Say, I have a script that gets called with this line:
./myscript -vfd ./foo/bar/someFile -o /fizz/someOtherFile
or this one:
./myscript -v -f -d -o /fizz/someOtherFile ./foo/bar/someFile
What's the accepted way of parsing this such that in each case (or some combination of the two) $v, $f, and $d will all be set to true and $outFile will be equal to /fizz/someOtherFile?
--option argument)cat >/tmp/demo-space-separated.sh <<'EOF'
#!/bin/bash
POSITIONAL=()
while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
key="$1"
case $key in
-e|--extension)
EXTENSION="$2"
shift # past argument
shift # past value
;;
-s|--searchpath)
SEARCHPATH="$2"
shift # past argument
shift # past value
;;
-l|--lib)
LIBPATH="$2"
shift # past argument
shift # past value
;;
--default)
DEFAULT=YES
shift # past argument
;;
*) # unknown option
POSITIONAL+=("$1") # save it in an array for later
shift # past argument
;;
esac
done
set -- "${POSITIONAL[@]}" # restore positional parameters
echo "FILE EXTENSION = ${EXTENSION}"
echo "SEARCH PATH = ${SEARCHPATH}"
echo "LIBRARY PATH = ${LIBPATH}"
echo "DEFAULT = ${DEFAULT}"
echo "Number files in SEARCH PATH with EXTENSION:" $(ls -1 "${SEARCHPATH}"/*."${EXTENSION}" | wc -l)
if [[ -n $1 ]]; then
echo "Last line of file specified as non-opt/last argument:"
tail -1 "$1"
fi
EOF
chmod +x /tmp/demo-space-separated.sh
/tmp/demo-space-separated.sh -e conf -s /etc -l /usr/lib /etc/hosts
FILE EXTENSION = conf
SEARCH PATH = /etc
LIBRARY PATH = /usr/lib
DEFAULT =
Number files in SEARCH PATH with EXTENSION: 14
Last line of file specified as non-opt/last argument:
#93.184.216.34 example.com
demo-space-separated.sh -e conf -s /etc -l /usr/lib /etc/hosts
--option=argument)cat >/tmp/demo-equals-separated.sh <<'EOF'
#!/bin/bash
for i in "$@"; do
case $i in
-e=*|--extension=*)
EXTENSION="${i#*=}"
shift # past argument=value
;;
-s=*|--searchpath=*)
SEARCHPATH="${i#*=}"
shift # past argument=value
;;
-l=*|--lib=*)
LIBPATH="${i#*=}"
shift # past argument=value
;;
--default)
DEFAULT=YES
shift # past argument with no value
;;
*)
# unknown option
;;
esac
done
echo "FILE EXTENSION = ${EXTENSION}"
echo "SEARCH PATH = ${SEARCHPATH}"
echo "LIBRARY PATH = ${LIBPATH}"
echo "DEFAULT = ${DEFAULT}"
echo "Number files in SEARCH PATH with EXTENSION:" $(ls -1 "${SEARCHPATH}"/*."${EXTENSION}" | wc -l)
if [[ -n $1 ]]; then
echo "Last line of file specified as non-opt/last argument:"
tail -1 $1
fi
EOF
chmod +x /tmp/demo-equals-separated.sh
/tmp/demo-equals-separated.sh -e=conf -s=/etc -l=/usr/lib /etc/hosts
FILE EXTENSION = conf
SEARCH PATH = /etc
LIBRARY PATH = /usr/lib
DEFAULT =
Number files in SEARCH PATH with EXTENSION: 14
Last line of file specified as non-opt/last argument:
#93.184.216.34 example.com
demo-equals-separated.sh -e=conf -s=/etc -l=/usr/lib /etc/hosts
To better understand ${i#*=} search for "Substring Removal" in this guide. It is functionally equivalent to `sed 's/[^=]*=//' <<< "$i"` which calls a needless subprocess or `echo "$i" | sed 's/[^=]*=//'` which calls two needless subprocesses.
getopt(1) limitations (older, relatively-recent getopt versions):
More recent getopt versions don't have these limitations. For more information, see these docs.
Additionally, the POSIX shell and others offer getopts which doen't have these limitations. I've included a simplistic getopts example.
cat >/tmp/demo-getopts.sh <<'EOF'
#!/bin/sh
# A POSIX variable
OPTIND=1 # Reset in case getopts has been used previously in the shell.
# Initialize our own variables:
output_file=""
verbose=0
while getopts "h?vf:" opt; do
case "$opt" in
h|\?)
show_help
exit 0
;;
v) verbose=1
;;
f) output_file=$OPTARG
;;
esac
done
shift $((OPTIND-1))
[ "${1:-}" = "--" ] && shift
echo "verbose=$verbose, output_file='$output_file', Leftovers: $@"
EOF
chmod +x /tmp/demo-getopts.sh
/tmp/demo-getopts.sh -vf /etc/hosts foo bar
verbose=1, output_file='/etc/hosts', Leftovers: foo bar
demo-getopts.sh -vf /etc/hosts foo bar
The advantages of getopts are:
dash.-vf filename in the typical Unix way, automatically.The disadvantage of getopts is that it can only handle short options (-h, not --help) without additional code.
There is a getopts tutorial which explains what all of the syntax and variables mean. In bash, there is also help getopts, which might be informative.
No answer showcases enhanced getopt. And the top-voted answer is misleading: It either ignores -vfd style short options (requested by the OP) or options after positional arguments (also requested by the OP); and it ignores parsing-errors. Instead:
getopt from util-linux or formerly GNU glibc.1getopt_long() the C function of GNU glibc.getopt can’t do this)script.sh -o outFile file1 file2 -v (getopts doesn’t do this)=-style long options: script.sh --outfile=fileOut --infile fileIn (allowing both is lengthy if self parsing)-vfd (real work if self parsing)-oOutfile or -vfdoOutfilegetopt --test → return value 4.getopt or shell-builtin getopts are of limited use.The following calls
myscript -vfd ./foo/bar/someFile -o /fizz/someOtherFile
myscript -v -f -d -o/fizz/someOtherFile -- ./foo/bar/someFile
myscript --verbose --force --debug ./foo/bar/someFile -o/fizz/someOtherFile
myscript --output=/fizz/someOtherFile ./foo/bar/someFile -vfd
myscript ./foo/bar/someFile -df -v --output /fizz/someOtherFile
all return
verbose: y, force: y, debug: y, in: ./foo/bar/someFile, out: /fizz/someOtherFile
with the following myscript
#!/bin/bash
# More safety, by turning some bugs into errors.
# Without `errexit` you don’t need ! and can replace
# PIPESTATUS with a simple $?, but I don’t do that.
set -o errexit -o pipefail -o noclobber -o nounset
# -allow a command to fail with !’s side effect on errexit
# -use return value from ${PIPESTATUS[0]}, because ! hosed $?
! getopt --test > /dev/null
if [[ ${PIPESTATUS[0]} -ne 4 ]]; then
echo 'I’m sorry, `getopt --test` failed in this environment.'
