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Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00006 <title>CommandLine 2.0 Library Manual</title>
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9<body>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +000010
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +000011<div class="doc_title">
12 CommandLine 2.0 Library Manual
13</div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +000014
15<ol>
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +000016 <li><a href="#introduction">Introduction</a></li>
17
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +000018 <li><a href="#quickstart">Quick Start Guide</a>
19 <ol>
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +000020 <li><a href="#bool">Boolean Arguments</a></li>
21 <li><a href="#alias">Argument Aliases</a></li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +000022 <li><a href="#onealternative">Selecting an alternative from a
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +000023 set of possibilities</a></li>
24 <li><a href="#namedalternatives">Named alternatives</a></li>
25 <li><a href="#list">Parsing a list of options</a></li>
Jim Laskey1d8f6262005-08-25 22:52:43 +000026 <li><a href="#bits">Collecting options as a set of flags</a></li>
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +000027 <li><a href="#description">Adding freeform text to help output</a></li>
28 </ol></li>
29
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +000030 <li><a href="#referenceguide">Reference Guide</a>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +000031 <ol>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +000032 <li><a href="#positional">Positional Arguments</a>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +000033 <ul>
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +000034 <li><a href="#--">Specifying positional options with hyphens</a></li>
Reid Spencer2c8ab582004-08-13 20:19:14 +000035 <li><a href="#getPosition">Determining absolute position with
36 getPosition</a></li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +000037 <li><a href="#cl::ConsumeAfter">The <tt>cl::ConsumeAfter</tt>
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +000038 modifier</a></li>
39 </ul></li>
40
41 <li><a href="#storage">Internal vs External Storage</a></li>
42
43 <li><a href="#attributes">Option Attributes</a></li>
44
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +000045 <li><a href="#modifiers">Option Modifiers</a>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +000046 <ul>
Anton Korobeynikov45982a52008-02-20 12:38:31 +000047 <li><a href="#hiding">Hiding an option from <tt>--help</tt>
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +000048 output</a></li>
49 <li><a href="#numoccurrences">Controlling the number of occurrences
50 required and allowed</a></li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +000051 <li><a href="#valrequired">Controlling whether or not a value must be
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +000052 specified</a></li>
53 <li><a href="#formatting">Controlling other formatting options</a></li>
54 <li><a href="#misc">Miscellaneous option modifiers</a></li>
Mikhail Glushenkovbeb4d822008-04-28 16:44:25 +000055 <li><a href="#response">Response files</a></li>
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +000056 </ul></li>
57
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +000058 <li><a href="#toplevel">Top-Level Classes and Functions</a>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +000059 <ul>
Anton Korobeynikov45982a52008-02-20 12:38:31 +000060 <li><a href="#cl::ParseCommandLineOptions">The
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +000061 <tt>cl::ParseCommandLineOptions</tt> function</a></li>
Anton Korobeynikov45982a52008-02-20 12:38:31 +000062 <li><a href="#cl::ParseEnvironmentOptions">The
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +000063 <tt>cl::ParseEnvironmentOptions</tt> function</a></li>
Chris Lattnerf021f8a2007-12-19 19:48:49 +000064 <li><a href="#cl::SetVersionPrinter">The <tt>cl::SetVersionPrinter</tt>
Reid Spencer2403b852006-06-05 17:30:16 +000065 function</a></li>
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +000066 <li><a href="#cl::opt">The <tt>cl::opt</tt> class</a></li>
67 <li><a href="#cl::list">The <tt>cl::list</tt> class</a></li>
Jim Laskey1d8f6262005-08-25 22:52:43 +000068 <li><a href="#cl::bits">The <tt>cl::bits</tt> class</a></li>
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +000069 <li><a href="#cl::alias">The <tt>cl::alias</tt> class</a></li>
Reid Spencer9bbba0912004-11-16 06:11:52 +000070 <li><a href="#cl::extrahelp">The <tt>cl::extrahelp</tt> class</a></li>
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +000071 </ul></li>
72
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +000073 <li><a href="#builtinparsers">Builtin parsers</a>
74 <ul>
75 <li><a href="#genericparser">The Generic <tt>parser&lt;t&gt;</tt>
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +000076 parser</a></li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +000077 <li><a href="#boolparser">The <tt>parser&lt;bool&gt;</tt>
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +000078 specialization</a></li>
Dale Johannesen0f2c8fc2007-05-22 18:32:34 +000079 <li><a href="#boolOrDefaultparser">The <tt>parser&lt;boolOrDefault&gt;</tt>
80 specialization</a></li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +000081 <li><a href="#stringparser">The <tt>parser&lt;string&gt;</tt>
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +000082 specialization</a></li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +000083 <li><a href="#intparser">The <tt>parser&lt;int&gt;</tt>
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +000084 specialization</a></li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +000085 <li><a href="#doubleparser">The <tt>parser&lt;double&gt;</tt> and
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +000086 <tt>parser&lt;float&gt;</tt> specializations</a></li>
87 </ul></li>
88 </ol></li>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +000089 <li><a href="#extensionguide">Extension Guide</a>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +000090 <ol>
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +000091 <li><a href="#customparser">Writing a custom parser</a></li>
92 <li><a href="#explotingexternal">Exploiting external storage</a></li>
Anton Korobeynikov45982a52008-02-20 12:38:31 +000093 <li><a href="#dynamicopts">Dynamically adding command line
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +000094 options</a></li>
95 </ol></li>
96</ol>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +000097
Chris Lattner7911ce22004-05-23 21:07:27 +000098<div class="doc_author">
99 <p>Written by <a href="mailto:sabre@nondot.org">Chris Lattner</a></p>
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000100</div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000101
102<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000103<div class="doc_section">
Misha Brukman8becd712003-11-07 19:42:44 +0000104 <a name="introduction">Introduction</a>
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000105</div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000106<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
107
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000108<div class="doc_text">
109
110<p>This document describes the CommandLine argument processing library. It will
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000111show you how to use it, and what it can do. The CommandLine library uses a
112declarative approach to specifying the command line options that your program
113takes. By default, these options declarations implicitly hold the value parsed
114for the option declared (of course this <a href="#storage">can be
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000115changed</a>).</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000116
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000117<p>Although there are a <b>lot</b> of command line argument parsing libraries
118out there in many different languages, none of them fit well with what I needed.
119By looking at the features and problems of other libraries, I designed the
120CommandLine library to have the following features:</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000121
122<ol>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000123<li>Speed: The CommandLine library is very quick and uses little resources. The
124parsing time of the library is directly proportional to the number of arguments
125parsed, not the the number of options recognized. Additionally, command line
Chris Lattneredf351f2003-06-21 21:45:56 +0000126argument values are captured transparently into user defined global variables,
127which can be accessed like any other variable (and with the same
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000128performance).</li>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000129
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000130<li>Type Safe: As a user of CommandLine, you don't have to worry about
131remembering the type of arguments that you want (is it an int? a string? a
132bool? an enum?) and keep casting it around. Not only does this help prevent
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000133error prone constructs, it also leads to dramatically cleaner source code.</li>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000134
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000135<li>No subclasses required: To use CommandLine, you instantiate variables that
136correspond to the arguments that you would like to capture, you don't subclass a
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000137parser. This means that you don't have to write <b>any</b> boilerplate
138code.</li>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000139
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000140<li>Globally accessible: Libraries can specify command line arguments that are
141automatically enabled in any tool that links to the library. This is possible
Chris Lattner8b44b902008-01-09 19:28:50 +0000142because the application doesn't have to keep a list of arguments to pass to
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000143the parser. This also makes supporting <a href="#dynamicopts">dynamically
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000144loaded options</a> trivial.</li>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000145
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +0000146<li>Cleaner: CommandLine supports enum and other types directly, meaning that
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000147there is less error and more security built into the library. You don't have to
148worry about whether your integral command line argument accidentally got
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000149assigned a value that is not valid for your enum type.</li>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000150
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000151<li>Powerful: The CommandLine library supports many different types of
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000152arguments, from simple <a href="#boolparser">boolean flags</a> to <a
153href="#cl::opt">scalars arguments</a> (<a href="#stringparser">strings</a>, <a
154href="#intparser">integers</a>, <a href="#genericparser">enums</a>, <a
155href="#doubleparser">doubles</a>), to <a href="#cl::list">lists of
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000156arguments</a>. This is possible because CommandLine is...</li>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000157
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000158<li>Extensible: It is very simple to add a new argument type to CommandLine.
159Simply specify the parser that you want to use with the command line option when
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000160you declare it. <a href="#customparser">Custom parsers</a> are no problem.</li>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000161
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000162<li>Labor Saving: The CommandLine library cuts down on the amount of grunt work
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000163that you, the user, have to do. For example, it automatically provides a
164<tt>--help</tt> option that shows the available command line options for your
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000165tool. Additionally, it does most of the basic correctness checking for
166you.</li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000167
168<li>Capable: The CommandLine library can handle lots of different forms of
169options often found in real programs. For example, <a
170href="#positional">positional</a> arguments, <tt>ls</tt> style <a
171href="#cl::Grouping">grouping</a> options (to allow processing '<tt>ls
172-lad</tt>' naturally), <tt>ld</tt> style <a href="#cl::Prefix">prefix</a>
173options (to parse '<tt>-lmalloc -L/usr/lib</tt>'), and <a
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000174href="#cl::ConsumeAfter">interpreter style options</a>.</li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000175
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000176</ol>
177
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000178<p>This document will hopefully let you jump in and start using CommandLine in
179your utility quickly and painlessly. Additionally it should be a simple
180reference manual to figure out how stuff works. If it is failing in some area
181(or you want an extension to the library), nag the author, <a
182href="mailto:sabre@nondot.org">Chris Lattner</a>.</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000183
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000184</div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000185
186<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000187<div class="doc_section">
188 <a name="quickstart">Quick Start Guide</a>
189</div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000190<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
191
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000192<div class="doc_text">
193
194<p>This section of the manual runs through a simple CommandLine'ification of a
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000195basic compiler tool. This is intended to show you how to jump into using the
196CommandLine library in your own program, and show you some of the cool things it
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000197can do.</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000198
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000199<p>To start out, you need to include the CommandLine header file into your
200program:</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000201
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000202<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Andrew Lenharth94f3d1a2005-11-14 19:32:05 +0000203 #include "llvm/Support/CommandLine.h"
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000204</pre></div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000205
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000206<p>Additionally, you need to add this as the first line of your main
207program:</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000208
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000209<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000210int main(int argc, char **argv) {
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +0000211 <a href="#cl::ParseCommandLineOptions">cl::ParseCommandLineOptions</a>(argc, argv);
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000212 ...
213}
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000214</pre></div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000215
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000216<p>... which actually parses the arguments and fills in the variable
217declarations.</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000218
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000219<p>Now that you are ready to support command line arguments, we need to tell the
Chris Lattner8b44b902008-01-09 19:28:50 +0000220system which ones we want, and what type of arguments they are. The CommandLine
Chris Lattneredf351f2003-06-21 21:45:56 +0000221library uses a declarative syntax to model command line arguments with the
222global variable declarations that capture the parsed values. This means that
223for every command line option that you would like to support, there should be a
224global variable declaration to capture the result. For example, in a compiler,
Chris Lattner8b44b902008-01-09 19:28:50 +0000225we would like to support the Unix-standard '<tt>-o &lt;filename&gt;</tt>' option
Chris Lattneredf351f2003-06-21 21:45:56 +0000226to specify where to put the output. With the CommandLine library, this is
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000227represented like this:</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000228
Misha Brukmanc53aefb2004-05-12 18:42:35 +0000229<a name="value_desc_example"></a>
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000230<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Misha Brukmanc53aefb2004-05-12 18:42:35 +0000231<a href="#cl::opt">cl::opt</a>&lt;string&gt; OutputFilename("<i>o</i>", <a href="#cl::desc">cl::desc</a>("<i>Specify output filename</i>"), <a href="#cl::value_desc">cl::value_desc</a>("<i>filename</i>"));
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000232</pre></div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000233
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000234<p>This declares a global variable "<tt>OutputFilename</tt>" that is used to
Chris Lattneredf351f2003-06-21 21:45:56 +0000235capture the result of the "<tt>o</tt>" argument (first parameter). We specify
236that this is a simple scalar option by using the "<tt><a
237href="#cl::opt">cl::opt</a></tt>" template (as opposed to the <a
238href="#list">"<tt>cl::list</tt> template</a>), and tell the CommandLine library
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000239that the data type that we are parsing is a string.</p>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000240
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000241<p>The second and third parameters (which are optional) are used to specify what
242to output for the "<tt>--help</tt>" option. In this case, we get a line that
243looks like this:</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000244
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000245<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000246USAGE: compiler [options]
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000247
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000248OPTIONS:
249 -help - display available options (--help-hidden for more)
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +0000250 <b>-o &lt;filename&gt; - Specify output filename</b>
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000251</pre></div>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000252
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000253<p>Because we specified that the command line option should parse using the
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000254<tt>string</tt> data type, the variable declared is automatically usable as a
255real string in all contexts that a normal C++ string object may be used. For
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000256example:</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000257
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000258<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000259 ...
