Req #26818 [Opn->Wfx]: getopt() parses incorrectly

Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=26818&edit=1 ID: 26818 Updated by: cmb@php.net Reported by: php at richardneill dot org Summary: getopt() parses incorrectly -Status: Open +Status: Wont fix Type: Feature/Change Request Package: PHP options/info functions Operating System: * PHP Version: * -Assigned To: +Assigned To: cmb Block user comment: N Private report: N New Comment: I don't think that this will ever be implemented, especially since getopt() supports an $rest_index parameter for years, which can be used to detect such issues. Furthermore, there are more comprehensive userland solutions available for argument parsing. Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2004-01-06 20:58:30] php at richardneill dot org I do apologise - I thought that GNU's getopts was smarter than that! So, I now agree that PHP is doing the standards-compliant thing. I still think it would be useful if PHP had an option to parse options "my way" :-) Thanks for your help. Richard ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2004-01-06 18:58:52] sniper@php.net The function uses the GNU getopt function, so the behaviour is exactly same. Moved the FRs. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2004-01-06 17:53:42] php at richardneill dot org I agree with you about the manual. BUT, nevertheless, this is not the behaviour that it should have. Currently, it isn't consistent with the normal (GNU-like) command line behaviour. If options -x and -y are supposed to take values, then if I enter the command: ./getopt.php -a -x -y bar it can mean only one of 2 things: 1)I, the user have made a mistake at the command line, and omitted the value for $x. The script should be able to test for this as an error. 2)I meant to assign a null or false value to $x (possible, not likely) It is *very* unlikely that I meant to assign the value '-y' to $x. (If I had meant to do this, I would have double quoted it). Please can we at least have an option within getopts to parse options in a standard manner? I'd suggest doing the following: ---------------- If an option expects a value, read along the command line until reaching the next '-' or the end of line. This value (or false if it is null) is placed in the options_array. ---------------- Thank you. Richard ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2004-01-06 17:30:17] sniper@php.net RTFM: "It does not matter if an argument has leading white space." (it means also: whitespace is omitted) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2004-01-06 14:52:41] php at richardneill dot org Description: ------------ When parsing options, if the command line arguments are WRONG, php mangles them in such a way as to give an incorrect, but valid response. Eg my program normally takes arguments: ./getopt.php -a -x foo -y bar (ie. option a takes no value; options x,y take values) Therefore, if I run it as ./getopt.php -a -x -y bar this is clearly a mistake: I omitted the value for -x. HOWEVER, php assumes that I wanted the value for -x to be '-y' If this is "a feature, not a bug", it might be worth documentig it, or providing a switch to enable the behaviour I'd expect. Thank you. Reproduce code: --------------- #!/usr/bin/php <? $flags="ax:y:"; $options_array=getopt($flags); echo "Here are the results of getopt:\n"; foreach ($options_array as $key => $value){ echo "\tkey:\t $key\t value is:\t $value"; if ($value===false){ echo "\t[FALSE]"; } echo "\n"; } echo "\n"; #N.B. If options -x and -y each expect an argument, then one might expect # 'getopt.php -x -y foo' to result in $key="x",$value=false; $key="y",$value="foo" # BUT actually, the result is $key="x",$value="-y"; and foo is left over. Expected result: ---------------- [rjn]$ ./getopt.php -a -x -y bar Here are the results of getopt: key: a value is: [FALSE] key: x value is: [FALSE] key: y value is: bar Actual result: -------------- [rjn]$ ./getopt.php -a -x -y bar Here are the results of getopt: key: a value is: [FALSE] key: x value is: -y ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Edit this bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=26818&edit=1