exit 1
fi
OPTIONS=dfo:v
LONGOPTS=debug,force,output:,verbose
# -regarding ! and PIPESTATUS see above
# -temporarily store output to be able to check for errors
# -activate quoting/enhanced mode (e.g. by writing out “--options”)
# -pass arguments only via -- "$@" to separate them correctly
! PARSED=$(getopt --options=$OPTIONS --longoptions=$LONGOPTS --name "$0" -- "$@")
if [[ ${PIPESTATUS[0]} -ne 0 ]]; then
# e.g. return value is 1
# then getopt has complained about wrong arguments to stdout
exit 2
fi
# read getopt’s output this way to handle the quoting right:
eval set -- "$PARSED"
d=n f=n v=n outFile=-
# now enjoy the options in order and nicely split until we see --
while true; do
case "$1" in
-d|--debug)
d=y
shift
;;
-f|--force)
f=y
shift
;;
-v|--verbose)
v=y
shift
;;
-o|--output)
outFile="$2"
shift 2
;;
--)
shift
break
;;
*)
echo "Programming error"
exit 3
;;
esac
done
# handle non-option arguments
if [[ $# -ne 1 ]]; then
echo "$0: A single input file is required."
exit 4
fi
echo "verbose: $v, force: $f, debug: $d, in: $1, out: $outFile"
1 enhanced getopt is available on most “bash-systems”, including Cygwin; on OS X try brew install gnu-getopt or sudo port install getopt
2 the POSIX exec() conventions have no reliable way to pass binary NULL in command line arguments; those bytes prematurely end the argument
3 first version released in 1997 or before (I only tracked it back to 1997)
deploy.sh
#!/bin/bash
while [[ "$#" -gt 0 ]]; do
case $1 in
-t|--target) target="$2"; shift ;;
-u|--uglify) uglify=1 ;;
*) echo "Unknown parameter passed: $1"; exit 1 ;;
esac
shift
done
echo "Where to deploy: $target"
echo "Should uglify : $uglify"
Usage:
./deploy.sh -t dev -u
# OR:
./deploy.sh --target dev --uglify
From digitalpeer.com with minor modifications:
Usage myscript.sh -p=my_prefix -s=dirname -l=libname
#!/bin/bash
for i in "$@"
do
case $i in
-p=*|--prefix=*)
PREFIX="${i#*=}"
;;
-s=*|--searchpath=*)
SEARCHPATH="${i#*=}"
;;
-l=*|--lib=*)
DIR="${i#*=}"
;;
--default)
DEFAULT=YES
;;
*)
# unknown option
;;
esac
done
echo PREFIX = ${PREFIX}
echo SEARCH PATH = ${SEARCHPATH}
echo DIRS = ${DIR}
echo DEFAULT = ${DEFAULT}
To better understand ${i#*=} search for "Substring Removal" in this guide. It is functionally equivalent to `sed 's/[^=]*=//' <<< "$i"` which calls a needless subprocess or `echo "$i" | sed 's/[^=]*=//'` which calls two needless subprocesses.
getopt()/getopts() is a good option. Copied from here:
The simple use of "getopt" is shown in this mini-script:
#!/bin/bash
echo "Before getopt"
for i
do
echo $i
done
args=`getopt abc:d $*`
set -- $args
echo "After getopt"
for i
do
echo "-->$i"
done
What we have said is that any of -a, -b, -c or -d will be allowed, but that -c is followed by an argument (the "c:" says that).
If we call this "g" and try it out:
bash-2.05a$ ./g -abc foo
Before getopt
-abc
foo
After getopt
-->-a
-->-b
-->-c
-->foo
-->--
We start with two arguments, and "getopt" breaks apart the options and puts each in its own argument. It also added "--".
while [ "$#" -gt 0 ]; do
case "$1" in
-n) name="$2"; shift 2;;
-p) pidfile="$2"; shift 2;;
-l) logfile="$2"; shift 2;;
--name=*) name="${1#*=}"; shift 1;;
--pidfile=*) pidfile="${1#*=}"; shift 1;;
--logfile=*) logfile="${1#*=}"; shift 1;;
--name|--pidfile|--logfile) echo "$1 requires an argument" >&2; exit 1;;
-*) echo "unknown option: $1" >&2; exit 1;;
*) handle_argument "$1"; shift 1;;
esac
done
This solution:
-n arg and --name=argI used the earlier answers as a starting point to tidy up my old adhoc param parsing. I then refactored out the following template code. It handles both long and short params, using = or space separated arguments, as well as multiple short params grouped together. Finally it re-inserts any non-param arguments back into the $1,$2.. variables.
#!/usr/bin/env bash
# NOTICE: Uncomment if your script depends on bashisms.
#if [ -z "$BASH_VERSION" ]; then bash $0 $@ ; exit $? ; fi
echo "Before"
for i ; do echo - $i ; done
# Code template for parsing command line parameters using only portable shell
# code, while handling both long and short params, handling '-f file' and
# '-f=file' style param data and also capturing non-parameters to be inserted
# back into the shell positional parameters.
while [ -n "$1" ]; do
# Copy so we can modify it (can't modify $1)
OPT="$1"
# Detect argument termination
if [ x"$OPT" = x"--" ]; then
shift
for OPT ; do
REMAINS="$REMAINS \"$OPT\""
done
break
fi
# Parse current opt
while [ x"$OPT" != x"-" ] ; do
case "$OPT" in
# Handle --flag=value opts like this
-c=* | --config=* )
CONFIGFILE="${OPT#*=}"
shift
;;
# and --flag value opts like this
-c* | --config )
CONFIGFILE="$2"
shift
;;
-f* | --force )
FORCE=true
;;
-r* | --retry )
RETRY=true
;;
# Anything unknown is recorded for later
* )
REMAINS="$REMAINS \"$OPT\""
break
;;
