Question

getopt() is not behaving as I expect for short options.

eg: Invoking the below program with a missing parameter:

Valid Case: testopt -d dir -a action -b build

Error Case: testopt -d -a action -b build

This did not throw any error as I was expecting an error message operand missing for -d

• Is this a known bug?
• If so, is there any standard fix available?

My code:

#include <unistd.h> /* testopt.c                       */ /* Test program for testing getopt */ int main(int argc, char **argv) {     int chr;     while ( ( chr = getopt(argc, argv, ':d:a:b:') ) != -1 )     {             switch(chr)             {                     case 'a':                             printf('Got a...\n');                             break;                     case 'b':                             printf('Got b...\n');                             break;                     case 'd':                             printf('Got d...\n');                             break;                     case ':':                             printf('Missing operand for %c\n', optopt);                             break;                     case '?':                             printf('Unknown option %c\n', optopt);                             break;             }     }     printf('execution over\n');     return 0; } 

Answer 1

getopt() thinks -a is an argument for -d, not an option.

Try testopt -a action -b build -d – it should complain about missing argument.

You need to check for -d option (and all other options) that optarg has valid value – the one without dash in the beginning.