path: root/man0/libsimple-arg.h.0

.TH LIBSIMPLE-ARG.H 0 2018-11-08 libsimple
.SH NAME
libsimple-arg.h \- command line argument parsing header for libsimple
.SH SYNOPSIS
.nf
#include <libsimple-arg.h>

extern char *\fIargv0\fP;

struct longopt {
	const char *long_flag;
	char short_flag;
	int with_arg;
};

#define ARGBEGIN                          ARGBEGIN3(1, argc, argv)
#define SUBARGBEGIN                       ARGBEGIN3(0, argc, argv)
#define ARGBEGIN3(\fIWITH_ARGV0\fP, \fIargc\fP, \fIargv\fP) /* implementation omitted */
#define ARGMAPLONG(\fILONGOPTS\fP)              /* implementation omitted */
#define ARGALT(\fISYMBOL\fP)                    /* implementation omitted */
#define ARGEND                            /* implementation omitted */
#define ARGNUM                            /* implementation omitted */
#define FLAG()                            /* implementation omitted */
#define LFLAG()                           /* implementation omitted */
#define ARG()                             /* implementation omitted */
#define ARGHERE()                         /* implementation omitted */
#define NOFLAGS(...)                      /* implementation omitted */
#define TESTLONG(\fIFLG\fP, \fIWARG\fP)               /* implementation omitted */
#define USAGE(\fISYNOPSIS\fP)                   /* implementation omitted */
#define NUSAGE(\fISTATUS\fP, \fISYNOPSIS\fP)          /* implementation omitted */
.fi
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.I <libsimple-arg.h>
header define a collection of macros for parsing the
command line arguments, thatis, the data in the
two first parameters of the
.IR main ()
function, according to the default behaviour specified
by POSIX (extensions of the specification is available).
It also includes the three headers the macros need:
.IR <stdio.h> ,
.IR <stdlib.h> ,
and
.IR <string.h> ,
additionally in defines the variable
.I argv0
which the macros set to the command line argument with
index zero which is the process was invoked with, normally,
but not always, this the filename of or the path to the
binary the process runs; one common exception to this is
for login shells: when a user logs in, the shell that is
started is started with the filename of the shell's binary
prefix with a dash
.RB ( - )
as the zeroth command line argument. Assuming the second
argument in the
.IR main ()
function is named
.IR argv ,
the program should set
.I argv0
to
.I argv[0]
if the process may call a either of the
.BR libsimple_eprintf (3),
.BR libsimple_enprintf (3),
.BR libsimple_weprintf (3),
.BR libsimple_veprintf (3),
.BR libsimple_venprintf (3),
and
.BR libsimple_vweprintf (3)
functions before the either of the
.B ARGBEGIN
macro is used, and must do so if the function
.BR usage (),
defined by the
.B USAGE
and
.B NUSAGE
macros, is called before the
.B ARGBEGIN
macro is used.
.PP
Applications should normally parse or validate the command
line arguments and print usage information on usage error.
The macros
.BI USAGE( SYNOPSIS )
and
.BI NUSAGE( STATUS ,\  SYNOPSIS )
define a
.RI ( static )
function, name
.IR usage (),
that print the usage information and terminate the process,
the also declare the variable
.IR argv0 .
.IR usage ()
does take any arguments.
.IR usage ()
defined by
.B USAGE
terminate the process with exit value 1.
.IR usage ()
defined by
.B NUSAGE
terminate the process with exit value
.IR STATUS.
Both print the an error message to the standard error
in the following format:
.nf

	\fB\(dqusage: %s %s\en\(dq,\fP \fIargv0\fP\fB, \fP\fISYNOPSIS\fP

.fi
However, if
.I SYNOPSIS
is
.B NULL
or the empty string, the error message printed in the
following format.
.nf