esac
# Check for multiple short options
# NOTICE: be sure to update this pattern to match valid options
NEXTOPT="${OPT#-[cfr]}" # try removing single short opt
if [ x"$OPT" != x"$NEXTOPT" ] ; then
OPT="-$NEXTOPT" # multiple short opts, keep going
else
break # long form, exit inner loop
fi
done
# Done with that param. move to next
shift
done
# Set the non-parameters back into the positional parameters ($1 $2 ..)
eval set -- $REMAINS
echo -e "After: \n configfile='$CONFIGFILE' \n force='$FORCE' \n retry='$RETRY' \n remains='$REMAINS'"
for i ; do echo - $i ; done
I have found the matter to write portable parsing in scripts so frustrating that I have written Argbash - a FOSS code generator that can generate the arguments-parsing code for your script plus it has some nice features:
# As long as there is at least one more argument, keep looping
while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
key="$1"
case "$key" in
# This is a flag type option. Will catch either -f or --foo
-f|--foo)
FOO=1
;;
# Also a flag type option. Will catch either -b or --bar
-b|--bar)
BAR=1
;;
# This is an arg value type option. Will catch -o value or --output-file value
-o|--output-file)
shift # past the key and to the value
OUTPUTFILE="$1"
;;
# This is an arg=value type option. Will catch -o=value or --output-file=value
-o=*|--output-file=*)
# No need to shift here since the value is part of the same string
OUTPUTFILE="${key#*=}"
;;
*)
# Do whatever you want with extra options
echo "Unknown option '$key'"
;;
esac
# Shift after checking all the cases to get the next option
shift
done
This allows you to have both space separated options/values, as well as equal defined values.
So you could run your script using:
./myscript --foo -b -o /fizz/file.txt
as well as:
./myscript -f --bar -o=/fizz/file.txt
and both should have the same end result.
PROS:
Allows for both -arg=value and -arg value
Works with any arg name that you can use in bash
Pure bash. No need to learn/use getopt or getopts
CONS:
Can't combine args
This example shows how to use getopt and eval and HEREDOC and shift to handle short and long parameters with and without a required value that follows. Also the switch/case statement is concise and easy to follow.
#!/usr/bin/env bash
# usage function
function usage()
{
cat << HEREDOC
Usage: $progname [--num NUM] [--time TIME_STR] [--verbose] [--dry-run]
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-n, --num NUM pass in a number
-t, --time TIME_STR pass in a time string
-v, --verbose increase the verbosity of the bash script
--dry-run do a dry run, dont change any files
HEREDOC
}
# initialize variables
progname=$(basename $0)
verbose=0
dryrun=0
num_str=
time_str=
# use getopt and store the output into $OPTS
# note the use of -o for the short options, --long for the long name options
# and a : for any option that takes a parameter
OPTS=$(getopt -o "hn:t:v" --long "help,num:,time:,verbose,dry-run" -n "$progname" -- "$@")
if [ $? != 0 ] ; then echo "Error in command line arguments." >&2 ; usage; exit 1 ; fi
eval set -- "$OPTS"
while true; do
# uncomment the next line to see how shift is working
# echo "\$1:\"$1\" \$2:\"$2\""
case "$1" in
-h | --help ) usage; exit; ;;
-n | --num ) num_str="$2"; shift 2 ;;
-t | --time ) time_str="$2"; shift 2 ;;
--dry-run ) dryrun=1; shift ;;
-v | --verbose ) verbose=$((verbose + 1)); shift ;;
-- ) shift; break ;;
* ) break ;;
esac
done
if (( $verbose > 0 )); then
# print out all the parameters we read in
cat <<EOM
num=$num_str
time=$time_str
verbose=$verbose
dryrun=$dryrun
EOM
fi
# The rest of your script below
The most significant lines of the script above are these:
OPTS=$(getopt -o "hn:t:v" --long "help,num:,time:,verbose,dry-run" -n "$progname" -- "$@")
if [ $? != 0 ] ; then echo "Error in command line arguments." >&2 ; exit 1 ; fi
eval set -- "$OPTS"
while true; do
case "$1" in
-h | --help ) usage; exit; ;;
-n | --num ) num_str="$2"; shift 2 ;;
-t | --time ) time_str="$2"; shift 2 ;;
--dry-run ) dryrun=1; shift ;;
-v | --verbose ) verbose=$((verbose + 1)); shift ;;
-- ) shift; break ;;
* ) break ;;
esac
done
Short, to the point, readable, and handles just about everything (IMHO).
Hope that helps someone.
If you are making scripts that are interchangeable with other utilities, below flexibility may be useful.
Either:
command -x=myfilename.ext --another_switch
Or:
command -x myfilename.ext --another_switch
Here is the code:
STD_IN=0
prefix=""
key=""
value=""
for keyValue in "$@"
do
case "${prefix}${keyValue}" in
-i=*|--input_filename=*) key="-i"; value="${keyValue#*=}";;
-ss=*|--seek_from=*) key="-ss"; value="${keyValue#*=}";;
-t=*|--play_seconds=*) key="-t"; value="${keyValue#*=}";;
-|--stdin) key="-"; value=1;;
*) value=$keyValue;;
esac
case $key in
-i) MOVIE=$(resolveMovie "${value}"); prefix=""; key="";;
-ss) SEEK_FROM="${value}"; prefix=""; key="";;
-t) PLAY_SECONDS="${value}"; prefix=""; key="";;
-) STD_IN=${value}; prefix=""; key="";;
*) prefix="${keyValue}=";;
esac
done
Expanding on @bruno-bronosky's answer, I added a "preprocessor" to handle some common formatting:
--longopt=val into --longopt val-xyz into -x -y -z-- to indicate the end of flags#!/bin/bash
# Report usage
usage() {
echo "Usage:"
echo "$(basename "$0") [options] [--] [file1, ...]"
