GETOPT(3) Library Functions Manual GETOPT(3)

getopt optarg opterr optind optopt — command option parsing

#include <unistd.h>

int getopt(int argc, char * const argv[], const char *optstring);
extern char *optarg;
extern int opterr, optind, optopt;

The getopt () function is a command-line parser that shall follow Utility Syntax Guidelines 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, and 10 in XBD V1_chap12(7).

The parameters argc and argv are the argument count and argument array as passed to () (see exec(3)). The argument optstring is a string of recognized option characters; if a character is followed by a <colon>, the option takes an argument. All option characters allowed by Utility Syntax Guideline 3 are allowed in optstring. The optstring argument can optionally start with a <plus-sign> ( ‘+’), which shall have no effect on behavior in a conforming environment. If a <plus-sign> occurs anywhere besides the first character of optstring, the behavior is unspecified. The implementation may accept other characters as an extension.

The variable optind is the index of the next element of the argv [] vector to be processed. It shall be initialized to 1 by the system, and getopt () shall update it when it finishes with each element of argv []. If the application sets optind to zero before calling getopt (), the behavior is unspecified. When an element of argv [] contains multiple option characters, it is unspecified how getopt () determines which options have already been processed.

The getopt () function shall return the next option character (if one is found) from argv that matches a character in optstring (excluding an optional leading <plus-sign>), if there is one that matches. If the option takes an argument, getopt () shall set the variable optarg to point to the option-argument as follows:

  1. If the option was the last character in the string pointed to by an element of argv, then optarg shall contain the next element of argv, and optind shall be incremented by 2. If the resulting value of optind is greater than argc, this indicates a missing option-argument, and getopt () shall return an error indication.
  2. Otherwise, optarg shall point to the string following the option character in that element of argv, and optind shall be incremented by 1.

If, when getopt () is called, any of the following is true:

 argv[optind]  is a null pointer
*argv[optind]  is not the character '-'
 argv[optind]  points to the string "-"

getopt () shall return -1 without changing optind. If:

argv[optind]   points to the string "--"

getopt () shall return -1 after incrementing optind.

If getopt () encounters a <colon> as an option character, or an option character that is not contained in optstring after an optional leading <plus-sign>, it shall return the <question-mark> ( ‘’?) character. If it detects a missing option-argument, it shall return the <colon> character ( ‘’:) if the first character of optstring after an optional <plus-sign> was a <colon>, or a <question-mark> character ( ‘’?) otherwise. In either case, getopt () shall set the variable optopt to the option character that caused the error. If the application has not set the variable opterr to 0, and the first character of optstring after an optional <plus-sign> is not a <colon>, getopt () shall also print a diagnostic message to stderr in the format specified for the getopts(1) utility, unless the stderr stream has wide orientation, in which case the behavior is undefined.

The getopt () function need not be thread-safe.

The getopt () function shall return the next option character specified on the command line.

A <colon> ( ‘’:) shall be returned if getopt () detects a missing argument and the first character of optstring after an optional <plus-sign> was a <colon> ( ‘’:).

A <question-mark> ( ‘’?) shall be returned if getopt () encounters a <colon> as an option character, encounters an option character not in optstring, or detects a missing argument and the first character of optstring after an optional <plus-sign> was not a <colon> ( ‘’:).

Otherwise, getopt () shall return -1 when all command line options are parsed.

If the application has not set the variable opterr to 0, the first character of optstring is not a <colon>, and a write error occurs while getopt () is printing a diagnostic message to stderr, then the error indicator for stderr shall be set; but getopt () shall still succeed and the value of errno after getopt () is unspecified.

The following code fragment shows how you might process the arguments for a utility that can take the mutually-exclusive options and and the options and , both of which require arguments:

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


int
main(int argc, char *argv[ ])
{
    int c;
    int bflg = 0, aflg = 0, errflg = 0;
    char *ifile;
    char *ofile;
    . . .
    while ((c = getopt(argc, argv, ":abf:o:")) != -1) {
        switch(c) {
        case 'a':
            if (bflg)
                errflg++;
            else
                aflg++;
            break;
        case 'b':
            if (aflg)
                errflg++;
            else
                bflg++;
            break;
        case 'f':
            ifile = optarg;
            break;
        case 'o':
            ofile = optarg;
            break;
        case ':':       /* -f or -o without operand */
            fprintf(stderr,
                "Option -%c requires an operand\n", optopt);
            errflg++;
            break;
        case '?':
            fprintf(stderr,
                "Unrecognized option: '-%c'\n", optopt);
            errflg++;
        }
    }
    if (errflg) {
        fprintf(stderr, "usage: . . . ");
        exit(2);
    }
    for ( ; optind < argc; optind++) {
        if (access(argv[optind], R_OK)) {
            . . .
        }
    }
}