	\fB\(dqusage: %s\en\(dq,\fP \fIargv0\fP
.fi
.PP
The macros
.B ARGBEGIN
and
.B ARGEND
are used to parse command line arguments, they use the variable
named
.I argc
(number of command line arguments)
and
.I argv
(command line arguments) and set
.I argv0
to
.IR argv[0] ,
.I argv[argc]
must be
.BR NULL ,
which is the case for the
.IR main ()
function. The
value that should be stored to
.I argv0
is not available at
.IR argv[0] ,
the macro
.B SUBARGBEGIN
should be used instead of
.BR ARGBEGIN .
These macros work similar to a switch statement in a loop:
.nf

	ARGBEGIN {
	case 'a':
		/* handle -a */
		break;
	case 'b':
		/* handle -b */
		break;
	case ARGNUM:
		/* handle -0, -1, -2, ..., -9 */
		break;
	default:
		/* print usage information for other flags */
		usage();
	} ARGEND;

.fi
After
.BR ARGEND ,
.I argc
and
.I argv
are set to only contain the remaining, unparsed, arguments.
.PP
The
.BR ARGBEGIN3 ()
macro can be used instead of the
.B ARGBEGIN
and
.B SUBARGBEGIN
macros for greater flexibility. If
.I WITH_ARGV0
is non-zero it behaves like the
.B ARGBEGIN
macro, otherwise it behaves like the
.B SUBARGBEGIN
macro. The
.BR ARGBEGIN3 ()
also lets the user choose which variables to use as
.I argc
and
.IR argv .
.PP
If the application should support flags starting with
another symbol than a dash
.RB ( - ),
the macro
.BR ARGALT ()
can be used. Its argument, 
.IR SYMBOL ,
should be
.B char
and it is used thusly:
.nf

	ARGBEGIN {
	case 'a':
		/* handle -a */
		break;
	default:
		usage();
	} ARGALT('+') {
	case 'a':
		/* handle +a */
		break;
	default:
		usage();
	} ARGALT('/') {
	case 'a':
		/* handle /a */
		break;
	default:
		usage();
	} ARGEND;
.fi
.PP
In multicase statement (any case statement actually), the
.BR FLAG ()
macro can be used to identify which flag is being parsed.
For example, in
.I case 'a'
.BR FLAG ()
returns
.IR 'a' .
The
.BR LFLAG ()
macro returns the entire element in
.IR argv .
Note that one such element can contain multiple flags,
and the it can contain the flags argument, but the
argument can also be in the next element.
.PP
The macros
.BR ARG (),
.BR ARGNULL (),
and
.BR ARGHERE ()
are used the get the value provided with an option, one
of the must be used to let the parse know that the option
should have a value.
.BR ARG ()
returns the current option's value, or terminates the
by calling
.IR usage ()
if the option does not have a value.
.BR ARGNULL ()
returns the current option's value, or returns
.B NULL
if the option does not have a value.
.BR ARGHERE ()
Remaining part of the current argument in the command
line, including the character the specifies the flag.
It can be used together with
.B ARGNUM
to parse numerical options (a dash followed by a
multidigit number). It can also be used to parse
options where the value is optional be must appear
in the same argument, for example, if the current
argument is
.BR -n1000 ,
.BR ARGHERE ()
will return
.B \(dqn1000\(dq
when the
.B -n
option is parsed, but if the argument is just
.BR -n ,
.BR ARGHERE ()
will return
.BR \(dqn\(dq ,
even if the next argument is
.BR 1000 .
.PP
If your application, does not recognise any options,
but should still have like normal programs and support
.BR -- ,
the macro
.BR NOFLAGS ()
can be used instead of the
.B ARGBEGIN
and
.B ARGEND
macros. It behaves just like
.nf

	ARGBEGIN {
	default:
		usage();
	} ARGEND;

.fi
but is optimised. Additionally, if the last argument
is non-zero, the
.IR usage ()
function is called. All arguments evaluated exactly
once, or if flags are used, never. So if your application
should not have any options or operands,
.I NOFLAGS(argc)
can be used.
.SH APPLICATION USAGE
None.
.SH RATIONALE
None.
.SH FUTURE DIRECTIONS
None.
.SH NOTES
None.
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR libsimple.h (0)