# Optionally exit with a status code
if [ -n "$1" ]; then
exit "$1"
fi
}
invalid() {
echo "ERROR: Unrecognized argument: $1" >&2
usage 1
}
# Pre-process options to:
# - expand -xyz into -x -y -z
# - expand --longopt=arg into --longopt arg
ARGV=()
END_OF_OPT=
while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
arg="$1"; shift
case "${END_OF_OPT}${arg}" in
--) ARGV+=("$arg"); END_OF_OPT=1 ;;
--*=*)ARGV+=("${arg%%=*}" "${arg#*=}") ;;
--*) ARGV+=("$arg") ;;
-*) for i in $(seq 2 ${#arg}); do ARGV+=("-${arg:i-1:1}"); done ;;
*) ARGV+=("$arg") ;;
esac
done
# Apply pre-processed options
set -- "${ARGV[@]}"
# Parse options
END_OF_OPT=
POSITIONAL=()
while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
case "${END_OF_OPT}${1}" in
-h|--help) usage 0 ;;
-p|--password) shift; PASSWORD="$1" ;;
-u|--username) shift; USERNAME="$1" ;;
-n|--name) shift; names+=("$1") ;;
-q|--quiet) QUIET=1 ;;
-C|--copy) COPY=1 ;;
-N|--notify) NOTIFY=1 ;;
--stdin) READ_STDIN=1 ;;
--) END_OF_OPT=1 ;;
-*) invalid "$1" ;;
*) POSITIONAL+=("$1") ;;
esac
shift
done
# Restore positional parameters
set -- "${POSITIONAL[@]}"
I think this one is simple enough to use:
#!/bin/bash
#
readopt='getopts $opts opt;rc=$?;[ "$rc$opt" = "0?" ]&&exit 1;[ $rc = 0 ]||{ shift $[OPTIND-1];false; }'
opts=vfdo:
# Enumerating options
while eval "$readopt"
do
echo OPT:$opt ${OPTARG+OPTARG:$OPTARG}
done
# Enumerating arguments
for arg
do
echo ARG:$arg
done
Invocation example:
./myscript -v -do /fizz/someOtherFile -f ./foo/bar/someFile
OPT:v
OPT:d
OPT:o OPTARG:/fizz/someOtherFile
OPT:f
ARG:./foo/bar/someFile
I give you The Function parse_params that will parse params from the command line.
--all equals -all equals all=all)The script below is a copy-paste working demonstration. See show_use function to understand how to use parse_params.
Limitations:
-d 1)--any-param and -anyparam are equivalenteval $(parse_params "$@") must be used inside bash function (it will not work in the global scope)#!/bin/bash
# Universal Bash parameter parsing
# Parse equal sign separated params into named local variables
# Standalone named parameter value will equal its param name (--force creates variable $force=="force")
# Parses multi-valued named params into an array (--path=path1 --path=path2 creates ${path[*]} array)
# Puts un-named params as-is into ${ARGV[*]} array
# Additionally puts all named params as-is into ${ARGN[*]} array
# Additionally puts all standalone "option" params as-is into ${ARGO[*]} array
# @author Oleksii Chekulaiev
# @version v1.4.1 (Jul-27-2018)
parse_params ()
{
local existing_named
local ARGV=() # un-named params
local ARGN=() # named params
local ARGO=() # options (--params)
echo "local ARGV=(); local ARGN=(); local ARGO=();"
while [[ "$1" != "" ]]; do
# Escape asterisk to prevent bash asterisk expansion, and quotes to prevent string breakage
_escaped=${1/\*/\'\"*\"\'}
_escaped=${_escaped//\'/\\\'}
_escaped=${_escaped//\"/\\\"}
# If equals delimited named parameter
nonspace="[^[:space:]]"
if [[ "$1" =~ ^${nonspace}${nonspace}*=..* ]]; then
# Add to named parameters array
echo "ARGN+=('$_escaped');"
# key is part before first =
local _key=$(echo "$1" | cut -d = -f 1)
# Just add as non-named when key is empty or contains space
if [[ "$_key" == "" || "$_key" =~ " " ]]; then
echo "ARGV+=('$_escaped');"
shift
continue
fi
# val is everything after key and = (protect from param==value error)
local _val="${1/$_key=}"
# remove dashes from key name
_key=${_key//\-}
# skip when key is empty
# search for existing parameter name
if (echo "$existing_named" | grep "\b$_key\b" >/dev/null); then
# if name already exists then it's a multi-value named parameter
# re-declare it as an array if needed
if ! (declare -p _key 2> /dev/null | grep -q 'declare \-a'); then
echo "$_key=(\"\$$_key\");"
fi
# append new value
echo "$_key+=('$_val');"
else
# single-value named parameter
echo "local $_key='$_val';"
existing_named=" $_key"
fi
# If standalone named parameter
elif [[ "$1" =~ ^\-${nonspace}+ ]]; then
# remove dashes
local _key=${1//\-}
# Just add as non-named when key is empty or contains space
if [[ "$_key" == "" || "$_key" =~ " " ]]; then
echo "ARGV+=('$_escaped');"
shift
continue
fi
# Add to options array
echo "ARGO+=('$_escaped');"
echo "local $_key=\"$_key\";"
# non-named parameter
else
# Escape asterisk to prevent bash asterisk expansion
_escaped=${1/\*/\'\"*\"\'}
echo "ARGV+=('$_escaped');"
fi
shift
done
}
#--------------------------- DEMO OF THE USAGE -------------------------------
show_use ()
{
eval $(parse_params "$@")
# --
echo "${ARGV[0]}" # print first unnamed param
echo "${ARGV[1]}" # print second unnamed param
echo "${ARGN[0]}" # print first named param
echo "${ARG0[0]}" # print first option param (--force)
echo "$anyparam" # print --anyparam value
echo "$k" # print k=5 value
echo "${multivalue[0]}" # print first value of multi-value
echo "${multivalue[1]}" # print second value of multi-value
[[ "$force" == "force" ]] && echo "\$force is set so let the force be with you"
}
show_use "param 1" --anyparam="my value" param2 k=5 --force --multi-value=test1 --multi-value=test2
getopts works great if #1 you have it installed and #2 you intend to run it on the same platform. OSX and Linux (for example) behave differently in this respect.
