subgetopt

subgetopt − get option character from command line

#include <subgetopt.h>

char *sgoptarg;
int sgoptind;
int sgoptpos;
int sgoptdone;
int sgoptproblem;

int sgopt(argc,argv,opts);

int argc;
char **argv;
char *opts;

sgopt returns the next valid command-line option character from argv.

Valid option characters are listed in the opts string. opts may be empty. A character in opts may be followed by a colon, in which case it takes an option argument. Avoid using the characters ?, :, and − as option characters.

Below option argument is abbreviated as optarg and command-line argument is abbreviated as cmdarg.

Options are listed in cmdargs which begin with a minus sign. Several options which do not take optargs may be combined into one cmdarg.

An option which takes an optarg may be handled in two ways. If it appears at the very end of a cmdarg, then the entire next cmdarg is the optarg. But if there are any characters in the cmdarg after the option character, then those characters form the optarg. The optarg is returned in sgoptarg. Next time sgopt looks at the cmdarg which follows the optarg.

If a cmdarg does not begin with a hyphen, or if it is a lone hyphen not followed by any characters, or if it begins with two hyphens, then it terminates option processing, and sgopt returns an appropriate code. If there are two hyphens, sgopt will advance attention to the next cmdarg, so it can be called again to read further options.

sgoptproblem should be used only when sgopt returns ?. sgoptind and sgoptpos are defined all the time. sgoptarg is defined all the time; it is null unless sgopt has just returned an option with optarg.

sgopt is typically used as follows.

#include <subgetopt.h>

main(argc,argv) int argc; char **argv; { int opt;

while ((opt = sgopt(argc,argv,"a:s")) != sgoptdone)
switch(opt) {
case ’a’:
printf("opt a with optarg %s\n",sgoptarg); break;
case ’s’:
printf("opt s with no optarg\n"); break;
case ’?’:
if (argv[sgoptind] && (sgoptind < argc))
printf("illegal opt %c\n",sgoptproblem);
else
printf("missing arg, opt %c\n",sgoptproblem);
exit(1);
}

argv += sgoptind;
while (*argv) printf("argument %s\n",*argv++);
exit(0);
}

The end of the command line is marked by either argc, or a null pointer in argv, whichever comes first. Normally these two markers coincide, so it is redundant to test for both argv[sgoptind] and sgoptind < argc. The above code shows both tests as an illustration.

Multiple option sets: One useful technique is to call sgopt with a primary opts until it returns EOF, then call sgopt with a secondary opts until it returns EOF. The user can provide primary options, then a double hyphen, and then secondary options. No special handling is needed if some or all of the options are omitted. The same technique can be used for any number of option sets in series.

Multiple command lines: Before parsing a new argv, make sure to set sgoptind and sgoptpos back to 1 and 0.

sgopt keeps track of its position in argv with sgoptind and sgoptpos, which are initialized to 1 and 0. It looks at argv[sgoptind][sgoptpos] and following characters.

sgopt indicates that no more options are available by returning sgoptdone, which is initialized to SUBGETOPTDONE, which is defined as −1.

sgopt begins by setting optarg to null.

Ending conditions: If argv is null, or sgoptind is larger than argc, or the current cmdarg argv[sgoptind] is null, then sgopt returns optdone.

Stage one: If the current character is zero, sgopt moves to the beginning of the next cmdarg. It then checks the ending conditions again.

Stage two: If the current position is the begining of the cmdarg, sgopt checks whether the current character is a minus sign. If not it returns optdone. It then moves to the next character. If that character is zero, sgopt moves back to the beginning of the cmdarg, and returns sgoptdone. If the character is a minus sign, sgopt moves to the beginning of the next cmdarg, and returns sgoptdone.

Stage three: sgopt records the current character, c, and moves to the next character. There are three possibilities: (1) c is an option character without optarg in opts, or (2) c is an option character with optarg in opts, or (3) c does not appear in opts.

(1) If c appears as an option character without optarg in opts, sgopt returns c.

(2) If c appears as an option character with optarg in opts, sgopt sets sgoptarg to the current position, and moves to the next cmdarg. If sgoptarg is nonempty, sgopt returns c.

Then sgopt sets sgoptarg to the current cmdarg. If the current cmdarg is null, or past argc, sgopt sets sgoptproblem to c and returns ?. Otherwise sgopt moves to the next argument and returns c.

(2) If c does not appear in opts, sgopt sets sgoptproblem to c and returns ?.

sgopt is actually a macro abbreviation for subgetopt. The external sg variables are also macros for subget. These macros are defined in <subgetopt.h>, unless SUBGETOPTNOSHORT is defined when <subgetopt.h> is included.

subgetopt version 0.9, 931129.

Placed into the public domain by Daniel J. Bernstein.