bashgetoptgetopts

Optional option argument with getopts


while getopts "hd:R:" arg; do
  case $arg in
    h)
      echo "usage" 
      ;;
    d)
      dir=$OPTARG
      ;;
    R)
      if [[ $OPTARG =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]];then
        level=$OPTARG
      else
        level=1
      fi
      ;;
    \?)
      echo "WRONG" >&2
      ;;
  esac
done

This means that I want -R to have a default value and for the sequence of commands to be more flexible.


Solution

  • getopts doesn't really support this; but it's not hard to write your own replacement.

    while true; do
        case $1 in
          -R) level=1
                shift
                case $1 in
                  *[!0-9]* | "") ;;
                  *) level=$1; shift ;;
                esac ;;
            # ... Other options ...
            -*) echo "$0: Unrecognized option $1" >&2
                exit 2;;
            *) break ;;
        esac
    done