Menu

- Learn
- Documentation
  - Language Reference
  - Library Reference
  - Command-line Reference
  - Feature Overview
  - Articles
- Packages
- Community
  - Blog
  - Orgs using D
  - Twitter
  - Forums
  - IRC
  - Wiki
  - GitHub
  - Issues
  - Foundation
  - Donate
- Resources
  - Books
  - Tutorials
  - Tools
  - Editors
  - IDEs
  - Visual D
  - Acknowledgments
  - D Style
  - Glossary
  - Sitemap

Search
Report a bug
If you spot a problem with this page, click here to create a Bugzilla issue.
Improve this page
Quickly fork, edit online, and submit a pull request for this page. Requires a signed-in GitHub account. This works well for small changes. If you'd like to make larger changes you may want to consider using a local clone.

# std.getopt

Processing of command line options.
The `getopt` module implements a `getopt` function, which adheres to the POSIX syntax for command line options. GNU extensions are supported in the form of long options introduced by a double dash ("--"). 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.
License:
Boost License 1.0.
Authors:
Andrei Alexandrescu

Credits: This module and its documentation are inspired by Perl's Getopt::Long module. The syntax of D's `getopt` is simpler than its Perl counterpart because `getopt` infers the expected parameter types from the static types of the passed-in pointers.

Source: std/getopt.d

class `GetOptException`: object.Exception;
  Thrown on one of the following conditions:
  - An unrecognized command-line argument is passed, and std.getopt.config.passThrough was not present.
  - A command-line option was not found, and std.getopt.config.required was present.
GetoptResult `getopt`(T...)(ref string[] `args`, T `opts`);
  Parse and remove command line options from a string array.

  Synopsis:

      import std.getopt;

      string data = "file.dat";
      int length = 24;
      bool verbose;
      enum Color { no, yes };
      Color color;

      void main(string[] args)
      {
        auto helpInformation = getopt(
          args,
          "length",  &length,    // numeric
          "file",    &data,      // string
          "verbose", &verbose,   // flag
          "color", "Information about this color", &color);    // enum
        ...

        if (helpInformation.helpWanted)
        {
          defaultGetoptPrinter("Some information about the program.",
            helpInformation.options);
        }
      }

  The `getopt` function takes a reference to the command line (as received by main) as its first argument, and an unbounded number of pairs of strings and pointers. Each string is an option meant to "fill" the value referenced by the pointer to its right (the "bound" pointer). The option string in the call to `getopt` should not start with a dash.
  In all cases, the command-line options that were parsed and used by `getopt` are removed from `args`. Whatever in the arguments did not look like an option is left in `args` for further processing by the program. Values that were unaffected by the options are not touched, so a common idiom is to initialize options to their defaults and then invoke `getopt`. If a command-line argument is recognized as an option with a parameter and the parameter cannot be parsed properly (e.g., a number is expected but not present), a ConvException exception is thrown. If std.`getopt`.config.passThrough was not passed to `getopt` and an unrecognized command-line argument is found, a GetOptException is thrown.
  Depending on the type of the pointer being bound, `getopt` recognizes the following kinds of options:
  1. Boolean options. A lone argument sets the option to `true`. Additionally `true` or `false` can be set within the option separated with an "=" sign:

           bool verbose = false, debugging = true;
           getopt(args, "verbose", &verbose, "debug", &debugging);

     To set verbose to `true`, invoke the program with either --verbose or --verbose=`true`.
     To set debugging to `false`, invoke the program with --debugging=`false`.
  2. Numeric options. If an option is bound to a numeric type, a number is expected as the next option, or right within the option separated with an "=" sign:

           uint timeout;
           getopt(args, "timeout", &timeout);

     To set timeout to 5, invoke the program with either --timeout=5 or --timeout 5.
  3. Incremental options. If an option name has a "+" suffix and is bound to a numeric type, then the option's value tracks the number of times the option occurred on the command line:

           uint paranoid;
           getopt(args, "paranoid+", &paranoid);

     Invoking the program with "--paranoid --paranoid --paranoid" will set paranoid to 3. Note that an incremental option never expects a parameter, e.g., in the command line "--paranoid 42 --paranoid", the "42" does not set paranoid to 42; instead, paranoid is set to 2 and "42" is not considered as part of the normal program arguments.
  4. Enum options. If an option is bound to an enum, an enum symbol as a string is expected as the next option, or right within the option separated with an "=" sign:

           enum Color { no, yes };
           Color color; // default initialized to Color.no
           getopt(args, "color", &color);

     To set color to Color.yes, invoke the program with either --color=yes or --color yes.
  5. String options. If an option is bound to a string, a string is expected as the next option, or right within the option separated with an "=" sign:

         string outputFile;
         getopt(args, "output", &outputFile);

     Invoking the program with "--output=myfile.txt" or "--output myfile.txt" will set outputFile to "myfile.txt". If you want to pass a string containing spaces, you need to use the quoting that is appropriate to your shell, e.g. --output='my file.txt'.
  6. Array options. If an option is bound to an array, a new element is appended to the array each time the option occurs:

         string[] outputFiles;
         getopt(args, "output", &outputFiles);

