Example of Getopt (The GNU C Library)

#### 26.2.2 Example of Parsing Arguments with `getopt` ¶

Here is an example showing how `getopt` is typically used. The key points to notice are:

- Normally, `getopt` is called in a loop. When `getopt` returns `-1`, indicating no more options are present, the loop terminates.
- A `switch` statement is used to dispatch on the return value from `getopt`. In typical use, each case just sets a variable that is used later in the program.
- A second loop is used to process the remaining non-option arguments.

    #include <ctype.h>
    #include <stdio.h>
    #include <stdlib.h>
    #include <unistd.h>

    int
    main (int argc, char **argv)
    {
      int aflag = 0;
      int bflag = 0;
      char *cvalue = NULL;
      int index;
      int c;

      opterr = 0;

      while ((c = getopt (argc, argv, "abc:")) != -1)
        switch (c)
          {
          case 'a':
            aflag = 1;
            break;
          case 'b':
            bflag = 1;
            break;
          case 'c':
            cvalue = optarg;
            break;
          case '?':
            if (optopt == 'c')
              fprintf (stderr, "Option -%c requires an argument.\n", optopt);
            else if (isprint (optopt))
              fprintf (stderr, "Unknown option `-%c'.\n", optopt);
            else
              fprintf (stderr,
                       "Unknown option character `\\x%x'.\n",
                       optopt);
            return 1;
          default:
            abort ();
          }

      printf ("aflag = %d, bflag = %d, cvalue = %s\n",
              aflag, bflag, cvalue);

      for (index = optind; index < argc; index++)
        printf ("Non-option argument %s\n", argv[index]);
      return 0;
    }

Here are some examples showing what this program prints with different combinations of arguments:

    % testopt
    aflag = 0, bflag = 0, cvalue = (null)

    % testopt -a -b
    aflag = 1, bflag = 1, cvalue = (null)

    % testopt -ab
    aflag = 1, bflag = 1, cvalue = (null)

    % testopt -c foo
    aflag = 0, bflag = 0, cvalue = foo

    % testopt -cfoo
    aflag = 0, bflag = 0, cvalue = foo

    % testopt arg1
    aflag = 0, bflag = 0, cvalue = (null)
    Non-option argument arg1

    % testopt -a arg1
    aflag = 1, bflag = 0, cvalue = (null)
    Non-option argument arg1

    % testopt -c foo arg1
    aflag = 0, bflag = 0, cvalue = foo
    Non-option argument arg1

    % testopt -a -- -b
    aflag = 1, bflag = 0, cvalue = (null)
    Non-option argument -b

    % testopt -a -
    aflag = 1, bflag = 0, cvalue = (null)
    Non-option argument -