Command-line arguments

[Lars Ivar Igesund]

superdan wrote:

> Steven Schveighoffer Wrote:
> 
>> "superdan" <super at dan.org> wrote in message
>> news:g4k9tr$34r$1 at digitalmars.com...
>> > Bill Baxter Wrote:
>> >
>> >> Jarrett Billingsley wrote:
>> >> > "Matt" <no-one at none.nowhere.com> wrote in message
>> >> > news:g4jqum$269v$1 at digitalmars.com...
>> >> >> Is there an established library in D for handling command-line
>> >> >> arguments?
>> >> >>
>> >> >> In particular:
>> >> >> - handling differences between Windows and UNIX shells (i.e.
>> >> >> wildcard expansion)
>> >> >> - handling equivalent options such as "-n 10" === --count=10
>> >> >> - handling combination of multiple flags, e.g. "-lcf" == "-l -f -c"
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Thanks
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Matt
>> >> >
>> >> > I don't believe there is an argument parser in either Phobos 1 or
>> >> > Phobos 2.
>> >> > However, there is one in Tango.
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >> doost has one that works with Phobos.
>> >> (http://dsource.org/projects/doost)
>> >>
>> >> D2/Phobos2 has std.getopt.
>> >>
>> >> There's a port std.getopt to D1 in the std2 project:
>> >> http://www.dsource.org/projects/std2
>> >>
>> >> There's a simple port of BSD's getopt in OpenMesh/D:
>> >>
http://www.dsource.org/projects/openmeshd/browser/trunk/OpenMeshD/OpenMesh/Tools/Utils/getopt.d
>> >>
>> >> --bb
>> >
>> > there's one in tango too but it takes 20 lines to do anything, as most
>> > others do. create a freakin' "command line object". give me a lunch
>> > break. std.getopt in phobos is best in the world for my money. and
>> > across all languages for that matter. could never imagine do so much
>> > shit in one call.
>> 
>> There is a new one in Tango as of the latest release called Arguments. 
>> It's very simple to use:
>> 
>> auto args = new Arguments(argv[1..$]);
>> 
>> if(args.contains("c")) {} // test for -c
>> auto filename = args["f"]; // get parameter for -f filename
>> 
>> Of course, you can also configure it to be more strict, or to change
>> every detail, down to the switch character (instead of '-'), but it is
>> easy to use to get something up and running quickly.
>> 
>>
http://www.dsource.org/projects/tango/docs/current/tango.util.Arguments.html
> 
> yarp looked over it. with all due respect, what a piece of crap that is.
> with that i can't even hope to parse the command line of ssh or rdmd. it
> loses the original order. it doesn't understand -- which in unix means
> that options stop here. generally does not obey new unix conventions.
> defines all sort of useless shit like conflicts that i could care less
> about. i could write one test expression after parsing thank you very
> much. but it cannot force the types of its arguments so i must make sure i
> validate /all/ that shit which is much more voluminous. geez. finally it
> defines so many types and functions anyone will need a fucking graduate
> course to use it. no thanks. std.getopt mops the floor with it.

I suspect you are serious, but it is hard to tell with the above language.
Even criticism should try to be respectful.

As for Arguments; even though it is present in Tango trunk (and the previous
release), it was not announced as it is still expected to go through
further review. It is definately easy to use for the usecases I've thrown
at it though.

As for preserving and enforcing order, that was one of the design goals for
this implementation and thus it should be considered a bug if not easily
done.

-- 
Lars Ivar Igesund
blog at http://larsivi.net
DSource, #d.tango & #D: larsivi
Dancing the Tango