Chris Lattner74ba1712008-03-30 16:59:21 +0000260 std::ofstream Output(OutputFilename.c_str());
261 if (Output.good()) ...
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000262 ...
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000263</pre></div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000264
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000265<p>There are many different options that you can use to customize the command
266line option handling library, but the above example shows the general interface
267to these options. The options can be specified in any order, and are specified
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000268with helper functions like <a href="#cl::desc"><tt>cl::desc(...)</tt></a>, so
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +0000269there are no positional dependencies to remember. The available options are
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000270discussed in detail in the <a href="#referenceguide">Reference Guide</a>.</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000271
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000272<p>Continuing the example, we would like to have our compiler take an input
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000273filename as well as an output filename, but we do not want the input filename to
274be specified with a hyphen (ie, not <tt>-filename.c</tt>). To support this
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000275style of argument, the CommandLine library allows for <a
276href="#positional">positional</a> arguments to be specified for the program.
277These positional arguments are filled with command line parameters that are not
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000278in option form. We use this feature like this:</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000279
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000280<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000281<a href="#cl::opt">cl::opt</a>&lt;string&gt; InputFilename(<a href="#cl::Positional">cl::Positional</a>, <a href="#cl::desc">cl::desc</a>("<i>&lt;input file&gt;</i>"), <a href="#cl::init">cl::init</a>("<i>-</i>"));
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000282</pre></div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000283
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000284<p>This declaration indicates that the first positional argument should be
285treated as the input filename. Here we use the <tt><a
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000286href="#cl::init">cl::init</a></tt> option to specify an initial value for the
287command line option, which is used if the option is not specified (if you do not
288specify a <tt><a href="#cl::init">cl::init</a></tt> modifier for an option, then
289the default constructor for the data type is used to initialize the value).
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000290Command line options default to being optional, so if we would like to require
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000291that the user always specify an input filename, we would add the <tt><a
292href="#cl::Required">cl::Required</a></tt> flag, and we could eliminate the
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000293<tt><a href="#cl::init">cl::init</a></tt> modifier, like this:</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000294
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000295<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000296<a href="#cl::opt">cl::opt</a>&lt;string&gt; InputFilename(<a href="#cl::Positional">cl::Positional</a>, <a href="#cl::desc">cl::desc</a>("<i>&lt;input file&gt;</i>"), <b><a href="#cl::Required">cl::Required</a></b>);
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000297</pre></div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000298
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000299<p>Again, the CommandLine library does not require the options to be specified
300in any particular order, so the above declaration is equivalent to:</p>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000301
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000302<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000303<a href="#cl::opt">cl::opt</a>&lt;string&gt; InputFilename(<a href="#cl::Positional">cl::Positional</a>, <a href="#cl::Required">cl::Required</a>, <a href="#cl::desc">cl::desc</a>("<i>&lt;input file&gt;</i>"));
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000304</pre></div>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000305
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000306<p>By simply adding the <tt><a href="#cl::Required">cl::Required</a></tt> flag,
307the CommandLine library will automatically issue an error if the argument is not
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000308specified, which shifts all of the command line option verification code out of
309your application into the library. This is just one example of how using flags
310can alter the default behaviour of the library, on a per-option basis. By
311adding one of the declarations above, the <tt>--help</tt> option synopsis is now
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000312extended to:</p>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000313
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000314<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +0000315USAGE: compiler [options] <b>&lt;input file&gt;</b>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000316
317OPTIONS:
318 -help - display available options (--help-hidden for more)
319 -o &lt;filename&gt; - Specify output filename
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000320</pre></div>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000321
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000322<p>... indicating that an input filename is expected.</p>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000323
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000324</div>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +0000325
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000326<!-- ======================================================================= -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000327<div class="doc_subsection">
328 <a name="bool">Boolean Arguments</a>
329</div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000330
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000331<div class="doc_text">
332
333<p>In addition to input and output filenames, we would like the compiler example
Dan Gohman0cabaa52009-08-25 15:54:01 +0000334to support three boolean flags: "<tt>-f</tt>" to force writing binary output to
335a terminal, "<tt>--quiet</tt>" to enable quiet mode, and "<tt>-q</tt>" for
336backwards compatibility with some of our users. We can support these by
337declaring options of boolean type like this:</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000338
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000339<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Dan Gohman0cabaa52009-08-25 15:54:01 +0000340<a href="#cl::opt">cl::opt</a>&lt;bool&gt; Force ("<i>f</i>", <a href="#cl::desc">cl::desc</a>("<i>Enable binary output on terminals</i>"));
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000341<a href="#cl::opt">cl::opt</a>&lt;bool&gt; Quiet ("<i>quiet</i>", <a href="#cl::desc">cl::desc</a>("<i>Don't print informational messages</i>"));
342<a href="#cl::opt">cl::opt</a>&lt;bool&gt; Quiet2("<i>q</i>", <a href="#cl::desc">cl::desc</a>("<i>Don't print informational messages</i>"), <a href="#cl::Hidden">cl::Hidden</a>);
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000343</pre></div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000344
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000345<p>This does what you would expect: it declares three boolean variables
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000346("<tt>Force</tt>", "<tt>Quiet</tt>", and "<tt>Quiet2</tt>") to recognize these
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000347options. Note that the "<tt>-q</tt>" option is specified with the "<a
348href="#cl::Hidden"><tt>cl::Hidden</tt></a>" flag. This modifier prevents it
349from being shown by the standard "<tt>--help</tt>" output (note that it is still
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000350shown in the "<tt>--help-hidden</tt>" output).</p>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000351
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000352<p>The CommandLine library uses a <a href="#builtinparsers">different parser</a>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +0000353for different data types. For example, in the string case, the argument passed
354to the option is copied literally into the content of the string variable... we
355obviously cannot do that in the boolean case, however, so we must use a smarter
356parser. In the case of the boolean parser, it allows no options (in which case
357it assigns the value of true to the variable), or it allows the values
358"<tt>true</tt>" or "<tt>false</tt>" to be specified, allowing any of the
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000359following inputs:</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000360
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000361<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000362 compiler -f # No value, 'Force' == true
363 compiler -f=true # Value specified, 'Force' == true
364 compiler -f=TRUE # Value specified, 'Force' == true
365 compiler -f=FALSE # Value specified, 'Force' == false
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000366</pre></div>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000367
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000368<p>... you get the idea. The <a href="#boolparser">bool parser</a> just turns
369the string values into boolean values, and rejects things like '<tt>compiler
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +0000370-f=foo</tt>'. Similarly, the <a href="#doubleparser">float</a>, <a
371href="#doubleparser">double</a>, and <a href="#intparser">int</a> parsers work
372like you would expect, using the '<tt>strtol</tt>' and '<tt>strtod</tt>' C
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000373library calls to parse the string value into the specified data type.</p>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000374
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000375<p>With the declarations above, "<tt>compiler --help</tt>" emits this:</p>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000376
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000377<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000378USAGE: compiler [options] &lt;input file&gt;
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000379
380OPTIONS:
Dan Gohman0cabaa52009-08-25 15:54:01 +0000381 <b>-f - Enable binary output on terminals</b>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000382 -o - Override output filename
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +0000383 <b>-quiet - Don't print informational messages</b>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000384 -help - display available options (--help-hidden for more)
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000385</pre></div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000386
Chris Lattner8b44b902008-01-09 19:28:50 +0000387<p>and "<tt>compiler --help-hidden</tt>" prints this:</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000388
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000389<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +0000390USAGE: compiler [options] &lt;input file&gt;
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000391
392OPTIONS:
Dan Gohman0cabaa52009-08-25 15:54:01 +0000393 -f - Enable binary output on terminals
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000394 -o - Override output filename
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +0000395 <b>-q - Don't print informational messages</b>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000396 -quiet - Don't print informational messages
397 -help - display available options (--help-hidden for more)
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000398</pre></div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000399
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000400<p>This brief example has shown you how to use the '<tt><a
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000401href="#cl::opt">cl::opt</a></tt>' class to parse simple scalar command line
402arguments. In addition to simple scalar arguments, the CommandLine library also
403provides primitives to support CommandLine option <a href="#alias">aliases</a>,
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000404and <a href="#list">lists</a> of options.</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000405
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000406</div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000407
408<!-- ======================================================================= -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000409<div class="doc_subsection">
410 <a name="alias">Argument Aliases</a>
411</div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000412
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000413<div class="doc_text">
414
415<p>So far, the example works well, except for the fact that we need to check the
416quiet condition like this now:</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000417
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000418<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000419...
420 if (!Quiet &amp;&amp; !Quiet2) printInformationalMessage(...);
421...
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000422</pre></div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000423
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000424<p>... which is a real pain! Instead of defining two values for the same
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000425condition, we can use the "<tt><a href="#cl::alias">cl::alias</a></tt>" class to make the "<tt>-q</tt>"
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000426option an <b>alias</b> for the "<tt>-quiet</tt>" option, instead of providing
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000427a value itself:</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000428
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000429<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000430<a href="#cl::opt">cl::opt</a>&lt;bool&gt; Force ("<i>f</i>", <a href="#cl::desc">cl::desc</a>("<i>Overwrite output files</i>"));
431<a href="#cl::opt">cl::opt</a>&lt;bool&gt; Quiet ("<i>quiet</i>", <a href="#cl::desc">cl::desc</a>("<i>Don't print informational messages</i>"));
432<a href="#cl::alias">cl::alias</a> QuietA("<i>q</i>", <a href="#cl::desc">cl::desc</a>("<i>Alias for -quiet</i>"), <a href="#cl::aliasopt">cl::aliasopt</a>(Quiet));
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000433</pre></div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000434
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000435<p>The third line (which is the only one we modified from above) defines a
Chris Lattner8b44b902008-01-09 19:28:50 +0000436"<tt>-q</tt>" alias that updates the "<tt>Quiet</tt>" variable (as specified by
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000437the <tt><a href="#cl::aliasopt">cl::aliasopt</a></tt> modifier) whenever it is
438specified. Because aliases do not hold state, the only thing the program has to
439query is the <tt>Quiet</tt> variable now. Another nice feature of aliases is
440that they automatically hide themselves from the <tt>-help</tt> output
441(although, again, they are still visible in the <tt>--help-hidden
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000442output</tt>).</p>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000443
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000444<p>Now the application code can simply use:</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000445
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000446<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000447...
448 if (!Quiet) printInformationalMessage(...);
449...
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000450</pre></div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000451
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000452<p>... which is much nicer! The "<tt><a href="#cl::alias">cl::alias</a></tt>"
453can be used to specify an alternative name for any variable type, and has many
454uses.</p>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000455
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000456</div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000457
458<!-- ======================================================================= -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000459<div class="doc_subsection">
460 <a name="onealternative">Selecting an alternative from a set of
461 possibilities</a>
462</div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000463
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000464<div class="doc_text">
465
Chris Lattner8b44b902008-01-09 19:28:50 +0000466<p>So far we have seen how the CommandLine library handles builtin types like
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000467<tt>std::string</tt>, <tt>bool</tt> and <tt>int</tt>, but how does it handle
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000468things it doesn't know about, like enums or '<tt>int*</tt>'s?</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000469
Chris Lattner8b44b902008-01-09 19:28:50 +0000470<p>The answer is that it uses a table-driven generic parser (unless you specify
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000471your own parser, as described in the <a href="#extensionguide">Extension
Reid Spencerd8473372004-08-10 16:38:18 +0000472Guide</a>). This parser maps literal strings to whatever type is required, and
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000473requires you to tell it what this mapping should be.</p>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000474
Chris Lattner8b44b902008-01-09 19:28:50 +0000475<p>Let's say that we would like to add four optimization levels to our
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000476optimizer, using the standard flags "<tt>-g</tt>", "<tt>-O0</tt>",
477"<tt>-O1</tt>", and "<tt>-O2</tt>". We could easily implement this with boolean
478options like above, but there are several problems with this strategy:</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000479
480<ol>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000481<li>A user could specify more than one of the options at a time, for example,
Chris Lattner8b44b902008-01-09 19:28:50 +0000482"<tt>compiler -O3 -O2</tt>". The CommandLine library would not be able to
483catch this erroneous input for us.</li>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000484
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000485<li>We would have to test 4 different variables to see which ones are set.</li>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000486
487<li>This doesn't map to the numeric levels that we want... so we cannot easily
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000488see if some level &gt;= "<tt>-O1</tt>" is enabled.</li>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000489
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000490</ol>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000491
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000492<p>To cope with these problems, we can use an enum value, and have the
493CommandLine library fill it in with the appropriate level directly, which is
494used like this:</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000495
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000496<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000497enum OptLevel {
498 g, O1, O2, O3
499};
500
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000501<a href="#cl::opt">cl::opt</a>&lt;OptLevel&gt; OptimizationLevel(<a href="#cl::desc">cl::desc</a>("<i>Choose optimization level:</i>"),
502 <a href="#cl::values">cl::values</a>(
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000503 clEnumVal(g , "<i>No optimizations, enable debugging</i>"),
504 clEnumVal(O1, "<i>Enable trivial optimizations</i>"),
505 clEnumVal(O2, "<i>Enable default optimizations</i>"),
506 clEnumVal(O3, "<i>Enable expensive optimizations</i>"),
Chris Lattnerb406ead2004-07-16 00:10:54 +0000507 clEnumValEnd));
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000508
509...
