getopt

(PHP 4 >= 4.3.0, PHP 5, PHP 7)

getopt — Gets options from the command line argument list

Description

array getopt ( string $options [, array $longopts ] )

Parses options passed to the script.

Parameters

options: Each character in this string will be used as option characters and matched against options passed to the script starting with a single hyphen (-). For example, an option string "x" recognizes an option -x. Only a-z, A-Z and 0-9 are allowed.
longopts: An array of options. Each element in this array will be used as option strings and matched against options passed to the script starting with two hyphens (--). For example, an longopts element "opt" recognizes an option --opt.

The options parameter may contain the following elements:

Individual characters (do not accept values)
Characters followed by a colon (parameter requires value)
Characters followed by two colons (optional value)

Option values are the first argument after the string. If a value is required, it does not matter whether the value has leading white space or not. See note.

Note: Optional values do not accept " " (space) as a separator.

Note:
The format for the options and longopts is almost the same, the only difference is that longopts takes an array of options (where each element is the option) whereas options takes a string (where each character is the option).

Return Values

This function will return an array of option / argument pairs, or FALSE on failure.

Note:
The parsing of options will end at the first non-option found, anything that follows is discarded.

Changelog

Version	Description
5.3.0	Added support for "=" as argument/value separator.
5.3.0	Added support for optional values (specified with "::").
5.3.0	Parameter `longopts` is available on all systems.
5.3.0	This function is no longer system dependent, and now works on Windows, too.

Examples

Example #1 getopt() example: The basics


<?php
// Script example.php
$options = getopt("f:hp:");
var_dump($options);
?>

shell> php example.php -fvalue -h

The above example will output:

array(2) {
  ["f"]=>
  string(5) "value"
  ["h"]=>
  bool(false)
}

Example #2 getopt() example: Introducing long options


<?php
// Script example.php
$shortopts  = "";
$shortopts .= "f:";  // Required value
$shortopts .= "v::"; // Optional value
$shortopts .= "abc"; // These options do not accept values

$longopts  = array(
    "required:",     // Required value
    "optional::",    // Optional value
    "option",        // No value
    "opt",           // No value
);
$options = getopt($shortopts, $longopts);
var_dump($options);
?>

shell> php example.php -f "value for f" -v -a --required value --optional="optional value" --option

The above example will output:

array(6) {
  ["f"]=>
  string(11) "value for f"
  ["v"]=>
  bool(false)
  ["a"]=>
  bool(false)
  ["required"]=>
  string(5) "value"
  ["optional"]=>
  string(14) "optional value"
  ["option"]=>
  bool(false)
}

Example #3 getopt() example: Passing multiple options as one


<?php
// Script example.php
$options = getopt("abc");
var_dump($options);
?>

shell> php example.php -aaac

The above example will output:

array(2) {
  ["a"]=>
  array(3) {
    [0]=>
    bool(false)
    [1]=>
    bool(false)
    [2]=>
    bool(false)
  }
  ["c"]=>
  bool(false)
}

User Contributed Notes

chris at tiny dot net

12 years ago


"phpnotes at kipu dot co dot uk" and "tim at digicol dot de" are both wrong or misleading.  Sean was correct.  Quoted space-containing strings on the command line are one argument.  It has to do with how the shell handles the command line, more than PHP.  PHP's getopt() is modeled on and probably built upon the Unix/POSIX/C library getopt(3) which treats strings as strings, and does not break them apart on white space.

Here's proof:

$ cat opt.php
#! /usr/local/bin/php
<?php
$options = getopt("f:");
print_r($options);
?>
$ opt.php -f a b c
Array
(
    [f] => a
)
$ opt.php -f 'a b c'
Array
(
    [f] => a b c
)
$ opt.php -f "a b c"
Array
(
    [f] => a b c
)
$ opt.php -f a\ b\ c
Array
(
    [f] => a b c
)
$

ch1902

2 years ago


Sometimes you will want to run a script from both the command line and as a web page, for example to debug with better output or a command line version that writes an image to the system but a web version that prints the image in the browser. You can use this function to get the same options whether passed as command line arguments or as $_REQUEST values.

