Argument parser

0.1

Author:

Mao Yu (http://www.mao-yu.com)

Date:

Created: Friday, May 28, 2010

Updated: Saturday, June 26, 2010

Purpose:

Argparser provides simple argument parsing functionality given command line arguments or a configuration file.

Installation:

1. Downloads:
   • tarball.
   • zip.
2. Add header and source file to your project
   • argparser.h
   • argparser.c

Usage:

• Call args_addarg() to add valid options. this function will copy the short, long, and help string.
• Call args_parse() and pass in argc and argv to parse.
• Optionally use args_parsefile() to parse a config file.
• Use args_check(),args_getunnamed(),args_getnamed() to detect arguments.
• Optionally use args_print() to show valid arguments list.
• Optionally use args_unknown() to show unknown arguments. (this function will return ARGBOOL_TRUE if there are unknowns)
• Call args_free() to free all resources.

Note:

1. Short arguments should be 1 or 2 letters.
   • Example: '-o', or config file format 'o'
2. Long arguments needs to be longer than 3 letters and shorter than 10.
   • Example: '-one', or config file format 'one'
3. Arguments that accept values are space delimited in command line, but '=' delimited in config file
   • Example '-type moose', or config file format 'type=moose'
4. Unnamed arguments are arguments that are not prefixed with '-' and are not values for named arguments.
5. Unknown arguments are arguments prefixed with '-' but are not validly added arguments.

An example program

 #include <stdio.h>
 #include "argparser.h"

 int main( int argc, char *argv[] ){
        args_addarg("a","all","Do all things",ARGVAL_NONE);
        args_addarg("v",NULL,"Set verbosity level",ARGVAL_STRING);
        args_addarg(NULL,"yo-dawg","Yo dawg",ARGVAL_STRING);
        args_addarg("h","help","Display help",ARGVAL_NONE);
        // The following will be discarded
        args_addarg(NULL,NULL,"No names!",ARGVAL_NONE);

        if( (args_parse(argc,argv) != ARGRET_OK) &&
                        (args_parsefile("./testconfig") != ARGRET_OK) )
                printf("Error occurred parsing command line.\n");
        else{
                ArgStr verbosity;
                ArgStr unnamed[3];

                if( args_check("a") )
                        printf("Doing all things!\n");
                if( verbosity = args_getnamed("v") )
                        printf("Verbosity set to %s.\n",verbosity);
                if( args_check("h") )
                        args_print();
                if( unnamed[0] = args_getunnamed(1) )
                        printf("First unnamed: %s.\n",unnamed[0]);
                if( unnamed[1] = args_getunnamed(2) )
                        printf("Second unnamed: %s.\n",unnamed[1]);
                if( unnamed[2] = args_getunnamed(3) )
                        printf("Third unnamed: %s.\n",unnamed[2]);
                args_unknown();
        }
        args_free();
 }

Running this code with this command:

argparser -a -v DEBUG hello you good people

Will show this output:

Doing all things!
Verbosity set to DEBUG.
First unnamed: hello.
Second unnamed: you.
Third unnamed: good.

See here for full API documentation.

License

This is public domain code.