Here is a (non getopts) solution that supports equals, non-equals, and boolean flags. For example you could run your script in this way:
./script --arg1=value1 --arg2 value2 --shouldClean
# parse the arguments.
COUNTER=0
ARGS=("$@")
while [ $COUNTER -lt $# ]
do
arg=${ARGS[$COUNTER]}
let COUNTER=COUNTER+1
nextArg=${ARGS[$COUNTER]}
if [[ $skipNext -eq 1 ]]; then
echo "Skipping"
skipNext=0
continue
fi
argKey=""
argVal=""
if [[ "$arg" =~ ^\- ]]; then
# if the format is: -key=value
if [[ "$arg" =~ \= ]]; then
argVal=$(echo "$arg" | cut -d'=' -f2)
argKey=$(echo "$arg" | cut -d'=' -f1)
skipNext=0
# if the format is: -key value
elif [[ ! "$nextArg" =~ ^\- ]]; then
argKey="$arg"
argVal="$nextArg"
skipNext=1
# if the format is: -key (a boolean flag)
elif [[ "$nextArg" =~ ^\- ]] || [[ -z "$nextArg" ]]; then
argKey="$arg"
argVal=""
skipNext=0
fi
# if the format has not flag, just a value.
else
argKey=""
argVal="$arg"
skipNext=0
fi
case "$argKey" in
--source-scmurl)
SOURCE_URL="$argVal"
;;
--dest-scmurl)
DEST_URL="$argVal"
;;
--version-num)
VERSION_NUM="$argVal"
;;
-c|--clean)
CLEAN_BEFORE_START="1"
;;
-h|--help|-help|--h)
showUsage
exit
;;
esac
done
An elegant option parser for shell scripts (full support for all POSIX shells) https://github.com/ko1nksm/getoptions (Update: v3.3.0 released on 2021-05-02)
getoptions is a new option parser (generator) written in POSIX-compliant shell script and released in august 2020. It is for those who want to support the POSIX / GNU style option syntax in your shell scripts.
The supported syntaxes are -a, +a, -abc, -vvv, -p VALUE, -pVALUE, --flag, --no-flag, --with-flag, --without-flag, --param VALUE, --param=VALUE, --option[=VALUE], --no-option --.
It supports subcommands, validation, abbreviated options, and automatic help generation. And works with all POSIX shells (dash 0.5.4+, bash 2.03+, ksh88+, mksh R28+, zsh 3.1.9+, yash 2.29+, busybox ash 1.1.3+, etc).
#!/bin/sh
VERSION="0.1"
parser_definition() {
setup REST help:usage -- "Usage: example.sh [options]... [arguments]..." ''
msg -- 'Options:'
flag FLAG -f --flag -- "takes no arguments"
param PARAM -p --param -- "takes one argument"
option OPTION -o --option on:"default" -- "takes one optional argument"
disp :usage -h --help
disp VERSION --version
}
eval "$(getoptions parser_definition) exit 1"
echo "FLAG: $FLAG, PARAM: $PARAM, OPTION: $OPTION"
printf '%s\n' "$@" # rest arguments
It's parses the following arguments:
example.sh -f --flag -p VALUE --param VALUE -o --option -oVALUE --option=VALUE 1 2 3
And automatic help generation.
$ example.sh --help
Usage: example.sh [options]... [arguments]...
Options:
-f, --flag takes no arguments
-p, --param PARAM takes one argument
-o, --option[=OPTION] takes one optional argument
-h, --help
--version
It is also an option parser generator, generates the following simple option parsing code. If you use the generated code, you won't need getoptions. Achieve true portability and zero dependency.
FLAG=''
PARAM=''
OPTION=''
REST=''
getoptions_parse() {
OPTIND=$(($#+1))
while OPTARG= && [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
case $1 in
--?*=*) OPTARG=$1; shift
eval 'set -- "${OPTARG%%\=*}" "${OPTARG#*\=}"' ${1+'"$@"'}
;;
--no-*|--without-*) unset OPTARG ;;
-[po]?*) OPTARG=$1; shift
eval 'set -- "${OPTARG%"${OPTARG#??}"}" "${OPTARG#??}"' ${1+'"$@"'}
;;
-[fh]?*) OPTARG=$1; shift
eval 'set -- "${OPTARG%"${OPTARG#??}"}" -"${OPTARG#??}"' ${1+'"$@"'}
OPTARG= ;;
esac
case $1 in
'-f'|'--flag')
[ "${OPTARG:-}" ] && OPTARG=${OPTARG#*\=} && set "noarg" "$1" && break
eval '[ ${OPTARG+x} ] &&:' && OPTARG='1' || OPTARG=''
FLAG="$OPTARG"
;;
'-p'|'--param')
[ $# -le 1 ] && set "required" "$1" && break
OPTARG=$2
PARAM="$OPTARG"
shift ;;
'-o'|'--option')
set -- "$1" "$@"
[ ${OPTARG+x} ] && {
case $1 in --no-*|--without-*) set "noarg" "${1%%\=*}"; break; esac
[ "${OPTARG:-}" ] && { shift; OPTARG=$2; } || OPTARG='default'
} || OPTARG=''
OPTION="$OPTARG"
shift ;;
'-h'|'--help')
usage
exit 0 ;;
'--version')
echo "${VERSION}"
exit 0 ;;
--)
shift
while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
REST="${REST} \"\${$(($OPTIND-$#))}\""
shift
done
break ;;
[-]?*) set "unknown" "$1"; break ;;
*)
REST="${REST} \"\${$(($OPTIND-$#))}\""
esac
shift
done
[ $# -eq 0 ] && { OPTIND=1; unset OPTARG; return 0; }
case $1 in
unknown) set "Unrecognized option: $2" "$@" ;;
noarg) set "Does not allow an argument: $2" "$@" ;;
required) set "Requires an argument: $2" "$@" ;;
pattern:*) set "Does not match the pattern (${1#*:}): $2" "$@" ;;
notcmd) set "Not a command: $2" "$@" ;;
*) set "Validation error ($1): $2" "$@"
esac
echo "$1" >&2
exit 1
}
usage() {
cat<<'GETOPTIONSHERE'
Usage: example.sh [options]... [arguments]...
Options:
-f, --flag takes no arguments
-p, --param PARAM takes one argument
-o, --option[=OPTION] takes one optional argument
-h, --help
--version
GETOPTIONSHERE
}
I wanna submit my project : https://github.com/flyingangel/argparser
source argparser.sh
parse_args "$@"
Simple as that. The environment will be populated with variables with the same name as the arguments
This is how I do in a function to avoid breaking getopts run at the same time somewhere higher in stack:
function waitForWeb () {
local OPTIND=1 OPTARG OPTION
local host=localhost port=8080 proto=http
while getopts "h:p:r:" OPTION; do
case "$OPTION" in
h)
host="$OPTARG"
;;
p)
port="$OPTARG"
;;
r)
proto="$OPTARG"
;;
esac
done
...
