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MODULE Y

THE C/C++, main() AND COMMAND-LINE ARGUMENT

 

 

 

 

My Training Period: xx hours

 

Note:

Examples compiled using Microsoft Visual C++/.Net, empty win32 console mode application.  Some examples also tested using Borland C++ Builder 5.02.  gcc compilation example is given at the end of this Module. For the main() command line arguments and pointer story, please read C &++ Pointers, Section 8.9.  For wide character and Unicode wmain() version please refer to Win32 Locale, Unicode & Wide Characters (Story) and Windows Win32 Users & Groups (implementation). for the dllmain() please refer to Win32 programming

 

The C and C++ main() and command line arguments skills:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Y.1  The main Function and Program Execution

 

  • The ‘concepts’ discussed in this Module may be very useful for UNIX/Linux (or command line tools for Microsoft Windows) programmers because of the extensive usage of the command-line programs or tools.

  • A special function called main() is the starting point of execution for all C and C++ programs. It is not predefined by the compiler; so that, it must be supplied in the program.

  • If your code adheres to the Unicode programming model, then you can use the wide-character version of main(), wmain(), but it is implementation dependent.

  • The main() function serves as the starting point for program execution.  It usually controls program execution by directing the calls to other functions in the program.

  • A program usually stops executing at the end of main(), denoted by closing curly brace (}), although it can terminate at other points in the program for a variety of reasons such as the forced program termination by using the exit() function.

  • As you have learned before, functions within the program body perform one or more specific tasks. The main() function can call these functions to perform their respective tasks as shown in the following program skeleton.

int main()

{

      // a function call…

      MyFunction();

      …

      // another function call…

      YourFunction();

      …

      // another function call…

      OurFunction();

      …

      return 0;

}

  • When main() calls another function, it passes execution control to the function, then, execution begins at the first statement in the function.  A function returns control to main() when a return statement is executed or when the end of the function is reached denoted by the closing curly brace.

  • If you aware, all the program examples presented in this tutorial do not have parameters in the main() function. Actually there are others version, that you can declare main() function, to have parameters, as any other functions but with a few exceptions.

  • As explained before in Function, the term parameter or formal parameter refers to the identifier that receives a value passed to a function.  When one function calls another, the called function receives values for its parameters from the calling function.

  • These values are called arguments. The parameter just acts as a placeholder.  You can declare parameters to main() so that it can receive arguments from the command line using the following format:

int main(int argc, char *argv[ ])
{
  ...
  return 0;
}
int main(int argc, char *argv[ ], char *envp[ ])
{
  ...
  return 0;
}
int main(void)
{
  //...
  return 0;
}
 
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
  //...
  return 0;
}
 
// implementation dependant
int main(int argc, char *argv[ ], char *envp[])
{
  //...
  return 0;
}

Parameter

Description

argc

For argument count, an integer that contains the count of arguments that follows in argv. Since the program name is considered an argument, the argc parameter is always greater than or equal to 1.  Type is int.

*argv[]/**argv

For argument vector, an array of null-terminated strings representing command-line arguments entered by the user of the program. All elements of the argv array are pointers to strings.  By convention, argv[0] is the command with which the program is invoked, that is the program name; then, argv[1] is the first command-line argument, and so on, until argv[argc], which is always NULL pointer.  The first command-line argument is always argv[1] and the last one is argv[argc–1].  All elements of the argv array are pointers to strings.  Type is char.

*envp[]

*env(Borland®)

Is an array of pointers to environment variables.  The envp array is terminated by a null pointer.  This is a Microsoft extension to the ANSI C standard and also used in Microsoft C++.  It is an array of strings representing the variables set in the user's environment. This array is terminated by a NULL entry.  It can be declared as an array of pointers to char(char *envp[ ]) or as a pointer to pointers to char(char **envp).  If your program uses wmain() instead of main(), use the wchar_t() data type instead of char.  The environment block passed to main() and wmain() is a frozen copy of the current environment. If you subsequently change the environment via a call to putenv() or _wputenv(), the current environment (as returned by getenv()/_wgetenv() and the _environ()/_wenviron() variable) will change, but the block pointed to by envp will not change. This argument is ANSI compatible in C, but not in C++.  It is also a common extension in many Linux/UNIX® systems.

 

Table Y.1:  main() parameters

echo Hello world!

