getopts unit

GNU compatible access to command-line options.

This document describes the GETOPTS unit for Free Pascal. It was written for Linux by Michael Van Canneyt. It now also works for all supported platforms.

The getopts unit provides a mechanism to handle command-line options in a structured way, much like the GNU getopts mechanism. It allows you to define the valid options for you program, and the unit will then parse the command-line options for you, and inform you of any errors.

Classes and records

TOption record Long option description record.

Procedures and functions

`GetLongOpts`	function	Return next long option.
`GetOpt`	function	Get next short option.

Types

`Orderings`	enumeration	Command-line ordering options.
`POption`	type	Pointer to record.

Constants

`EndOfOptions`	constant	Returned by , to indicate that there are no more options.
`No_Argument`	constant	Specifies that a long option does not take an argument.
`Optional_Argument`	constant	Specifies that a long option optionally takes an argument.
`OptSpecifier`	constant	Character indicating an option on the command-line.
`Required_Argument`	constant	Specifies that a long option needs an argument.

Variables

`OptArg`	variable	Set to the argument of an option, if the option needs one.
`OptErr`	variable	Indicates whether getopt() prints error messages.
`OptInd`	variable	Index of the current paramstr().
`OptOpt`	variable	In case of an error, contains the character causing the error.

An experiment, built from development snapshots. Not the official Free Pascal or Lazarus documentation.