getopt(1)							     getopt(1)

NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     getopt - parse command options

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     set -- `getopt optstring <b>$*`

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     The getopts(1) command supersedes getopt.	For more information, see the
     NOTES below.

     getopt is used to break up	options	in command lines for easy parsing by
     shell procedures and to check for legal options.  It recognizes
     supplementary code	set characters in the argument given to	optstring
     according to the locale specified in the LC_CTYPE environment variable
     [see LANG on environ(5)].

     optstring is a string of recognized option	letters; see getopt(3C).  If a
     letter is followed	by a colon, the	option is expected to have an argument
     which may or may not be separated from it by white	space.	The special
     option -- is used to delimit the end of the options.  If it is used
     explicitly, getopt	recognizes it; otherwise, getopt generates it; in
     either case, getopt places	it at the end of the options.  The positional
     parameters	($1 $2 ...) of the shell are reset so that each	option is
     preceded by a - and is in its own positional parameter; each option
     argument is also parsed into its own positional parameter.

EXAMPLE    [Toc]    [Back]

     The following code	fragment shows how one might process the arguments for
     a command that can	take the options a or b, as well as the	option o,
     which requires an argument:

	  set -- `getopt abo: $*`
	  if [ $? != 0 ]
	  then
	       echo $USAGE
	       exit 2
	  fi
	  for i	in $*
	  do
	       case $i in
	       -a | -b)	 FLAG=$i; shift;;
	       -o)	 OARG=$2; shift	2;;
	       --)	 shift;	break;;
	       esac
	  done

     This code accepts any of the following as equivalent:

	  cmd -aoarg file file
	  cmd -a -o arg	file file
	  cmd -oarg -a file file
	  cmd -a -oarg -- file file



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getopt(1)							     getopt(1)

FILES    [Toc]    [Back]

     /usr/lib/locale/locale<b>/LC_MESSAGES/uxcore
	  language-specific message file [See LANG on environ(5).]

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     getopts(1), sh(1),	getopt(3C)

DIAGNOSTICS    [Toc]    [Back]

     getopt prints an error message on the standard error when it encounters
     an	option letter not included in optstring.

NOTES    [Toc]    [Back]

     getopt may	not be supported in a future release.  For this	release	a
     conversion	tool has been provided,	getoptcvt.  For	more information about
     getopts and getoptcvt, see	getopts(1).

     Reset OPTIND to 1 when rescanning the options.

     getopt does not support the part of Rule 8	of the command syntax standard
     [see intro(1)] that permits groups	of option-arguments following an
     option to be separated by white space and quoted.	For example,

	  cmd -a -b -o "xxx z yy" file

     is	not handled correctly.	To correct this	deficiency, use	the getopts
     command in	place of getopt.

     If	an option that takes an	option-argument	is followed by a value that is
     the same as one of	the options listed in optstring	(referring to the
     earlier EXAMPLE section, but using	the following command line:  cmd -o -a
     file), getopt always treats -a as an option-argument to -o; it never
     recognizes	-a as an option.  For this case, the for loop in the example
     shifts past the file argument.


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