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000510 if (OptimizationLevel &gt;= O2) doPartialRedundancyElimination(...);
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000511...
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000512</pre></div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000513
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000514<p>This declaration defines a variable "<tt>OptimizationLevel</tt>" of the
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000515"<tt>OptLevel</tt>" enum type. This variable can be assigned any of the values
516that are listed in the declaration (Note that the declaration list must be
Anton Korobeynikov45982a52008-02-20 12:38:31 +0000517terminated with the "<tt>clEnumValEnd</tt>" argument!). The CommandLine
Chris Lattnerb406ead2004-07-16 00:10:54 +0000518library enforces
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000519that the user can only specify one of the options, and it ensure that only valid
520enum values can be specified. The "<tt>clEnumVal</tt>" macros ensure that the
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000521command line arguments matched the enum values. With this option added, our
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000522help output now is:</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000523
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000524<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000525USAGE: compiler [options] &lt;input file&gt;
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000526
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000527OPTIONS:
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +0000528 <b>Choose optimization level:
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000529 -g - No optimizations, enable debugging
530 -O1 - Enable trivial optimizations
531 -O2 - Enable default optimizations
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +0000532 -O3 - Enable expensive optimizations</b>
Dan Gohman0cabaa52009-08-25 15:54:01 +0000533 -f - Enable binary output on terminals
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000534 -help - display available options (--help-hidden for more)
535 -o &lt;filename&gt; - Specify output filename
536 -quiet - Don't print informational messages
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000537</pre></div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000538
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000539<p>In this case, it is sort of awkward that flag names correspond directly to
540enum names, because we probably don't want a enum definition named "<tt>g</tt>"
541in our program. Because of this, we can alternatively write this example like
542this:</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000543
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000544<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000545enum OptLevel {
546 Debug, O1, O2, O3
547};
548
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000549<a href="#cl::opt">cl::opt</a>&lt;OptLevel&gt; OptimizationLevel(<a href="#cl::desc">cl::desc</a>("<i>Choose optimization level:</i>"),
550 <a href="#cl::values">cl::values</a>(
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000551 clEnumValN(Debug, "g", "<i>No optimizations, enable debugging</i>"),
552 clEnumVal(O1 , "<i>Enable trivial optimizations</i>"),
553 clEnumVal(O2 , "<i>Enable default optimizations</i>"),
554 clEnumVal(O3 , "<i>Enable expensive optimizations</i>"),
Chris Lattnerb406ead2004-07-16 00:10:54 +0000555 clEnumValEnd));
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000556
557...
558 if (OptimizationLevel == Debug) outputDebugInfo(...);
559...
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000560</pre></div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000561
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000562<p>By using the "<tt>clEnumValN</tt>" macro instead of "<tt>clEnumVal</tt>", we
563can directly specify the name that the flag should get. In general a direct
564mapping is nice, but sometimes you can't or don't want to preserve the mapping,
565which is when you would use it.</p>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000566
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000567</div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000568
569<!-- ======================================================================= -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000570<div class="doc_subsection">
571 <a name="namedalternatives">Named Alternatives</a>
572</div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000573
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000574<div class="doc_text">
575
576<p>Another useful argument form is a named alternative style. We shall use this
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000577style in our compiler to specify different debug levels that can be used.
578Instead of each debug level being its own switch, we want to support the
579following options, of which only one can be specified at a time:
580"<tt>--debug-level=none</tt>", "<tt>--debug-level=quick</tt>",
581"<tt>--debug-level=detailed</tt>". To do this, we use the exact same format as
582our optimization level flags, but we also specify an option name. For this
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000583case, the code looks like this:</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000584
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000585<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000586enum DebugLev {
587 nodebuginfo, quick, detailed
588};
589
590// Enable Debug Options to be specified on the command line
Chris Lattnerdc844fa2003-06-03 04:40:06 +0000591<a href="#cl::opt">cl::opt</a>&lt;DebugLev&gt; DebugLevel("<i>debug_level</i>", <a href="#cl::desc">cl::desc</a>("<i>Set the debugging level:</i>"),
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000592 <a href="#cl::values">cl::values</a>(
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000593 clEnumValN(nodebuginfo, "none", "<i>disable debug information</i>"),
594 clEnumVal(quick, "<i>enable quick debug information</i>"),
595 clEnumVal(detailed, "<i>enable detailed debug information</i>"),
Chris Lattnerb406ead2004-07-16 00:10:54 +0000596 clEnumValEnd));
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000597</pre></div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000598
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000599<p>This definition defines an enumerated command line variable of type "<tt>enum
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000600DebugLev</tt>", which works exactly the same way as before. The difference here
601is just the interface exposed to the user of your program and the help output by
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000602the "<tt>--help</tt>" option:</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000603
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000604<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000605USAGE: compiler [options] &lt;input file&gt;
606
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000607OPTIONS:
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000608 Choose optimization level:
609 -g - No optimizations, enable debugging
610 -O1 - Enable trivial optimizations
611 -O2 - Enable default optimizations
612 -O3 - Enable expensive optimizations
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +0000613 <b>-debug_level - Set the debugging level:
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000614 =none - disable debug information
615 =quick - enable quick debug information
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +0000616 =detailed - enable detailed debug information</b>
Dan Gohman0cabaa52009-08-25 15:54:01 +0000617 -f - Enable binary output on terminals
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000618 -help - display available options (--help-hidden for more)
619 -o &lt;filename&gt; - Specify output filename
620 -quiet - Don't print informational messages
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000621</pre></div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000622
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000623<p>Again, the only structural difference between the debug level declaration and
John Criswellc24d4822004-11-21 14:34:34 +0000624the optimization level declaration is that the debug level declaration includes
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000625an option name (<tt>"debug_level"</tt>), which automatically changes how the
626library processes the argument. The CommandLine library supports both forms so
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000627that you can choose the form most appropriate for your application.</p>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000628
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000629</div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000630
631<!-- ======================================================================= -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000632<div class="doc_subsection">
633 <a name="list">Parsing a list of options</a>
634</div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000635
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000636<div class="doc_text">
637
Chris Lattner8b44b902008-01-09 19:28:50 +0000638<p>Now that we have the standard run-of-the-mill argument types out of the way,
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000639lets get a little wild and crazy. Lets say that we want our optimizer to accept
640a <b>list</b> of optimizations to perform, allowing duplicates. For example, we
641might want to run: "<tt>compiler -dce -constprop -inline -dce -strip</tt>". In
642this case, the order of the arguments and the number of appearances is very
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000643important. This is what the "<tt><a href="#cl::list">cl::list</a></tt>"
644template is for. First, start by defining an enum of the optimizations that you
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000645would like to perform:</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000646
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000647<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000648enum Opts {
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000649 // 'inline' is a C++ keyword, so name it 'inlining'
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000650 dce, constprop, inlining, strip
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000651};
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000652</pre></div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000653
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000654<p>Then define your "<tt><a href="#cl::list">cl::list</a></tt>" variable:</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000655
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000656<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000657<a href="#cl::list">cl::list</a>&lt;Opts&gt; OptimizationList(<a href="#cl::desc">cl::desc</a>("<i>Available Optimizations:</i>"),
658 <a href="#cl::values">cl::values</a>(
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000659 clEnumVal(dce , "<i>Dead Code Elimination</i>"),
Misha Brukman82c89b92003-05-20 21:01:22 +0000660 clEnumVal(constprop , "<i>Constant Propagation</i>"),
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000661 clEnumValN(inlining, "<i>inline</i>", "<i>Procedure Integration</i>"),
662 clEnumVal(strip , "<i>Strip Symbols</i>"),
Chris Lattnerb406ead2004-07-16 00:10:54 +0000663 clEnumValEnd));
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000664</pre></div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000665
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000666<p>This defines a variable that is conceptually of the type
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000667"<tt>std::vector&lt;enum Opts&gt;</tt>". Thus, you can access it with standard
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000668vector methods:</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000669
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000670<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000671 for (unsigned i = 0; i != OptimizationList.size(); ++i)
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000672 switch (OptimizationList[i])
673 ...
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000674</pre></div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000675
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000676<p>... to iterate through the list of options specified.</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000677
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000678<p>Note that the "<tt><a href="#cl::list">cl::list</a></tt>" template is
679completely general and may be used with any data types or other arguments that
680you can use with the "<tt><a href="#cl::opt">cl::opt</a></tt>" template. One
681especially useful way to use a list is to capture all of the positional
682arguments together if there may be more than one specified. In the case of a
683linker, for example, the linker takes several '<tt>.o</tt>' files, and needs to
684capture them into a list. This is naturally specified as:</p>
Chris Lattner3e5fe172002-04-13 18:35:59 +0000685
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000686<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattner3e5fe172002-04-13 18:35:59 +0000687...
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000688<a href="#cl::list">cl::list</a>&lt;std::string&gt; InputFilenames(<a href="#cl::Positional">cl::Positional</a>, <a href="#cl::desc">cl::desc</a>("&lt;Input files&gt;"), <a href="#cl::OneOrMore">cl::OneOrMore</a>);
Chris Lattner3e5fe172002-04-13 18:35:59 +0000689...
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000690</pre></div>
Chris Lattner3e5fe172002-04-13 18:35:59 +0000691
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000692<p>This variable works just like a "<tt>vector&lt;string&gt;</tt>" object. As
Chris Lattnerae853632002-07-25 19:27:01 +0000693such, accessing the list is simple, just like above. In this example, we used
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000694the <tt><a href="#cl::OneOrMore">cl::OneOrMore</a></tt> modifier to inform the
695CommandLine library that it is an error if the user does not specify any
696<tt>.o</tt> files on our command line. Again, this just reduces the amount of
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000697checking we have to do.</p>
Chris Lattner3e5fe172002-04-13 18:35:59 +0000698
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000699</div>
Chris Lattner3e5fe172002-04-13 18:35:59 +0000700
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +0000701<!-- ======================================================================= -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000702<div class="doc_subsection">
Jim Laskey1d8f6262005-08-25 22:52:43 +0000703 <a name="bits">Collecting options as a set of flags</a>
704</div>
705
706<div class="doc_text">
707
708<p>Instead of collecting sets of options in a list, it is also possible to
Jim Laskey22b7dfa2005-08-26 09:25:54 +0000709gather information for enum values in a <b>bit vector</b>. The represention used by
710the <a href="#bits"><tt>cl::bits</tt></a> class is an <tt>unsigned</tt>
Jim Laskey1d8f6262005-08-25 22:52:43 +0000711integer. An enum value is represented by a 0/1 in the enum's ordinal value bit
712position. 1 indicating that the enum was specified, 0 otherwise. As each
713specified value is parsed, the resulting enum's bit is set in the option's bit
714vector:</p>
715
716<div class="doc_code"><pre>
717 <i>bits</i> |= 1 << (unsigned)<i>enum</i>;
718</pre></div>
719
Jim Laskey26029222005-08-25 23:01:25 +0000720<p>Options that are specified multiple times are redundant. Any instances after
721the first are discarded.</p>
Jim Laskey1d8f6262005-08-25 22:52:43 +0000722
723<p>Reworking the above list example, we could replace <a href="#list">
724<tt>cl::list</tt></a> with <a href="#bits"><tt>cl::bits</tt></a>:</p>
725
726<div class="doc_code"><pre>
727<a href="#cl::bits">cl::bits</a>&lt;Opts&gt; OptimizationBits(<a href="#cl::desc">cl::desc</a>("<i>Available Optimizations:</i>"),
728 <a href="#cl::values">cl::values</a>(
729 clEnumVal(dce , "<i>Dead Code Elimination</i>"),
730 clEnumVal(constprop , "<i>Constant Propagation</i>"),
731 clEnumValN(inlining, "<i>inline</i>", "<i>Procedure Integration</i>"),
732 clEnumVal(strip , "<i>Strip Symbols</i>"),
733 clEnumValEnd));
734</pre></div>
735
736<p>To test to see if <tt>constprop</tt> was specified, we can use the
737<tt>cl:bits::isSet</tt> function:</p>
738
739<div class="doc_code"><pre>
740 if (OptimizationBits.isSet(constprop)) {
741 ...