     Invoking the program with "--output=myfile.txt --output=yourfile.txt" or "--output myfile.txt --output yourfile.txt" will set outputFiles to [ "myfile.txt", "yourfile.txt" ].
     Alternatively you can set arraySep as the element separator:

         string[] outputFiles;
         arraySep = ",";  // defaults to "", separation by whitespace
         getopt(args, "output", &outputFiles);

     With the above code you can invoke the program with "--output=myfile.txt,yourfile.txt", or "--output myfile.txt,yourfile.txt".
  7. Hash options. If an option is bound to an associative array, a string of the form "name=value" is expected as the next option, or right within the option separated with an "=" sign:

         double[string] tuningParms;
         getopt(args, "tune", &tuningParms);

     Invoking the program with e.g. "--tune=alpha=0.5 --tune beta=0.6" will set tuningParms to [ "alpha" : 0.5, "beta" : 0.6 ].
     Alternatively you can set arraySep as the element separator:

         double[string] tuningParms;
         arraySep = ",";  // defaults to "", separation by whitespace
         getopt(args, "tune", &tuningParms);

     With the above code you can invoke the program with "--tune=alpha=0.5,beta=0.6", or "--tune alpha=0.5,beta=0.6".
     In general, the keys and values can be of any parsable types.
  8. Callback options. An option can be bound to a function or delegate with the signature void function(), void function(string option), void function(string option, string value), or their delegate equivalents.
     - If the callback doesn't take any arguments, the callback is invoked whenever the option is seen.
     - If the callback takes one string argument, the option string (without the leading dash(es)) is passed to the callback. After that, the option string is considered handled and removed from the options array.

           void main(string[] args)
           {
             uint verbosityLevel = 1;
             void myHandler(string option)
             {
               if (option == "quiet")
               {
                 verbosityLevel = 0;
               }
               else
               {
                 assert(option == "verbose");
                 verbosityLevel = 2;
               }
             }
             getopt(args, "verbose", &myHandler, "quiet", &myHandler);
           }

     - If the callback takes two string arguments, the option string is handled as an option with one argument, and parsed accordingly. The option and its value are passed to the callback. After that, whatever was passed to the callback is considered handled and removed from the list.

           int main(string[] args)
           {
             uint verbosityLevel = 1;
             bool handlerFailed = false;
             void myHandler(string option, string value)
             {
               switch (value)
               {
                 case "quiet": verbosityLevel = 0; break;
                 case "verbose": verbosityLevel = 2; break;
                 case "shouting": verbosityLevel = verbosityLevel.max; break;
                 default :
                   stderr.writeln("Dunno how verbose you want me to be by saying ",
                     value);
                   handlerFailed = true;
                   break;
               }
             }
             getopt(args, "verbosity", &myHandler);
             return handlerFailed ? 1 : 0;
           }

  Options with multiple names: Sometimes option synonyms are desirable, e.g. "--verbose", "--loquacious", and "--garrulous" should have the same effect. Such alternate option names can be included in the option specification, using "|" as a separator:

      bool verbose;
      getopt(args, "verbose|loquacious|garrulous", &verbose);

  Case: By default options are case-insensitive. You can change that behavior by passing `getopt` the caseSensitive directive like this:

      bool foo, bar;
      getopt(args,
          std.getopt.config.caseSensitive,
          "foo", &foo,
          "bar", &bar);

  In the example above, "--foo" and "--bar" are recognized, but "--Foo", "--Bar", "--FOo", "--bAr", etc. are rejected. The directive is active until the end of `getopt`, or until the converse directive caseInsensitive is encountered:

      bool foo, bar;
      getopt(args,
          std.getopt.config.caseSensitive,
          "foo", &foo,
          std.getopt.config.caseInsensitive,
          "bar", &bar);

  The option "--Foo" is rejected due to std.`getopt`.config.caseSensitive, but not "--Bar", "--bAr" etc. because the directive std.`getopt`.config.caseInsensitive turned sensitivity off before option "bar" was parsed.

  Short versus long options: Traditionally, programs accepted single-letter options preceded by only one dash (e.g. -t). `getopt` accepts such parameters seamlessly. When used with a double-dash (e.g. --t), a single-letter option behaves the same as a multi-letter option. When used with a single dash, a single-letter option is accepted. If the option has a parameter, that must be "stuck" to the option without any intervening space or "=":

      uint timeout;
      getopt(args, "timeout|t", &timeout);

  To set timeout to 5, use either of the following: --timeout=5, --timeout 5, --t=5, --t 5, or -t5. Forms such as -t 5 and -timeout=5 will be not accepted.
  For more details about short options, refer also to the next section.

  Bundling: Single-letter options can be bundled together, i.e. "-abc" is the same as "-a -b -c". By default, this option is turned off. You can turn it on with the std.`getopt`.config.bundling directive:

      bool foo, bar;
      getopt(args,
          std.getopt.config.bundling,
          "foo|f", &foo,
          "bar|b", &bar);

  In case you want to only enable bundling for some of the parameters, bundling can be turned off with std.`getopt`.config.noBundling.

