letter approach, is provided |
| 154 | but not enabled by default. |
| 155 | .SH "Command Line Options, an Introduction" |
| 156 | .IX Header "Command Line Options, an Introduction" |
| 157 | Command line operated programs traditionally take their arguments from |
| 158 | the command line, for example filenames or other information that the |
| 159 | program needs to know. Besides arguments, these programs often take |
| 160 | command line \fIoptions\fR as well. Options are not necessary for the |
| 161 | program to work, hence the name 'option', but are used to modify its |
| 162 | default behaviour. For example, a program could do its job quietly, |
| 163 | but with a suitable option it could provide verbose information about |
| 164 | what it did. |
| 165 | .PP |
| 166 | Command line options come in several flavours. Historically, they are |
| 167 | preceded by a single dash \f(CW\*(C`\-\*(C'\fR, and consist of a single letter. |
| 168 | .PP |
| 169 | .Vb 1 |
| 170 | \& -l -a -c |
| 171 | .Ve |
| 172 | .PP |
| 173 | Usually, these single-character options can be bundled: |
| 174 | .PP |
| 175 | .Vb 1 |
| 176 | \& -lac |
| 177 | .Ve |
| 178 | .PP |
| 179 | Options can have values, the value is placed after the option |
| 180 | character. Sometimes with whitespace in between, sometimes not: |
| 181 | .PP |
| 182 | .Vb 1 |
| 183 | \& -s 24 -s24 |
| 184 | .Ve |
| 185 | .PP |
| 186 | Due to the very cryptic nature of these options, another style was |
| 187 | developed that used long names. So instead of a cryptic \f(CW\*(C`\-l\*(C'\fR one |
| 188 | could use the more descriptive \f(CW\*(C`\-\-long\*(C'\fR. To distinguish between a |
| 189 | bundle of single-character options and a long one, two dashes are used |
| 190 | to precede the option name. Early implementations of long options used |
| 191 | a plus \f(CW\*(C`+\*(C'\fR instead. Also, option values could be specified either |
| 192 | like |
| 193 | .PP |
| 194 | .Vb 1 |
| 195 | \& --size=24 |
| 196 | .Ve |
| 197 | .PP |
| 198 | or |
| 199 | .PP |
| 200 | .Vb 1 |
| 201 | \& --size 24 |
| 202 | .Ve |
| 203 | .PP |
| 204 | The \f(CW\*(C`+\*(C'\fR form is now obsolete and strongly deprecated. |
| 205 | .SH "Getting Started with Getopt::Long" |
| 206 | .IX Header "Getting Started with Getopt::Long" |
| 207 | Getopt::Long is the Perl5 successor of \f(CW\*(C`newgetopt.pl\*(C'\fR. This was the |
| 208 | first Perl module that provided support for handling the new style of |
| 209 | command line options, hence the name Getopt::Long. This module also |
| 210 | supports single-character options and bundling. Single character |
| 211 | options may be any alphabetic character, a question mark, and a dash. |
| 212 | Long options may consist of a series of letters, digits, and dashes. |
| 213 | Although this is currently not enforced by Getopt::Long, multiple |
| 214 | consecutive dashes are not allowed, and the option name must not end |
| 215 | with a dash. |
| 216 | .PP |
| 217 | To use Getopt::Long from a Perl program, you must include the |
| 218 | following line in your Perl program: |
| 219 | .PP |
| 220 | .Vb 1 |
| 221 | \& use Getopt::Long; |
| 222 | .Ve |
| 223 | .PP |
| 224 | This will load the core of the Getopt::Long module and prepare your |
| 225 | program for using it. Most of the actual Getopt::Long code is not |
| 226 | loaded until you really call one of its functions. |
| 227 | .PP |
| 228 | In the default configuration, options names may be abbreviated to |
| 229 | uniqueness, case does not matter, and a single dash is sufficient, |
| 230 | even for long option names. Also, options may be placed between |
| 231 | non-option arguments. See \*(L"Configuring Getopt::Long\*(R" for more |
| 232 | details on how to configure Getopt::Long. |
| 233 | .Sh "Simple options" |
| 234 | .IX Subsection "Simple options" |
| 235 | The most simple options are the ones that take no values. Their mere |
| 236 | presence on the command line enables the option. Popular examples are: |
| 237 | .PP |
| 238 | .Vb 1 |
| 239 | \& --all --verbose --quiet --debug |
| 240 | .Ve |
| 241 | .PP |
| 242 | Handling simple options is straightforward: |
| 243 | .PP |
| 244 | .Vb 3 |
| 245 | \& my $verbose = ''; # option variable with default value (false) |
| 246 | \& my $all = ''; # option variable with default value (false) |
| 247 | \& GetOptions ('verbose' => \e$verbose, 'all' => \e$all); |
| 248 | .Ve |
| 249 | .PP |
| 250 | The call to \fIGetOptions()\fR parses the command line arguments that are |
| 251 | present in \f(CW@ARGV\fR and sets the option variable to the value \f(CW1\fR if |
| 252 | the option did occur on the command line. Otherwise, the option |
| 253 | variable is not touched. Setting the option value to true is often |
| 254 | called \fIenabling\fR the option. |
| 255 | .PP |
| 256 | The option name as specified to the \fIGetOptions()\fR function is called |
| 257 | the option \fIspecification\fR. Later we'll see that this specification |
| 258 | can contain more than just the option name. The reference to the |
| 259 | variable is called the option \fIdestination\fR. |
| 260 | .PP |
| 261 | \&\fIGetOptions()\fR will return a true value if the command line could be |
| 262 | processed successfully. Otherwise, it will write error messages to |
| 263 | \&\s-1STDERR\s0, and return a false result. |
| 264 | .Sh "A little bit less simple options" |
| 265 | .IX Subsection "A little bit less simple options" |
| 266 | Getopt::Long supports two useful variants of simple options: |
| 267 | \&\fInegatable\fR options and \fIincremental\fR options. |
| 268 | .PP |
| 269 | A negatable option is specified with an exclamation mark \f(CW\*(C`!\*(C'\fR after the |
| 270 | option name: |
| 271 | .PP |
| 272 | .Vb 2 |
| 273 | \& my $verbose = ''; # option variable with default value (false) |
| 274 | \& GetOptions ('verbose!' => \e$verbose); |
| 275 | .Ve |
| 276 | .PP |
| 277 | Now, using \f(CW\*(C`\-\-verbose\*(C'\fR on the command line will enable \f(CW$verbose\fR, |
| 278 | as expected. But it is also allowed to use \f(CW\*(C`\-\-noverbose\*(C'\fR, which will |
| 279 | disable \f(CW$verbose\fR by setting its value to \f(CW0\fR. Using a suitable |
| 280 | default value, the program can find out whether \f(CW$verbose\fR is false |
| 281 | by default, or disabled by using \f(CW\*(C`\-\-noverbose\*(C'\fR. |
| 282 | .PP |
| 283 | An incremental option is specified with a plus \f(CW\*(C`+\*(C'\fR after the |
| 284 | option name: |
| 285 | .PP |
| 286 | .Vb 2 |
| 287 | \& my $verbose = ''; # option variable with default value (false) |
| 288 | \& GetOptions ('verbose+' => \e$verbose); |
| 289 | .Ve |
| 290 | .PP |
| 291 | Using \f(CW\*(C`\-\-verbose\*(C'\fR on the command line will increment the value of |