742 }
743</pre></div>
744
745<p>It's also possible to get the raw bit vector using the
746<tt>cl::bits::getBits</tt> function:</p>
747
748<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Jim Laskey22b7dfa2005-08-26 09:25:54 +0000749 unsigned bits = OptimizationBits.getBits();
Jim Laskey1d8f6262005-08-25 22:52:43 +0000750</pre></div>
751
752<p>Finally, if external storage is used, then the location specified must be of
Jim Laskey22b7dfa2005-08-26 09:25:54 +0000753<b>type</b> <tt>unsigned</tt>. In all other ways a <a
Chris Lattner8b44b902008-01-09 19:28:50 +0000754href="#bits"><tt>cl::bits</tt></a> option is equivalent to a <a
Jim Laskey22b7dfa2005-08-26 09:25:54 +0000755href="#list"> <tt>cl::list</tt></a> option.</p>
Jim Laskey1d8f6262005-08-25 22:52:43 +0000756
757</div>
758
759
760<!-- ======================================================================= -->
761<div class="doc_subsection">
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000762 <a name="description">Adding freeform text to help output</a>
763</div>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +0000764
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000765<div class="doc_text">
766
767<p>As our program grows and becomes more mature, we may decide to put summary
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +0000768information about what it does into the help output. The help output is styled
769to look similar to a Unix <tt>man</tt> page, providing concise information about
770a program. Unix <tt>man</tt> pages, however often have a description about what
771the program does. To add this to your CommandLine program, simply pass a third
772argument to the <a
773href="#cl::ParseCommandLineOptions"><tt>cl::ParseCommandLineOptions</tt></a>
774call in main. This additional argument is then printed as the overview
775information for your program, allowing you to include any additional information
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000776that you want. For example:</p>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +0000777
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000778<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +0000779int main(int argc, char **argv) {
780 <a href="#cl::ParseCommandLineOptions">cl::ParseCommandLineOptions</a>(argc, argv, " CommandLine compiler example\n\n"
781 " This program blah blah blah...\n");
782 ...
783}
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000784</pre></div>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +0000785
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000786<p>would yield the help output:</p>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +0000787
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000788<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +0000789<b>OVERVIEW: CommandLine compiler example
790
791 This program blah blah blah...</b>
792
793USAGE: compiler [options] &lt;input file&gt;
794
795OPTIONS:
796 ...
797 -help - display available options (--help-hidden for more)
798 -o &lt;filename&gt; - Specify output filename
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000799</pre></div>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +0000800
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000801</div>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +0000802
803
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000804<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000805<div class="doc_section">
806 <a name="referenceguide">Reference Guide</a>
807</div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +0000808<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
809
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000810<div class="doc_text">
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000811
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000812<p>Now that you know the basics of how to use the CommandLine library, this
813section will give you the detailed information you need to tune how command line
814options work, as well as information on more "advanced" command line option
815processing capabilities.</p>
816
817</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000818
819<!-- ======================================================================= -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000820<div class="doc_subsection">
821 <a name="positional">Positional Arguments</a>
822</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000823
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000824<div class="doc_text">
825
826<p>Positional arguments are those arguments that are not named, and are not
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000827specified with a hyphen. Positional arguments should be used when an option is
828specified by its position alone. For example, the standard Unix <tt>grep</tt>
829tool takes a regular expression argument, and an optional filename to search
830through (which defaults to standard input if a filename is not specified).
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000831Using the CommandLine library, this would be specified as:</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000832
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000833<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000834<a href="#cl::opt">cl::opt</a>&lt;string&gt; Regex (<a href="#cl::Positional">cl::Positional</a>, <a href="#cl::desc">cl::desc</a>("<i>&lt;regular expression&gt;</i>"), <a href="#cl::Required">cl::Required</a>);
835<a href="#cl::opt">cl::opt</a>&lt;string&gt; Filename(<a href="#cl::Positional">cl::Positional</a>, <a href="#cl::desc">cl::desc</a>("<i>&lt;input file&gt;</i>"), <a href="#cl::init">cl::init</a>("<i>-</i>"));
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000836</pre></div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000837
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000838<p>Given these two option declarations, the <tt>--help</tt> output for our grep
839replacement would look like this:</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000840
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000841<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +0000842USAGE: spiffygrep [options] <b>&lt;regular expression&gt; &lt;input file&gt;</b>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000843
844OPTIONS:
845 -help - display available options (--help-hidden for more)
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000846</pre></div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000847
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000848<p>... and the resultant program could be used just like the standard
849<tt>grep</tt> tool.</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000850
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000851<p>Positional arguments are sorted by their order of construction. This means
852that command line options will be ordered according to how they are listed in a
Reid Spencer2c8ab582004-08-13 20:19:14 +0000853.cpp file, but will not have an ordering defined if the positional arguments
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000854are defined in multiple .cpp files. The fix for this problem is simply to
855define all of your positional arguments in one .cpp file.</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000856
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000857</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000858
859
860<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000861<div class="doc_subsubsection">
862 <a name="--">Specifying positional options with hyphens</a>
863</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000864
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000865<div class="doc_text">
866
867<p>Sometimes you may want to specify a value to your positional argument that
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000868starts with a hyphen (for example, searching for '<tt>-foo</tt>' in a file). At
869first, you will have trouble doing this, because it will try to find an argument
870named '<tt>-foo</tt>', and will fail (and single quotes will not save you).
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000871Note that the system <tt>grep</tt> has the same problem:</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000872
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000873<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000874 $ spiffygrep '-foo' test.txt
875 Unknown command line argument '-foo'. Try: spiffygrep --help'
876
877 $ grep '-foo' test.txt
878 grep: illegal option -- f
879 grep: illegal option -- o
880 grep: illegal option -- o
881 Usage: grep -hblcnsviw pattern file . . .
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000882</pre></div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000883
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000884<p>The solution for this problem is the same for both your tool and the system
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000885version: use the '<tt>--</tt>' marker. When the user specifies '<tt>--</tt>' on
886the command line, it is telling the program that all options after the
887'<tt>--</tt>' should be treated as positional arguments, not options. Thus, we
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000888can use it like this:</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000889
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000890<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000891 $ spiffygrep -- -foo test.txt
892 ...output...
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000893</pre></div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000894
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000895</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000896
897<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000898<div class="doc_subsubsection">
Reid Spencer2c8ab582004-08-13 20:19:14 +0000899 <a name="getPosition">Determining absolute position with getPosition()</a>
900</div>
901<div class="doc_text">
902 <p>Sometimes an option can affect or modify the meaning of another option. For
903 example, consider <tt>gcc</tt>'s <tt>-x LANG</tt> option. This tells
904 <tt>gcc</tt> to ignore the suffix of subsequent positional arguments and force
905 the file to be interpreted as if it contained source code in language
Chris Lattner8eedc9e2008-04-01 18:02:36 +0000906 <tt>LANG</tt>. In order to handle this properly, you need to know the
Anton Korobeynikov45982a52008-02-20 12:38:31 +0000907 absolute position of each argument, especially those in lists, so their
908 interaction(s) can be applied correctly. This is also useful for options like
909 <tt>-llibname</tt> which is actually a positional argument that starts with
Reid Spencer2c8ab582004-08-13 20:19:14 +0000910 a dash.</p>
911 <p>So, generally, the problem is that you have two <tt>cl::list</tt> variables
912 that interact in some way. To ensure the correct interaction, you can use the
913 <tt>cl::list::getPosition(optnum)</tt> method. This method returns the
914 absolute position (as found on the command line) of the <tt>optnum</tt>
915 item in the <tt>cl::list</tt>.</p>
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000916 <p>The idiom for usage is like this:</p>
Anton Korobeynikov45982a52008-02-20 12:38:31 +0000917
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000918 <div class="doc_code"><pre>
Reid Spencer2c8ab582004-08-13 20:19:14 +0000919 static cl::list&lt;std::string&gt; Files(cl::Positional, cl::OneOrMore);
Chris Lattner8b44b902008-01-09 19:28:50 +0000920 static cl::list&lt;std::string&gt; Libraries("l", cl::ZeroOrMore);
Reid Spencer2c8ab582004-08-13 20:19:14 +0000921
922 int main(int argc, char**argv) {
923 // ...
924 std::vector&lt;std::string&gt;::iterator fileIt = Files.begin();
925 std::vector&lt;std::string&gt;::iterator libIt = Libraries.begin();
926 unsigned libPos = 0, filePos = 0;
927 while ( 1 ) {
928 if ( libIt != Libraries.end() )
929 libPos = Libraries.getPosition( libIt - Libraries.begin() );
930 else
931 libPos = 0;
932 if ( fileIt != Files.end() )
933 filePos = Files.getPosition( fileIt - Files.begin() );
934 else
935 filePos = 0;
936
937 if ( filePos != 0 &amp;&amp; (libPos == 0 || filePos &lt; libPos) ) {
938 // Source File Is next
939 ++fileIt;
940 }
941 else if ( libPos != 0 &amp;&amp; (filePos == 0 || libPos &lt; filePos) ) {
942 // Library is next
943 ++libIt;
944 }
945 else
946 break; // we're done with the list
947 }
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000948 }</pre></div>
949
Reid Spencer2c8ab582004-08-13 20:19:14 +0000950 <p>Note that, for compatibility reasons, the <tt>cl::opt</tt> also supports an
951 <tt>unsigned getPosition()</tt> option that will provide the absolute position
Anton Korobeynikov45982a52008-02-20 12:38:31 +0000952 of that option. You can apply the same approach as above with a
Reid Spencer2c8ab582004-08-13 20:19:14 +0000953 <tt>cl::opt</tt> and a <tt>cl::list</tt> option as you can with two lists.</p>
954</div>
955
956<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
957<div class="doc_subsubsection">
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000958 <a name="cl::ConsumeAfter">The <tt>cl::ConsumeAfter</tt> modifier</a>
959</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000960
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000961<div class="doc_text">
962
963<p>The <tt>cl::ConsumeAfter</tt> <a href="#formatting">formatting option</a> is
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000964used to construct programs that use "interpreter style" option processing. With
965this style of option processing, all arguments specified after the last
966positional argument are treated as special interpreter arguments that are not
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000967interpreted by the command line argument.</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000968
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000969<p>As a concrete example, lets say we are developing a replacement for the
970standard Unix Bourne shell (<tt>/bin/sh</tt>). To run <tt>/bin/sh</tt>, first
971you specify options to the shell itself (like <tt>-x</tt> which turns on trace
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000972output), then you specify the name of the script to run, then you specify
Chris Lattner8b44b902008-01-09 19:28:50 +0000973arguments to the script. These arguments to the script are parsed by the Bourne
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000974shell command line option processor, but are not interpreted as options to the
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000975shell itself. Using the CommandLine library, we would specify this as:</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000976
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000977<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000978<a href="#cl::opt">cl::opt</a>&lt;string&gt; Script(<a href="#cl::Positional">cl::Positional</a>, <a href="#cl::desc">cl::desc</a>("<i>&lt;input script&gt;</i>"), <a href="#cl::init">cl::init</a>("-"));
979<a href="#cl::list">cl::list</a>&lt;string&gt; Argv(<a href="#cl::ConsumeAfter">cl::ConsumeAfter</a>, <a href="#cl::desc">cl::desc</a>("<i>&lt;program arguments&gt;...</i>"));
980<a href="#cl::opt">cl::opt</a>&lt;bool&gt; Trace("<i>x</i>", <a href="#cl::desc">cl::desc</a>("<i>Enable trace output</i>"));
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000981</pre></div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000982
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000983<p>which automatically provides the help output:</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000984
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000985<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +0000986USAGE: spiffysh [options] <b>&lt;input script&gt; &lt;program arguments&gt;...</b>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000987
988OPTIONS:
989 -help - display available options (--help-hidden for more)
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +0000990 <b>-x - Enable trace output</b>
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000991</pre></div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000992
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +0000993<p>At runtime, if we run our new shell replacement as `<tt>spiffysh -x test.sh
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000994-a -x -y bar</tt>', the <tt>Trace</tt> variable will be set to true, the
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000995<tt>Script</tt> variable will be set to "<tt>test.sh</tt>", and the
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +0000996<tt>Argv</tt> list will contain <tt>["-a", "-x", "-y", "bar"]</tt>, because they
997were specified after the last positional argument (which is the script
998name).</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +0000999
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001000<p>There are several limitations to when <tt>cl::ConsumeAfter</tt> options can
1001be specified. For example, only one <tt>cl::ConsumeAfter</tt> can be specified
1002per program, there must be at least one <a href="#positional">positional
Chris Lattnerbe801bf2004-05-06 22:03:59 +00001003argument</a> specified, there must not be any <a href="#cl::list">cl::list</a>
1004positional arguments, and the <tt>cl::ConsumeAfter</tt> option should be a <a
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001005href="#cl::list">cl::list</a> option.</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001006
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001007</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001008
1009<!-- ======================================================================= -->
Chris Lattnerbe801bf2004-05-06 22:03:59 +00001010<div class="doc_subsection">
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001011 <a name="storage">Internal vs External Storage</a>
1012</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001013
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001014<div class="doc_text">
1015
1016<p>By default, all command line options automatically hold the value that they
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001017parse from the command line. This is very convenient in the common case,
1018especially when combined with the ability to define command line options in the
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001019files that use them. This is called the internal storage model.</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001020
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001021<p>Sometimes, however, it is nice to separate the command line option processing
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001022code from the storage of the value parsed. For example, lets say that we have a
1023'<tt>-debug</tt>' option that we would like to use to enable debug information
1024across the entire body of our program. In this case, the boolean value
Benjamin Kramer8040cd32009-10-12 14:46:08 +00001025controlling the debug code should be globally accessible (in a header file, for
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001026example) yet the command line option processing code should not be exposed to
1027all of these clients (requiring lots of .cpp files to #include
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001028<tt>CommandLine.h</tt>).</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001029
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001030<p>To do this, set up your .h file with your option, like this for example:</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001031
Misha Brukman1fc9f8e2005-02-09 22:49:05 +00001032<div class="doc_code">
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001033<pre>
1034<i>// DebugFlag.h - Get access to the '-debug' command line option
1035//
1036
1037// DebugFlag - This boolean is set to true if the '-debug' command line option
1038// is specified. This should probably not be referenced directly, instead, use
1039// the DEBUG macro below.
