Command Line Argument Parsing

The :std/cli/getopt library provides facilities for command line argument parsing.

usage

(import :std/cli/getopt)

This library used to be available as :std/getopt up to Gerbil v0.18, and is still available under that name for now, but its use is deprecated.

Interface

getopt

(getopt <specifier> ...)
=> <parser>

specifier:
 (command id [help: text] <cmd-specifier>)
 <cmd-specifier> ...

cmd-specifier:
 (flag id short [long])
 (option id short [long] [help: text] [value: proc] [default: value])
 (argument id [help: text] [value: proc])
 (optional-argument id [help: text] [value: proc] [default: value])
 (rest-arguments id [help: text] [value: proc])

getopt creates a command line parser, which can be used to parse arguments with getopt-parse.

getopt-parse

(getopt-parse <parser> args)
=> (values cmd-id options)
   options

getopt-parse accepts a parser and a list of string arguments and parses according to the parser specification. If it is parsing a specification with subcommands, it returns two values, the command id and a hash table with the parsed options. Otherwise it just returns the hash table with the parsed options. An exception is raised if parsing the arguments fails.

getopt-error?

(getopt-error? obj)
=> boolean

If parsing fails, then a getopt-error is raised, which can be guarded with getopt-error?.

getopt-display-help

(getopt-display-help <tip> program-name [port = (current-output-port)])

tip:
 <getopt-error>
 <parser>
 <command>

The procedure getopt-display-help can be used to display a help message for a getopt error according to the argument specification.

getopt-display-help-topic

(getopt-display-help-topic <parser> topic program-name [port = (current-output-port)])

The procedure getopt-display-help-topic can be used to display a help page for a subcommand.

getopt?

(getopt? obj)
=> boolean

Returns true if the object is a getopt parser

getopt-object?

(getopt-object? obj)
=> boolean

Returns true if the object is a getopt command or command specifier.

call-with-getopt

(call-with-getopt proc args
                  program: program
                  help: (help #f)
                  exit-on-error: (exit-on-error? #t)
                  . gopts)

This shim around getopt parsing eliminates all the repetitive boilerplate around argument parsing with getopt.

It creates a getopt parser that parses with options gopts, automatically including a help option or command accordingly.

It then uses the parser to pare args, handling the exceptions and displayin help accordingly; if exit-on-error is true (the default), then parsing errors will exit the program.

If the parse succeeds it invokes proc with the output of the parse.

Example

For an example, here the a command line parser for the gxpkg program:

(def (main . args)
  (def install-cmd
    (command 'install help: "install one or more packages"
             (rest-arguments 'pkg help: "package to install")))
  (def uninstall-cmd
    (command 'uninstall help: "uninstall one or more packages"
             (flag 'force "-f" help: "force uninstall even if there are orphaned dependencies")
             (rest-arguments 'pkg help: "package to uninstall")))
  (def update-cmd
    (command 'update help: "update one or more packages"
             (rest-arguments 'pkg help: "package to update; all for all packages")))
  (def link-cmd
    (command 'link help: "link a local development package"
             (argument 'pkg help: "package to link")
             (argument 'src help: "path to package source directory")))
  (def unlink-cmd
    (command 'unlink help: "unlink one or more local development packages"
             (flag 'force "-f" help: "force unlink even if there are orphaned dependencies")
             (rest-arguments 'pkg help: "package to unlink")))
  (def build-cmd
    (command 'build help: "rebuild one or more packages and their dependents"
             (rest-arguments 'pkg help: "package to build; all for all packages")))
  (def clean-cmd
    (command 'clean help: "clean compilation artefacts from one or more packages"
             (rest-arguments 'pkg help: "package to clean")))
  (def list-cmd
    (command 'list help: "list installed packages"))
  (def retag-cmd
    (command 'retag help: "retag installed packages"))
  (def search-cmd
    (command 'search help: "search the package directory"
             (rest-arguments 'keywords help: "keywords to search for")))

  (call-with-getopt gxpkg-main args
    program: "gxpkg"
    help: "The Gerbil Package Manager"
    install-cmd
    uninstall-cmd
    update-cmd
    link-cmd
    unlink-cmd
    build-cmd
    clean-cmd
    list-cmd
    retag-cmd
    search-cmd))

(def (gxpkg-main cmd opt)
  (let-hash opt
    (case cmd
      ((install)
       (install-pkgs .pkg))
      ((uninstall)
       (uninstall-pkgs .pkg .?force))
      ((update)
       (update-pkgs .pkg))
      ((link)
       (link-pkg .pkg .src))
      ((unlink)
       (unlink-pkgs .pkg .?force))
      ((build)
       (build-pkgs .pkg))
      ((clean)
       (clean-pkgs .pkg))
      ((list)
       (list-pkgs))
      ((retag)
       (retag-pkgs))
      ((search)
       (search-pkgs .keywords)))))

getopt-parse->function-arguments

(getopt-parse->function-arguments getopt h) => list-of-arguments

This function takes a getopt specification and table h of arguments resulting from calling getopt-parse, and returns a list of argument with which to call a Scheme function that has an analogous call convention:

supplied positional arguments are passed in order
they are followed by all the rest arguments
they are followed by the remaining specified keyword arguments.

Omitted option arguments without default will be omitted. Omitted option arguments with a default will be included with the default value; the programmer must ensure that this default value is the same as the default value from the Scheme function being called, or there will be a semantic discrepancy between the CLI interface and the underlying Scheme function.

NB: h will be modified in place, removing positional and rest arguments. Make sure to use hash-copy if you want to preserve the original data.

TODO: add examples

call-with-getopt-parse

(call-with-getopt-parse gopt hash fun) => results-of-fun

Given a getopt specification gopt, the hash resulting from calling getopt-parse on some provided command-line arguments, and a function fun that has a calling convention analogous to that specified by gopt, call the function with arguments that correspond to those provided by hash, as per getopt-parse->function-arguments.

TODO: add examples, discuss abort-on-error behavior, lack of automatic help, etc.

call-with-processed-command-line

(call-with-processed-command-line processor command-line function) => results-of-function

Generic function of three arguments:

a processor that describes a getopt specification,
a command-line, list of strings as provided by the invoking process, and
a function to be called with the results of processing the command-line.

The function is generic in the first argument. The default method recognizes a getopt specification as first argument, and appropriately calls getopt-parse and call-with-getopt-parse to process the command-line. It also recognizes a list as being arguments to which to apply getopt to obtain a specification, with which to proceed as above.

You may define more methods, to work with your own variant of getopt, or with innovative ways to incrementally compose getopt specifications e.g. with prototype objects like gerbil-poo.

TODO: add examples, discuss abort-on-error behavior, lack of automatic help, etc.

->getopt-spec

(->getopt-spec arg) => list-of-getopt-arguments

Given an argument arg, return a list lst of getopt arguments to which one can (apply getopt lst) to specify a getopt object to parse with.

Default behavior:

If arg is a list, flatten it.
If arg is a natural integer n, specify a list of n positional arguments.
If arg is #f, specify a single rest-argument named rest, i.e. let it be a passthrough to be processed by the function being called.
Otherwise, raise an error.

This function is useful for calls not just to getopt directly, but also to command that itself calls getopt, etc.

← Command Line Interface Shell Command Support→

# Command Line Argument Parsing

# Interface

# getopt

# getopt-parse

# getopt-error?

# getopt-display-help

# getopt-display-help-topic

# getopt?

# getopt-object?

# call-with-getopt

# Example

# getopt-parse->function-arguments

# call-with-getopt-parse

# call-with-processed-command-line

# ->getopt-spec