<?php
/**
 * Get options from the command line or web request
 * 
 * @param string $options
 * @param array $longopts
 * @return array
 */
function getoptreq ($options, $longopts)
{
   if (PHP_SAPI === 'cli' || empty($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']))  // command line
   {
      return getopt($options, $longopts);
   }
   else if (isset($_REQUEST))  // web script
   {
      $found = array();

      $shortopts = preg_split('@([a-z0-9][:]{0,2})@i', $options, 0, PREG_SPLIT_DELIM_CAPTURE | PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY);
      $opts = array_merge($shortopts, $longopts);

      foreach ($opts as $opt)
      {
         if (substr($opt, -2) === '::')  // optional
         {
            $key = substr($opt, 0, -2);

            if (isset($_REQUEST[$key]) && !empty($_REQUEST[$key]))
               $found[$key] = $_REQUEST[$key];
            else if (isset($_REQUEST[$key]))
               $found[$key] = false;
         }
         else if (substr($opt, -1) === ':')  // required value
         {
            $key = substr($opt, 0, -1);

            if (isset($_REQUEST[$key]) && !empty($_REQUEST[$key]))
               $found[$key] = $_REQUEST[$key];
         }
         else if (ctype_alnum($opt))  // no value
         {
            if (isset($_REQUEST[$opt]))
               $found[$opt] = false;
         }
      }

      return $found;
   }

   return false;
}
?>

Example

<?php
// php script.php -a -c=XXX -e=YYY -f --two --four=ZZZ --five=5
// script.php?a&c=XXX&e=YYY&f&two&four=ZZZ&five=5

$opts = getoptreq('abc:d:e::f::', array('one', 'two', 'three:', 'four:', 'five::'));

var_dump($opts);

/**
array(7) {
  'a' => bool(false)
  'c' => string(3) "XXX"
  'e' => string(3) "YYY"
  'f' => bool(false)
  'two' => bool(false)
  'four' => string(3) "ZZZ"
  'five' => string(1) "5"
}
*/
?>

takingsides at gmail dot com

2 years ago


As already mentioned getopt() will stop parsing options upon the '--'.  Sometimes you will have options and arguments but the user may not always provide the explicit -- option.

Below is a quick way to collect options and arguments regardless of the -- consistently.

#!/usr/bin/php
<?php

$options = getopt('hl::m:v:a', [
    'help',
    'list::',
    'module:',
    'version:',
    'all',
]);

var_dump( $options );

$args = array_search('--', $argv);
$args = array_splice($argv, $args ? ++$args : (count($argv) - count($opt)));

var_dump( $args );
?>

housni dot yakoob at NOSPAM dot gmail dot com

10 months ago


To elaborate on what 'ch1902' said, there certainly are instances where you may need to execute a script via CLI and the HTTP protocol. In such an instance, you can normalize how your script parses via CLI (using getopt()) as well as via HTTP (using $_GET) with the following simplified code:

<?php
// PHP 5.4+ only due to the new array brace style.
function request(array $options = []) {
    // Set the default values.
    $defaults = [
        'params' => '',
        'os' => '',
        'username' => posix_getpwuid(posix_geteuid())['name'],
        'env' => ''
    ];
    $options += $defaults;

    // Sufficient enough check for CLI.
    if ('cli' === PHP_SAPI) {
        return getopt('', ['params:', 'os::', 'username::', 'env::']) + $options;
    }
    return $_GET + $options;
}

print_r(request());
?>

The above code would yield the results below when access via CLI and HTTP.

/**
 * params = foo/bar
 * username = housni.yakoob
 */
// CLI
$ php script.php --params=foo/bar --username=housni.yakoob
Array
(
    [params] => foo/bar
    [username] => housni.yakoob
    [os] => 
    [env] => 
)

// HTTP
script.php?params=foo/bar&username=housni.yakoob
Array
(
    [params] => foo/bar
    [username] => housni.yakoob
    [os] => 
    [env] => 
)

/**
 * params = foo/bar
 * username = Not provided, therefore, the default value will be used.
 */
// CLI
$ whoami && php script.php --params=foo/bar
housni // <-- Current users usersname (output of `whoami`).
Array
(
    [params] => foo/bar
    [os] => 
    [username] => housni
    [env] => 
)

// HTTP
script.php?params=foo/bar
Array
(
    [params] => foo/bar
    [os] => 
    // The username of my Apache user, the result of posix_getpwuid(posix_geteuid())['name']
    [username] => www-data
    [env] => 
)

As you can see, the output is consistent when the script is executed via the CLI or the web.

uberlinuxguy at tulg dot org

8 years ago


One thing of important note would be that getopt() actually respects the '--' option to end an option list.  Thus given the code:



test.php:

<?php

    $options = getopt("m:g:h:");

    if (!is_array($options) ) {

        print "There was a problem reading in the options.\n\n";

        exit(1);

    }

    $errors = array();

    print_r($options);

?> 



And running:



# ./test.php ./run_vfs  -h test1 -g test2 -m test3 -- this is a test -m green



Will return: 



Array

(

    [h] => test1

    [g] => test2

    [m] => test3

)



Whereas running:

# /test.php ./run_vfs  -h test1 -g test2 -m test3 this is a test -m green



Will return:



Array

(

    [h] => test1

    [g] => test2

    [m] => Array

        (

            [0] => test3

            [1] => green

        )



)

Anonymous

5 years ago


getopt() only returns the options specified if they were listed in the options.