Hello world!

argv[0] is echo          - the program name

argv[1] is Hello          - string  

argv[2] is world!        - string

C and command line argument illustration

// program & file names, myecho.exe

// compiled using Visual C++ .Net

#include <stdio.h>

 

// echo command-line argument

// using array of character pointers

int main(int argc, char *argv[])

{

     int i;

     for(i=1; i<argc; i++)

            printf("%s%s", argv[i],(i<argc-1)? " ":"");

     printf("\n");

     return 0;

}

main() and command-line argument

// program & file names, myecho.exe

// compiled using Visual C++ .Net

#include <stdio.h>

 

// another version of the myecho program,

// command-line argument

int main(int argc, char *argv[])

{

     while(--argc > 0)

            printf("%s%s",*++argv, (argc > 1) ? " ": "");

     printf("\n");

     return 0;

}

 

C main() and command-line argument

 

  • Since argv is a pointer to the beginning of the array of argument strings, incrementing it by 1 (++argv) makes it point at the original argv[1] instead of argv[0].

  • Each successive increment moves it along to the next argument; *argv is then the pointer to that argument.  At the same time, argc is decremented; when it becomes zero, there are no arguments left to print.  Alternatively we could write the printf() statement as:

printf((argc > ?) ? "%s ": "%s", *++argv);

  • This shows that the format argument of printf() can also be an expression.

  • Consider the following program example, very simple text pattern search program.

// searchpattern.cpp, compiled using Visual C++ .Net

#include <stdio.h>

// maximum input line length

#define MAXLINE 100

 

// function prototypes...

int getline(char line[ ], int max);

int strindex(char source[ ], char searchfor[ ]);

 

// pattern to be searched for in the line

char pattern[ ] = "eat";

 

// find/display all line matching pattern

int main()

{

     char line[MAXLINE];

     int found = 0;

    

     printf("Searching \'eat\' in the line of text\n");

     printf("Enter line of text:\n");

     while(getline(line, MAXLINE) > 0)

            if(strindex(line, pattern) >= 0)

            {     

                printf("%s", line);

                found++;

            }

            return found;

}

 

// getline(), get line into string str, return the length

int getline(char str[ ], int lim)

{

    int count, i;

    i=0;

   

    while(--lim > 0 && (count=getchar()) != EOF && count != '\n')

            str[i++] = count;

     if(count=='\n')

            str[i++] = count;

     str[i]='\0';

     return i;

}

// strindex, return index of t in str, -1 if none

int strindex(char str[], char t[])

{

     int i, j, k;

     for(i=0;str[i]!='\0';i++)

     {

            for(j=i, k=0; t[k] != '\0' && str[j] == t[k]; j++, k++)

                   ;

            if(k > 0 && t[k] == '\0')

                   return i;

     }

     return -1;

}

main() and command-line argument

 

Y.2  Command Line Argument

// searchpattern.cpp, compiled using VC++ .Net, not usable...just program skeleton

#include <stdio.h>

#include <string.h>

#define MAXLINE 100

 

int getline(char *line, int max)

{

    printf("In getline() function\n");

    // put getting line of text codes here…

    return 0;

}

 

// find and print lines that match pattern from the 1st argument

int main(int argc, char *argv[])

{

     char line[MAXLINE];

     int found = 0;

 

     // if just program name (argc = 1), then...

     if(argc != 2)

            printf("Usage: searchpattern thepattern\n");

    

     // if the program name with switch/option (argc = 2), then...

     else

           

               while(getline(line, MAXLINE) > 0)

               {

                   if(strstr(line, argv[1]) != NULL)

                   {

                        printf("%s", line);

                        found++;}

                   }

              return found;

}

main() and command-line argument

// searchpattern.cpp, compiled using VC++ .Net

#include <stdio.h>

#include <string.h>

#define MAXLINE 100

 

int getline(char *line, int max)

{

    int count, i;

    i=0;

   

    while(--max > 0 && (count=getchar()) != EOF && count != '\n')

            line[i++] = count;

     if(count=='\n')

            line[i++] = count;

     line[i]='\0';

     return i;

}

 

// find and print lines that match the pattern from the 1st argument

int main(int argc, char *argv[])

{

     char line[MAXLINE];

     int found = 0;

    

     // if just program name (argc = 1), then...

     if(argc != 2)

            printf("Usage: searchpattern thepattern\n");    

     // if the program name with switch/option (argc = 2), then...

     else

    

       while(getline(line, MAXLINE) > 0)

       {

            if(strstr(line, argv[1]) != NULL)

            {

                printf("%s", line);

               found++;