| 292 | \&\f(CW$verbose\fR. This way the program can keep track of how many times the |
| 293 | option occurred on the command line. For example, each occurrence of |
| 294 | \&\f(CW\*(C`\-\-verbose\*(C'\fR could increase the verbosity level of the program. |
| 295 | .Sh "Mixing command line option with other arguments" |
| 296 | .IX Subsection "Mixing command line option with other arguments" |
| 297 | Usually programs take command line options as well as other arguments, |
| 298 | for example, file names. It is good practice to always specify the |
| 299 | options first, and the other arguments last. Getopt::Long will, |
| 300 | however, allow the options and arguments to be mixed and 'filter out' |
| 301 | all the options before passing the rest of the arguments to the |
| 302 | program. To stop Getopt::Long from processing further arguments, |
| 303 | insert a double dash \f(CW\*(C`\-\-\*(C'\fR on the command line: |
| 304 | .PP |
| 305 | .Vb 1 |
| 306 | \& --size 24 -- --all |
| 307 | .Ve |
| 308 | .PP |
| 309 | In this example, \f(CW\*(C`\-\-all\*(C'\fR will \fInot\fR be treated as an option, but |
| 310 | passed to the program unharmed, in \f(CW@ARGV\fR. |
| 311 | .Sh "Options with values" |
| 312 | .IX Subsection "Options with values" |
| 313 | For options that take values it must be specified whether the option |
| 314 | value is required or not, and what kind of value the option expects. |
| 315 | .PP |
| 316 | Three kinds of values are supported: integer numbers, floating point |
| 317 | numbers, and strings. |
| 318 | .PP |
| 319 | If the option value is required, Getopt::Long will take the |
| 320 | command line argument that follows the option and assign this to the |
| 321 | option variable. If, however, the option value is specified as |
| 322 | optional, this will only be done if that value does not look like a |
| 323 | valid command line option itself. |
| 324 | .PP |
| 325 | .Vb 2 |
| 326 | \& my $tag = ''; # option variable with default value |
| 327 | \& GetOptions ('tag=s' => \e$tag); |
| 328 | .Ve |
| 329 | .PP |
| 330 | In the option specification, the option name is followed by an equals |
| 331 | sign \f(CW\*(C`=\*(C'\fR and the letter \f(CW\*(C`s\*(C'\fR. The equals sign indicates that this |
| 332 | option requires a value. The letter \f(CW\*(C`s\*(C'\fR indicates that this value is |
| 333 | an arbitrary string. Other possible value types are \f(CW\*(C`i\*(C'\fR for integer |
| 334 | values, and \f(CW\*(C`f\*(C'\fR for floating point values. Using a colon \f(CW\*(C`:\*(C'\fR instead |
| 335 | of the equals sign indicates that the option value is optional. In |
| 336 | this case, if no suitable value is supplied, string valued options get |
| 337 | an empty string \f(CW''\fR assigned, while numeric options are set to \f(CW0\fR. |
| 338 | .Sh "Options with multiple values" |
| 339 | .IX Subsection "Options with multiple values" |
| 340 | Options sometimes take several values. For example, a program could |
| 341 | use multiple directories to search for library files: |
| 342 | .PP |
| 343 | .Vb 1 |
| 344 | \& --library lib/stdlib --library lib/extlib |
| 345 | .Ve |
| 346 | .PP |
| 347 | To accomplish this behaviour, simply specify an array reference as the |
| 348 | destination for the option: |
| 349 | .PP |
| 350 | .Vb 1 |
| 351 | \& GetOptions ("library=s" => \e@libfiles); |
| 352 | .Ve |
| 353 | .PP |
| 354 | Alternatively, you can specify that the option can have multiple |
| 355 | values by adding a \*(L"@\*(R", and pass a scalar reference as the |
| 356 | destination: |
| 357 | .PP |
| 358 | .Vb 1 |
| 359 | \& GetOptions ("library=s@" => \e$libfiles); |
| 360 | .Ve |
| 361 | .PP |
| 362 | Used with the example above, \f(CW@libfiles\fR (or \f(CW@$libfiles\fR) would |
| 363 | contain two strings upon completion: \f(CW"lib/srdlib"\fR and |
| 364 | \&\f(CW"lib/extlib"\fR, in that order. It is also possible to specify that |
| 365 | only integer or floating point numbers are acceptable values. |
| 366 | .PP |
| 367 | Often it is useful to allow comma-separated lists of values as well as |
| 368 | multiple occurrences of the options. This is easy using Perl's \fIsplit()\fR |
| 369 | and \fIjoin()\fR operators: |
| 370 | .PP |
| 371 | .Vb 2 |
| 372 | \& GetOptions ("library=s" => \e@libfiles); |
| 373 | \& @libfiles = split(/,/,join(',',@libfiles)); |
| 374 | .Ve |
| 375 | .PP |
| 376 | Of course, it is important to choose the right separator string for |
| 377 | each purpose. |
| 378 | .PP |
| 379 | Warning: What follows is an experimental feature. |
| 380 | .PP |
| 381 | Options can take multiple values at once, for example |
| 382 | .PP |
| 383 | .Vb 1 |
| 384 | \& --coordinates 52.2 16.4 --rgbcolor 255 255 149 |
| 385 | .Ve |
| 386 | .PP |
| 387 | This can be accomplished by adding a repeat specifier to the option |
| 388 | specification. Repeat specifiers are very similar to the \f(CW\*(C`{...}\*(C'\fR |
| 389 | repeat specifiers that can be used with regular expression patterns. |
| 390 | For example, the above command line would be handled as follows: |
| 391 | .PP |
| 392 | .Vb 1 |
| 393 | \& GetOptions('coordinates=f{2}' => \e@coor, 'rgbcolor=i{3}' => \e@color); |
| 394 | .Ve |
| 395 | .PP |
| 396 | The destination for the option must be an array or array reference. |
| 397 | .PP |
| 398 | It is also possible to specify the minimal and maximal number of |
| 399 | arguments an option takes. \f(CW\*(C`foo=s{2,4}\*(C'\fR indicates an option that |
| 400 | takes at least two and at most 4 arguments. \f(CW\*(C`foo=s{,}\*(C'\fR indicates one |
| 401 | or more values; \f(CW\*(C`foo:s{,}\*(C'\fR indicates zero or more option values. |
| 402 | .Sh "Options with hash values" |
| 403 | .IX Subsection "Options with hash values" |
| 404 | If the option destination is a reference to a hash, the option will |
| 405 | take, as value, strings of the form \fIkey\fR\f(CW\*(C`=\*(C'\fR\fIvalue\fR. The value will |
| 406 | be stored with the specified key in the hash. |
| 407 | .PP |
| 408 | .Vb 1 |
| 409 | \& GetOptions ("define=s" => \e%defines); |
| 410 | .Ve |
| 411 | .PP |
| 412 | Alternatively you can use: |
| 413 | .PP |
| 414 | .Vb 1 |
| 415 | \& GetOptions ("define=s%" => \e$defines); |
| 416 | .Ve |
| 417 | .PP |
| 418 | When used with command line options: |
| 419 | .PP |
| 420 | .Vb 1 |
| 421 | \& --define os=linux --define vendor=redhat |
| 422 | .Ve |
| 423 | .PP |
| 424 | the hash \f(CW%defines\fR (or \f(CW%$defines\fR) will contain two keys, \f(CW"os"\fR |
| 425 | with value \f(CW\*(C`"linux\*(C'\fR and \f(CW"vendor"\fR with value \f(CW"redhat"\fR. It is |
| 426 | also possible to specify that only integer or floating point numbers |
| 427 | are acceptable values. The keys are always taken to be strings. |