So you cant make a switch() use default: to complain of an unknown option. :(

mpartap at gmx dot net

5 years ago


Here's another way of removing options found by getopt() from the argv[] array. It handles the different kind of parameters without eating chunks that do not belong to an --option. (-nr foo param1 param2 foo)
<?php
$parameters = array(
  'n' => 'noparam',
  'r:' => 'required:',
  'o::' => 'optional::',
);

$options = getopt(implode('', array_keys($parameters)), $parameters);
$pruneargv = array();
foreach ($options as $option => $value) {
  foreach ($argv as $key => $chunk) {
    $regex = '/^'. (isset($option[1]) ? '--' : '-') . $option . '/';
    if ($chunk == $value && $argv[$key-1][0] == '-' || preg_match($regex, $chunk)) {
      array_push($pruneargv, $key);
    }
  }
}
while ($key = array_pop($pruneargv)) unset($argv[$key]);
?>

koenbollen at gnospamail dot com

9 years ago


After you use the getopt function you can use the following script to update the $argv array:
<?php
  $options = "c:ho:s:t:uvV";
  $opts = getopt( $options );
  foreach( $opts as $o => $a )
  {
    while( $k = array_search( "-" . $o, $argv ) )
    {
      if( $k )
        unset( $argv[$k] );
      if( preg_match( "/^.*".$o.":.*$/i", $options ) )
        unset( $argv[$k+1] );
    }
  }
  $argv = array_merge( $argv );
?>
Note: I used the array_merge function to reindex the array's keys.

Cheers, Koen Bollen

joey at alegria dot co dot jp

10 years ago


There are 2 simpler (and much faster) methods for getting good getopt() operation without creating your own handler.

1. Use the Console_Getopt PEAR class (should be standard in most PHP installations) which lets you specify both short and long form options as well as whether or not arguments supplied to an option are themselves 'optional'. Very simple to use and requires very little code to operate compaired to writing own handler.

2. If you cannot load external PEAR objects, use your shell's getopt() functions (which in BASHs case work very well) to process options and have your shell script then call your PHP script with a rigid argument structure that is very easy for PHP to digest such as: 
% myfile.php -a TRUE -b FALSE -c ARGUMENT ... 
If the initial arguments are invalid you can have the shell script return an error without calling the PHP script. Sounds convoluted but is a very simple solution and in fact PHP's own % pear command uses this method. /usr/bin/pear is a shell script that does some simle checking before calling pearcmd.php and repassing the arguments on to it.

The second method is by far the best for portability because it allows a single shell script to check a few things like your PHP version and respond acordingly e.g. does it call your PHP4 or PHP5 compatible script? Also, because getopt() is not available on Windows, The second solution allows you to do Windows specific testing as a BAT file (as oposed to BASH, ZSH or Korn on UNIX).

Francois Hill

8 years ago


Although very interesting, koenbollen at gnospamail dot com's update of the argv array fails when option values follow the option with no space :
Indeed 
    php MyScript.php5 -t5 
and
    php MyScript.php5 -t 5
with $options="t:" are treated as the same by getopt.

This upgraded function should take care of it :

File : shift_test.php5
<?php
    function shift($options_array)
    {
        foreach( $options_array as $o => $a )
        {
            // Look for all occurrences of option in argv and remove if found :
            // ----------------------------------------------------------------
            // Look for occurrences of -o (simple option with no value) or -o<val> (no space in between):
            while($k=array_search("-".$o.$a,$GLOBALS['argv']))
            {    // If found remove from argv:
                if($k)
                    unset($GLOBALS['argv'][$k]);
            }
            // Look for remaining occurrences of -o <val> (space in between):
            while($k=array_search("-".$o,$GLOBALS['argv']))
            {    // If found remove both option and value from argv:
                if($k)
                {    unset($GLOBALS['argv'][$k]);
                    unset($GLOBALS['argv'][$k+1]);
                }
            }
        }
        // Reindex :
        $GLOBALS['argv']=array_merge($GLOBALS['argv']);
    }

    print_r($argv);
    $options_array=getopt('t:h');
    shift($options_array);
    print_r($argv);
?>

>php shift_test.php5 -h -t4 param1 param2
will ouptut :
Array
(
    [0] => test.php5
    [1] => -h
    [2] => -t4
    [3] => param1
    [4] => param2
)
Array
(
    [0] => test.php5
    [1] => param1
    [2] => param2
)

>php shift_test.php5 -h -t 4 param1 param2
will ouptut :
Array
(
    [0] => test.php5
    [1] => -h
    [2] => -t
    [3] => 4
    [4] => param1
    [5] => param2
)
Array
(
    [0] => test.php5
    [1] => param1
    [2] => param2
)

Damien B.