              }

         }

      return found;

}

C, main() and command-line argument

 

Y.3  Command line and switches/options

searchpattern –v –n thepattern

searchpattern –vn thepattern

// searchpattern.cpp, compiled using VC++ .Net

#include <stdio.h>

#include <string.h>

// maximum input line length

#define MAXLINE 100

 

int getline(char line[], int max)

{

    int count, i;

    i=0;

   

    while(--max > 0 && (count=getchar()) != EOF && count != '\n')

              line[i++] = count;

       if(count=='\n')

              line[i++] = count;

       line[i]='\0';

    return i;

}

 

// find all line of text matching pattern supplied by command line argument

int main(int argc, char *argv[])

{

       char line[MAXLINE];

       long linenum = 0;

       int theoption, except = 0, number = 0, found =0;

      

       // check the minus sign....

       while(--argc > 0 && (*++argv)[0] == '-')

              // check the option...

              while(theoption = *++argv[0])

                     switch (theoption)

              {

                     case 'v':

                           except = 1;

                           break;

                     case 'n':

                           number = 1;

                           break;

                     default:

                           printf("searchpattern: illegal option %s\n", theoption);

                           argc = 0;

                           found = -1;

                           break;

              }

              if(argc != 1)

              {

                     // some help...

                     printf("Usage: searchpattern -v -n thepattern\n");

                     printf("Try: searchpattern -v -n test\n");

                     printf("Try: searchpattern -v test\n");

                     printf("Try: searchpattern -n test\n");

                     printf("Try: searchpattern -vn test\n");

                     printf("Then enter line of text, with or w/o the pattern!\n");

              }

              else

                     while(getline(line, MAXLINE) > 0)

                     {

                           linenum++;

                           if((strstr(line,*argv) != NULL) != except)

                           {

                                  if(number)

                                         printf("%ld:", linenum);

                                  printf("%s", line);

                                  found++;

                           }

                     }

                     return found;

}

searchpattern –v –n test

 

C, main() and command-line argument options or switches

int wmain( )
{
  //...
  return 0;
}
int wmain(int argc, wchar_t *argv[], wchar_t *envp[])
{
  //...
  return 0;
}

Y.4  Some main() Function Restrictions

  1. Cannot be overloaded.

  2. Cannot be declared as inline.

  3. Cannot be declared as static.

  4. Cannot have its address taken.

  5. Cannot be called.

// main() arguments program example, C++ codes

#include <iostream>

// for Borland 5.02 you may use <string.h> instead of <cstring>

// and comment out the ‘using namespace std’;

#include <cstring>

using namespace std;

 

int main(int argc, char *argv[], char *envp[])

{

    // the default is no line numbers.

    int LineNum = 0;   

   

    // if /n is passed to the .exe program, display

    // numbered listing of environment variables.

    // if program name and switch/option... AND stricmp...

    if((argc == 2) && stricmp(argv[1], "/n" ) == 0)

        LineNum = 1;

    else

        cout<<"no \'/n\' passed..."<<endl;

   

    // walk through the list of strings until a NULL is encountered.

    for(int i = 0; envp[i] != NULL; ++i)

    {

        if(LineNum)

        cout<<i<<": "<<envp[i]<<"\n";

    }

    cout<<"Usage: searchpattern /n\n";

    return 0;

}

C, main() and command-line argument

 

Y.5  Parsing C Command-Line Arguments – Microsoft Implementation

  1. Arguments are delimited by white space, which is either a space or a tab.

  2. A string surrounded by double quotation marks is interpreted as a single argument, regardless of white space contained within. A quoted string can be embedded in an argument. Note that the caret (^) is not recognized as an escape character or delimiter.

  3. A double quotation mark preceded by a backslash, \", is interpreted as a literal double quotation mark (").

  4. Backslashes are interpreted literally, unless they immediately precede a double quotation mark.

  5. If an even number of backslashes is followed by a double quotation mark, then one backslash (\) is placed in the argv array for every pair of backslashes (\\), and the double quotation mark (") is interpreted as a string delimiter.

  6. If an odd number of backslashes is followed by a double quotation mark, then one backslash (\) is placed in the argv array for every pair of backslashes (\\) and the double quotation mark is interpreted as an escape sequence by the remaining backslash, causing a literal double quotation mark (") to be placed in argv.