}
I'd like to offer my version of option parsing, that allows for the following:
-s p1
--stage p1
-w somefolder
--workfolder somefolder
-sw p1 somefolder
-e=hello
Also allows for this (could be unwanted):
-s--workfolder p1 somefolder
-se=hello p1
-swe=hello p1 somefolder
You have to decide before use if = is to be used on an option or not. This is to keep the code clean(ish).
while [[ $# > 0 ]]
do
key="$1"
while [[ ${key+x} ]]
do
case $key in
-s*|--stage)
STAGE="$2"
shift # option has parameter
;;
-w*|--workfolder)
workfolder="$2"
shift # option has parameter
;;
-e=*)
EXAMPLE="${key#*=}"
break # option has been fully handled
;;
*)
# unknown option
echo Unknown option: $key #1>&2
exit 10 # either this: my preferred way to handle unknown options
break # or this: do this to signal the option has been handled (if exit isn't used)
;;
esac
# prepare for next option in this key, if any
[[ "$key" = -? || "$key" == --* ]] && unset key || key="${key/#-?/-}"
done
shift # option(s) fully processed, proceed to next input argument
done
There are several ways to parse cmdline args (e.g. GNU getopt (not portable) vs BSD (MacOS) getopt vs getopts) - all problematic. This solution
= separator between option and argument-vxf--color vs --color=always),-- to signal end of options, andExamples: Any of
# flag
-f
--foo
# option with required argument
-b"Hello World"
-b "Hello World"
--bar "Hello World"
--bar="Hello World"
# option with optional argument
--baz
--baz="Optional Hello"
#!/usr/bin/env bash
usage() {
cat - >&2 <<EOF
NAME
program-name.sh - Brief description
SYNOPSIS
program-name.sh [-h|--help]
program-name.sh [-f|--foo]
[-b|--bar <arg>]
[--baz[=<arg>]]
[--]
FILE ...
REQUIRED ARGUMENTS
FILE ...
input files
OPTIONS
-h, --help
Prints this and exits
-f, --foo
A flag option
-b, --bar <arg>
Option requiring an argument <arg>
--baz[=<arg>]
Option that has an optional argument <arg>. If <arg>
is not specified, defaults to 'DEFAULT'
--
Specify end of options; useful if the first non option
argument starts with a hyphen
EOF
}
fatal() {
for i; do
echo -e "${i}" >&2
done
exit 1
}
# For long option processing
next_arg() {
if [[ $OPTARG == *=* ]]; then
# for cases like '--opt=arg'
OPTARG="${OPTARG#*=}"
else
# for cases like '--opt arg'
OPTARG="${args[$OPTIND]}"
OPTIND=$((OPTIND + 1))
fi
}
# ':' means preceding option character expects one argument, except
# first ':' which make getopts run in silent mode. We handle errors with
# wildcard case catch. Long options are considered as the '-' character
optspec=":hfb:-:"
args=("" "$@") # dummy first element so $1 and $args[1] are aligned
while getopts "$optspec" optchar; do
case "$optchar" in
h) usage; exit 0 ;;
f) foo=1 ;;
b) bar="$OPTARG" ;;
-) # long option processing
case "$OPTARG" in
help)
usage; exit 0 ;;
foo)
foo=1 ;;
bar|bar=*) next_arg
bar="$OPTARG" ;;
baz)
baz=DEFAULT ;;
baz=*) next_arg
baz="$OPTARG" ;;
-) break ;;
*) fatal "Unknown option '--${OPTARG}'" "see '${0} --help' for usage" ;;
esac
;;
*) fatal "Unknown option: '-${OPTARG}'" "See '${0} --help' for usage" ;;
esac
done
shift $((OPTIND-1))
if [ "$#" -eq 0 ]; then
fatal "Expected at least one required argument FILE" \
"See '${0} --help' for usage"
fi
echo "foo=$foo, bar=$bar, baz=$baz, files=${@}"
Here is my solution. It is VERY flexible and unlike others, shouldn't require external packages and handles leftover arguments cleanly.
Usage is: ./myscript -flag flagvariable -otherflag flagvar2
All you have to do is edit the validflags line. It prepends a hyphen and searches all arguments. It then defines the next argument as the flag name e.g.
./myscript -flag flagvariable -otherflag flagvar2
echo $flag $otherflag
flagvariable flagvar2
The main code (short version, verbose with examples further down, also a version with erroring out):
#!/usr/bin/env bash
#shebang.io
validflags="rate time number"
count=1
for arg in $@
do
match=0
argval=$1
for flag in $validflags
do
sflag="-"$flag
if [ "$argval" == "$sflag" ]
then
declare $flag=$2
match=1
fi
done
if [ "$match" == "1" ]
then
shift 2
else
leftovers=$(echo $leftovers $argval)
shift
fi
count=$(($count+1))
done
#Cleanup then restore the leftovers
shift $#
set -- $leftovers
The verbose version with built in echo demos:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
#shebang.io
rate=30
time=30
number=30
echo "all args
$@"
validflags="rate time number"
count=1
for arg in $@
do
match=0
argval=$1
# argval=$(echo $@ | cut -d ' ' -f$count)
for flag in $validflags
do
sflag="-"$flag
if [ "$argval" == "$sflag" ]
then
declare $flag=$2
match=1
fi
done
if [ "$match" == "1" ]
then
shift 2
else
leftovers=$(echo $leftovers $argval)
shift
fi
count=$(($count+1))
done
#Cleanup then restore the leftovers
echo "pre final clear args:
$@"
shift $#
echo "post final clear args:
$@"
set -- $leftovers
echo "all post set args:
$@"
echo arg1: $1 arg2: $2
echo leftovers: $leftovers
echo rate $rate time $time number $number
Final one, this one errors out if an invalid -argument is passed through.
#!/usr/bin/env bash
#shebang.io
rate=30
time=30
number=30
validflags="rate time number"
count=1
for arg in $@
do
argval=$1
match=0
if [ "${argval:0:1}" == "-" ]
then
for flag in $validflags
do
sflag="-"$flag
if [ "$argval" == "$sflag" ]
then
declare $flag=$2
match=1
fi
done
if [ "$match" == "0" ]
then
echo "Bad argument: $argval"
exit 1
fi
shift 2
else
leftovers=$(echo $leftovers $argval)
shift
fi
count=$(($count+1))
done
#Cleanup then restore the leftovers
shift $#
set -- $leftovers
echo rate $rate time $time number $number
echo leftovers: $leftovers
Pros: What it does, it handles very well. It preserves unused arguments which a lot of the other solutions here don't. It also allows for variables to be called without being defined by hand in the script. It also allows prepopulation of variables if no corresponding argument is given. (See verbose example).
