comment on

I have a cli script that takes as arguments a file path, and optionally, some switches. I am using Getopt::Std right now.

I was having some trouble with the interface. I wanted the user to have to specify switches (-f-a -w hatever) - but I wanted the script to catch any ARGV that does not have a switch and take it as a file argument..

I wanted the following to be valid ways to call the script:

script ./thisfile -f -a
script -f -a ./thisfile
script -f -a ./thisfile ./thisfilealso

Getopt::Std allows me to do this.. but if I specify the arguments first, then the file arguments
metadata -f value -a nothervalue ./thisfile
But if I specify files first, it ignores switches or the file arguments

This is where I get the options..

my $self = { opt => {}, };
getopts('f:v:i:a',$self->{opt}); # -f field -v value -i 
    
# what file(s) did user specify.
my $files = @ARGV; # only gets fed if arg flags are called via cli bef
+ore the file list
[download]

Upon further reading, I see that it is widely recomended (for example in Getopt:Long ) that one provide switch arguments first, and then a file list..
And off the top of my head, I think most cli utilities take args before paths.. Why?

I think in the case of this script I'm working on.. It may be more convenient to specify path first. The script is an interface to showing and editing metadata on a file or directory .. here are some usage examples:

metafile ./path/2/file
metafile ./path/2/file -f author -v Joe
metafile ./path/2/file -f author -v Joe -a
metafile ./path/2/file -f author

the constant is that they provide filepath(s).. so I feel silly asking them to turn the above examples to..

metafile ./path/2/file
metafile -f author -v Joe ./path/2/file
metafile -f author -v Joe -a ./path/2/file
metafile -f author ./path/2/file

In reply to Why is it good practice for a cli script to take switch args before file list? by leocharre

Are you posting in the right place? Check out Where do I post X? to know for sure.
Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags. Currently these include the following:
<code> <a> <b> <big> <blockquote> <br /> <dd> <dl> <dt> <em> <font> <h1> <h2> <h3> <h4> <h5> <h6> <hr /> <i> <li> <nbsp> <ol> <p> <small> <strike> <strong> <sub> <sup> <table> <td> <th> <tr> <tt> <u> <ul>
Snippets of code should be wrapped in <code> tags not <pre> tags. In fact, <pre> tags should generally be avoided. If they must be used, extreme care should be taken to ensure that their contents do not have long lines (<70 chars), in order to prevent horizontal scrolling (and possible janitor intervention).
Want more info? How to link or How to display code and escape characters are good places to start.


good chemistry is complicated, and a little bit messy -LW
	PerlMonks