1040//</i>
1041extern bool DebugFlag;
1042
1043<i>// DEBUG macro - This macro should be used by code to emit debug information.
1044// In the '-debug' option is specified on the command line, and if this is a
1045// debug build, then the code specified as the option to the macro will be
Chris Lattner8b44b902008-01-09 19:28:50 +00001046// executed. Otherwise it will not be.</i>
Misha Brukman1fc9f8e2005-02-09 22:49:05 +00001047<span class="doc_hilite">#ifdef NDEBUG
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001048#define DEBUG(X)
1049#else
Misha Brukman1fc9f8e2005-02-09 22:49:05 +00001050#define DEBUG(X)</span> do { if (DebugFlag) { X; } } while (0)
1051<span class="doc_hilite">#endif</span>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001052</pre>
Misha Brukman1fc9f8e2005-02-09 22:49:05 +00001053</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001054
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001055<p>This allows clients to blissfully use the <tt>DEBUG()</tt> macro, or the
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001056<tt>DebugFlag</tt> explicitly if they want to. Now we just need to be able to
1057set the <tt>DebugFlag</tt> boolean when the option is set. To do this, we pass
Chris Lattner8b44b902008-01-09 19:28:50 +00001058an additional argument to our command line argument processor, and we specify
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001059where to fill in with the <a href="#cl::location">cl::location</a>
1060attribute:</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001061
Misha Brukman1fc9f8e2005-02-09 22:49:05 +00001062<div class="doc_code">
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001063<pre>
Misha Brukman1fc9f8e2005-02-09 22:49:05 +00001064bool DebugFlag; <i>// the actual value</i>
Chris Lattner589a4cc2003-08-01 21:30:37 +00001065static <a href="#cl::opt">cl::opt</a>&lt;bool, true&gt; <i>// The parser</i>
Misha Brukman1fc9f8e2005-02-09 22:49:05 +00001066Debug("<i>debug</i>", <a href="#cl::desc">cl::desc</a>("<i>Enable debug output</i>"), <a href="#cl::Hidden">cl::Hidden</a>, <a href="#cl::location">cl::location</a>(DebugFlag));
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001067</pre>
Misha Brukman1fc9f8e2005-02-09 22:49:05 +00001068</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001069
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001070<p>In the above example, we specify "<tt>true</tt>" as the second argument to
Misha Brukman1fc9f8e2005-02-09 22:49:05 +00001071the <tt><a href="#cl::opt">cl::opt</a></tt> template, indicating that the
1072template should not maintain a copy of the value itself. In addition to this,
1073we specify the <tt><a href="#cl::location">cl::location</a></tt> attribute, so
1074that <tt>DebugFlag</tt> is automatically set.</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001075
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001076</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001077
1078<!-- ======================================================================= -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001079<div class="doc_subsection">
1080 <a name="attributes">Option Attributes</a>
1081</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001082
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001083<div class="doc_text">
1084
1085<p>This section describes the basic attributes that you can specify on
1086options.</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001087
1088<ul>
1089
1090<li>The option name attribute (which is required for all options, except <a
1091href="#positional">positional options</a>) specifies what the option name is.
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001092This option is specified in simple double quotes:
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001093
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001094<pre>
1095<a href="#cl::opt">cl::opt</a>&lt;<b>bool</b>&gt; Quiet("<i>quiet</i>");
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001096</pre>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001097
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001098</li>
1099
1100<li><a name="cl::desc">The <b><tt>cl::desc</tt></b></a> attribute specifies a
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001101description for the option to be shown in the <tt>--help</tt> output for the
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001102program.</li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001103
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001104<li><a name="cl::value_desc">The <b><tt>cl::value_desc</tt></b></a> attribute
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001105specifies a string that can be used to fine tune the <tt>--help</tt> output for
1106a command line option. Look <a href="#value_desc_example">here</a> for an
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001107example.</li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001108
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001109<li><a name="cl::init">The <b><tt>cl::init</tt></b></a> attribute specifies an
Benjamin Kramer8040cd32009-10-12 14:46:08 +00001110initial value for a <a href="#cl::opt">scalar</a> option. If this attribute is
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001111not specified then the command line option value defaults to the value created
Brian Gaeke9d292ff2003-08-19 22:56:22 +00001112by the default constructor for the type. <b>Warning</b>: If you specify both
1113<b><tt>cl::init</tt></b> and <b><tt>cl::location</tt></b> for an option,
1114you must specify <b><tt>cl::location</tt></b> first, so that when the
1115command-line parser sees <b><tt>cl::init</tt></b>, it knows where to put the
1116initial value. (You will get an error at runtime if you don't put them in
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001117the right order.)</li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001118
Mikhail Glushenkovdf04ead2009-06-17 03:09:39 +00001119<li><a name="cl::location">The <b><tt>cl::location</tt></b></a> attribute where
1120to store the value for a parsed command line option if using external storage.
1121See the section on <a href="#storage">Internal vs External Storage</a> for more
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001122information.</li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001123
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001124<li><a name="cl::aliasopt">The <b><tt>cl::aliasopt</tt></b></a> attribute
Misha Brukman1fc9f8e2005-02-09 22:49:05 +00001125specifies which option a <tt><a href="#cl::alias">cl::alias</a></tt> option is
1126an alias for.</li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001127
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001128<li><a name="cl::values">The <b><tt>cl::values</tt></b></a> attribute specifies
1129the string-to-value mapping to be used by the generic parser. It takes a
Anton Korobeynikov45982a52008-02-20 12:38:31 +00001130<b>clEnumValEnd terminated</b> list of (option, value, description) triplets
Chris Lattnerb406ead2004-07-16 00:10:54 +00001131that
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001132specify the option name, the value mapped to, and the description shown in the
1133<tt>--help</tt> for the tool. Because the generic parser is used most
1134frequently with enum values, two macros are often useful:
1135
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001136<ol>
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001137
1138<li><a name="clEnumVal">The <b><tt>clEnumVal</tt></b></a> macro is used as a
1139nice simple way to specify a triplet for an enum. This macro automatically
1140makes the option name be the same as the enum name. The first option to the
1141macro is the enum, the second is the description for the command line
1142option.</li>
1143
1144<li><a name="clEnumValN">The <b><tt>clEnumValN</tt></b></a> macro is used to
1145specify macro options where the option name doesn't equal the enum name. For
1146this macro, the first argument is the enum value, the second is the flag name,
1147and the second is the description.</li>
1148
Mikhail Glushenkovdf04ead2009-06-17 03:09:39 +00001149</ol>
1150
1151You will get a compile time error if you try to use cl::values with a parser
1152that does not support it.</li>
1153
Mikhail Glushenkov7059d472009-01-16 22:54:19 +00001154<li><a name="cl::multi_val">The <b><tt>cl::multi_val</tt></b></a>
1155attribute specifies that this option takes has multiple values
1156(example: <tt>-sectalign segname sectname sectvalue</tt>). This
1157attribute takes one unsigned argument - the number of values for the
1158option. This attribute is valid only on <tt>cl::list</tt> options (and
1159will fail with compile error if you try to use it with other option
1160types). It is allowed to use all of the usual modifiers on
1161multi-valued options (besides <tt>cl::ValueDisallowed</tt>,
1162obviously).</li>
1163
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001164</ul>
1165
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001166</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001167
1168<!-- ======================================================================= -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001169<div class="doc_subsection">
1170 <a name="modifiers">Option Modifiers</a>
1171</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001172
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001173<div class="doc_text">
1174
1175<p>Option modifiers are the flags and expressions that you pass into the
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001176constructors for <tt><a href="#cl::opt">cl::opt</a></tt> and <tt><a
1177href="#cl::list">cl::list</a></tt>. These modifiers give you the ability to
1178tweak how options are parsed and how <tt>--help</tt> output is generated to fit
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001179your application well.</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001180
Benjamin Kramer8040cd32009-10-12 14:46:08 +00001181<p>These options fall into five main categories:</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001182
1183<ol>
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001184<li><a href="#hiding">Hiding an option from <tt>--help</tt> output</a></li>
1185<li><a href="#numoccurrences">Controlling the number of occurrences
1186 required and allowed</a></li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001187<li><a href="#valrequired">Controlling whether or not a value must be
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001188 specified</a></li>
1189<li><a href="#formatting">Controlling other formatting options</a></li>
1190<li><a href="#misc">Miscellaneous option modifiers</a></li>
1191</ol>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001192
Benjamin Kramer8040cd32009-10-12 14:46:08 +00001193<p>It is not possible to specify two options from the same category (you'll get
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001194a runtime error) to a single option, except for options in the miscellaneous
Benjamin Kramer8040cd32009-10-12 14:46:08 +00001195category. The CommandLine library specifies defaults for all of these settings
Chris Lattner32a32842003-05-22 20:36:06 +00001196that are the most useful in practice and the most common, which mean that you
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001197usually shouldn't have to worry about these.</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001198
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001199</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001200
1201<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001202<div class="doc_subsubsection">
1203 <a name="hiding">Hiding an option from <tt>--help</tt> output</a>
1204</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001205
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001206<div class="doc_text">
1207
1208<p>The <tt>cl::NotHidden</tt>, <tt>cl::Hidden</tt>, and
1209<tt>cl::ReallyHidden</tt> modifiers are used to control whether or not an option
1210appears in the <tt>--help</tt> and <tt>--help-hidden</tt> output for the
1211compiled program:</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001212
1213<ul>
1214
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001215<li><a name="cl::NotHidden">The <b><tt>cl::NotHidden</tt></b></a> modifier
1216(which is the default for <tt><a href="#cl::opt">cl::opt</a></tt> and <tt><a
Chris Lattner8b44b902008-01-09 19:28:50 +00001217href="#cl::list">cl::list</a></tt> options) indicates the option is to appear
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001218in both help listings.</li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001219
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001220<li><a name="cl::Hidden">The <b><tt>cl::Hidden</tt></b></a> modifier (which is the
Chris Lattner8b44b902008-01-09 19:28:50 +00001221default for <tt><a href="#cl::alias">cl::alias</a></tt> options) indicates that
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001222the option should not appear in the <tt>--help</tt> output, but should appear in
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001223the <tt>--help-hidden</tt> output.</li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001224
Chris Lattner8b44b902008-01-09 19:28:50 +00001225<li><a name="cl::ReallyHidden">The <b><tt>cl::ReallyHidden</tt></b></a> modifier
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001226indicates that the option should not appear in any help output.</li>
1227
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001228</ul>
1229
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001230</div>
1231
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001232<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001233<div class="doc_subsubsection">
1234 <a name="numoccurrences">Controlling the number of occurrences required and
1235 allowed</a>
1236</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001237
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001238<div class="doc_text">
1239
1240<p>This group of options is used to control how many time an option is allowed
1241(or required) to be specified on the command line of your program. Specifying a
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001242value for this setting allows the CommandLine library to do error checking for
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001243you.</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001244
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001245<p>The allowed values for this option group are:</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001246
1247<ul>
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001248
1249<li><a name="cl::Optional">The <b><tt>cl::Optional</tt></b></a> modifier (which
1250is the default for the <tt><a href="#cl::opt">cl::opt</a></tt> and <tt><a
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001251href="#cl::alias">cl::alias</a></tt> classes) indicates that your program will
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001252allow either zero or one occurrence of the option to be specified.</li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001253
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001254<li><a name="cl::ZeroOrMore">The <b><tt>cl::ZeroOrMore</tt></b></a> modifier
1255(which is the default for the <tt><a href="#cl::list">cl::list</a></tt> class)
1256indicates that your program will allow the option to be specified zero or more
1257times.</li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001258
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001259<li><a name="cl::Required">The <b><tt>cl::Required</tt></b></a> modifier
1260indicates that the specified option must be specified exactly one time.</li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001261
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001262<li><a name="cl::OneOrMore">The <b><tt>cl::OneOrMore</tt></b></a> modifier
1263indicates that the option must be specified at least one time.</li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001264
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001265<li>The <b><tt>cl::ConsumeAfter</tt></b> modifier is described in the <a
Chris Lattner8b44b902008-01-09 19:28:50 +00001266href="#positional">Positional arguments section</a>.</li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001267
1268</ul>
1269
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001270<p>If an option is not specified, then the value of the option is equal to the
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001271value specified by the <tt><a href="#cl::init">cl::init</a></tt> attribute. If
1272the <tt><a href="#cl::init">cl::init</a></tt> attribute is not specified, the
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001273option value is initialized with the default constructor for the data type.</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001274
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001275<p>If an option is specified multiple times for an option of the <tt><a
1276href="#cl::opt">cl::opt</a></tt> class, only the last value will be
1277retained.</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001278
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001279</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001280
1281<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001282<div class="doc_subsubsection">
1283 <a name="valrequired">Controlling whether or not a value must be specified</a>
1284</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001285
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001286<div class="doc_text">
1287
1288<p>This group of options is used to control whether or not the option allows a
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001289value to be present. In the case of the CommandLine library, a value is either
1290specified with an equal sign (e.g. '<tt>-index-depth=17</tt>') or as a trailing
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001291string (e.g. '<tt>-o a.out</tt>').</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001292
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001293<p>The allowed values for this option group are:</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001294
1295<ul>
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001296
1297<li><a name="cl::ValueOptional">The <b><tt>cl::ValueOptional</tt></b></a> modifier
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001298(which is the default for <tt>bool</tt> typed options) specifies that it is
1299acceptable to have a value, or not. A boolean argument can be enabled just by
1300appearing on the command line, or it can have an explicit '<tt>-foo=true</tt>'.
