The complete solution for c++ command line interface, inspired by ruby's commander and node.js's commander.

Cli++ provides a framework for building cli apps with expressive, elegant syntax. I’ve already laid the foundation — freeing you to create awesome cli applications without sweating the small things.

Installation

git clone https://github.com/manishsahani999/cli-plus-plus.git

Will be available on brew after first release.

Usage

Cli++ provides a Commander Class for quick cli app development. for demonstration

#include <commander.hpp>

using namespace cli;

int32_t main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    // dotfiles is the name of the program and second parameter is description.
    Commander program("dotfiles", "tool to manage dot files with the.");
}

Version

The version method adds handling for displaying the command version. The default option flags are -v and --version, which can be overriden and when present the command prints the version number and exits.

program.version("1.0");

provide your own version flags

program.version("1.0", "-v|--ver", "description for the version command.");

Options

Options are defined with the .option() method, also serving as documentation for the options. Each option can have a short flag (single or double character) and a long name, separated by a comma or space or vertical bar |.

Options can have parameters that can be required (<required-arg> - within <>)or optional ([optional-arg] - within []).

Options on the command line are not positional, and can be specified before or after other command arguments.

program.option("-a", "simplest option");
program.option("-b, --boom", "with aliases");
program.option("-c, --cool <name>", "with a required parameter");
program.option("-d|--doom [party]", "with a optional parameter");

Access Option's arguments

The option's arguments can be accessed at runtime using [] operator on commander's object.

program.parse(argc, argv);

// To access party from doom
std::cout << program["party"];

Default option value

You can specify a default value for an option which takes a value.

program.option("-c, --cool <name>", "with a required parameter", "vim");

Example

#include <iostream>
#include <commander.hpp>

using namespace std;
using namespace cli;

/**
 *  This is an example demonstration to use the package, and is not included in
 *  the library.   
 */
int32_t main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    Commander program("dotfiles", "tool to manage dot files with the.");

    try
    {
        program.version("1.0");
        program.option("-a", "simplest option");
        program.option("-b, --boom", "with aliases");
        program.option("-c, --cool <name>", "with required");
        // program.option("-d|--doom [party]", "optional");
        // program.option("-de| --doom [party]", "errored");
        program.command("clone <url> [path]", "clone the repository");
        program.command("add", "list the commands available");
        program.command("commit", "list the commands available");
        program.parse(argc, argv);
    }
    catch (const cli::Exception &e)
    {
        std::cerr << e.what() << '\n' << e.how() << "\n";
        exit(1);
    }

    if (program.command == "version") {
        cout << program["version"] << endl;
        return 0;
    }

    if (program.command == "clone") {
        cout << "Cloning from "  << program["url"] << endl;
        // do actual cloning
        return 0;
    }
    
    return 0;
}