LS Args

Minimal, single-header command-line argument parser for C.

• ANSI C / C89
• Header-only
• No macros or code generation
• Extensively unit-tested (90%+ line- and branch coverage)
• Supports short/long options, booleans, strings, and positional arguments
• Supports short options as -abc equivalent to -a -b -c
• Optional/required argument modes
• Auto-generated help text
• Supports -- to indicate that all following arguments should be treated as positional, even if they start with -

Quick Start

1. Copy ls_args.h to your project.
2. Define and initialize an argument parser:

   ls_args args;
   ls_args_init(&args);
   args.help_description = "My program description.";
   

3. Register arguments:

   int verbose = 0;
   ls_args_bool(&args, &verbose, "v", "verbose", "Enable verbose output", 0);
   
   const char* output = NULL;
   ls_args_string(&args, &output, "o", "output", "Output file", 0);
   
   const char* input;
   ls_args_pos_string(&args, &input, "Input file", LS_ARGS_REQUIRED);
   

4. Parse arguments:

   if (!ls_args_parse(&args, argc, argv)) {
       fprintf(stderr, "%s\n", args.last_error);
       exit(1);
   }
   

5. Use parsed values. Free resources when done:

   ls_args_free(&args);
   

6. Use ls_args_help() to generate a help string from provided arguments:

   puts(ls_args_help(&args));
   

   Example output:

   Usage: ./my_example [OPTION] <Input file>
   
   Options:
     -v 	--verbose   Enable verbose output
     -o 	--output    Output file
   

See ls_args.h for detailed documentation and usage patterns.

License

MIT.

Links

• Website
• GitHub
• LibLS Git