1301If an option is specified with this mode, it is illegal for the value to be
1302provided without the equal sign. Therefore '<tt>-foo true</tt>' is illegal. To
1303get this behavior, you must use the <a
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001304href="#cl::ValueRequired">cl::ValueRequired</a> modifier.</li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001305
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001306<li><a name="cl::ValueRequired">The <b><tt>cl::ValueRequired</tt></b></a> modifier
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001307(which is the default for all other types except for <a
1308href="#onealternative">unnamed alternatives using the generic parser</a>)
1309specifies that a value must be provided. This mode informs the command line
1310library that if an option is not provides with an equal sign, that the next
1311argument provided must be the value. This allows things like '<tt>-o
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001312a.out</tt>' to work.</li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001313
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001314<li><a name="cl::ValueDisallowed">The <b><tt>cl::ValueDisallowed</tt></b></a>
1315modifier (which is the default for <a href="#onealternative">unnamed
1316alternatives using the generic parser</a>) indicates that it is a runtime error
1317for the user to specify a value. This can be provided to disallow users from
1318providing options to boolean options (like '<tt>-foo=true</tt>').</li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001319
1320</ul>
1321
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001322<p>In general, the default values for this option group work just like you would
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001323want them to. As mentioned above, you can specify the <a
1324href="#cl::ValueDisallowed">cl::ValueDisallowed</a> modifier to a boolean
1325argument to restrict your command line parser. These options are mostly useful
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001326when <a href="#extensionguide">extending the library</a>.</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001327
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001328</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001329
1330<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001331<div class="doc_subsubsection">
1332 <a name="formatting">Controlling other formatting options</a>
1333</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001334
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001335<div class="doc_text">
1336
1337<p>The formatting option group is used to specify that the command line option
1338has special abilities and is otherwise different from other command line
Chris Lattner8b44b902008-01-09 19:28:50 +00001339arguments. As usual, you can only specify one of these arguments at most.</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001340
1341<ul>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001342
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001343<li><a name="cl::NormalFormatting">The <b><tt>cl::NormalFormatting</tt></b></a>
1344modifier (which is the default all options) specifies that this option is
1345"normal".</li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001346
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001347<li><a name="cl::Positional">The <b><tt>cl::Positional</tt></b></a> modifier
Chris Lattner8b44b902008-01-09 19:28:50 +00001348specifies that this is a positional argument that does not have a command line
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001349option associated with it. See the <a href="#positional">Positional
1350Arguments</a> section for more information.</li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001351
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001352<li>The <b><a href="#cl::ConsumeAfter"><tt>cl::ConsumeAfter</tt></a></b> modifier
1353specifies that this option is used to capture "interpreter style" arguments. See <a href="#cl::ConsumeAfter">this section for more information</a>.</li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001354
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001355<li><a name="cl::Prefix">The <b><tt>cl::Prefix</tt></b></a> modifier specifies
Reid Spencer5f8448f2004-11-24 06:13:42 +00001356that this option prefixes its value. With 'Prefix' options, the equal sign does
1357not separate the value from the option name specified. Instead, the value is
1358everything after the prefix, including any equal sign if present. This is useful
1359for processing odd arguments like <tt>-lmalloc</tt> and <tt>-L/usr/lib</tt> in a
Misha Brukmanc43d9142005-05-10 22:05:27 +00001360linker tool or <tt>-DNAME=value</tt> in a compiler tool. Here, the
Reid Spencer5f8448f2004-11-24 06:13:42 +00001361'<tt>l</tt>', '<tt>D</tt>' and '<tt>L</tt>' options are normal string (or list)
Misha Brukmanc43d9142005-05-10 22:05:27 +00001362options, that have the <b><tt><a href="#cl::Prefix">cl::Prefix</a></tt></b>
1363modifier added to allow the CommandLine library to recognize them. Note that
1364<b><tt><a href="#cl::Prefix">cl::Prefix</a></tt></b> options must not have the
1365<b><tt><a href="#cl::ValueDisallowed">cl::ValueDisallowed</a></tt></b> modifier
1366specified.</li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001367
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001368<li><a name="cl::Grouping">The <b><tt>cl::Grouping</tt></b></a> modifier is used
Chris Lattner8b44b902008-01-09 19:28:50 +00001369to implement Unix-style tools (like <tt>ls</tt>) that have lots of single letter
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001370arguments, but only require a single dash. For example, the '<tt>ls -labF</tt>'
1371command actually enables four different options, all of which are single
Misha Brukmanc43d9142005-05-10 22:05:27 +00001372letters. Note that <b><tt><a href="#cl::Grouping">cl::Grouping</a></tt></b>
1373options cannot have values.</li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001374
1375</ul>
1376
Misha Brukmanc43d9142005-05-10 22:05:27 +00001377<p>The CommandLine library does not restrict how you use the <b><tt><a
1378href="#cl::Prefix">cl::Prefix</a></tt></b> or <b><tt><a
1379href="#cl::Grouping">cl::Grouping</a></tt></b> modifiers, but it is possible to
1380specify ambiguous argument settings. Thus, it is possible to have multiple
1381letter options that are prefix or grouping options, and they will still work as
1382designed.</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001383
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001384<p>To do this, the CommandLine library uses a greedy algorithm to parse the
1385input option into (potentially multiple) prefix and grouping options. The
1386strategy basically looks like this:</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001387
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +00001388<div class="doc_code"><tt>parse(string OrigInput) {</tt>
Misha Brukmanc53aefb2004-05-12 18:42:35 +00001389
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001390<ol>
1391<li><tt>string input = OrigInput;</tt>
1392<li><tt>if (isOption(input)) return getOption(input).parse();</tt>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>// Normal option</i>
1393<li><tt>while (!isOption(input) &amp;&amp; !input.empty()) input.pop_back();</tt>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>// Remove the last letter</i>
1394<li><tt>if (input.empty()) return error();</tt>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>// No matching option</i>
1395<li><tt>if (getOption(input).isPrefix())<br>
1396&nbsp;&nbsp;return getOption(input).parse(input);</tt>
1397<li><tt>while (!input.empty()) {&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>// Must be grouping options</i><br>
1398&nbsp;&nbsp;getOption(input).parse();<br>
1399&nbsp;&nbsp;OrigInput.erase(OrigInput.begin(), OrigInput.begin()+input.length());<br>
1400&nbsp;&nbsp;input = OrigInput;<br>
1401&nbsp;&nbsp;while (!isOption(input) &amp;&amp; !input.empty()) input.pop_back();<br>
1402}</tt>
Misha Brukmanc53aefb2004-05-12 18:42:35 +00001403<li><tt>if (!OrigInput.empty()) error();</tt></li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001404</ol>
Misha Brukmanc53aefb2004-05-12 18:42:35 +00001405
1406<p><tt>}</tt></p>
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +00001407</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001408
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001409</div>
Chris Lattner32a32842003-05-22 20:36:06 +00001410
1411<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001412<div class="doc_subsubsection">
1413 <a name="misc">Miscellaneous option modifiers</a>
1414</div>
Chris Lattner32a32842003-05-22 20:36:06 +00001415
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001416<div class="doc_text">
1417
1418<p>The miscellaneous option modifiers are the only flags where you can specify
1419more than one flag from the set: they are not mutually exclusive. These flags
1420specify boolean properties that modify the option.</p>
Chris Lattner32a32842003-05-22 20:36:06 +00001421
1422<ul>
1423
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001424<li><a name="cl::CommaSeparated">The <b><tt>cl::CommaSeparated</tt></b></a> modifier
Chris Lattner32a32842003-05-22 20:36:06 +00001425indicates that any commas specified for an option's value should be used to
1426split the value up into multiple values for the option. For example, these two
1427options are equivalent when <tt>cl::CommaSeparated</tt> is specified:
1428"<tt>-foo=a -foo=b -foo=c</tt>" and "<tt>-foo=a,b,c</tt>". This option only
1429makes sense to be used in a case where the option is allowed to accept one or
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001430more values (i.e. it is a <a href="#cl::list">cl::list</a> option).</li>
1431
Chris Lattnerbe801bf2004-05-06 22:03:59 +00001432<li><a name="cl::PositionalEatsArgs">The
1433<b><tt>cl::PositionalEatsArgs</tt></b></a> modifier (which only applies to
1434positional arguments, and only makes sense for lists) indicates that positional
1435argument should consume any strings after it (including strings that start with
1436a "-") up until another recognized positional argument. For example, if you
Chris Lattner8b44b902008-01-09 19:28:50 +00001437have two "eating" positional arguments, "<tt>pos1</tt>" and "<tt>pos2</tt>", the
Chris Lattnerbe801bf2004-05-06 22:03:59 +00001438string "<tt>-pos1 -foo -bar baz -pos2 -bork</tt>" would cause the "<tt>-foo -bar
1439-baz</tt>" strings to be applied to the "<tt>-pos1</tt>" option and the
1440"<tt>-bork</tt>" string to be applied to the "<tt>-pos2</tt>" option.</li>
1441
Anton Korobeynikov45982a52008-02-20 12:38:31 +00001442<li><a name="cl::Sink">The <b><tt>cl::Sink</tt></b></a> modifier is
1443used to handle unknown options. If there is at least one option with
Benjamin Kramere15192b2009-08-05 15:42:44 +00001444<tt>cl::Sink</tt> modifier specified, the parser passes
Anton Korobeynikov45982a52008-02-20 12:38:31 +00001445unrecognized option strings to it as values instead of signaling an
Benjamin Kramere15192b2009-08-05 15:42:44 +00001446error. As with <tt>cl::CommaSeparated</tt>, this modifier
Anton Korobeynikov45982a52008-02-20 12:38:31 +00001447only makes sense with a <a href="#cl::list">cl::list</a> option.</li>
1448
Chris Lattner32a32842003-05-22 20:36:06 +00001449</ul>
1450
Anton Korobeynikov45982a52008-02-20 12:38:31 +00001451<p>So far, these are the only three miscellaneous option modifiers.</p>
Chris Lattner32a32842003-05-22 20:36:06 +00001452
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001453</div>
Chris Lattner32a32842003-05-22 20:36:06 +00001454
Mikhail Glushenkovbeb4d822008-04-28 16:44:25 +00001455<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
1456<div class="doc_subsubsection">
1457 <a name="response">Response files</a>
1458</div>
1459
1460<div class="doc_text">
1461
1462<p>Some systems, such as certain variants of Microsoft Windows and
1463some older Unices have a relatively low limit on command-line
1464length. It is therefore customary to use the so-called 'response
1465files' to circumvent this restriction. These files are mentioned on
1466the command-line (using the "@file") syntax. The program reads these
1467files and inserts the contents into argv, thereby working around the
1468command-line length limits. Response files are enabled by an optional
1469fourth argument to
1470<a href="#cl::ParseEnvironmentOptions"><tt>cl::ParseEnvironmentOptions</tt></a>
1471and
1472<a href="#cl::ParseCommandLineOptions"><tt>cl::ParseCommandLineOptions</tt></a>.