8 years ago


This is how I handle arguments with getopt: I use switch within a foreach at the beginning of a program.

<?php

$opts = getopt('hs:');

// Handle command line arguments
foreach (array_keys($opts) as $opt) switch ($opt) {
  case 's':
    // Do something with s parameter
    $something = $opts['s'];
    break;

  case 'h':
    print_help_message();
    exit(1);
}

print "$something\n";

?>

mbirth at webwriters dot de

7 years ago


After getopt() of PHP5.3.0 (on Windows) ignored some parameters if there was a syntactical problem, I decided to code my own generic parameter parser.

<?php
    /**
     * Parses $GLOBALS['argv'] for parameters and assigns them to an array.
     *
     * Supports:
     * -e
     * -e <value>
     * --long-param
     * --long-param=<value>
     * --long-param <value>
     * <value>
     *
     * @param array $noopt List of parameters without values
     */
    function parseParameters($noopt = array()) {
        $result = array();
        $params = $GLOBALS['argv'];
        // could use getopt() here (since PHP 5.3.0), but it doesn't work relyingly
        reset($params);
        while (list($tmp, $p) = each($params)) {
            if ($p{0} == '-') {
                $pname = substr($p, 1);
                $value = true;
                if ($pname{0} == '-') {
                    // long-opt (--<param>)
                    $pname = substr($pname, 1);
                    if (strpos($p, '=') !== false) {
                        // value specified inline (--<param>=<value>)
                        list($pname, $value) = explode('=', substr($p, 2), 2);
                    }
                }
                // check if next parameter is a descriptor or a value
                $nextparm = current($params);
                if (!in_array($pname, $noopt) && $value === true && $nextparm !== false && $nextparm{0} != '-') list($tmp, $value) = each($params);
                $result[$pname] = $value;
            } else {
                // param doesn't belong to any option
                $result[] = $p;
            }
        }
        return $result;
    }
?>

A call like: php.exe -f test.php -- alfons -a 1 -b2 -c --d 2 --e=3=4 --f "alber t" hans wurst

and an in-program call parseParameters(array('f')); would yield in a resulting array:

Array
(
    [0] => alfons
    [a] => 1
    [b2] => 1
    [c] => 1
    [d] => 2
    [e] => 3=4
    [f] => 1
    [1] => alber t
    [2] => hans
    [3] => wurst
)

As you can see, values without an identifier are stored with numeric indexes. Existing identifiers without values get "true".

geoff at gosquared dot com

5 years ago


It seems under PHP 5.3.2, getopt() makes a script fail to load if called via HTTP without any conditions. You'll need something like if(isset($_SERVER['argc'])) $args = getopt(); to prevent that.

Anonymous

9 years ago


About getopt(String):
 Parses the command-line arguments into an associative array, using the function's String parameter to specify arguments and options, thus:
* arguments are specified as any letter followed by a colon, e.g. "h:".
* arguments are returned as "h" => "value".
* options are specified as any letter not followed by a colon, e.g. "r".
* options are returned as "r" => (boolean) false.

Also note that:
1) Options or arguments not passed in the command-line parameters are not set in the returned associative array.
2) Options or arguments present in the command-line arguments multiple times are returned as an enumerated array within the returned associative array.

micropresident at gmail dot com

20 days ago


when using -f option to indicate script name, php does not allow to use double dash -- to define options after the script name; 

For example, the following command  cannot be execute:
php -f myscript.php --config "myconfig.ini"

m at ttcarter dot com

7 years ago


I wrote a library some time ago to counter some of the missing features of the rather limited 'getopt' function. The library as well documentation can be found on my website at http://hash-bang.net/2008/12/missing-php-functions-getopts/

It provides functionality for long switches (e.g. '--delete'), incrementing switches (e.g. '-v -v -v' or '-vvv' for very, very verbose), long values (e.g. '--exclude this.file') and lots more.

getopt

Description

Parameters

Return Values

Changelog

Examples

See Also

User Contributed Notes