appconfig::args(3)
NAME
AppConfig::Args - Perl5 module for reading command line
arguments.
SYNOPSIS
use AppConfig::Args; my $state = AppConfig::State->new(cfg); my $cfgargs = AppConfig::Args->new($state); $cfgargs->parse(@args); # read args
OVERVIEW
AppConfig::Args is a Perl5 module which reads command line
arguments and uses the options therein to update variable
values in an AppConfig::State object.
AppConfig::File is distributed as part of the AppConfig
bundle.
DESCRIPTION
USING THE AppConfig::Args MODULE
- To import and use the AppConfig::Args module the following
line should appear in your Perl script: - use AppConfig::Args;
- AppConfig::Args is used automatically if you use the App
Config module and create an AppConfig::Args object through
the parse() method. - AppConfig::File is implemented using object-oriented meth
ods. A new AppConfig::Args object is created and ini
tialised using the new() method. This returns a reference
to a new AppConfig::File object. A reference to an App
Config::State object should be passed in as the first
parameter:
my $state = AppConfig::State->new();
my $cfgargs = AppConfig::Args->new($state);- This will create and return a reference to a new AppCon
fig::Args object. - PARSING COMMAND LINE ARGUMENTS
- The "parse()" method is used to read a list of command
line arguments and update the STATE accordingly. A refer
ence to the list of arguments should be passed in.
$cfgargs->parse(@ARGV);- If the method is called without a reference to an argument
list then it will examine and manipulate @ARGV. - If the PEDANTIC option is turned off in the AppCon
fig::State object, any parsing errors (invalid variables,
unvalidated values, etc) will generate warnings, but not
cause the method to return. Having processed all argu
ments, the method will return 1 if processed without warn
ing or 0 if one or more warnings were raised. When the
PEDANTIC option is turned on, the method generates a warn
ing and immediately returns a value of 0 as soon as it
encounters any parsing error. - The method continues parsing arguments until it detects
the first one that does not start with a leading dash,
'-'. Arguments that constitute values for other options
are not examined in this way.
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT
This module was developed to provide backwards compatibil
ity (to some degree) with the preceeding App::Config mod
ule. The argument parsing it provides is basic but offers
a quick and efficient solution for those times when simple
option handling is all that is required.
If you require more flexibility in parsing command line
arguments, then you should consider using the AppCon
fig::Getopt module. This is loaded and used automatically
by calling the AppConfig getopt() method.
The AppConfig::Getopt module provides considerably
extended functionality over the AppConfig::Args module by
delegating out the task of argument parsing to Johan Vro
mans' Getopt::Long module. For advanced command-line
parsing, this module (either Getopt::Long by itself, or in
conjunction with AppConfig::Getopt) is highly recommended.
AUTHOR
Andy Wardley, "<abw@cre.canon.co.uk>"
Web Technology Group, Canon Research Centre Europe Ltd.
REVISION
$Revision: 1.50 $
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 1998 Canon Research Centre Europe Ltd. All
Rights Reserved.
This module is free software; you can redistribute it
and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
SEE ALSO
- AppConfig, AppConfig::State, AppConfig::Getopt,
Getopt::Long