1473</p>
1474
1475</div>
1476
1477
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001478<!-- ======================================================================= -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001479<div class="doc_subsection">
1480 <a name="toplevel">Top-Level Classes and Functions</a>
1481</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001482
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001483<div class="doc_text">
1484
1485<p>Despite all of the built-in flexibility, the CommandLine option library
1486really only consists of one function (<a
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001487href="#cl::ParseCommandLineOptions"><tt>cl::ParseCommandLineOptions</tt></a>)
1488and three main classes: <a href="#cl::opt"><tt>cl::opt</tt></a>, <a
1489href="#cl::list"><tt>cl::list</tt></a>, and <a
1490href="#cl::alias"><tt>cl::alias</tt></a>. This section describes these three
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001491classes in detail.</p>
1492
1493</div>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001494
1495<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001496<div class="doc_subsubsection">
1497 <a name="cl::ParseCommandLineOptions">The <tt>cl::ParseCommandLineOptions</tt>
1498 function</a>
1499</div>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001500
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001501<div class="doc_text">
1502
1503<p>The <tt>cl::ParseCommandLineOptions</tt> function is designed to be called
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001504directly from <tt>main</tt>, and is used to fill in the values of all of the
1505command line option variables once <tt>argc</tt> and <tt>argv</tt> are
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001506available.</p>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001507
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001508<p>The <tt>cl::ParseCommandLineOptions</tt> function requires two parameters
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001509(<tt>argc</tt> and <tt>argv</tt>), but may also take an optional third parameter
1510which holds <a href="#description">additional extra text</a> to emit when the
Mikhail Glushenkovbeb4d822008-04-28 16:44:25 +00001511<tt>--help</tt> option is invoked, and a fourth boolean parameter that enables
1512<a href="#response">response files</a>.</p>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001513
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001514</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001515
1516<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001517<div class="doc_subsubsection">
1518 <a name="cl::ParseEnvironmentOptions">The <tt>cl::ParseEnvironmentOptions</tt>
1519 function</a>
1520</div>
Brian Gaekee5842852003-08-19 23:11:43 +00001521
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001522<div class="doc_text">
Brian Gaekee5842852003-08-19 23:11:43 +00001523
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001524<p>The <tt>cl::ParseEnvironmentOptions</tt> function has mostly the same effects
1525as <a
1526href="#cl::ParseCommandLineOptions"><tt>cl::ParseCommandLineOptions</tt></a>,
1527except that it is designed to take values for options from an environment
1528variable, for those cases in which reading the command line is not convenient or
Chris Lattner8b44b902008-01-09 19:28:50 +00001529desired. It fills in the values of all the command line option variables just
1530like <a
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001531href="#cl::ParseCommandLineOptions"><tt>cl::ParseCommandLineOptions</tt></a>
1532does.</p>
1533
Mikhail Glushenkovbeb4d822008-04-28 16:44:25 +00001534<p>It takes four parameters: the name of the program (since <tt>argv</tt> may
Chris Lattner8b44b902008-01-09 19:28:50 +00001535not be available, it can't just look in <tt>argv[0]</tt>), the name of the
Mikhail Glushenkovbeb4d822008-04-28 16:44:25 +00001536environment variable to examine, the optional
Brian Gaekee5842852003-08-19 23:11:43 +00001537<a href="#description">additional extra text</a> to emit when the
Mikhail Glushenkovbeb4d822008-04-28 16:44:25 +00001538<tt>--help</tt> option is invoked, and the boolean
Benjamin Kramer8040cd32009-10-12 14:46:08 +00001539switch that controls whether <a href="#response">response files</a>
Mikhail Glushenkovbeb4d822008-04-28 16:44:25 +00001540should be read.</p>
Brian Gaekee5842852003-08-19 23:11:43 +00001541
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001542<p><tt>cl::ParseEnvironmentOptions</tt> will break the environment
Brian Gaekee5842852003-08-19 23:11:43 +00001543variable's value up into words and then process them using
1544<a href="#cl::ParseCommandLineOptions"><tt>cl::ParseCommandLineOptions</tt></a>.
1545<b>Note:</b> Currently <tt>cl::ParseEnvironmentOptions</tt> does not support
1546quoting, so an environment variable containing <tt>-option "foo bar"</tt> will
1547be parsed as three words, <tt>-option</tt>, <tt>"foo</tt>, and <tt>bar"</tt>,
1548which is different from what you would get from the shell with the same
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001549input.</p>
1550
1551</div>
Brian Gaekee5842852003-08-19 23:11:43 +00001552
1553<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001554<div class="doc_subsubsection">
Reid Spencer2403b852006-06-05 17:30:16 +00001555 <a name="cl::SetVersionPrinter">The <tt>cl::SetVersionPrinter</tt>
1556 function</a>
1557</div>
1558
1559<div class="doc_text">
1560
1561<p>The <tt>cl::SetVersionPrinter</tt> function is designed to be called
Chris Lattner8b44b902008-01-09 19:28:50 +00001562directly from <tt>main</tt> and <i>before</i>
Reid Spencer2403b852006-06-05 17:30:16 +00001563<tt>cl::ParseCommandLineOptions</tt>. Its use is optional. It simply arranges
1564for a function to be called in response to the <tt>--version</tt> option instead
1565of having the <tt>CommandLine</tt> library print out the usual version string
1566for LLVM. This is useful for programs that are not part of LLVM but wish to use
1567the <tt>CommandLine</tt> facilities. Such programs should just define a small
1568function that takes no arguments and returns <tt>void</tt> and that prints out
1569whatever version information is appropriate for the program. Pass the address
1570of that function to <tt>cl::SetVersionPrinter</tt> to arrange for it to be
1571called when the <tt>--version</tt> option is given by the user.</p>
1572
1573</div>
1574<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
1575<div class="doc_subsubsection">
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001576 <a name="cl::opt">The <tt>cl::opt</tt> class</a>
1577</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001578
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001579<div class="doc_text">
1580
1581<p>The <tt>cl::opt</tt> class is the class used to represent scalar command line
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001582options, and is the one used most of the time. It is a templated class which
1583can take up to three arguments (all except for the first have default values
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001584though):</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001585
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +00001586<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001587<b>namespace</b> cl {
1588 <b>template</b> &lt;<b>class</b> DataType, <b>bool</b> ExternalStorage = <b>false</b>,
1589 <b>class</b> ParserClass = parser&lt;DataType&gt; &gt;
1590 <b>class</b> opt;
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001591}
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +00001592</pre></div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001593
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001594<p>The first template argument specifies what underlying data type the command
1595line argument is, and is used to select a default parser implementation. The
1596second template argument is used to specify whether the option should contain
1597the storage for the option (the default) or whether external storage should be
1598used to contain the value parsed for the option (see <a href="#storage">Internal
1599vs External Storage</a> for more information).</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001600
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001601<p>The third template argument specifies which parser to use. The default value
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001602selects an instantiation of the <tt>parser</tt> class based on the underlying
1603data type of the option. In general, this default works well for most
1604applications, so this option is only used when using a <a
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001605href="#customparser">custom parser</a>.</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001606
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001607</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001608
1609<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001610<div class="doc_subsubsection">
1611 <a name="cl::list">The <tt>cl::list</tt> class</a>
1612</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001613
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001614<div class="doc_text">
1615
1616<p>The <tt>cl::list</tt> class is the class used to represent a list of command
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001617line options. It too is a templated class which can take up to three
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001618arguments:</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001619
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +00001620<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001621<b>namespace</b> cl {
1622 <b>template</b> &lt;<b>class</b> DataType, <b>class</b> Storage = <b>bool</b>,
1623 <b>class</b> ParserClass = parser&lt;DataType&gt; &gt;
1624 <b>class</b> list;
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001625}
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +00001626</pre></div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001627
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001628<p>This class works the exact same as the <a
1629href="#cl::opt"><tt>cl::opt</tt></a> class, except that the second argument is
1630the <b>type</b> of the external storage, not a boolean value. For this class,
1631the marker type '<tt>bool</tt>' is used to indicate that internal storage should
1632be used.</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001633
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001634</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001635
1636<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001637<div class="doc_subsubsection">
Jim Laskey1d8f6262005-08-25 22:52:43 +00001638 <a name="cl::bits">The <tt>cl::bits</tt> class</a>
1639</div>
1640
1641<div class="doc_text">
1642
1643<p>The <tt>cl::bits</tt> class is the class used to represent a list of command
1644line options in the form of a bit vector. It is also a templated class which
1645can take up to three arguments:</p>
1646
1647<div class="doc_code"><pre>
1648<b>namespace</b> cl {
1649 <b>template</b> &lt;<b>class</b> DataType, <b>class</b> Storage = <b>bool</b>,
1650 <b>class</b> ParserClass = parser&lt;DataType&gt; &gt;
1651 <b>class</b> bits;
1652}
1653</pre></div>
1654
1655<p>This class works the exact same as the <a
1656href="#cl::opt"><tt>cl::lists</tt></a> class, except that the second argument
Jim Laskey22b7dfa2005-08-26 09:25:54 +00001657must be of <b>type</b> <tt>unsigned</tt> if external storage is used.</p>
Jim Laskey1d8f6262005-08-25 22:52:43 +00001658
1659</div>
1660
1661<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
1662<div class="doc_subsubsection">
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001663 <a name="cl::alias">The <tt>cl::alias</tt> class</a>
1664</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001665
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001666<div class="doc_text">
1667
1668<p>The <tt>cl::alias</tt> class is a nontemplated class that is used to form
1669aliases for other arguments.</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001670
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +00001671<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001672<b>namespace</b> cl {
1673 <b>class</b> alias;
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001674}
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +00001675</pre></div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001676
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001677<p>The <a href="#cl::aliasopt"><tt>cl::aliasopt</tt></a> attribute should be
1678used to specify which option this is an alias for. Alias arguments default to
1679being <a href="#cl::Hidden">Hidden</a>, and use the aliased options parser to do
1680the conversion from string to data.</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001681
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001682</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001683
Reid Spencer9bbba0912004-11-16 06:11:52 +00001684<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
1685<div class="doc_subsubsection">
1686 <a name="cl::extrahelp">The <tt>cl::extrahelp</tt> class</a>
1687</div>
1688
1689<div class="doc_text">
1690
1691<p>The <tt>cl::extrahelp</tt> class is a nontemplated class that allows extra
1692help text to be printed out for the <tt>--help</tt> option.</p>
1693
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +00001694<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Reid Spencer9bbba0912004-11-16 06:11:52 +00001695<b>namespace</b> cl {
1696 <b>struct</b> extrahelp;
1697}
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +00001698</pre></div>
Reid Spencer9bbba0912004-11-16 06:11:52 +00001699
Anton Korobeynikov45982a52008-02-20 12:38:31 +00001700<p>To use the extrahelp, simply construct one with a <tt>const char*</tt>
Reid Spencer9bbba0912004-11-16 06:11:52 +00001701parameter to the constructor. The text passed to the constructor will be printed
1702at the bottom of the help message, verbatim. Note that multiple
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +00001703<tt>cl::extrahelp</tt> <b>can</b> be used, but this practice is discouraged. If
Reid Spencer9bbba0912004-11-16 06:11:52 +00001704your tool needs to print additional help information, put all that help into a
1705single <tt>cl::extrahelp</tt> instance.</p>
1706<p>For example:</p>
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +00001707<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Reid Spencer9bbba0912004-11-16 06:11:52 +00001708 cl::extrahelp("\nADDITIONAL HELP:\n\n This is the extra help\n");
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +00001709</pre></div>
Reid Spencer9bbba0912004-11-16 06:11:52 +00001710</div>
1711
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001712<!-- ======================================================================= -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001713<div class="doc_subsection">
1714 <a name="builtinparsers">Builtin parsers</a>
1715</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001716
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001717<div class="doc_text">
1718
1719<p>Parsers control how the string value taken from the command line is
1720translated into a typed value, suitable for use in a C++ program. By default,
1721the CommandLine library uses an instance of <tt>parser&lt;type&gt;</tt> if the
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001722command line option specifies that it uses values of type '<tt>type</tt>'.