| 428 | .Sh "User-defined subroutines to handle options" |
| 429 | .IX Subsection "User-defined subroutines to handle options" |
| 430 | Ultimate control over what should be done when (actually: each time) |
| 431 | an option is encountered on the command line can be achieved by |
| 432 | designating a reference to a subroutine (or an anonymous subroutine) |
| 433 | as the option destination. When \fIGetOptions()\fR encounters the option, it |
| 434 | will call the subroutine with two or three arguments. The first |
| 435 | argument is the name of the option. For a scalar or array destination, |
| 436 | the second argument is the value to be stored. For a hash destination, |
| 437 | the second arguments is the key to the hash, and the third argument |
| 438 | the value to be stored. It is up to the subroutine to store the value, |
| 439 | or do whatever it thinks is appropriate. |
| 440 | .PP |
| 441 | A trivial application of this mechanism is to implement options that |
| 442 | are related to each other. For example: |
| 443 | .PP |
| 444 | .Vb 3 |
| 445 | \& my $verbose = ''; # option variable with default value (false) |
| 446 | \& GetOptions ('verbose' => \e$verbose, |
| 447 | \& 'quiet' => sub { $verbose = 0 }); |
| 448 | .Ve |
| 449 | .PP |
| 450 | Here \f(CW\*(C`\-\-verbose\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`\-\-quiet\*(C'\fR control the same variable |
| 451 | \&\f(CW$verbose\fR, but with opposite values. |
| 452 | .PP |
| 453 | If the subroutine needs to signal an error, it should call \fIdie()\fR with |
| 454 | the desired error message as its argument. \fIGetOptions()\fR will catch the |
| 455 | \&\fIdie()\fR, issue the error message, and record that an error result must |
| 456 | be returned upon completion. |
| 457 | .PP |
| 458 | If the text of the error message starts with an exclamation mark \f(CW\*(C`!\*(C'\fR |
| 459 | it is interpreted specially by \fIGetOptions()\fR. There is currently one |
| 460 | special command implemented: \f(CW\*(C`die("!FINISH")\*(C'\fR will cause \fIGetOptions()\fR |
| 461 | to stop processing options, as if it encountered a double dash \f(CW\*(C`\-\-\*(C'\fR. |
| 462 | .Sh "Options with multiple names" |
| 463 | .IX Subsection "Options with multiple names" |
| 464 | Often it is user friendly to supply alternate mnemonic names for |
| 465 | options. For example \f(CW\*(C`\-\-height\*(C'\fR could be an alternate name for |
| 466 | \&\f(CW\*(C`\-\-length\*(C'\fR. Alternate names can be included in the option |
| 467 | specification, separated by vertical bar \f(CW\*(C`|\*(C'\fR characters. To implement |
| 468 | the above example: |
| 469 | .PP |
| 470 | .Vb 1 |
| 471 | \& GetOptions ('length|height=f' => \e$length); |
| 472 | .Ve |
| 473 | .PP |
| 474 | The first name is called the \fIprimary\fR name, the other names are |
| 475 | called \fIaliases\fR. When using a hash to store options, the key will |
| 476 | always be the primary name. |
| 477 | .PP |
| 478 | Multiple alternate names are possible. |
| 479 | .Sh "Case and abbreviations" |
| 480 | .IX Subsection "Case and abbreviations" |
| 481 | Without additional configuration, \fIGetOptions()\fR will ignore the case of |
| 482 | option names, and allow the options to be abbreviated to uniqueness. |
| 483 | .PP |
| 484 | .Vb 1 |
| 485 | \& GetOptions ('length|height=f' => \e$length, "head" => \e$head); |
| 486 | .Ve |
| 487 | .PP |
| 488 | This call will allow \f(CW\*(C`\-\-l\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`\-\-L\*(C'\fR for the length option, but |
| 489 | requires a least \f(CW\*(C`\-\-hea\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`\-\-hei\*(C'\fR for the head and height options. |
| 490 | .Sh "Summary of Option Specifications" |
| 491 | .IX Subsection "Summary of Option Specifications" |
| 492 | Each option specifier consists of two parts: the name specification |
| 493 | and the argument specification. |
| 494 | .PP |
| 495 | The name specification contains the name of the option, optionally |
| 496 | followed by a list of alternative names separated by vertical bar |
| 497 | characters. |
| 498 | .PP |
| 499 | .Vb 2 |
| 500 | \& length option name is "length" |
| 501 | \& length|size|l name is "length", aliases are "size" and "l" |
| 502 | .Ve |
| 503 | .PP |
| 504 | The argument specification is optional. If omitted, the option is |
| 505 | considered boolean, a value of 1 will be assigned when the option is |
| 506 | used on the command line. |
| 507 | .PP |
| 508 | The argument specification can be |
| 509 | .IP "!" 4 |
| 510 | The option does not take an argument and may be negated by prefixing |
| 511 | 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 |
| 512 | 1 will be assigned) as well as \f(CW\*(C`\-\-nofoo\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`\-\-no\-foo\*(C'\fR (a value of |
| 513 | 0 will be assigned). If the option has aliases, this applies to the |
| 514 | aliases as well. |
| 515 | .Sp |
| 516 | Using negation on a single letter option when bundling is in effect is |
| 517 | pointless and will result in a warning. |
| 518 | .IP "+" 4 |
| 519 | The option does not take an argument and will be incremented by 1 |
| 520 | every time it appears on the command line. E.g. \f(CW"more+"\fR, when used |
| 521 | with \f(CW\*(C`\-\-more \-\-more \-\-more\*(C'\fR, will increment the value three times, |
| 522 | resulting in a value of 3 (provided it was 0 or undefined at first). |
| 523 | .Sp |
| 524 | The \f(CW\*(C`+\*(C'\fR specifier is ignored if the option destination is not a scalar. |
| 525 | .IP "= \fItype\fR [ \fIdesttype\fR ] [ \fIrepeat\fR ]" 4 |
| 526 | .IX Item "= type [ desttype ] [ repeat ]" |
| 527 | The option requires an argument of the given type. Supported types |
| 528 | are: |
| 529 | .RS 4 |
| 530 | .IP "s" 4 |
| 531 | .IX Item "s" |
| 532 | String. An arbitrary sequence of characters. It is valid for the |
| 533 | argument to start with \f(CW\*(C`\-\*(C'\fR or \f(CW\*(C`\-\-\*(C'\fR. |
| 534 | .IP "i" 4 |
| 535 | .IX Item "i" |
| 536 | Integer. An optional leading plus or minus sign, followed by a |
| 537 | sequence of digits. |
| 538 | .IP "o" 4 |
| 539 | Extended integer, Perl style. This can be either an optional leading |
| 540 | plus or minus sign, followed by a sequence of digits, or an octal |
| 541 | string (a zero, optionally followed by '0', '1', .. '7'), or a |
| 542 | hexadecimal string (\f(CW\*(C`0x\*(C'\fR followed by '0' .. '9', 'a' .. 'f', case |
| 543 | insensitive), or a binary string (\f(CW\*(C`0b\*(C'\fR followed by a series of '0' |
| 544 | and '1'). |
| 545 | .IP "f" 4 |
| 546 | .IX Item "f" |
| 547 | Real number. For example \f(CW3.14\fR, \f(CW\*(C`\-6.23E24\*(C'\fR and so on. |
