Arg_parser

Arg_parser is an argument parser that follows POSIX and GNU conventions for command line arguments. It is implemented as a C++ class, and is simpler, easier to use, and safer that `getopt_long'. A C language version of Arg_parser is also available.

For maximum stability, Arg_parser is self-contained. It extracts all the information it needs from its arguments to avoid refering to them later. This avoids index-out-of-bounds errors.

Arg_parser does not modify its arguments, nor uses any global variables. So you may create more than one parser in your program if you need or want to.

Arg_parser can also parse options from configuration files.

To use Arg_parser in your own programs simply copy the files `arg_parser.h' and `arg_parser.cc' in your source tree. See also the file `main.cc' for an example of use.

Arg_parser was developed as the argument parser for GNU moe, because moe's argument parsing is rather complex. (Then I used it in my other projects, including GNU ed, with excellent results). This is the reason why I ask bug reports for Arg_parser to be sent to bug-moe@gnu.org.

Download

The latest released version of Arg_parser can be found here. You may also subscribe to Freshmeat and receive an email every time a new version is released.

How to Get Help

For general discussion of bugs in Arg_parser the mailing list bug-moe@gnu.org is the most appropriate forum. Please send messages as plain text. Please do not send messages encoded as HTML nor encoded as base64 MIME nor included as multiple formats. Please include a descriptive subject line. If all of the subject are "bug in arg_parser" it is impossible to differentiate them.

An archive of the bug report mailing list is available at http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-moe.

How to Help

To contact the author, either to report a bug or to contribute fixes or improvements, send mail to bug-moe@gnu.org. Please send messages as plain text. If posting patches they should be in unified diff format against the latest version. They should include a text description.

See also the Arg_parser project page at Savannah.

You are free to copy, modify and distribute all or part of this article without limitation.

Updated: 2009/01/30