Command-Line Input

argv[1]

argv[2]

argv[3]

"a b c" d e

a b c

d

e

"ab\"c" "\\" d

ab"c

\

d

a\\\b d"e f"g h

a\\\b

de fg

h

a\\\"b c d

a\"b

c

d

a\\\\"b c" d e

a\\b c

d

e

 

Table Y.2

 

// searchpattern.cpp, compiled using VC++ .Net and Borland C++ 5.02

// run on windows machine...

#include <stdio.h>

 

int main(int argc,          /* number of strings in array argv */

    char *argv[ ],             /* array of command-line argument strings */

    char **envp)             /* array of environment variable strings */

{

    int count;

   

    /* display each command-line argument. */

    printf("\nThe command-line arguments:\n");

    for(count = 0; count < argc; count++)

        printf("  argv[%d]   %s\n", count, argv[count]);

   

    /* display each environment variable.*/

    printf("\nEnvironment variables:\n");

    while(*envp != NULL)

        printf("  %s\n", *(envp++));

    return 0;

}

C, main() and command-line argument

/ ***************cmdline.c*************** */

/ ***********Run on FeDorA 3 Machine******* */

#include <stdio.h>

 

int main(int argc,   /* number of strings in array argv */

    char *argv[ ],      /* array of command-line argument strings */

    char **envp)      /* array of environment variable strings */

{

    int count;

 

    /* display each command-line argument. */

    printf("\nThe command-line arguments:\n");

    for(count = 0; count < argc; count++)

        printf("  argv[%d]   %s\n", count, argv[count]);

 

    /* display each environment variable. */

    printf("\nEnvironment variables:\n");

    while(*envp != NULL)

        printf("  %s\n", *(envp++));

 

    return 0;

}

 

[bodo@bakawali ~]$ gcc cmdline.c -o cmdline

[bodo@bakawali ~]$ ./cmdline

 

The command-line arguments:

  argv[0]   ./cmdline

 

Environment variables:

  HOSTNAME=bakawali

  TERM=xterm

  SHELL=/bin/bash

  HISTSIZE=1000

  SSH_CLIENT=::ffff:203.106.94.71 4136 22

  SSH_TTY=/dev/pts/4

  USER=bodo

  LS_COLORS=no=00:fi=00:di=00;34:ln=00;36:pi=40;33:so=00;35:bd=40;33;01:cd=40;33;01:or=01;05;37;41:mi=01;

05;37;41:ex=00;32:*.cmd=00;32:*.exe=00;32:*.com=00;32:*.btm=00;32:*.bat=00;32:*.sh=00;32:*.csh=00;32:*.tar=00;

31:*.tgz=00;31:*.arj=00;31:*.taz=00;31:*.lzh=00;31:*.zip=00;31:*.z=00;31:*.Z=00;31:*.gz=00;31:*.bz2=00;31:*.bz=00;

31:*.tz=00;31:*.rpm=00;31:*.cpio=00;31:*.jpg=00;35:*.gif=00;35:*.bmp=00;35:*.xbm=00;35:*.xpm=00;35:*.png=00;35:*.tif=00;35:

  KDEDIR=/usr

  MAIL=/var/spool/mail/bodo

  PATH=/usr/kerberos/bin:/usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/home/bodo/bin

  INPUTRC=/etc/inputrc

  PWD=/home/bodo

  LANG=en_US.UTF-8

  SSH_ASKPASS=/usr/libexec/openssh/gnome-ssh-askpass

  SHLVL=1

  HOME=/home/bodo

  LOGNAME=bodo

  SSH_CONNECTION=::ffff:203.106.94.71 4136 ::ffff:203.106.94.94 22

  LESSOPEN=|/usr/bin/lesspipe.sh %s

  G_BROKEN_FILENAMES=1

  _=./cmdline

 

-----------------------------------o0o -----------------------------------

---www.tenouk.com---

 

 

 

 

 

Further related reading:

 

  1. Microsoft C references, online MSDN.

  2. Microsoft Visual C++, online MSDN.

  3. ReactOS - Windows binary compatible OS - C/C++ source code repository, Doxygen.

  4. Check the best selling C and C++ books at Amazon.com.

  5. Win32 Locale, Unicode & Wide Characters (Story) and Windows Win32 Users & Groups (implementation) for Multibytes, Unicode characters and Localization.

  6. Windows Dynamic-Link Library, DLL story and program examples can be found Win32 DLL tutorials.

  7. Windows implementation of processes, threads and synchronization using C can be found Win32 processes and threads tutorials.

  8. Windows Services story can be found Windows Services tutorials.

 

 

 

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