This code accepts any of the following as equivalent:

cmd -ao arg path path
cmd -a -o arg path path
cmd -o arg -a path path
cmd -a -o arg -- path path
cmd -a -oarg path path
cmd -aoarg path path

The following example selects the type of database routines the user wants to use based on the argument.

#include <unistd.h>
#include <string.h>
...
const char *Options = "hdbtl";
...
int dbtype, c;
char *st;
...
dbtype = 0;
while ((c = getopt(argc, argv, Options)) != -1) {
    if ((st = strchr(Options, c)) != NULL) {
        dbtype = st - Options;
        break;
    }
}

The getopt () function is only required to support option characters included in Utility Syntax Guideline 3. Many historical implementations of getopt () support other characters as options. This is an allowed extension, but applications that use extensions are not maximally portable. Note that support for multi-byte option characters is only possible when such characters can be represented as type .

Applications which use wide-character output functions with stderr should ensure that any calls to getopt () do not write to stderr, either by setting opterr to 0 or by ensuring the first character of optstring is always a <colon>.

While ( stderr) may be used to detect failures to write a diagnostic to stderr when getopt () returns ‘’?, the value of errno is unspecified in such a condition. Applications desiring more control over handling write failures should set opterr to 0 and independently perform output to stderr, rather than relying on getopt () to do the output.

The optopt variable represents historical practice and allows the application to obtain the identity of the invalid option.

The description has been written to make it clear that getopt (), like the getopts(1) utility, deals with option-arguments whether separated from the option by <blank> characters or not. Note that the requirements on getopt () and getopts(1) are more stringent than the Utility Syntax Guidelines.

The getopt () function shall return -1, rather than EOF, so that <stdio.h> is not required.

The special significance of a <colon> as the first character of optstring makes getopt () consistent with the getopts(1) utility. It allows an application to make a distinction between a missing argument and an incorrect option letter without having to examine the option letter. It is true that a missing argument can only be detected in one case, but that is a case that has to be considered.

In some non-conforming environments, the use of a leading <plus-sign> in optstring forces getopt () to behave in a conforming way, when it would otherwise have non-conforming behavior. Its use has been standardized to allow applications to be written that can guarantee behavior consistent with this specification even in an otherwise non-conforming environment. If both <plus-sign> and <colon> are used at the beginning of optstring, the <plus-sign> must be first.

Note that the use of a leading <plus-sign> in optstring is only standardized for getopt (). Use of a <plus-sign> is intentionally left unspecified for the getopts(1) utility, where historical implementations did not require a leading <plus-sign> for conforming behavior, and because some historical getopts(1) implementations used a leading <plus-sign> for a different extension.

None.

exec(3)

XCU getopts(1)

First released in Issue 1. Derived from Issue 1 of the SVID.

A note indicating that the getopt () function need not be reentrant is added to the DESCRIPTION.

IEEE PASC Interpretation 1003.2 #150 is applied.

Austin Group Interpretation 1003.1-2001 #156 is applied.

POSIX.1-2008, Technical Corrigendum 1, XSH/TC1-2008/0248 [318], XSH/TC1-2008/0249 [460], XSH/TC1-2008/0250 [189], XSH/TC1-2008/0251 [189], XSH/TC1-2008/0252 [189], and XSH/TC1-2008/0253 [460] are applied.

POSIX.1-2008, Technical Corrigendum 2, XSH/TC2-2008/0169 [608] is applied.

Austin Group Defect 191 is applied, allowing a leading <plus-sign> in optstring.

Austin Group Defect 1179 is applied, adding some missing ‘}’ characters at the end of the example code.

Austin Group Defect 1523 is applied, clarifying the conditions under which getopt () returns -1 without changing optind.

June 14, 2024 posix.fail