# AppConfig::Args - Perl5 module for reading command line arguments. - perldoc - [phpMan]

## NAME
    [AppConfig::Args](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/AppConfig%3A%3AArgs/markdown) - Perl5 module for reading command line arguments.

## SYNOPSIS
        use [AppConfig::Args](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/AppConfig%3A%3AArgs/markdown);

        my $state   = [AppConfig::State](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/AppConfig%3A%3AState/markdown)->new(\%cfg);
        my $cfgargs = [AppConfig::Args](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/AppConfig%3A%3AArgs/markdown)->new($state);

        $cfgargs->parse(\@args);            # read args

## OVERVIEW
    [AppConfig::Args](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/AppConfig%3A%3AArgs/markdown) is a Perl5 module which reads command line arguments and uses the options
    therein to update variable values in an [AppConfig::State](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/AppConfig%3A%3AState/markdown) object.

    [AppConfig::File](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/AppConfig%3A%3AFile/markdown) is distributed as part of the AppConfig bundle.

## DESCRIPTION
  USING THE [AppConfig::Args](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/AppConfig%3A%3AArgs/markdown) MODULE
    To import and use the [AppConfig::Args](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/AppConfig%3A%3AArgs/markdown) module the following line should appear in your Perl
    script:

        use [AppConfig::Args](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/AppConfig%3A%3AArgs/markdown);

    [AppConfig::Args](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/AppConfig%3A%3AArgs/markdown) is used automatically if you use the AppConfig module and create an
    [AppConfig::Args](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/AppConfig%3A%3AArgs/markdown) object through the parse() method.

    [AppConfig::File](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/AppConfig%3A%3AFile/markdown) is implemented using object-oriented methods. A new [AppConfig::Args](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/AppConfig%3A%3AArgs/markdown) object is
    created and initialised using the new() method. This returns a reference to a new
    [AppConfig::File](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/AppConfig%3A%3AFile/markdown) object. A reference to an [AppConfig::State](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/AppConfig%3A%3AState/markdown) object should be passed in as the
    first parameter:

        my $state   = [AppConfig::State](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/AppConfig%3A%3AState/markdown)->new();
        my $cfgargs = [AppConfig::Args](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/AppConfig%3A%3AArgs/markdown)->new($state);

    This will create and return a reference to a new [AppConfig::Args](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/AppConfig%3A%3AArgs/markdown) object.

  PARSING COMMAND LINE ARGUMENTS
    The parse() method is used to read a list of command line arguments and update the STATE
    accordingly. A reference to the list of arguments should be passed in.

        $cfgargs->parse(\@ARGV);

    If the method is called without a reference to an argument list then it will examine and
    manipulate @ARGV.

    If the PEDANTIC option is turned off in the [AppConfig::State](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/AppConfig%3A%3AState/markdown) object, any parsing errors (invalid
    variables, unvalidated values, etc) will generate warnings, but not cause the method to return.
    Having processed all arguments, the method will return 1 if processed without warning or 0 if
    one or more warnings were raised. When the PEDANTIC option is turned on, the method generates a
    warning and immediately returns a value of 0 as soon as it encounters any parsing error.

    The method continues parsing arguments until it detects the first one that does not start with a
    leading dash, '-'. Arguments that constitute values for other options are not examined in this
    way.

## FUTURE DEVELOPMENT
    This module was developed to provide backwards compatibility (to some degree) with the
    preceeding [App::Config](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/App%3A%3AConfig/markdown) module. The argument parsing it provides is basic but offers a quick and
    efficient solution for those times when simple option handling is all that is required.

    If you require more flexibility in parsing command line arguments, then you should consider
    using the [AppConfig::Getopt](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/AppConfig%3A%3AGetopt/markdown) module. This is loaded and used automatically by calling the
    AppConfig getopt() method.

    The [AppConfig::Getopt](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/AppConfig%3A%3AGetopt/markdown) module provides considerably extended functionality over the
    [AppConfig::Args](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/AppConfig%3A%3AArgs/markdown) module by delegating out the task of argument parsing to Johan Vromans'
    [Getopt::Long](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/Getopt%3A%3ALong/markdown) module. For advanced command-line parsing, this module (either [Getopt::Long](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/Getopt%3A%3ALong/markdown) by
    itself, or in conjunction with [AppConfig::Getopt](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/AppConfig%3A%3AGetopt/markdown)) is highly recommended.

## AUTHOR
    Andy Wardley, <<abw@wardley.org>>

## COPYRIGHT
    Copyright (C) 1997-2007 Andy Wardley. All Rights Reserved.

    Copyright (C) 1997,1998 Canon Research Centre Europe Ltd.

    This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as
    Perl itself.

## SEE ALSO
    AppConfig, [AppConfig::State](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/AppConfig%3A%3AState/markdown), [AppConfig::Getopt](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/AppConfig%3A%3AGetopt/markdown), [Getopt::Long](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/Getopt%3A%3ALong/markdown)