ArgParse

ArgParse is a single-file header-only library for parsing command line arguments in C++11

Features:

• Single file header-only C++11 library (450 lines)
• Short form and long form of arguments
• Default values for optional arguments
• Can nest commands one level deep
• Automatically generated help text
• Tested on clang, gcc, MSVC
• No exceptions thrown

Options have a long name, and an optional single-character short name:

--force   Long name  (mandatory)
-f        Short name (optional)

Options can be boolean, like above, or they can have a value associated with them:

--outfile filename
-o filename

Anything that is not part of an option is collected in 'Params'

Commands can be added with AddCommand. If one or more commands have been defined, then the user must enter a valid command as the first parameter. Subsequent parameters are fed to the chosen command. Commands can have options and switches, just like the master Args object. Commands are the mechanism that is used to form a 2 level hierarchy of ArgParse objects.

To print out full help for all options, use args.ShowHelp(). This is invoked automatically when the user types help or --help, or a bunch of other help-like keywords.

Simple example:

int main(int argc, char** argv) {
    argparse::Args args("Usage: myprogram [options...] param1");
    args.AddSwitch("f", "force", "Force a certain thing");
    args.AddValue("o", "outfile", "Write output to file");
    args.AddValue("t", "timeout", "Timeout in seconds", "60");
    if (!args.Parse(argc, (const char**) argv))
        return 1;

    if (args.Has("force")) { /* ... */ }
    int timeout = args.GetInt("timeout"); // default value of 60, if not specified
    // ...
}

Example using commands:

int fooFunc(argparse::Args& args) {
    // ...
}

int main(int argc, char** argv) {
	argparse::Args args("myprogram [options...] <command>");
	auto cmdFoo = args.AddCommand("foo <src> <dst>", "Copy from src to dst", fooFunc);
	auto cmdBar = args.AddCommand("bar", "Do something else", barFunc);
	cmdFoo->AddSwitch("v", "verbose", "Max verbosity");
	if (!args.Parse(argc, (const char**) argv))
		return 1;

	return args.ExecCommand();
}

Copyright: IMQS Software
License: MIT