1723Because of this, custom option processing is specified with specializations of
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001724the '<tt>parser</tt>' class.</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001725
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001726<p>The CommandLine library provides the following builtin parser
1727specializations, which are sufficient for most applications. It can, however,
1728also be extended to work with new data types and new ways of interpreting the
1729same data. See the <a href="#customparser">Writing a Custom Parser</a> for more
1730details on this type of library extension.</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001731
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001732<ul>
1733
1734<li><a name="genericparser">The <b>generic <tt>parser&lt;t&gt;</tt> parser</b></a>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001735can be used to map strings values to any data type, through the use of the <a
1736href="#cl::values">cl::values</a> property, which specifies the mapping
1737information. The most common use of this parser is for parsing enum values,
1738which allows you to use the CommandLine library for all of the error checking to
1739make sure that only valid enum values are specified (as opposed to accepting
1740arbitrary strings). Despite this, however, the generic parser class can be used
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001741for any data type.</li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001742
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001743<li><a name="boolparser">The <b><tt>parser&lt;bool&gt;</tt> specialization</b></a>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001744is used to convert boolean strings to a boolean value. Currently accepted
1745strings are "<tt>true</tt>", "<tt>TRUE</tt>", "<tt>True</tt>", "<tt>1</tt>",
Chris Lattner00a7b522009-04-08 03:43:51 +00001746"<tt>false</tt>", "<tt>FALSE</tt>", "<tt>False</tt>", and "<tt>0</tt>".</li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001747
Dale Johannesen0f2c8fc2007-05-22 18:32:34 +00001748<li><a name="boolOrDefaultparser">The <b><tt>parser&lt;boolOrDefault&gt;</tt>
1749 specialization</b></a> is used for cases where the value is boolean,
1750but we also need to know whether the option was specified at all. boolOrDefault
1751is an enum with 3 values, BOU_UNSET, BOU_TRUE and BOU_FALSE. This parser accepts
1752the same strings as <b><tt>parser&lt;bool&gt;</tt></b>.</li>
1753
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001754<li><a name="stringparser">The <b><tt>parser&lt;string&gt;</tt>
1755specialization</b></a> simply stores the parsed string into the string value
1756specified. No conversion or modification of the data is performed.</li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001757
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001758<li><a name="intparser">The <b><tt>parser&lt;int&gt;</tt> specialization</b></a>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001759uses the C <tt>strtol</tt> function to parse the string input. As such, it will
1760accept a decimal number (with an optional '+' or '-' prefix) which must start
1761with a non-zero digit. It accepts octal numbers, which are identified with a
1762'<tt>0</tt>' prefix digit, and hexadecimal numbers with a prefix of
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001763'<tt>0x</tt>' or '<tt>0X</tt>'.</li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001764
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001765<li><a name="doubleparser">The <b><tt>parser&lt;double&gt;</tt></b></a> and
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001766<b><tt>parser&lt;float&gt;</tt> specializations</b> use the standard C
1767<tt>strtod</tt> function to convert floating point strings into floating point
1768values. As such, a broad range of string formats is supported, including
1769exponential notation (ex: <tt>1.7e15</tt>) and properly supports locales.
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001770</li>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001771
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001772</ul>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +00001773
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001774</div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +00001775
1776<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001777<div class="doc_section">
1778 <a name="extensionguide">Extension Guide</a>
1779</div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +00001780<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
1781
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001782<div class="doc_text">
1783
1784<p>Although the CommandLine library has a lot of functionality built into it
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001785already (as discussed previously), one of its true strengths lie in its
1786extensibility. This section discusses how the CommandLine library works under
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001787the covers and illustrates how to do some simple, common, extensions.</p>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001788
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001789</div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +00001790
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001791<!-- ======================================================================= -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001792<div class="doc_subsection">
1793 <a name="customparser">Writing a custom parser</a>
1794</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001795
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001796<div class="doc_text">
1797
1798<p>One of the simplest and most common extensions is the use of a custom parser.
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001799As <a href="#builtinparsers">discussed previously</a>, parsers are the portion
1800of the CommandLine library that turns string input from the user into a
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001801particular parsed data type, validating the input in the process.</p>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001802
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001803<p>There are two ways to use a new parser:</p>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001804
1805<ol>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001806
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001807<li>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001808
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001809<p>Specialize the <a href="#genericparser"><tt>cl::parser</tt></a> template for
1810your custom data type.<p>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001811
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001812<p>This approach has the advantage that users of your custom data type will
1813automatically use your custom parser whenever they define an option with a value
1814type of your data type. The disadvantage of this approach is that it doesn't
Jim Laskeyf55914a2006-07-31 20:18:49 +00001815work if your fundamental data type is something that is already supported.</p>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001816
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001817</li>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001818
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001819<li>
1820
1821<p>Write an independent class, using it explicitly from options that need
1822it.</p>
1823
1824<p>This approach works well in situations where you would line to parse an
1825option using special syntax for a not-very-special data-type. The drawback of
1826this approach is that users of your parser have to be aware that they are using
Chris Lattner8b44b902008-01-09 19:28:50 +00001827your parser instead of the builtin ones.</p>
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001828
1829</li>
1830
1831</ol>
1832
1833<p>To guide the discussion, we will discuss a custom parser that accepts file
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001834sizes, specified with an optional unit after the numeric size. For example, we
1835would like to parse "102kb", "41M", "1G" into the appropriate integer value. In
1836this case, the underlying data type we want to parse into is
1837'<tt>unsigned</tt>'. We choose approach #2 above because we don't want to make
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001838this the default for all <tt>unsigned</tt> options.</p>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001839
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001840<p>To start out, we declare our new <tt>FileSizeParser</tt> class:</p>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001841
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +00001842<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001843<b>struct</b> FileSizeParser : <b>public</b> cl::basic_parser&lt;<b>unsigned</b>&gt; {
1844 <i>// parse - Return true on error.</i>
1845 <b>bool</b> parse(cl::Option &amp;O, <b>const char</b> *ArgName, <b>const</b> std::string &amp;ArgValue,
1846 <b>unsigned</b> &amp;Val);
1847};
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +00001848</pre></div>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001849
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001850<p>Our new class inherits from the <tt>cl::basic_parser</tt> template class to
Chris Lattner8b44b902008-01-09 19:28:50 +00001851fill in the default, boiler plate code for us. We give it the data type that
1852we parse into, the last argument to the <tt>parse</tt> method, so that clients of
1853our custom parser know what object type to pass in to the parse method. (Here we
1854declare that we parse into '<tt>unsigned</tt>' variables.)</p>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001855
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001856<p>For most purposes, the only method that must be implemented in a custom
1857parser is the <tt>parse</tt> method. The <tt>parse</tt> method is called
1858whenever the option is invoked, passing in the option itself, the option name,
1859the string to parse, and a reference to a return value. If the string to parse
Chris Lattner8b44b902008-01-09 19:28:50 +00001860is not well-formed, the parser should output an error message and return true.
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001861Otherwise it should return false and set '<tt>Val</tt>' to the parsed value. In
1862our example, we implement <tt>parse</tt> as:</p>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001863
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +00001864<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001865<b>bool</b> FileSizeParser::parse(cl::Option &amp;O, <b>const char</b> *ArgName,
1866 <b>const</b> std::string &amp;Arg, <b>unsigned</b> &amp;Val) {
1867 <b>const char</b> *ArgStart = Arg.c_str();
1868 <b>char</b> *End;
Anton Korobeynikov45982a52008-02-20 12:38:31 +00001869
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001870 <i>// Parse integer part, leaving 'End' pointing to the first non-integer char</i>
1871 Val = (unsigned)strtol(ArgStart, &amp;End, 0);
1872
1873 <b>while</b> (1) {
1874 <b>switch</b> (*End++) {
Chris Lattnerce5fcc32005-08-22 16:24:25 +00001875 <b>case</b> 0: <b>return</b> false; <i>// No error</i>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001876 <b>case</b> 'i': <i>// Ignore the 'i' in KiB if people use that</i>
1877 <b>case</b> 'b': <b>case</b> 'B': <i>// Ignore B suffix</i>
1878 <b>break</b>;
1879
1880 <b>case</b> 'g': <b>case</b> 'G': Val *= 1024*1024*1024; <b>break</b>;
1881 <b>case</b> 'm': <b>case</b> 'M': Val *= 1024*1024; <b>break</b>;
1882 <b>case</b> 'k': <b>case</b> 'K': Val *= 1024; <b>break</b>;
1883
1884 default:
1885 <i>// Print an error message if unrecognized character!</i>
Benjamin Kramere6864c12009-08-02 12:13:02 +00001886 <b>return</b> O.error("'" + Arg + "' value invalid for file size argument!");
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001887 }
1888 }
1889}
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +00001890</pre></div>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001891
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001892<p>This function implements a very simple parser for the kinds of strings we are
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001893interested in. Although it has some holes (it allows "<tt>123KKK</tt>" for
1894example), it is good enough for this example. Note that we use the option
1895itself to print out the error message (the <tt>error</tt> method always returns
1896true) in order to get a nice error message (shown below). Now that we have our
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001897parser class, we can use it like this:</p>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001898
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +00001899<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001900<b>static</b> <a href="#cl::opt">cl::opt</a>&lt;<b>unsigned</b>, <b>false</b>, FileSizeParser&gt;
1901MFS(<i>"max-file-size"</i>, <a href="#cl::desc">cl::desc</a>(<i>"Maximum file size to accept"</i>),
1902 <a href="#cl::value_desc">cl::value_desc</a>("<i>size</i>"));
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +00001903</pre></div>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001904
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001905<p>Which adds this to the output of our program:</p>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001906
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +00001907<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001908OPTIONS:
1909 -help - display available options (--help-hidden for more)
1910 ...
1911 <b>-max-file-size=&lt;size&gt; - Maximum file size to accept</b>
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +00001912</pre></div>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001913
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001914<p>And we can test that our parse works correctly now (the test program just
1915prints out the max-file-size argument value):</p>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001916
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +00001917<div class="doc_code"><pre>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001918$ ./test
1919MFS: 0
1920$ ./test -max-file-size=123MB
1921MFS: 128974848
1922$ ./test -max-file-size=3G
1923MFS: 3221225472
1924$ ./test -max-file-size=dog
1925-max-file-size option: 'dog' value invalid for file size argument!
Misha Brukmanf75c4b42005-03-11 00:00:33 +00001926</pre></div>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001927
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001928<p>It looks like it works. The error message that we get is nice and helpful,
1929and we seem to accept reasonable file sizes. This wraps up the "custom parser"
1930tutorial.</p>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001931
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001932</div>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001933
1934<!-- ======================================================================= -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001935<div class="doc_subsection">
1936 <a name="explotingexternal">Exploiting external storage</a>
1937</div>
Chris Lattnerc1ae40c2002-08-07 18:27:04 +00001938
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001939<div class="doc_text">
Reid Spencerb993feb2004-08-30 05:56:51 +00001940 <p>Several of the LLVM libraries define static <tt>cl::opt</tt> instances that
1941 will automatically be included in any program that links with that library.
1942 This is a feature. However, sometimes it is necessary to know the value of the
1943 command line option outside of the library. In these cases the library does or
1944 should provide an external storage location that is accessible to users of the
1945 library. Examples of this include the <tt>llvm::DebugFlag</tt> exported by the
1946 <tt>lib/Support/Debug.cpp</tt> file and the <tt>llvm::TimePassesIsEnabled</tt>
1947 flag exported by the <tt>lib/VMCore/Pass.cpp</tt> file.</p>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001948
Reid Spencerb993feb2004-08-30 05:56:51 +00001949<p>TODO: complete this section</p>
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001950
1951</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001952
1953<!-- ======================================================================= -->
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001954<div class="doc_subsection">
1955 <a name="dynamicopts">Dynamically adding command line options</a>
1956</div>
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001957
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001958<div class="doc_text">
Chris Lattnere76d4ab2002-08-06 19:36:06 +00001959
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001960<p>TODO: fill in this section</p>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +00001961
Misha Brukman9718e962003-10-24 19:59:21 +00001962</div>
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +00001963
Chris Lattner209c7f42001-07-23 23:03:12 +00001964<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
1965
1966<hr>
Misha Brukmanc53aefb2004-05-12 18:42:35 +00001967<address>
1968 <a href="http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/check/referer"><img
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Misha Brukmanc53aefb2004-05-12 18:42:35 +00001972
1973 <a href="mailto:sabre@nondot.org">Chris Lattner</a><br>
Reid Spencer05fe4b02006-03-14 05:39:39 +00001974 <a href="http://llvm.org">LLVM Compiler Infrastructure</a><br>
Misha Brukman3c299112003-11-07 18:11:14 +00001975 Last modified: $Date$
Misha Brukmanc53aefb2004-05-12 18:42:35 +00001976</address>
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1978</body>
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