Getopt::Std(3pm)                                Perl Programmers Reference Guide                                Getopt::Std(3pm)



NAME
       getopt, getopts - Process single-character switches with switch clustering

SYNOPSIS
           use Getopt::Std;

           getopt('oDI');    # -o, -D & -I take arg.  Sets $opt_* as a side effect.
           getopt('oDI', \%opts);    # -o, -D & -I take arg.  Values in %opts
           getopts('oif:');  # -o & -i are boolean flags, -f takes an argument
                             # Sets $opt_* as a side effect.
           getopts('oif:', \%opts);  # options as above. Values in %opts

DESCRIPTION
       The getopt() function processes single-character switches with switch clustering.  Pass one argument which is a string
       containing all switches that take an argument.  For each switch found, sets $opt_x (where x is the switch name) to the
       value of the argument if an argument is expected, or 1 otherwise.  Switches which take an argument don't care whether
       there is a space between the switch and the argument.

       The getopts() function is similar, but you should pass to it the list of all switches to be recognized.  If unspecified
       switches are found on the command-line, the user will be warned that an unknown option was given.  The getopts() function
       returns true unless an invalid option was found.

       Note that, if your code is running under the recommended "use strict 'vars'" pragma, you will need to declare these
       package variables with "our":

           our($opt_x, $opt_y);

       For those of you who don't like additional global variables being created, getopt() and getopts() will also accept a hash
       reference as an optional second argument.  Hash keys will be x (where x is the switch name) with key values the value of
       the argument or 1 if no argument is specified.

       To allow programs to process arguments that look like switches, but aren't, both functions will stop processing switches
       when they see the argument "--".  The "--" will be removed from @ARGV.

"--help" and "--version"
       If "-" is not a recognized switch letter, getopts() supports arguments "--help" and "--version".  If
       "main::HELP_MESSAGE()" and/or "main::VERSION_MESSAGE()" are defined, they are called; the arguments are the output file
       handle, the name of option-processing package, its version, and the switches string.  If the subroutines are not defined,
       an attempt is made to generate intelligent messages; for best results, define $main::VERSION.

       If embedded documentation (in pod format, see perlpod) is detected in the script, "--help" will also show how to access
       the documentation.

       Note that due to excessive paranoia, if $Getopt::Std::STANDARD_HELP_VERSION isn't true (the default is false), then the
       messages are printed on STDERR, and the processing continues after the messages are printed.  This being the opposite of
       the standard-conforming behaviour, it is strongly recommended to set $Getopt::Std::STANDARD_HELP_VERSION to true.

       One can change the output file handle of the messages by setting $Getopt::Std::OUTPUT_HELP_VERSION.  One can print the
       messages of "--help" (without the "Usage:" line) and "--version" by calling functions help_mess() and version_mess() with
       the switches string as an argument.



perl v5.12.4                                               2011-06-01                                           Getopt::Std(3pm)