qgetopt v1.3.1

QGetopt

Simple little traditional Unix command-line option extractor, with enhancements

    var getopt = require('qgetopt').getopt;

    // traditional unix options
    var options = getopt(process.argv, "f:h");
    // ... -f filename -h => { f: 'filename', h: true }

    // long option names
    var options = getopt(process.argv, "(-file):(-help)");
    // ... --file filename --help => { file: 'filename', help: true }

    // multi-parameter options
    var options = getopt(process.argv, "xy::");
    // ... -xy 12 345 => { xy: ['12', '345'] }

    // equals-assigned options
    var options = getopt(process.argv, "(-file):");
    // ... --file=filename => { file: 'filename' }

    // repeated options
    var options = getopt(process.argv, "f:h");
    // ... -f f1 -h -f f2 -h -h => { f: ['f1', 'f2'], h: 3 }

getopt( argv, optspec )

Returns a hash with the found options, removes the options from the arguments array. Modifies the passed array. Returns the option parameters as strings, not parsed into numbers.

Traditional unix command options follow the command name and precede the command arguments, so e.g. ls -l /tmp. Options have to begin with the - switch character. The first argument that does not start with - ends the options scan. The special argument -- ends scanning and is skipped. A - by itself is an argument and not a command option.

Repeated flag options are counted; "-t -t -t" returns {t: 3}. Repated param options "-a 1 -a 2","a:" are gathered into an array {a: [1, 2]}. Repeated multi-param options "-a 1 2 -a 3 4","a::" are gathered into an array of arrays {a: [[1, 2], [3, 4]]}.

• argv is the command-line arguments array to parse in process.argv format. The first two elements are 'node' and the name of the source file. Arguments following the source file name that begin with a - hyphen are taken to be option switches, except a single - itself (which is a plain argument) and those that follow the -- end-of-option-switches indicator. It is an error if an option is not recognized.

• optspec is a string that specifies which options to extract. The string is a superset of the traditional unix getopt(3) option specification.

  A plain character 'a' names a single-character option -a.

  A parenthesized string '(aa)' names a long option name -aa, and '(-aa)' matches --aa.

  A colon ':' following an option name means that option expects an argument. Two colons '::' means it takes two arguments, ':::' means 3, etc. It is an error for any expected argument(s) to be missing.

  • "h" - flag, sets {h:true} if -h is present
  • "a:" - valued option with one argument, sets {a:123} if -a 123 is present
  • "a::" - valued option with two arguments, sets {a:1,23} if -a 1 23 is present
  • "(aa)" - long named flag, sets {aa:true} if -aa is present
  • "(-aa)" - long named double-dash flag, sets {aa:true} if --aa is present
  • "(-aa):" - long named double-dash flag with one argument