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An high level argument parsing library for bash.

Inspired, by the python argparse module, bash-argsparse purpose is toreplace the option-parsing and usage-describing functions commonlyrewritten in all scripts.

This library is implemented for GNU bash version >= 4.2. Priorversions of bash will fail at interpreting that code.

Doxygen documentation is available onlinehere.

Though Bash Argsparse is hosted atgithub, you can downloadtarballs at the following URL:http://argsparse.livna.org/

Though you can build your own package using the provided spec file, abash-argsparse package is currently available in fedora repositories,for all releases from fedora 19 to rawhide. Ditto for RHEL/Centos 6 &7, through the EPEL repository.

The argsparse library offers to script developpers the following features:

• Automatic help message generation
• Simple option declarations
• Different option types: simple, with value, with cumulative (uniq ornot) values
• User-input checkings (either by type, enumerations or custom checking)
• Hook settings
• Option properties making them excluding each other, aliasing otheroptions, or (sic) non-optional.
• Automatic bash completion generation.

A basic argsparse run requires no external commands except thequite-common "getopt" command. Some argsparse-built-in type checkingsmay require some other (like "host" and "getent") but you do not haveto use those types.

Argsparse relies on a lot of bash built-in commands ("printf", "[","read", ...) and internal features such as arrays, associative arrays,extended (ksh-like) globbing. That's why the "extglob" shell option isautomatically enabled and posix-mode is automatically disabled whenloading the argsparse library.

The code has been tested on bash 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 and is definitelynot POSIX-compliant.

Compliance with the "nounset" and "failglob" bash settings issupported.

• argsparse.sh: the library.
• tutorial: a bunch of small demonstration scripts for new users.
• bash-argsparse.spec: a spec file to build RPM packages.
• debian: the directory required to build deb packages.
• Doxyfile: doxygen configuration file.
• doxygen-bash.sed:bash-doxygen doxygen inputfilter.
• unittest: a test script to validate most of argsparse features.

Here are the topics covered by scripts in tutorial directory:

• 0-completion: An automatic bash completion demo for all othertutorial scripts. This script will spawn a preconfigured interactivebash.
• 1-basics: Bash Argsparse basics
• 2-values: Options accepting values
• 3-cumulative-options: How to keep all user-given values
• 4-types: Type-checking
• 5-custom-types: User-defined types
• 6-properties: Option properties
• 7-value-checking: Advanced value checking using argsparse
• 8-setting-hook: Changing the way options are set
• 9-misc: Other misc argsparse features.

Invoke each script without parameter or with --help to obtain usage message.

• You cannot have a short option without a long option.
• Too few verifications about property values are made.
• Compliance with errexit is not supported (yet).
• Compliance with Non-bind versions of the "host" command has not beentested.