| 548 | .RE |
| 549 | .RS 4 |
| 550 | .Sp |
| 551 | The \fIdesttype\fR can be \f(CW\*(C`@\*(C'\fR or \f(CW\*(C`%\*(C'\fR to specify that the option is |
| 552 | list or a hash valued. This is only needed when the destination for |
| 553 | the option value is not otherwise specified. It should be omitted when |
| 554 | not needed. |
| 555 | .Sp |
| 556 | The \fIrepeat\fR specifies the number of values this option takes per |
| 557 | 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. |
| 558 | .Sp |
| 559 | \&\fImin\fR denotes the minimal number of arguments. It defaults to 1 for |
| 560 | options with \f(CW\*(C`=\*(C'\fR and to 0 for options with \f(CW\*(C`:\*(C'\fR, see below. Note that |
| 561 | \&\fImin\fR overrules the \f(CW\*(C`=\*(C'\fR / \f(CW\*(C`:\*(C'\fR semantics. |
| 562 | .Sp |
| 563 | \&\fImax\fR denotes the maximum number of arguments. It must be at least |
| 564 | \&\fImin\fR. If \fImax\fR is omitted, \fIbut the comma is not\fR, there is no |
| 565 | upper bound to the number of argument values taken. |
| 566 | .RE |
| 567 | .IP ": \fItype\fR [ \fIdesttype\fR ]" 4 |
| 568 | .IX Item ": type [ desttype ]" |
| 569 | Like \f(CW\*(C`=\*(C'\fR, but designates the argument as optional. |
| 570 | If omitted, an empty string will be assigned to string values options, |
| 571 | and the value zero to numeric options. |
| 572 | .Sp |
| 573 | Note that if a string argument starts with \f(CW\*(C`\-\*(C'\fR or \f(CW\*(C`\-\-\*(C'\fR, it will be |
| 574 | considered an option on itself. |
| 575 | .IP ": \fInumber\fR [ \fIdesttype\fR ]" 4 |
| 576 | .IX Item ": number [ desttype ]" |
| 577 | Like \f(CW\*(C`:i\*(C'\fR, but if the value is omitted, the \fInumber\fR will be assigned. |
| 578 | .IP ": + [ \fIdesttype\fR ]" 4 |
| 579 | .IX Item ": + [ desttype ]" |
| 580 | Like \f(CW\*(C`:i\*(C'\fR, but if the value is omitted, the current value for the |
| 581 | option will be incremented. |
| 582 | .SH "Advanced Possibilities" |
| 583 | .IX Header "Advanced Possibilities" |
| 584 | .Sh "Object oriented interface" |
| 585 | .IX Subsection "Object oriented interface" |
| 586 | Getopt::Long can be used in an object oriented way as well: |
| 587 | .PP |
| 588 | .Vb 4 |
| 589 | \& use Getopt::Long; |
| 590 | \& $p = new Getopt::Long::Parser; |
| 591 | \& $p->configure(...configuration options...); |
| 592 | \& if ($p->getoptions(...options descriptions...)) ... |
| 593 | .Ve |
| 594 | .PP |
| 595 | Configuration options can be passed to the constructor: |
| 596 | .PP |
| 597 | .Vb 2 |
| 598 | \& $p = new Getopt::Long::Parser |
| 599 | \& config => [...configuration options...]; |
| 600 | .Ve |
| 601 | .Sh "Thread Safety" |
| 602 | .IX Subsection "Thread Safety" |
| 603 | Getopt::Long is thread safe when using ithreads as of Perl 5.8. It is |
| 604 | \&\fInot\fR thread safe when using the older (experimental and now |
| 605 | obsolete) threads implementation that was added to Perl 5.005. |
| 606 | .Sh "Documentation and help texts" |
| 607 | .IX Subsection "Documentation and help texts" |
| 608 | Getopt::Long encourages the use of Pod::Usage to produce help |
| 609 | messages. For example: |
| 610 | .PP |
| 611 | .Vb 2 |
| 612 | \& use Getopt::Long; |
| 613 | \& use Pod::Usage; |
| 614 | .Ve |
| 615 | .PP |
| 616 | .Vb 2 |
| 617 | \& my $man = 0; |
| 618 | \& my $help = 0; |
| 619 | .Ve |
| 620 | .PP |
| 621 | .Vb 3 |
| 622 | \& GetOptions('help|?' => \e$help, man => \e$man) or pod2usage(2); |
| 623 | \& pod2usage(1) if $help; |
| 624 | \& pod2usage(-exitstatus => 0, -verbose => 2) if $man; |
| 625 | .Ve |
| 626 | .PP |
| 627 | .Vb 1 |
| 628 | \& __END__ |
| 629 | .Ve |
| 630 | .PP |
| 631 | .Vb 1 |
| 632 | \& =head1 NAME |
| 633 | .Ve |
| 634 | .PP |
| 635 | .Vb 1 |
| 636 | \& sample - Using Getopt::Long and Pod::Usage |
| 637 | .Ve |
| 638 | .PP |
| 639 | .Vb 1 |
| 640 | \& =head1 SYNOPSIS |
| 641 | .Ve |
| 642 | .PP |
| 643 | .Vb 1 |
| 644 | \& sample [options] [file ...] |
| 645 | .Ve |
| 646 | .PP |
| 647 | .Vb 3 |
| 648 | \& Options: |
| 649 | \& -help brief help message |
| 650 | \& -man full documentation |
| 651 | .Ve |
| 652 | .PP |
| 653 | .Vb 1 |
| 654 | \& =head1 OPTIONS |
| 655 | .Ve |
| 656 | .PP |
| 657 | .Vb 1 |
| 658 | \& =over 8 |
| 659 | .Ve |
| 660 | .PP |
| 661 | .Vb 1 |
| 662 | \& =item B<-help> |
| 663 | .Ve |
| 664 | .PP |
| 665 | .Vb 1 |
| 666 | \& Print a brief help message and exits. |
| 667 | .Ve |
| 668 | .PP |
| 669 | .Vb 1 |
| 670 | \& =item B<-man> |
| 671 | .Ve |
| 672 | .PP |
| 673 | .Vb 1 |
| 674 | \& Prints the manual page and exits. |
| 675 | .Ve |
| 676 | .PP |
| 677 | .Vb 1 |
| 678 | \& =back |
| 679 | .Ve |
| 680 | .PP |
| 681 | .Vb 1 |
| 682 | \& =head1 DESCRIPTION |
| 683 | .Ve |
| 684 | .PP |
| 685 | .Vb 2 |
| 686 | \& B<This program> will read the given input file(s) and do something |
| 687 | \& useful with the contents thereof. |
| 688 | .Ve |
| 689 | .PP |
| 690 | .Vb 1 |
| 691 | \& =cut |
| 692 | .Ve |
| 693 | .PP |
| 694 | See Pod::Usage for details. |
| 695 | .Sh "Storing option values in a hash" |
| 696 | .IX Subsection "Storing option values in a hash" |
| 697 | Sometimes, for example when there are a lot of options, having a |
| 698 | separate variable for each of them can be cumbersome. \fIGetOptions()\fR |
| 699 | supports, as an alternative mechanism, storing options in a hash. |
| 700 | .PP |
| 701 | To obtain this, a reference to a hash must be passed \fIas the first |
| 702 | argument\fR to \fIGetOptions()\fR. For each option that is specified on the |
| 703 | command line, the option value will be stored in the hash with the |
| 704 | option name as key. Options that are not actually used on the command |
| 705 | line will not be put in the hash, on other words, |
| 706 | \&\f(CW\*(C`exists($h{option})\*(C'\fR (or \fIdefined()\fR) can be used to test if an option |
| 707 | was used. The drawback is that warnings will be issued if the program |
| 708 | runs under \f(CW\*(C`use strict\*(C'\fR and uses \f(CW$h{option}\fR without testing with |
| 709 | \&\fIexists()\fR or \fIdefined()\fR first. |
| 710 | .PP |
| 711 | .Vb 2 |
| 712 | \& my %h = (); |
| 713 | \& GetOptions (\e%h, 'length=i'); # will store in $h{length} |
| 714 | .Ve |
| 715 | .PP |
| 716 | For options that take list or hash values, it is necessary to indicate |
| 717 | this by appending an \f(CW\*(C`@\*(C'\fR or \f(CW\*(C`%\*(C'\fR sign after the type: |
| 718 | .PP |
| 719 | .Vb 1 |
| 720 | \& GetOptions (\e%h, 'colours=s@'); # will push to @{$h{colours}} |
| 721 | .Ve |
| 722 | .PP |
| 723 | To make things more complicated, the hash may contain references to |
| 724 | the actual destinations, for example: |
| 725 | .PP |
| 726 | .Vb 3 |
| 727 | \& my $len = 0; |
| 728 | \& my %h = ('length' => \e$len); |
