getopt(C)                       19 June 1992                       getopt(C)


 Name

    getopt - parse command options

 Syntax

    set -- `getopt optstring $*`

 Description

    This command has been superseded, but is included for backwards compata-
    bility; getopts(C) should be used instead.

    getopt is used to check and break up options in command lines for parsing
    by shell procedures.  optstring is a string of recognized option letters
    (see getopt(S)).  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
    whitespace.  The special option ``--'' is used to delimit the end of the
    options.  getopt will place ``--'' in the arguments at the end of the
    options, or recognize it if used explicitly.  The shell arguments
    ($1 $2 ...) are reset so that each option is preceded by a dash (-) and
    in its own shell argument. Each option argument is also in its own shell
    argument.

 Example

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

    set -- `getopt abo: $*`
    if [ $? != 0 ]
    then
            echo "usage: $0 [-a | -b] [-o <arg>]"
            exit 2
    fi
    for i in $*
    do
            case $i in
            -a | -b)        shift; FLAG=$i;;
            -o)             OARG=$3; shift; shift;;
            --)             shift;  break;;
            esac
    done

    This code will accept any of the following as equivalent:

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

 See also

    getopt(S), getopts(C), sh(C)

 Diagnostics

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

 Notes

    The ``Syntax'' given for this utility assumes the user has an sh(C)
    shell.


 Standards conformance

    getopt is conformant with:

    AT&T SVID Issue 2.