getopt - Unix, Linux Command

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NAME

getopt - parse command options (enhanced)

SYNOPSIS

getopt optstring parameters

getopt [options] [--] optstring parameters

getopt [options] -o|--options optstring [options] [--] parameters

DESCRIPTION

getopt is used to break up (parse) options in command lines for easy parsing by shell procedures, and to check for legal options. It uses the GNU getopt(3) routines to do this.

The parameters getopt is called with can be divided into two parts: options which modify the way getopt will parse (options and -o|--options optstring in the SYNOPSIS), and the parameters which are to be parsed (parameters in the SYNOPSIS). The second part will start at the first non-option parameter that is not an option argument, or after the first occurrence of ‘--’. If no ‘-o’ or ‘--options’ option is found in the first part, the first parameter of the second part is used as the short options string.

If the environment variable GETOPT_COMPATIBLE is set, or if its first parameter is not an option (does not start with a ‘-’, this is the first format in the SYNOPSIS), getopt will generate output that is compatible with that of other versions of getopt(1). It will still do parameter shuffling and recognize optional arguments (see section COMPATIBILITY for more information).

Traditional implementations of getopt(1) are unable to cope with whitespace and other (shell-specific) special characters in arguments and non-option parameters. To solve this problem, this implementation can generate quoted output which must once again be interpreted by the shell (usually by using the eval command). This has the effect of preserving those characters, but you must call getopt in a way that is no longer compatible with other versions (the second or third format in the SYNOPSIS). To determine whether this enhanced version of getopt(1) is installed, a special test option (-T) can be used.

OPTIONS

PARSING

This section specifies the format of the second part of the parameters of getopt (the parameters in the SYNOPSIS). The next section (OUTPUT) describes the output that is generated. These parameters were typically the parameters a shell function was called with. Care must be taken that each parameter the shell function was called with corresponds to exactly one parameter in the parameter list of getopt (see the EXAMPLES). All parsing is done by the GNU getopt(3) routines.

The parameters are parsed from left to right. Each parameter is classified as a short option, a long option, an argument to an option, or a non-option parameter.

A simple short option is a ‘-’ followed by a short option character. If the option has a required argument, it may be written directly after the option character or as the next parameter (ie. separated by whitespace on the command line). If the option has an optional argument, it must be written directly after the option character if present.

It is possible to specify several short options after one ‘-’, as long as all (except possibly the last) do not have required or optional arguments.

A long option normally begins with ‘--’ followed by the long option name. If the option has a required argument, it may be written directly after the long option name, separated by ‘=’, or as the next argument (ie. separated by whitespace on the command line). If the option has an optional argument, it must be written directly after the long option name, separated by ‘=’, if present (if you add the ‘=’ but nothing behind it, it is interpreted as if no argument was present; this is a slight bug, see the BUGS). Long options may be abbreviated, as long as the abbreviation is not ambiguous.

Each parameter not starting with a ‘-’, and not a required argument of a previous option, is a non-option parameter. Each parameter after a ‘--’ parameter is always interpreted as a non-option parameter. If the environment variable POSIXLY_CORRECT is set, or if the short option string started with a ‘+’, all remaining parameters are interpreted as non-option parameters as soon as the first non-option parameter is found.

OUTPUT

Output is generated for each element described in the previous section. Output is done in the same order as the elements are specified in the input, except for non-option parameters. Output can be done in compatible (unquoted) mode, or in such way that whitespace and other special characters within arguments and non-option parameters are preserved (see QUOTING). When the output is processed in the shell script, it will seem to be composed of distinct elements that can be processed one by one (by using the shift command in most shell languages). This is imperfect in unquoted mode, as elements can be split at unexpected places if they contain whitespace or special characters.

If there are problems parsing the parameters, for example because a required argument is not found or an option is not recognized, an error will be reported on stderr, there will be no output for the offending element, and a non-zero error status is returned.

For a short option, a single ‘-’ and the option character are generated as one parameter. If the option has an argument, the next parameter will be the argument. If the option takes an optional argument, but none was found, the next parameter will be generated but be empty in quoting mode, but no second parameter will be generated in unquoted (compatible) mode. Note that many other getopt(1) implemetations do not support optional arguments.

If several short options were specified after a single ‘-’, each will be present in the output as a separate parameter.

For a long option, ‘--’ and the full option name are generated as one parameter. This is done regardless whether the option was abbreviated or specified with a single ‘-’ in the input. Arguments are handled as with short options.

Normally, no non-option parameters output is generated until all options and their arguments have been generated. Then ‘--’ is generated as a single parameter, and after it the non-option parameters in the order they were found, each as a separate parameter. Only if the first character of the short options string was a ‘-’, non-option parameter output is generated at the place they are found in the input (this is not supported if the first format of the SYNOPSIS is used; in that case all preceding occurrences of ‘-’ and ‘+’ are ignored).