| 729 | \& GetOptions (\e%h, 'length=i'); # will store in $len |
| 730 | .Ve |
| 731 | .PP |
| 732 | This example is fully equivalent with: |
| 733 | .PP |
| 734 | .Vb 2 |
| 735 | \& my $len = 0; |
| 736 | \& GetOptions ('length=i' => \e$len); # will store in $len |
| 737 | .Ve |
| 738 | .PP |
| 739 | Any mixture is possible. For example, the most frequently used options |
| 740 | could be stored in variables while all other options get stored in the |
| 741 | hash: |
| 742 | .PP |
| 743 | .Vb 6 |
| 744 | \& my $verbose = 0; # frequently referred |
| 745 | \& my $debug = 0; # frequently referred |
| 746 | \& my %h = ('verbose' => \e$verbose, 'debug' => \e$debug); |
| 747 | \& GetOptions (\e%h, 'verbose', 'debug', 'filter', 'size=i'); |
| 748 | \& if ( $verbose ) { ... } |
| 749 | \& if ( exists $h{filter} ) { ... option 'filter' was specified ... } |
| 750 | .Ve |
| 751 | .Sh "Bundling" |
| 752 | .IX Subsection "Bundling" |
| 753 | With bundling it is possible to set several single-character options |
| 754 | 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, |
| 755 | .PP |
| 756 | .Vb 1 |
| 757 | \& -vax |
| 758 | .Ve |
| 759 | .PP |
| 760 | would set all three. |
| 761 | .PP |
| 762 | Getopt::Long supports two levels of bundling. To enable bundling, a |
| 763 | call to Getopt::Long::Configure is required. |
| 764 | .PP |
| 765 | The first level of bundling can be enabled with: |
| 766 | .PP |
| 767 | .Vb 1 |
| 768 | \& Getopt::Long::Configure ("bundling"); |
| 769 | .Ve |
| 770 | .PP |
| 771 | Configured this way, single-character options can be bundled but long |
| 772 | options \fBmust\fR always start with a double dash \f(CW\*(C`\-\-\*(C'\fR to avoid |
| 773 | 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 |
| 774 | options, |
| 775 | .PP |
| 776 | .Vb 1 |
| 777 | \& -vax |
| 778 | .Ve |
| 779 | .PP |
| 780 | would set \f(CW\*(C`a\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`v\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`x\*(C'\fR, but |
| 781 | .PP |
| 782 | .Vb 1 |
| 783 | \& --vax |
| 784 | .Ve |
| 785 | .PP |
| 786 | would set \f(CW\*(C`vax\*(C'\fR. |
| 787 | .PP |
| 788 | The second level of bundling lifts this restriction. It can be enabled |
| 789 | with: |
| 790 | .PP |
| 791 | .Vb 1 |
| 792 | \& Getopt::Long::Configure ("bundling_override"); |
| 793 | .Ve |
| 794 | .PP |
| 795 | Now, \f(CW\*(C`\-vax\*(C'\fR would set the option \f(CW\*(C`vax\*(C'\fR. |
| 796 | .PP |
| 797 | When any level of bundling is enabled, option values may be inserted |
| 798 | in the bundle. For example: |
| 799 | .PP |
| 800 | .Vb 1 |
| 801 | \& -h24w80 |
| 802 | .Ve |
| 803 | .PP |
| 804 | is equivalent to |
| 805 | .PP |
| 806 | .Vb 1 |
| 807 | \& -h 24 -w 80 |
| 808 | .Ve |
| 809 | .PP |
| 810 | When configured for bundling, single-character options are matched |
| 811 | case sensitive while long options are matched case insensitive. To |
| 812 | have the single-character options matched case insensitive as well, |
| 813 | use: |
| 814 | .PP |
| 815 | .Vb 1 |
| 816 | \& Getopt::Long::Configure ("bundling", "ignorecase_always"); |
| 817 | .Ve |
| 818 | .PP |
| 819 | It goes without saying that bundling can be quite confusing. |
| 820 | .Sh "The lonesome dash" |
| 821 | .IX Subsection "The lonesome dash" |
| 822 | Normally, a lone dash \f(CW\*(C`\-\*(C'\fR on the command line will not be considered |
| 823 | an option. Option processing will terminate (unless \*(L"permute\*(R" is |
| 824 | configured) and the dash will be left in \f(CW@ARGV\fR. |
| 825 | .PP |
| 826 | It is possible to get special treatment for a lone dash. This can be |
| 827 | achieved by adding an option specification with an empty name, for |
| 828 | example: |
| 829 | .PP |
| 830 | .Vb 1 |
| 831 | \& GetOptions ('' => \e$stdio); |
| 832 | .Ve |
| 833 | .PP |
| 834 | A lone dash on the command line will now be a legal option, and using |
| 835 | it will set variable \f(CW$stdio\fR. |
| 836 | .Sh "Argument callback" |
| 837 | .IX Subsection "Argument callback" |
| 838 | A special option 'name' \f(CW\*(C`<>\*(C'\fR can be used to designate a subroutine |
| 839 | to handle non-option arguments. When \fIGetOptions()\fR encounters an |
| 840 | argument that does not look like an option, it will immediately call this |
| 841 | subroutine and passes it one parameter: the argument name. |
| 842 | .PP |
| 843 | For example: |
| 844 | .PP |
| 845 | .Vb 3 |
| 846 | \& my $width = 80; |
| 847 | \& sub process { ... } |
| 848 | \& GetOptions ('width=i' => \e$width, '<>' => \e&process); |
| 849 | .Ve |
| 850 | .PP |
| 851 | When applied to the following command line: |
| 852 | .PP |
| 853 | .Vb 1 |
| 854 | \& arg1 --width=72 arg2 --width=60 arg3 |
| 855 | .Ve |
| 856 | .PP |
| 857 | This will call |
| 858 | \&\f(CW\*(C`process("arg1")\*(C'\fR while \f(CW$width\fR is \f(CW80\fR, |
| 859 | \&\f(CW\*(C`process("arg2")\*(C'\fR while \f(CW$width\fR is \f(CW72\fR, and |
| 860 | \&\f(CW\*(C`process("arg3")\*(C'\fR while \f(CW$width\fR is \f(CW60\fR. |
| 861 | .PP |
| 862 | This feature requires configuration option \fBpermute\fR, see section |
| 863 | \&\*(L"Configuring Getopt::Long\*(R". |
| 864 | .SH "Configuring Getopt::Long" |
| 865 | .IX Header "Configuring Getopt::Long" |
| 866 | Getopt::Long can be configured by calling subroutine |
| 867 | \&\fIGetopt::Long::Configure()\fR. This subroutine takes a list of quoted |
| 868 | strings, each specifying a configuration option to be enabled, e.g. |
| 869 | \&\f(CW\*(C`ignore_case\*(C'\fR, or disabled, e.g. \f(CW\*(C`no_ignore_case\*(C'\fR. Case does not |
| 870 | matter. Multiple calls to \fIConfigure()\fR are possible. |
| 871 | .PP |
| 872 | Alternatively, as of version 2.24, the configuration options may be |
| 873 | passed together with the \f(CW\*(C`use\*(C'\fR statement: |
| 874 | .PP |
| 875 | .Vb 1 |
| 876 | \& use Getopt::Long qw(:config no_ignore_case bundling); |
| 877 | .Ve |
| 878 | .PP |
| 879 | The following options are available: |
| 880 | .IP "default" 12 |
| 881 | .IX Item "default" |
| 882 | This option causes all configuration options to be reset to their |
| 883 | default values. |
| 884 | .IP "posix_default" 12 |
| 885 | .IX Item "posix_default" |
| 886 | This option causes all configuration options to be reset to their |
| 887 | default values as if the environment variable \s-1POSIXLY_CORRECT\s0 had |
| 888 | been set. |
| 889 | .IP "auto_abbrev" 12 |
| 890 | .IX Item "auto_abbrev" |
| 891 | Allow option names to be abbreviated to uniqueness. |
| 892 | Default is enabled unless environment variable |
| 893 | \&\s-1POSIXLY_CORRECT\s0 has been set, in which case \f(CW\*(C`auto_abbrev\*(C'\fR is disabled. |
| 894 | .IP "getopt_compat" 12 |
| 895 | .IX Item "getopt_compat" |