  Required: An option can be marked as required. If that option is not present in the arguments an exception will be thrown.

      bool foo, bar;
      getopt(args,
          std.getopt.config.required,
          "foo|f", &foo,
          "bar|b", &bar);

  Only the option directly following std.`getopt`.config.required is required.

  Passing unrecognized options through: If an application needs to do its own processing of whichever arguments `getopt` did not understand, it can pass the std.`getopt`.config.passThrough directive to `getopt`:

      bool foo, bar;
      getopt(args,
          std.getopt.config.passThrough,
          "foo", &foo,
          "bar", &bar);

  An unrecognized option such as "--baz" will be found untouched in `args` after `getopt` returns.

  Help Information Generation: If an option string is followed by another string, this string serves as a description for this option. The `getopt` function returns a struct of type GetoptResult. This return value contains information about all passed options as well a bool GetoptResult.helpWanted flag indicating whether information about these options was requested. The `getopt` function always adds an option for --help|-h to set the flag if the option is seen on the command line.

  Options Terminator: A lone double-dash terminates `getopt` gathering. It is used to separate program options from other parameters (e.g., options to be passed to another program). Invoking the example above with "--foo -- --bar" parses foo but leaves "--bar" in `args`. The double-dash itself is removed from the argument array unless the std.`getopt`.config.keepEndOfOptions directive is given.

  Examples:

      auto args = ["prog", "--foo", "-b"];

      bool foo;
      bool bar;
      auto rslt = getopt(args, "foo|f", "Some information about foo.", &foo, "bar|b",
          "Some help message about bar.", &bar);

      if (rslt.helpWanted)
      {
          defaultGetoptPrinter("Some information about the program.",
              rslt.options);
      }

enum `config`: int;
  Configuration options for getopt.
  You can pass them to getopt in any position, except in between an option string and its bound pointer.
  `caseSensitive`
    Turn case sensitivity on
  `caseInsensitive`
    Turn case sensitivity off
  `bundling`
    Turn `bundling` on
  `noBundling`
    Turn bundling off
  `passThrough`
    Pass unrecognized arguments through
  `noPassThrough`
    Signal unrecognized arguments as errors
  `stopOnFirstNonOption`
    Stop at first argument that does not look like an option
  `keepEndOfOptions`
    Do not erase the endOfOptions separator from args
  `required`
    Make the next option a `required` option
struct `GetoptResult`;
  The result of the getopt function.
  helpWanted is set if the option --help or -h was passed to the option parser.
  bool `helpWanted`;
    Flag indicating if help was requested
  Option[] `options`;
    All possible `options`
struct `Option`;
  Information about an option.
  string `optShort`;
    The short symbol for this option
  string `optLong`;
    The long symbol for this option
  string `help`;
    The description of this option
  bool `required`;
    If a option is `required`, not passing it will result in an error
dchar `optionChar`;
  The option character (default '-').
  Defaults to '-' but it can be assigned to prior to calling getopt.
string `endOfOptions`;
  The string that conventionally marks the end of all options (default '--').
  Defaults to "--" but can be assigned to prior to calling getopt. Assigning an empty string to `endOfOptions` effectively disables it.
dchar `assignChar`;
  The assignment character used in options with parameters (default '=').
  Defaults to '=' but can be assigned to prior to calling getopt.
string `arraySep`;
  The string used to separate the elements of an array or associative array (default is "" which means the elements are separated by whitespace).
  Defaults to "" but can be assigned to prior to calling getopt.
void `defaultGetoptPrinter`(string `text`, Option[] `opt`);
  This function prints the passed Options and `text` in an aligned manner on stdout.
  The passed `text` will be printed first, followed by a newline, then the short and long version of every option will be printed. The short and long version will be aligned to the longest option of every Option passed. If the option is required, then "Required:" will be printed after the long version of the Option. If a help message is present it will be printed next. The format is illustrated by this code:

      foreach (it; opt)
      {
          writefln("%*s %*s%s%s", lengthOfLongestShortOption, it.optShort,
              lengthOfLongestLongOption, it.optLong,
              it.required ? " Required: " : " ", it.help);
      }

  Parameters:

  string `text` | The `text` to printed at the beginning of the help output.
  Option[] `opt` | The Option extracted from the getopt parameter.

void `defaultGetoptFormatter`(Output)(Output `output`, string `text`, Option[] `opt`);
  This function writes the passed `text` and Option into an `output` range in the manner described in the documentation of function defaultGetoptPrinter.
  Parameters:

  Output `output` | The `output` range used to write the help information.
  string `text` | The `text` to print at the beginning of the help `output`.
  Option[] `opt` | The Option extracted from the getopt parameter.

Copyright Andrei Alexandrescu 2008 - 2015. | Page generated by Ddoc on Thu Mar 9 17:49:40 2017