QUOTING

In compatible mode, whitespace or ’special’ characters in arguments or non-option parameters are not handled correctly. As the output is fed to the shell script, the script does not know how it is supposed to break the output into separate parameters. To circumvent this problem, this implementation offers quoting. The idea is that output is generated with quotes around each parameter. When this output is once again fed to the shell (usually by a shell eval command), it is split correctly into separate parameters.

Quoting is not enabled if the environment variable GETOPT_COMPATIBLE is set, if the first form of the SYNOPSIS is used, or if the option ‘-u’ is found.

Different shells use different quoting conventions. You can use the ‘-s’ option to select the shell you are using. The following shells are currently supported: ‘sh’, ‘bash’, ‘csh’ and ‘tcsh’. Actually, only two ‘flavors’ are distinguished: sh-like quoting conventions and csh-like quoting conventions. Chances are that if you use another shell script language, one of these flavors can still be used.

SCANNING MODES

The first character of the short options string may be a ‘-’ or a ‘+’ to indicate a special scanning mode. If the first calling form in the SYNOPSIS is used they are ignored; the environment variable POSIXLY_CORRECT is still examined, though.

If the first character is ‘+’, or if the environment variable POSIXLY_CORRECT is set, parsing stops as soon as the first non-option parameter (ie. a parameter that does not start with a ‘-’) is found that is not an option argument. The remaining parameters are all interpreted as non-option parameters.

If the first character is a ‘-’, non-option parameters are outputed at the place where they are found; in normal operation, they are all collected at the end of output after a ‘--’ parameter has been generated. Note that this ‘--’ parameter is still generated, but it will always be the last parameter in this mode.

COMPATIBILITY

This version of getopt(1) is written to be as compatible as possible to other versions. Usually you can just replace them with this version without any modifications, and with some advantages.

If the first character of the first parameter of getopt is not a ‘-’, getopt goes into compatibility mode. It will interpret its first parameter as the string of short options, and all other arguments will be parsed. It will still do parameter shuffling (ie. all non-option parameters are outputed at the end), unless the environment variable POSIXLY_CORRECT is set.

The environment variable GETOPT_COMPATIBLE forces getopt into compatibility mode. Setting both this environment variable and POSIXLY_CORRECT offers 100% compatibility for ‘difficult’ programs. Usually, though, neither is needed.

In compatibility mode, leading ‘-’ and ‘+’ characters in the short options string are ignored.

RETURN CODES

getopt returns error code 0 for succesful parsing, 1 if getopt(3) returns errors, 2 if it does not understand its own parameters, 3 if an internal error occurs like out-of-memory, and 4 if it is called with -T.

EXAMPLES

Example scripts for (ba)sh and (t)csh are provided with the getopt(1) distribution, and are optionally installed in /usr/local/lib/getopt or /usr/lib/getopt.

ENVIRONMENT

EXAMPLES

Consider below bash script

#!/bin/bash

# read the options
TEMP=`getopt -o f:s::d:a:: --long file-name:,source::,destination:,action:: -- "$@"`
eval set -- "$TEMP"

# extract options and their arguments into variables.
while true ; do
    case "$1" in
        -f|--file-name)
            fileName=$2 ; shift 2 ;;
        -s|--source)
            case "$2" in
                "") sourceDir='.' ; shift 2 ;;
                 *) sourceDir=$2 ; shift 2 ;;
            esac ;;
        -d|--destination)
            destinationDir=$2 ; shift 2;;
        -a|--action)
            case "$2" in
                "copy"|"move") action=$2 ; shift 2 ;;
                            *) action="copy" ; shift 2 ;;
            esac ;;
        --) shift ; break ;;
        *) echo "Internal error!" ; exit 1 ;;
    esac
done

# Now take action
echo "$action file $fileName from $sourceDir to $destinationDir"

This script has below 4 options long as well as short:

-f or --file-name: Parameter is mandatory (indicated by :)
-s or --source: Parameter is options (indicated by ::), default current directory
-d or --destination: Parameter is mandatory
-a or --action (Copy): Parameter is options default is copy

Note that the long options are separated with coma.
Script will print that it is taking action of either copying or moving the specified file from source directory to destination directory.
The short option string is preceded with option -o and the long option string is preceded with --long

Below are few combinations of options in which script can be called

1. Specify all short options

$ ./getopt.sh -f MyFile.txt -s/home -d /home/test -aMove
Move file MyFile.txt from /home to /home/test

2. Specify all long options

$ ./getopt.sh --file-name MyFile.txt --source=/home --dest /home/test --act=Move
Move file MyFile.txt from /home to /home/test

Long options can be abbreviated --action has been specified as --act
Option and its value can be separated with whitespace, "=" or can be directly specified

3. Omit optional parameters

$ ./getopt.sh --file-name MyFile.txt --source=/home --dest /home/test --act
Copy file MyFile.txt from /home to /home/test

4. Omit mandatory parameter

$ ./getopt.sh --file-name MyFile.txt --source=/home -a Move -d
getopt: option requires an argument -- d
Copy file MyFile.txt from /home to