| 896 | Allow \f(CW\*(C`+\*(C'\fR to start options. |
| 897 | Default is enabled unless environment variable |
| 898 | \&\s-1POSIXLY_CORRECT\s0 has been set, in which case \f(CW\*(C`getopt_compat\*(C'\fR is disabled. |
| 899 | .IP "gnu_compat" 12 |
| 900 | .IX Item "gnu_compat" |
| 901 | \&\f(CW\*(C`gnu_compat\*(C'\fR controls whether \f(CW\*(C`\-\-opt=\*(C'\fR is allowed, and what it should |
| 902 | 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, |
| 903 | \&\f(CW\*(C`\-\-opt=\*(C'\fR will give option \f(CW\*(C`opt\*(C'\fR and empty value. |
| 904 | This is the way \s-1GNU\s0 \fIgetopt_long()\fR does it. |
| 905 | .IP "gnu_getopt" 12 |
| 906 | .IX Item "gnu_getopt" |
| 907 | 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 |
| 908 | \&\f(CW\*(C`no_getopt_compat\*(C'\fR. With \f(CW\*(C`gnu_getopt\*(C'\fR, command line handling should be |
| 909 | fully compatible with \s-1GNU\s0 \fIgetopt_long()\fR. |
| 910 | .IP "require_order" 12 |
| 911 | .IX Item "require_order" |
| 912 | Whether command line arguments are allowed to be mixed with options. |
| 913 | Default is disabled unless environment variable |
| 914 | \&\s-1POSIXLY_CORRECT\s0 has been set, in which case \f(CW\*(C`require_order\*(C'\fR is enabled. |
| 915 | .Sp |
| 916 | See also \f(CW\*(C`permute\*(C'\fR, which is the opposite of \f(CW\*(C`require_order\*(C'\fR. |
| 917 | .IP "permute" 12 |
| 918 | .IX Item "permute" |
| 919 | Whether command line arguments are allowed to be mixed with options. |
| 920 | Default is enabled unless environment variable |
| 921 | \&\s-1POSIXLY_CORRECT\s0 has been set, in which case \f(CW\*(C`permute\*(C'\fR is disabled. |
| 922 | Note that \f(CW\*(C`permute\*(C'\fR is the opposite of \f(CW\*(C`require_order\*(C'\fR. |
| 923 | .Sp |
| 924 | If \f(CW\*(C`permute\*(C'\fR is enabled, this means that |
| 925 | .Sp |
| 926 | .Vb 1 |
| 927 | \& --foo arg1 --bar arg2 arg3 |
| 928 | .Ve |
| 929 | .Sp |
| 930 | is equivalent to |
| 931 | .Sp |
| 932 | .Vb 1 |
| 933 | \& --foo --bar arg1 arg2 arg3 |
| 934 | .Ve |
| 935 | .Sp |
| 936 | If an argument callback routine is specified, \f(CW@ARGV\fR will always be |
| 937 | empty upon successful return of \fIGetOptions()\fR since all options have been |
| 938 | processed. The only exception is when \f(CW\*(C`\-\-\*(C'\fR is used: |
| 939 | .Sp |
| 940 | .Vb 1 |
| 941 | \& --foo arg1 --bar arg2 -- arg3 |
| 942 | .Ve |
| 943 | .Sp |
| 944 | This will call the callback routine for arg1 and arg2, and then |
| 945 | terminate \fIGetOptions()\fR leaving \f(CW"arg2"\fR in \f(CW@ARGV\fR. |
| 946 | .Sp |
| 947 | If \f(CW\*(C`require_order\*(C'\fR is enabled, options processing |
| 948 | terminates when the first non-option is encountered. |
| 949 | .Sp |
| 950 | .Vb 1 |
| 951 | \& --foo arg1 --bar arg2 arg3 |
| 952 | .Ve |
| 953 | .Sp |
| 954 | is equivalent to |
| 955 | .Sp |
| 956 | .Vb 1 |
| 957 | \& --foo -- arg1 --bar arg2 arg3 |
| 958 | .Ve |
| 959 | .Sp |
| 960 | If \f(CW\*(C`pass_through\*(C'\fR is also enabled, options processing will terminate |
| 961 | at the first unrecognized option, or non\-option, whichever comes |
| 962 | first. |
| 963 | .IP "bundling (default: disabled)" 12 |
| 964 | .IX Item "bundling (default: disabled)" |
| 965 | Enabling this option will allow single-character options to be |
| 966 | bundled. To distinguish bundles from long option names, long options |
| 967 | \&\fImust\fR be introduced with \f(CW\*(C`\-\-\*(C'\fR and bundles with \f(CW\*(C`\-\*(C'\fR. |
| 968 | .Sp |
| 969 | 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 |
| 970 | auto_abbrev enabled, possible arguments and option settings are: |
| 971 | .Sp |
| 972 | .Vb 6 |
| 973 | \& using argument sets option(s) |
| 974 | \& ------------------------------------------ |
| 975 | \& -a, --a a |
| 976 | \& -l, --l l |
| 977 | \& -al, -la, -ala, -all,... a, l |
| 978 | \& --al, --all all |
| 979 | .Ve |
| 980 | .Sp |
| 981 | The surprising part is that \f(CW\*(C`\-\-a\*(C'\fR sets option \f(CW\*(C`a\*(C'\fR (due to auto |
| 982 | completion), not \f(CW\*(C`all\*(C'\fR. |
| 983 | .Sp |
| 984 | Note: disabling \f(CW\*(C`bundling\*(C'\fR also disables \f(CW\*(C`bundling_override\*(C'\fR. |
| 985 | .IP "bundling_override (default: disabled)" 12 |
| 986 | .IX Item "bundling_override (default: disabled)" |
| 987 | If \f(CW\*(C`bundling_override\*(C'\fR is enabled, bundling is enabled as with |
| 988 | \&\f(CW\*(C`bundling\*(C'\fR but now long option names override option bundles. |
| 989 | .Sp |
| 990 | Note: disabling \f(CW\*(C`bundling_override\*(C'\fR also disables \f(CW\*(C`bundling\*(C'\fR. |
| 991 | .Sp |
| 992 | \&\fBNote:\fR Using option bundling can easily lead to unexpected results, |
| 993 | especially when mixing long options and bundles. Caveat emptor. |
| 994 | .IP "ignore_case (default: enabled)" 12 |
| 995 | .IX Item "ignore_case (default: enabled)" |
| 996 | If enabled, case is ignored when matching long option names. If, |
| 997 | however, bundling is enabled as well, single character options will be |
| 998 | treated case\-sensitive. |
| 999 | .Sp |
| 1000 | With \f(CW\*(C`ignore_case\*(C'\fR, option specifications for options that only |
| 1001 | differ in case, e.g., \f(CW"foo"\fR and \f(CW"Foo"\fR, will be flagged as |
| 1002 | duplicates. |
| 1003 | .Sp |
| 1004 | Note: disabling \f(CW\*(C`ignore_case\*(C'\fR also disables \f(CW\*(C`ignore_case_always\*(C'\fR. |
| 1005 | .IP "ignore_case_always (default: disabled)" 12 |
| 1006 | .IX Item "ignore_case_always (default: disabled)" |
| 1007 | When bundling is in effect, case is ignored on single-character |
| 1008 | options also. |
| 1009 | .Sp |
| 1010 | Note: disabling \f(CW\*(C`ignore_case_always\*(C'\fR also disables \f(CW\*(C`ignore_case\*(C'\fR. |
| 1011 | .IP "auto_version (default:disabled)" 12 |
| 1012 | .IX Item "auto_version (default:disabled)" |
| 1013 | Automatically provide support for the \fB\-\-version\fR option if |
| 1014 | the application did not specify a handler for this option itself. |
| 1015 | .Sp |
| 1016 | Getopt::Long will provide a standard version message that includes the |
| 1017 | program name, its version (if \f(CW$main::VERSION\fR is defined), and the |
| 1018 | versions of Getopt::Long and Perl. The message will be written to |
| 1019 | standard output and processing will terminate. |
| 1020 | .Sp |
| 1021 | \&\f(CW\*(C`auto_version\*(C'\fR will be enabled if the calling program explicitly |
| 1022 | specified a version number higher than 2.32 in the \f(CW\*(C`use\*(C'\fR or |
| 1023 | \&\f(CW\*(C`require\*(C'\fR statement. |
| 1024 | .IP "auto_help (default:disabled)" 12 |
| 1025 | .IX Item "auto_help (default:disabled)" |
| 1026 | Automatically provide support for the \fB\-\-help\fR and \fB\-?\fR options if |