Cons: Can't parse a single complex arg string e.g. -xcvf would process as a single argument. You could somewhat easily write additional code into mine that adds this functionality though.
Note that getopt(1) was a short living mistake from AT&T.
getopt was created in 1984 but already buried in 1986 because it was not really usable.
A proof for the fact that getopt is very outdated is that the getopt(1) man page still mentions "$*" instead of "$@", that was added to the Bourne Shell in 1986 together with the getopts(1) shell builtin in order to deal with arguments with spaces inside.
BTW: if you are interested in parsing long options in shell scripts, it may be of interest to know that the getopt(3) implementation from libc (Solaris) and ksh93 both added a uniform long option implementation that supports long options as aliases for short options. This causes ksh93 and the Bourne Shell to implement a uniform interface for long options via getopts.
An example for long options taken from the Bourne Shell man page:
getopts "f:(file)(input-file)o:(output-file)" OPTX "$@"
shows how long option aliases may be used in both Bourne Shell and ksh93.
See the man page of a recent Bourne Shell:
http://schillix.sourceforge.net/man/man1/bosh.1.html
and the man page for getopt(3) from OpenSolaris:
http://schillix.sourceforge.net/man/man3c/getopt.3c.html
and last, the getopt(1) man page to verify the outdated $*:
I was inspired by the relatively simple answer by @bronson and tempted to try to improve it (without adding too much complexity). Here's the result:
getopt*-n [arg], -abn [arg], --name [arg] and --name=arg styles of options;$@ after the loop;-- to force remaining arguments to be treated as positional;getopt(s) or external tools (one feature uses a simple sed command);# Convenience functions.
usage_error () { echo >&2 "$(basename $0): $1"; exit 2; }
assert_argument () { test "$1" != "$EOL" || usage_error "$2 requires an argument"; }
# One loop, nothing more.
EOL=$(echo '\01\03\03\07')
if [ "$#" != 0 ]; then
set -- "$@" "$EOL"
while [ "$1" != "$EOL" ]; do
opt="$1"; shift
case "$opt" in
# Your options go here.
-f|--flag) flag=true;;
-n|--name) assert_argument "$1" $opt; name="$1"; shift;;
-|''|[^-]*) set -- "$@" "$opt";; # positional argument, rotate to the end
# Extra features (you may remove any line you don't need):
--*=*) set -- "${opt%%=*}" "${opt#*=}" "$@";; # convert '--name=arg' to '--name' 'arg'
-[^-]?*) set -- $(echo "${opt#-}" | sed 's/\(.\)/ -\1/g') "$@";; # convert '-abc' to '-a' '-b' '-c'
--) while [ "$1" != "$EOL" ]; do set -- "$@" "$1"; shift; done;; # process remaining arguments as positional
-*) usage_error "unknown option: '$opt'";; # catch misspelled options
*) usage_error "this should NEVER happen ($opt)";; # sanity test for previous patterns
esac
done
shift # $EOL
fi
# Do something cool with "$@"... \o/
Note: I know... An argument with the binary pattern 0x01030307 could break the logic. But, if anyone passes such an argument in a command-line, they deserve it.
Freely mixing flags between positional arguments:
./script.sh dumbo 127.0.0.1 --environment=production -q -d
./script.sh dumbo --environment=production 127.0.0.1 --quiet -d
can be accomplished with a fairly concise approach:
# process flags
pointer=1
while [[ $pointer -le $# ]]; do
param=${!pointer}
if [[ $param != "-"* ]]; then ((pointer++)) # not a parameter flag so advance pointer
else
case $param in
# paramter-flags with arguments
-e=*|--environment=*) environment="${param#*=}";;
--another=*) another="${param#*=}";;
# binary flags
-q|--quiet) quiet=true;;
-d) debug=true;;
esac
# splice out pointer frame from positional list
[[ $pointer -gt 1 ]] \
&& set -- ${@:1:((pointer - 1))} ${@:((pointer + 1)):$#} \
|| set -- ${@:((pointer + 1)):$#};
fi
done
# positional remain
node_name=$1
ip_address=$2
It's usualy clearer to not mix --flag=value and --flag value styles.
./script.sh dumbo 127.0.0.1 --environment production -q -d
This is a little dicey to read, but is still valid
./script.sh dumbo --environment production 127.0.0.1 --quiet -d
Source
# process flags
pointer=1
while [[ $pointer -le $# ]]; do
if [[ ${!pointer} != "-"* ]]; then ((pointer++)) # not a parameter flag so advance pointer
else
param=${!pointer}
((pointer_plus = pointer + 1))
slice_len=1
case $param in
# paramter-flags with arguments
-e|--environment) environment=${!pointer_plus}; ((slice_len++));;
--another) another=${!pointer_plus}; ((slice_len++));;
# binary flags
-q|--quiet) quiet=true;;
-d) debug=true;;
esac
# splice out pointer frame from positional list
[[ $pointer -gt 1 ]] \
&& set -- ${@:1:((pointer - 1))} ${@:((pointer + $slice_len)):$#} \
|| set -- ${@:((pointer + $slice_len)):$#};
fi
done
# positional remain
node_name=$1
ip_address=$2
I have write a bash helper to write a nice bash tool
project home: https://gitlab.mbedsys.org/mbedsys/bashopts
example:
#!/bin/bash -ei
# load the library
. bashopts.sh
# Enable backtrace dusplay on error
trap 'bashopts_exit_handle' ERR
# Initialize the library
bashopts_setup -n "$0" -d "This is myapp tool description displayed on help message" -s "$HOME/.config/myapprc"
# Declare the options
bashopts_declare -n first_name -l first -o f -d "First name" -t string -i -s -r
bashopts_declare -n last_name -l last -o l -d "Last name" -t string -i -s -r
bashopts_declare -n display_name -l display-name -t string -d "Display name" -e "\$first_name \$last_name"
bashopts_declare -n age -l number -d "Age" -t number
bashopts_declare -n email_list -t string -m add -l email -d "Email adress"
# Parse arguments
bashopts_parse_args "$@"
# Process argument
bashopts_process_args
will give help:
NAME:
./example.sh - This is myapp tool description displayed on help message
USAGE:
[options and commands] [-- [extra args]]
OPTIONS:
-h,--help Display this help
-n,--non-interactive true Non interactive mode - [$bashopts_non_interactive] (type:boolean, default:false)
-f,--first "John" First name - [$first_name] (type:string, default:"")
-l,--last "Smith" Last name - [$last_name] (type:string, default:"")
--display-name "John Smith" Display name - [$display_name] (type:string, default:"$first_name $last_name")
--number 0 Age - [$age] (type:number, default:0)
--email Email adress - [$email_list] (type:string, default:"")
enjoy :)
Here is my approach - using regexp.
