asked on

Most elegant way to check command line args in PHP

I am writing a PHP script that will use a lot of parameters. While I know how to check them and work with them, I am looking for an ELEGANT way to work with the parameters that emulates how most Linux applications and packages work. So, here are the requirements:

1. Minimal, efficient and elegant code
2. Paramters may be issued in ANY order. (Example: command --first --second --third or command --third --first --second)
3. Code must be re-usable for different scripts.

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

gr8gonzo

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Start Free Trial

DrDamnit

ASKER

I think I am in love.

Question: how do I check (most succinctly) that all the required variables are there? I have looked at the docs, and tried code similar to what's below...

if(!(getopt))
    print_help();

Open in new window

I don't want to have to tell it

if(isset($opt['requiredvar1']) && isset($opt['requiredvar2']))
     do_something_userful();

Open in new window

DrDamnit

ASKER

Here's my other problem:

I want it to behave like a normal command line program. So, temp.php -a -b -c would tell it to do three things, just by their very presence in the command line. I don't necessarily want to have to specify -a true -b true -c true. But when I try it, this is what I get:

michael@michael-desktop:~/php/infusion/includes$ php temp.php -a -b -c -d
array(2) {
  ["a"]=>
  string(2) "-b"
  ["c"]=>
  string(2) "-d"
}

Open in new window

Thoughts?

DrDamnit

ASKER

FYI... here's the test code:

<?php
$shortopt = "a:b:c:d::";
$opt = getopt($shortopt);
var_dump($opt);
if(!$opt)
{
        print_help();
        exit(1);
}
function print_help()
{
?>
        Help screen

        -a      Test arg (required)
        -b      Test arg (required)
        -c      Test arg (requried)
        -d      Test arg (optional)
<?php
}
?>

Open in new window

gr8gonzo

So there's three formats that simply specifies how PHP will treat the command line arguments:

option (no colons) - This is just for true/false flags, like -a -b -c. PHP won't look ahead for another value.

option + 1 colon - This is for options with values like -a foo -b bar, so PHP will look after the option for the value. One colon means the value is required.

option + 2 colons - Same as 1 colon except it's optional.

So if you wanted to do php temp.php -a -b -c -d, then you'd want getopt("abcd").

If you want to further validate that certain options are required, then you need to simply process the results of the getopt() call.