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https://github.com/jpommerening/choice

the dyslexic option parser
https://github.com/jpommerening/choice

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the dyslexic option parser

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README 

        
# choice -- the dyslexic option parser



> Do what I mean, not what I type, dammit!

> -- me, every time.



Choice is a parser for command-line options with support for

fuzzy option matching and generating command completion.



It is just two files and not even a thousand NLOC with all the

bells and whistles you can ask for.



## Why?



I spend most of my day in _xterm_ and OS X' _Terminal_. There's

a lot of typing going on. There are so may awesome command-line utilities

out there, but I wish there were more of them.



As a heavy command-line user, I've grown pretty accustomed to the

behaviour of `getopt`. The combination of long and short options works

surprisingly well. I don't care _what_ parses the options.



But when I write yet-another-utility-program, what I'm often struggling

with is designing the command-line switches for a great experience.

More often than not, I just want to get the job done, and couldn't

care less about the usability.



But usability matters. So to solve the problem once and for all, here

is one more option parser. There's no excuse anymore for those crufty

`while`-`switch` loops.



I can not recall how many ad-hoc option parsers I have written,

but it's probably been a few too many.

You start with a simple loop, looking for the one single flag

you program understands and it goes downhill from there. After a short

struggle, you end up sucking it up to `getopt` and its not quite

portable cousin `getopt_long` and that is that.



## Examples



Let's drive this home with a few examples.



```c

#include "choice.h"

#include 



static struct {

  bool verbose;

  const char* required;

  long optional;

} config = {

  false,

  NULL,

  -1

};



static option_t options[] = {

  { "verbose", "enable verbose stuff", 'v', 0, &choice_true, &config.verbose },

  { "required", "required arg", 'r', OPTION_REQARG, &choice_str, &config.required },

  { "optional", "optional arg", 'o', OPTION_OPTARG, &choice_long, &config.optional },

  OPTION_EOL

};



int main( int argc, const char* argv[] ) {

  option_parse( options, argc, argv );

  printf( "verbose: %s\n", config.verbose ? "true" : "false" );

  printf( "required: %s\n", config.required );

  printf( "optional: %li\n", config.optional );

  return 0;

}

```



```console

$ example

verbose: false

required: (null)

optional: -1

$ example --verbose --required=test

verbose: true

required: test

optional: -1

$ example -vrtest

verbose: true

required: test

optional: -1

$ example --vebrose --requird derp

verbose: true

required: derp

optional: -1

$ example --verb --opt

verbose: true

required: (null)

optional: 0

```



## Credits



Inspiration for this library was taken from @isaacs' `npm isntall`

and @visionmedia's `commander.c`.  The levenshtein implementation was adapted

and extended from @schuyler's ruby module.  

_Thank you!_



## License



Copyright © 2013, Jonas Pommerening 

All rights reserved.



Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without

modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:



1.  Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this

    list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

2.  Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice,

    this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation

    and/or other materials provided with the distribution.



THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND

ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED

WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE

DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR

ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES

(INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES;

LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND

ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT

(INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS

SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.