[SOLVED] getopts is not considering (skipping) one of the options

akhand jyoti · 11-18-2011, 05:01 AM

Hi,
I am using getopts in a while loop for different options I have in a function:
Here have part of my code:
funct()
{

var1="N"
var2=''

while getopts ":b:c

ma" opt
do
case $opt in
b)body=$OPTARG;;
c)change=$OPTARG;l_INF="Y";;
p)..
m)..
a)...
\?)...
esac
done
}

and I am calling the function from other script .
when I am calling the function for the first time (in other script )

funct -b "<something>" -c "<something>" -a
the body variable in b)body=$OPTARG;; is populating correctly but afterwards whenever I am calling the funct

funct -b "<XXXX>" -c "YYYY" -a

the -b option is getting ignored by getopts and it is OK with other options.I tried changing the order of options ,it is also did't work.
What could be the possible reason?

I want some help on this getopts :
1) does it matter the order of options?
2) How the value of $OPTIND(option index) get assigned? I mean is it like in the order of calling in function or in the order in which it is defined in getopts
getopts ":b:c

ma" i.e. b has OPTIND=2,for c=3 or just it is just in any value>1?

Thanks :-)
its

=colon : then p

catkin · 11-18-2011, 05:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by akhand jyoti

when I am calling the function for the first time (in other script )

funct -b "<something>" -c "<something>" -a
the body variable in b)body=$OPTARG;; is populating correctly but afterwards whenever I am calling the funct

funct -b "<XXXX>" -c "YYYY" -a

the -b option is getting ignored by getopts and it is OK with other options.I tried changing the order of options ,it is also did't work.
What could be the possible reason?

I want some help on this getopts :
1) does it matter the order of options?
2) How the value of $OPTIND(option index) get assigned? I mean is it like in the order of calling in function or in the order in which it is defined in getopts
getopts ":b:c

ma" i.e. b has OPTIND=2,for c=3 or just it is just in any value>1?

Thanks :-)

IDK why it is not working; strange that only the -b option is affected. Some debugging might help:

Code:

funct()
{
    echo "DEBUG: ${FUNCNAME[ 0 ]} called with $*"
    var1="N"
    var2=''

    while getopts ":b:pc:ma" opt
    do
        echo "DEBUG: opt: $opt, OPTARG: $OPTARG"
        case $opt in
            b)body=$OPTARG;;
            c)change=$OPTARG;l_INF="Y";;
            p)..
            m)..
            a)...
            \?)...
        esac
    done
}

1) does it matter the order of options? No

2) How the value of $OPTIND(option index) get assigned? From the GNU Bash Reference: "When the end of options is encountered, getopts exits with a return value greater than zero. OPTIND is set to the index of the first non-option argument". AFAIK the only use for OPTIND is to shift the options and option arguments out of the way to get the arguments like:

Code:

shift $(( $OPTIND-1 ))
if [[ $* != '' ]]; then
    <whatever you like with the remaining arguments which are available in "$@">
fi

davemguru · 11-18-2011, 05:26 AM

getopts was designed to process arguments on the commandline.
However functions get their arguments in "$@" - same as the commandline.
But, because of the original intent of the design - the global variables OPTIND and OPTARGS don't get reset.

from the manual

Quote:

OPTIND and OPTARG are local to the shell script. If you want to export them, you must do so explicitly. If the script invoking getopts sets OPTIND to 1, it can call getopts again with a new set of parameters, either the current positional parameters or new arg values.

or you could

Code:

unset $OPTSTRING
unset $OPTIND
etc...

at the end of your function.

Dave

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David the H. · 11-18-2011, 01:44 PM

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