-qwerty-q -w -e--qwerty= to provide attributes, but attribute matches until encountering hyphen+space "delimiter", so in --q=qwe ty qwe ty is one attribute-o a -op attr ibute --option=att ribu te --op-tion attribute --option att-ribute is validscript:
#!/usr/bin/env sh
help_menu() {
echo "Usage:
${0##*/} [-h][-l FILENAME][-d]
Options:
-h, --help
display this help and exit
-l, --logfile=FILENAME
filename
-d, --debug
enable debug
"
}
parse_options() {
case $opt in
h|help)
help_menu
exit
;;
l|logfile)
logfile=${attr}
;;
d|debug)
debug=true
;;
*)
echo "Unknown option: ${opt}\nRun ${0##*/} -h for help.">&2
exit 1
esac
}
options=$@
until [ "$options" = "" ]; do
if [[ $options =~ (^ *(--([a-zA-Z0-9-]+)|-([a-zA-Z0-9-]+))(( |=)(([\_\.\?\/\\a-zA-Z0-9]?[ -]?[\_\.\?a-zA-Z0-9]+)+))?(.*)|(.+)) ]]; then
if [[ ${BASH_REMATCH[3]} ]]; then # for --option[=][attribute] or --option[=][attribute]
opt=${BASH_REMATCH[3]}
attr=${BASH_REMATCH[7]}
options=${BASH_REMATCH[9]}
elif [[ ${BASH_REMATCH[4]} ]]; then # for block options -qwert[=][attribute] or single short option -a[=][attribute]
pile=${BASH_REMATCH[4]}
while (( ${#pile} > 1 )); do
opt=${pile:0:1}
attr=""
pile=${pile/${pile:0:1}/}
parse_options
done
opt=$pile
attr=${BASH_REMATCH[7]}
options=${BASH_REMATCH[9]}
else # leftovers that don't match
opt=${BASH_REMATCH[10]}
options=""
fi
parse_options
fi
done
Assume we create a shell script named test_args.sh as follow
#!/bin/sh
until [ $# -eq 0 ]
do
name=${1:1}; shift;
if [[ -z "$1" || $1 == -* ]] ; then eval "export $name=true"; else eval "export $name=$1"; shift; fi
done
echo "year=$year month=$month day=$day flag=$flag"
After we run the following command:
sh test_args.sh -year 2017 -flag -month 12 -day 22
The output would be:
year=2017 month=12 day=22 flag=true
I wanted to share what I made for parsing options. Some of my needs were not fulfilled by the answers here so I had to come up with this: https://github.com/MihirLuthra/bash_option_parser
This supports:
Let's say we have a command named fruit with usage as follows:
fruit <fruit-name> ...
[-e|—-eat|—-chew]
[-c|--cut <how> <why>]
<command> [<args>]
-e takes no args-c takes two args i.e. how to cut and why to cutfruit itself takes at least one argument.<command> is for suboptions like apple, orange etc. (similar to git which has suboptions commit, push etc. )
So to parse it:
parse_options \
'fruit' '1 ...' \
'-e' , '--eat' , '--chew' '0' \
'-c' , '--cut' '1 1' \
'apple' 'S' \
'orange' 'S' \
';' \
"$@"
Now if there was any usage error, it can be printed using option_parser_error_msg as follows:
retval=$?
if [ $retval -ne 0 ]; then
# this will manage error messages if
# insufficient or extra args are supplied
option_parser_error_msg "$retval"
# This will print the usage
print_usage 'fruit'
exit 1
fi
To check now if some options was passed,
if [ -n "${OPTIONS[-c]}" ]
then
echo "-c was passed"
# args can be accessed in a 2D-array-like format
echo "Arg1 to -c = ${ARGS[-c,0]}"
echo "Arg2 to -c = ${ARGS[-c,1]}"
fi
Suboption parsing can also be done by passing $shift_count to parse_options_detailed which makes it start parsing after shifting args to reach args of suboption. It is demonstrated in this example.
A detailed description is provided in the readme and examples in the repository.
Use module "arguments" from bash-modules
Example:
#!/bin/bash
. import.sh log arguments
NAME="world"
parse_arguments "-n|--name)NAME;S" -- "$@" || {
error "Cannot parse command line."
exit 1
}
info "Hello, $NAME!"
Here is a getopts that achieves the parsing with minimal code and allows you to define what you wish to extract in one case using eval with substring.
Basically eval "local key='val'"
function myrsync() {
local backup=("${@}") args=(); while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do k="$1";
case "$k" in
---sourceuser|---sourceurl|---targetuser|---targeturl|---file|---exclude|---include)
eval "local ${k:3}='${2}'"; shift; shift # Past two arguments
;;
*) # Unknown option
args+=("$1"); shift; # Past argument only
;;
esac
done; set -- "${backup[@]}" # Restore $@
echo "${sourceurl}"
}
Declares the variables as locals instead of globals as most answers here.
Called as:
myrsync ---sourceurl http://abc.def.g ---sourceuser myuser ...
The ${k:3} is basically a substring to remove the first --- from the key.
zparseopts -D -E -M -- d=debug -debug=dAnd have both-dand--debugin the$debugarrayecho $+debug[1]will return 0 or 1 if one of those are used. Ref: zsh.org/mla/users/2011/msg00350.html – dza=separating option name from option value (in both cases, it simply assumes that the option value is in the next argument). It also doesn't handle short option clustering — the question didn't need it. – Jonathan Leffler$1,$2, etc., 2) flags withgetoptsand${OPTARG}, 3) looping over all parameters ($@), and 4) looping over all parameters using$#,$1, and theshiftoperator. – Gabriel Staples