bash-args

A cute little Bash library for blazing fast argument parsing

Summary

• Uses only builtins
• Uses no subshells
• Simple API

TODO: add types of options to table

Software	No Codegen	No getopts/getopt	Preserves arguments	At least some testing
hyperupcall/bash-args	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
argbash	No	No	?
bash-argsparse	No	No	?
easyoptions	No	No	?
longoption	Yes	?	?
bash_option_parser	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
opts.bash	Yes	No	No	Yes

Installation

STATUS: IN DEVELOPMENT!

Use Basalt, a Bash package manager, to add this project as a dependency

basalt add hyperupcall/bash-args

Usage

# Declaring `args` may be required
declare -A args=()

# Pass through your command line arguments to 'args'
# Pass your argument specification through stdin (see more examples below)
bash-args parse "$@" <<-"EOF"
@flag [port.p] {3000} - The port to open on
EOF

# Use either the long or short flags to get value
echo "Using port '${args[port]}'"

# 'argsCommands' contains all commands (arguments that are not
# either flags or values for flags)
echo "argsCommands: ${argsCommands[*]}"

# 'argsPostHyphen' contains everything after the first '--'
echo "argsPostHyphen: ${argsPostHyphen[*]}"

# Print the help text
echo "argsHelpText: $argsHelpText"

Argument Specification

The following are valid lines and their explanations to pass as stdin to bash-args

@flag [verbose] - Enable verbose logging

verbose is a boolean flag. Any argument succeeding it will not be interpreted as a value to the flag. In the args associative array, the value is yes if the flag is supplied, and no if otherwise

@flag [port] {} - Port to open on

port is not a boolean flag. You must specify a value if you decide to pass it to the command line. By default, it will be empty

@flag [port] {3000} - Port to open on

Same as previous, but the default value is 3000

@flag [port.p] {3000} - Port to open on

Same as previous, but you can also specify the value with -p. Note that both port and p properties will be properly populated in the args associative array

@flag [.p] {3000} - Port to open on

Same as previous before previous, but only specify the short argument

@flag <port.p> - Port to open on

Specify a non-boolean flag, port, and require that it's value must be specified with either -p or --port. Of course, you can use the sideways carrot notation with other variants

@arg build - Build project

Specify a valid argument, or command called 'build' with a description