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getopt(1) General Commands Manual getopt(1) NAME getopt - Parses command line flags and arguments SYNOPSIS getopt format tokens DESCRIPTION The getopt command is used to parse a list of tokens using a format that specifies expected flags and arguments. A flag is a single ASCII letter and, when followed by a : (colon), is expected to take a modify- ing argument that may or may not be separated from it by one or more tabs or spaces. (You can include multi-byte characters in arguments, but not as flag letters.) The getopt command completes processing when it has read all tokens or when it encounters the special token -- (double dash). It then outputs the processed flags, a --, and any remaining tokens. If a token fails to match a flag, getopt writes a message to standard error. NOTES In the csh, use the following command to run getopt: set argv=`getopt flag_string $*` EXAMPLES The following is an example of the use of getopt in a skeleton shell script to parse options: #!/bin/sh # parse command line into arguments set -- `getopt a:bc $*` # check result of parsing if [ $? != 0 ] then exit 1 fi while [ $1 != -- ] do case $1 in -a) # set up the -a flag AFLG=1 AARG=$2 shift;; -b) # set up the -b flag BFLG=1;; -c) # set up the -c flag CFLG=1;; esac shift # next flag done shift # skip double dash # now do the work . . . The following are all equivalent arguments to the script: -a ARG -b -c -- A B C -a ARG -bc -- A B C -aARG -b -c -- A B C -b -c -a ARG -- A B C SEE ALSO Commands: sh(1) Functions: getopt(3) getopt(1)