| 1027 | the application did not specify a handler for this option itself. |
| 1028 | .Sp |
| 1029 | Getopt::Long will provide a help message using module Pod::Usage. The |
| 1030 | message, derived from the \s-1SYNOPSIS\s0 \s-1POD\s0 section, will be written to |
| 1031 | standard output and processing will terminate. |
| 1032 | .Sp |
| 1033 | \&\f(CW\*(C`auto_help\*(C'\fR will be enabled if the calling program explicitly |
| 1034 | specified a version number higher than 2.32 in the \f(CW\*(C`use\*(C'\fR or |
| 1035 | \&\f(CW\*(C`require\*(C'\fR statement. |
| 1036 | .IP "pass_through (default: disabled)" 12 |
| 1037 | .IX Item "pass_through (default: disabled)" |
| 1038 | Options that are unknown, ambiguous or supplied with an invalid option |
| 1039 | value are passed through in \f(CW@ARGV\fR instead of being flagged as |
| 1040 | errors. This makes it possible to write wrapper scripts that process |
| 1041 | only part of the user supplied command line arguments, and pass the |
| 1042 | remaining options to some other program. |
| 1043 | .Sp |
| 1044 | If \f(CW\*(C`require_order\*(C'\fR is enabled, options processing will terminate at |
| 1045 | the first unrecognized option, or non\-option, whichever comes first. |
| 1046 | However, if \f(CW\*(C`permute\*(C'\fR is enabled instead, results can become confusing. |
| 1047 | .Sp |
| 1048 | Note that the options terminator (default \f(CW\*(C`\-\-\*(C'\fR), if present, will |
| 1049 | also be passed through in \f(CW@ARGV\fR. |
| 1050 | .IP "prefix" 12 |
| 1051 | .IX Item "prefix" |
| 1052 | The string that starts options. If a constant string is not |
| 1053 | sufficient, see \f(CW\*(C`prefix_pattern\*(C'\fR. |
| 1054 | .IP "prefix_pattern" 12 |
| 1055 | .IX Item "prefix_pattern" |
| 1056 | A Perl pattern that identifies the strings that introduce options. |
| 1057 | Default is \f(CW\*(C`\-\-|\-|\e+\*(C'\fR unless environment variable |
| 1058 | \&\s-1POSIXLY_CORRECT\s0 has been set, in which case it is \f(CW\*(C`\-\-|\-\*(C'\fR. |
| 1059 | .IP "long_prefix_pattern" 12 |
| 1060 | .IX Item "long_prefix_pattern" |
| 1061 | A Perl pattern that allows the disambiguation of long and short |
| 1062 | prefixes. Default is \f(CW\*(C`\-\-\*(C'\fR. |
| 1063 | .Sp |
| 1064 | Typically you only need to set this if you are using nonstandard |
| 1065 | prefixes and want some or all of them to have the same semantics as |
| 1066 | \&'\-\-' does under normal circumstances. |
| 1067 | .Sp |
| 1068 | For example, setting prefix_pattern to \f(CW\*(C`\-\-|\-|\e+|\e/\*(C'\fR and |
| 1069 | long_prefix_pattern to \f(CW\*(C`\-\-|\e/\*(C'\fR would add Win32 style argument |
| 1070 | handling. |
| 1071 | .IP "debug (default: disabled)" 12 |
| 1072 | .IX Item "debug (default: disabled)" |
| 1073 | Enable debugging output. |
| 1074 | .SH "Exportable Methods" |
| 1075 | .IX Header "Exportable Methods" |
| 1076 | .IP "VersionMessage" 4 |
| 1077 | .IX Item "VersionMessage" |
| 1078 | This subroutine provides a standard version message. Its argument can be: |
| 1079 | .RS 4 |
| 1080 | .IP "*" 4 |
| 1081 | A string containing the text of a message to print \fIbefore\fR printing |
| 1082 | the standard message. |
| 1083 | .IP "*" 4 |
| 1084 | A numeric value corresponding to the desired exit status. |
| 1085 | .IP "*" 4 |
| 1086 | A reference to a hash. |
| 1087 | .RE |
| 1088 | .RS 4 |
| 1089 | .Sp |
| 1090 | If more than one argument is given then the entire argument list is |
| 1091 | assumed to be a hash. If a hash is supplied (either as a reference or |
| 1092 | as a list) it should contain one or more elements with the following |
| 1093 | keys: |
| 1094 | .ie n .IP """\-message""" 4 |
| 1095 | .el .IP "\f(CW\-message\fR" 4 |
| 1096 | .IX Item "-message" |
| 1097 | .PD 0 |
| 1098 | .ie n .IP """\-msg""" 4 |
| 1099 | .el .IP "\f(CW\-msg\fR" 4 |
| 1100 | .IX Item "-msg" |
| 1101 | .PD |
| 1102 | The text of a message to print immediately prior to printing the |
| 1103 | program's usage message. |
| 1104 | .ie n .IP """\-exitval""" 4 |
| 1105 | .el .IP "\f(CW\-exitval\fR" 4 |
| 1106 | .IX Item "-exitval" |
| 1107 | The desired exit status to pass to the \fB\f(BIexit()\fB\fR function. |
| 1108 | This should be an integer, or else the string \*(L"\s-1NOEXIT\s0\*(R" to |
| 1109 | indicate that control should simply be returned without |
| 1110 | terminating the invoking process. |
| 1111 | .ie n .IP """\-output""" 4 |
| 1112 | .el .IP "\f(CW\-output\fR" 4 |
| 1113 | .IX Item "-output" |
| 1114 | A reference to a filehandle, or the pathname of a file to which the |
| 1115 | usage message should be written. The default is \f(CW\*(C`\e*STDERR\*(C'\fR unless the |
| 1116 | exit value is less than 2 (in which case the default is \f(CW\*(C`\e*STDOUT\*(C'\fR). |
| 1117 | .RE |
| 1118 | .RS 4 |
| 1119 | .Sp |
| 1120 | You cannot tie this routine directly to an option, e.g.: |
| 1121 | .Sp |
| 1122 | .Vb 1 |
| 1123 | \& GetOptions("version" => \e&VersionMessage); |
| 1124 | .Ve |
| 1125 | .Sp |
| 1126 | Use this instead: |
| 1127 | .Sp |
| 1128 | .Vb 1 |
| 1129 | \& GetOptions("version" => sub { VersionMessage() }); |
| 1130 | .Ve |
| 1131 | .RE |
| 1132 | .IP "HelpMessage" 4 |
| 1133 | .IX Item "HelpMessage" |
| 1134 | This subroutine produces a standard help message, derived from the |
| 1135 | program's \s-1POD\s0 section \s-1SYNOPSIS\s0 using Pod::Usage. It takes the same |
| 1136 | arguments as \fIVersionMessage()\fR. In particular, you cannot tie it |
| 1137 | directly to an option, e.g.: |
| 1138 | .Sp |
| 1139 | .Vb 1 |
| 1140 | \& GetOptions("help" => \e&HelpMessage); |
| 1141 | .Ve |
| 1142 | .Sp |
| 1143 | Use this instead: |
| 1144 | .Sp |
| 1145 | .Vb 1 |
| 1146 | \& GetOptions("help" => sub { HelpMessage() }); |
| 1147 | .Ve |
| 1148 | .SH "Return values and Errors" |
| 1149 | .IX Header "Return values and Errors" |
| 1150 | Configuration errors and errors in the option definitions are |
| 1151 | signalled using \fIdie()\fR and will terminate the calling program unless |
| 1152 | the call to \fIGetopt::Long::GetOptions()\fR was embedded in \f(CW\*(C`eval { ... |
| 1153 | }\*(C'\fR, or \fIdie()\fR was trapped using \f(CW$SIG{_\|_DIE_\|_}\fR. |
| 1154 | .PP |
| 1155 | GetOptions returns true to indicate success. |
| 1156 | It returns false when the function detected one or more errors during |
| 1157 | option parsing. These errors are signalled using \fIwarn()\fR and can be |
| 1158 | trapped with \f(CW$SIG{_\|_WARN_\|_}\fR. |
| 1159 | .SH "Legacy" |
| 1160 | .IX Header "Legacy" |
| 1161 | The earliest development of \f(CW\*(C`newgetopt.pl\*(C'\fR started in 1990, with Perl |
| 1162 | version 4. As a result, its development, and the development of |
| 1163 | Getopt::Long, has gone through several stages. Since backward |
