GETOPT(3) | Library Functions Manual | GETOPT(3)

# NAME

`getopt` —
get option character from command line argument list

# LIBRARY

Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

# SYNOPSIS

`#include <unistd.h>`

extern char *optarg;
extern int optind;
extern int optopt;
extern int opterr;
extern int optreset;

int
`getopt`(int argc, char * const argv[], const char *optstring);

# DESCRIPTION

The `getopt`() function incrementally parses a command line argument list argv and returns the next known option character. An option character is known if it has been specified in the string of accepted option characters, optstring.

The option string optstring may contain the following elements: individual characters, and characters followed by a colon to indicate an option argument is to follow. If an individual character is followed by two colons, then the option argument is optional; optarg is set to the rest of the current argv word, or `NULL` if there were no more characters in the current word. This is a NetBSD extension. For example, an option string “x” recognizes an option “`-x`”, and an option string “x:” recognizes an option and argument “`-x` argument”. It does not matter to `getopt`() if a following argument has leading whitespace.

On return from `getopt`(), optarg points to an option argument, if it is anticipated, and the variable optind contains the index to the next argv argument for a subsequent call to `getopt`(). The variable optopt saves the last known option character returned by `getopt`().

The variables opterr and optind are both initialized to 1. The optind variable may be set to another value before a set of calls to `getopt`() in order to skip over more or less argv entries.

In order to use `getopt`() to evaluate multiple sets of arguments, or to evaluate a single set of arguments multiple times, the variable optreset must be set to 1 before the second and each additional set of calls to `getopt`(), and the variable optind must be reinitialized.

The `getopt`() function returns -1 when the argument list is exhausted. The interpretation of options in the argument list may be cancelled by the option “--” (double dash) which causes `getopt`() to signal the end of argument processing and return -1. When all options have been processed (i.e., up to the first non-option argument), `getopt`() returns -1.

# RETURN VALUES

The `getopt`() function returns the next known option character in optstring. If `getopt`() encounters a character not found in optstring or if it detects a missing option argument, it returns ‘?’ (question mark). If optstring has a leading ‘:’ then a missing option argument causes ‘:’ to be returned instead of ‘?’. In either case, the variable optopt is set to the character that caused the error. The `getopt`() function returns -1 when the argument list is exhausted.

# EXAMPLES

    extern char *optarg;
    extern int optind;
    int bflag, ch, fd;

    bflag = 0;
    while ((ch = getopt(argc, argv, "bf:")) != -1) {
    	switch (ch) {
    	case 'b':
    		bflag = 1;
    		break;
    	case 'f':
    		if ((fd = open(optarg, O_RDONLY, 0)) < 0) {
    			(void)fprintf(stderr,
    			    "myname: %s: %s\n", optarg, strerror(errno));
    			exit(1);
    		}
    		break;
    	case '?':
    	default:
    		usage();
    	}
    }
    argc -= optind;
    argv += optind;

# DIAGNOSTICS

If the `getopt`() function encounters a character not found in the string optstring or detects a missing option argument it writes an error message to stderr and returns ‘?’. Setting opterr to a zero will disable these error messages. If optstring has a leading ‘:’ then a missing option argument causes a ‘:’ to be returned in addition to suppressing any error messages.

Option arguments are allowed to begin with ‘-’; this is reasonable but reduces the amount of error checking possible.

# SEE ALSO

getopt(1), getopt_long(3), getsubopt(3)

# STANDARDS

The optreset variable was added to make it possible to call the `getopt`() function multiple times. This is an extension to the IEEE Std 1003.2 (“POSIX.2”) specification.

# HISTORY

The `getopt`() function appeared in 4.3BSD.

# BUGS

The `getopt`() function was once specified to return `EOF` instead of -1. This was changed by IEEE Std 1003.2-1992 (“POSIX.2”) to decouple `getopt`() from `<stdio.h>`.

A single dash (‘-’) may be specified as a character in optstring, however it should never have an argument associated with it. This allows `getopt`() to be used with programs that expect ‘-’ as an option flag. This practice is wrong, and should not be used in any current development. It is provided for backward compatibility only. Care should be taken not to use ‘-’ as the first character in optstring to avoid a semantic conflict with GNU `getopt`(), which assigns different meaning to an optstring that begins with a ‘-’. By default, a single dash causes `getopt`() to return -1.

It is also possible to handle digits as option letters. This allows `getopt`() to be used with programs that expect a number (“`-3`”) as an option. This practice is wrong, and should not be used in any current development. It is provided for backward compatibility only. The following code fragment works in most cases.

    int ch;
    long length;
    char *p;

    while ((ch = getopt(argc, argv, "0123456789")) != -1) {
    	switch (ch) {
    	case '0': case '1': case '2': case '3': case '4':
    	case '5': case '6': case '7': case '8': case '9':
    		p = argv[optind - 1];
    		if (p[0] == '-' && p[1] == ch && !p[2])
    			length = ch - '0';
    		else
    			length = strtol(argv[optind] + 1, NULL, 10);
    		break;
    	}
    }

June 5, 2014 | NetBSD 9.2