optParse

A set of bash development tools to automatically generate option parsing code from a minimal and succinct option parsing definition table. Both extglob (via optParse) and regex (via rparse) option parsing are implemented.

In both optParse and rparse you will need to define and supply an "option parsing definition table", which allows you to quickly define what options you want to be parsed. This includes:

• what flags are matched via an extglob/regex filter,
• if there is an argument (and if so what variable to save it in)
• what commands should be triggered and run when the option flag is passed

optParse / rparse will then take this table and expand it into robust option parsing code that, when run, will run the option-triggered commands and save option-provided arguments in the specified variables. Each line in the option parsing definition table fully defines 1 option that you want to parse.

NOTE: optParse is recommended over rparse for virtually all usage, outside of the very unusual circumstance where extglob is not sufficient to adequately match an option flag but regex is. This is because:

1. optParse is an order of magnitude (if not more) faster than rparse
2. optParse allows for an option with an argument to also trigger commands to run, whereas rparse does not
3. optParse is probably more robust and less prone to unusual "edge-case" behavior than rparse is

NOTE: in early development (while options are being frequently changes) it may be appropriate to directly use optParse / rparse in the code and source the output it generates. For more stable codes with rarely changing options, however, it is best to run optParse / rparse externally and copy/paste the generated code into the function.

using optParse for extglob-based option parsing

optParse's option parsing definition table has lines defined via the following form:

<EXTGLOB> :: <VAR> [<CMD_LIST>]

NOTE: <EXTGLOB> may contain multiple space-separated extglob matches NOTE: if the option does not have an argument, set <VAR> to -

optParse takes this table and constructs a series of case matches (1 per line), such that running the arguments (printf '%s\n' "$@") through the case statement and sourcing the output will parse the options for you.

See optParse.speedtest.bash for an example that (more-or-less) parses forkrun's options

using rparse for regex-based option parsing

rparse's option parsing definition table has a different syntax than optParse's. Each line in the table can take 1 of 2 forms (depending if there is an argument or not:

 <REGEX> -> <CMD>    ( for options without arguments. <CMD> will be run when option is read. )
 <REGEX> => <VAR>    ( for options with arguments. Variable <VAR> will be set to the argument. )

NOTE: <REGEX> may contain multiple space-separated regex matches

rparse takes this table and constructs a series of sed s/<FLAG_REGEX>/<CMD_TO_RUN>/ transformations (1 per line), such that running the arguments (printf '%s\n' "$@") through the sed filter and sourcing the output will parse the options for you.

See rparse.speedtest.bash for an example that (more-or-less) parses forkrun's options