| 1164 | compatibility has always been extremely important, the current version |
| 1165 | of Getopt::Long still supports a lot of constructs that nowadays are |
| 1166 | no longer necessary or otherwise unwanted. This section describes |
| 1167 | briefly some of these 'features'. |
| 1168 | .Sh "Default destinations" |
| 1169 | .IX Subsection "Default destinations" |
| 1170 | When no destination is specified for an option, GetOptions will store |
| 1171 | the resultant value in a global variable named \f(CW\*(C`opt_\*(C'\fR\fI\s-1XXX\s0\fR, where |
| 1172 | \&\fI\s-1XXX\s0\fR is the primary name of this option. When a progam executes |
| 1173 | under \f(CW\*(C`use strict\*(C'\fR (recommended), these variables must be |
| 1174 | pre-declared with \fIour()\fR or \f(CW\*(C`use vars\*(C'\fR. |
| 1175 | .PP |
| 1176 | .Vb 2 |
| 1177 | \& our $opt_length = 0; |
| 1178 | \& GetOptions ('length=i'); # will store in $opt_length |
| 1179 | .Ve |
| 1180 | .PP |
| 1181 | To yield a usable Perl variable, characters that are not part of the |
| 1182 | syntax for variables are translated to underscores. For example, |
| 1183 | \&\f(CW\*(C`\-\-fpp\-struct\-return\*(C'\fR will set the variable |
| 1184 | \&\f(CW$opt_fpp_struct_return\fR. Note that this variable resides in the |
| 1185 | namespace of the calling program, not necessarily \f(CW\*(C`main\*(C'\fR. For |
| 1186 | example: |
| 1187 | .PP |
| 1188 | .Vb 1 |
| 1189 | \& GetOptions ("size=i", "sizes=i@"); |
| 1190 | .Ve |
| 1191 | .PP |
| 1192 | with command line \*(L"\-size 10 \-sizes 24 \-sizes 48\*(R" will perform the |
| 1193 | equivalent of the assignments |
| 1194 | .PP |
| 1195 | .Vb 2 |
| 1196 | \& $opt_size = 10; |
| 1197 | \& @opt_sizes = (24, 48); |
| 1198 | .Ve |
| 1199 | .Sh "Alternative option starters" |
| 1200 | .IX Subsection "Alternative option starters" |
| 1201 | A string of alternative option starter characters may be passed as the |
| 1202 | first argument (or the first argument after a leading hash reference |
| 1203 | argument). |
| 1204 | .PP |
| 1205 | .Vb 2 |
| 1206 | \& my $len = 0; |
| 1207 | \& GetOptions ('/', 'length=i' => $len); |
| 1208 | .Ve |
| 1209 | .PP |
| 1210 | Now the command line may look like: |
| 1211 | .PP |
| 1212 | .Vb 1 |
| 1213 | \& /length 24 -- arg |
| 1214 | .Ve |
| 1215 | .PP |
| 1216 | Note that to terminate options processing still requires a double dash |
| 1217 | \&\f(CW\*(C`\-\-\*(C'\fR. |
| 1218 | .PP |
| 1219 | \&\fIGetOptions()\fR will not interpret a leading \f(CW"<>"\fR as option starters |
| 1220 | if the next argument is a reference. To force \f(CW"<"\fR and \f(CW">"\fR as |
| 1221 | option starters, use \f(CW"><"\fR. Confusing? Well, \fBusing a starter |
| 1222 | argument is strongly deprecated\fR anyway. |
| 1223 | .Sh "Configuration variables" |
| 1224 | .IX Subsection "Configuration variables" |
| 1225 | Previous versions of Getopt::Long used variables for the purpose of |
| 1226 | configuring. Although manipulating these variables still work, it is |
| 1227 | strongly encouraged to use the \f(CW\*(C`Configure\*(C'\fR routine that was introduced |
| 1228 | in version 2.17. Besides, it is much easier. |
| 1229 | .SH "Trouble Shooting" |
| 1230 | .IX Header "Trouble Shooting" |
| 1231 | .Sh "GetOptions does not return a false result when an option is not supplied" |
| 1232 | .IX Subsection "GetOptions does not return a false result when an option is not supplied" |
| 1233 | That's why they're called 'options'. |
| 1234 | .Sh "GetOptions does not split the command line correctly" |
| 1235 | .IX Subsection "GetOptions does not split the command line correctly" |
| 1236 | The command line is not split by GetOptions, but by the command line |
| 1237 | interpreter (\s-1CLI\s0). On Unix, this is the shell. On Windows, it is |
| 1238 | \&\s-1COMMAND\s0.COM or \s-1CMD\s0.EXE. Other operating systems have other CLIs. |
| 1239 | .PP |
| 1240 | It is important to know that these CLIs may behave different when the |
| 1241 | command line contains special characters, in particular quotes or |
| 1242 | backslashes. For example, with Unix shells you can use single quotes |
| 1243 | (\f(CW\*(C`'\*(C'\fR) and double quotes (\f(CW\*(C`"\*(C'\fR) to group words together. The following |
| 1244 | alternatives are equivalent on Unix: |
| 1245 | .PP |
| 1246 | .Vb 3 |
| 1247 | \& "two words" |
| 1248 | \& 'two words' |
| 1249 | \& two\e words |
| 1250 | .Ve |
| 1251 | .PP |
| 1252 | In case of doubt, insert the following statement in front of your Perl |
| 1253 | program: |
| 1254 | .PP |
| 1255 | .Vb 1 |
| 1256 | \& print STDERR (join("|",@ARGV),"\en"); |
| 1257 | .Ve |
| 1258 | .PP |
| 1259 | to verify how your \s-1CLI\s0 passes the arguments to the program. |
| 1260 | .Sh "Undefined subroutine &main::GetOptions called" |
| 1261 | .IX Subsection "Undefined subroutine &main::GetOptions called" |
| 1262 | Are you running Windows, and did you write |
| 1263 | .PP |
| 1264 | .Vb 1 |
| 1265 | \& use GetOpt::Long; |
| 1266 | .Ve |
| 1267 | .PP |
| 1268 | (note the capital 'O')? |
| 1269 | .ie n .Sh "How do I put a ""\-?"" option into a Getopt::Long?" |
| 1270 | .el .Sh "How do I put a ``\-?'' option into a Getopt::Long?" |
| 1271 | .IX Subsection "How do I put a -? option into a Getopt::Long?" |
| 1272 | You can only obtain this using an alias, and Getopt::Long of at least |
| 1273 | version 2.13. |
| 1274 | .PP |
| 1275 | .Vb 2 |
| 1276 | \& use Getopt::Long; |
| 1277 | \& GetOptions ("help|?"); # -help and -? will both set $opt_help |
| 1278 | .Ve |
| 1279 | .SH "AUTHOR" |
| 1280 | .IX Header "AUTHOR" |
| 1281 | Johan Vromans <jvromans@squirrel.nl> |
| 1282 | .SH "COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMER" |
| 1283 | .IX Header "COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMER" |
| 1284 | This program is Copyright 1990,2005 by Johan Vromans. |
| 1285 | This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or |
| 1286 | modify it under the terms of the Perl Artistic License or the |
| 1287 | \&\s-1GNU\s0 General Public License as published by the Free Software |
| 1288 | Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any |
| 1289 | later version. |
| 1290 | .PP |
| 1291 | This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, |
| 1292 | but \s-1WITHOUT\s0 \s-1ANY\s0 \s-1WARRANTY\s0; without even the implied warranty of |
| 1293 | \&\s-1MERCHANTABILITY\s0 or \s-1FITNESS\s0 \s-1FOR\s0 A \s-1PARTICULAR\s0 \s-1PURPOSE\s0. See the |
| 1294 | \&\s-1GNU\s0 General Public License for more details. |
| 1295 | .PP |
| 1296 | If you do not have a copy of the \s-1GNU\s0 General Public License write to |
| 1297 | the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, |
| 1298 | \&\s-1MA\s0 02139, \s-1USA\s0. |