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up vote 20 down vote favorite
4

This is how it's done in our console app:

using System.Linq;

namespace Generator
{
    internal class Program
    {
        public static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            var param1 = args.SingleOrDefault(arg => arg.StartsWith("p1:"));
            if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(param1))
            {
                param1  = param1.Replace("p1:", "");
            }
            //...
        }
    }
}

It's supposed to be called like this: Generator.exe p1:somevalue

Can you think of a better/simpler way of parsing arguments?

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Also, the FubuCore library has a pretty powerful and self-documenting command line args parser, that I briefly described here –  w0lf Mar 24 '12 at 11:22

6 Answers 6

up vote 19 down vote accepted

I'd recommend taking advantage of the excellent Mono.Options module. It's a single .cs file you can drop in to your solution and get full-featured parsing of GNU getopt-style command lines. (Things like -x -y -z, which is equivalent to -xyz, or -k value, or --long-opt, and so forth.)

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up vote 16 down vote

With such an implementation you will have to repeat yourself for each param.

Alternative: 

var parsedArgs = args
    .Select(s => s.Split(new[] {':'}, 1))
    .ToDictionary(s => s[0], s => s[1]);
string p1 = parsedArgs["p1"];
share|improve this answer
    
+1: I would have used '='. And check that arguments are prefixed with '--'. And what about where the value is the next argument not in the same argument? –  Loki Astari Jan 28 '11 at 18:19
    
@Showbear very nice solution I like it. I'll wait for more suggestions though. –  frennky Jan 28 '11 at 18:36
    
@Martin why would you prefix arguments with '--'? –  frennky Jan 28 '11 at 18:38
    
@frennky: Its sort of a standard for command line arguments (--<longName> or -<shortName>). It separates flags (which modify behavior) from inputs/outputs. But re-reading your original question I was over generalizing and this is not what you want. –  Loki Astari Jan 28 '11 at 20:15
    
@frennky - I agree with Martin, if you are writing an application which somebody (except you) will use then you should read about console argument standarts. As far as I know '--' is kind of *nix style, in windows it is more about slashes. –  Snowbear Jan 28 '11 at 20:22
up vote 5 down vote

There's a related question on Stack Overflow. There, the consensus seems to be Mono.Options as already suggested here by josh3736.

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Read further down the list of answers on that SO question and you'll see that ndesk.org/Options has 2x the upvotes of the accepted answer. –  Handcraftsman Mar 4 '11 at 17:00
1  
Actually, the answer you refer to says "I would strongly suggest using NDesk.Options (Documentation) and/or Mono.Options (same API, different namespace)." –  Don Kirkby Mar 4 '11 at 18:00
up vote 2 down vote

I usually don't use complex command line arguments, so I use a very Simple Command Line Arguments Parser, but it can be used as a foundation for your own application specific parameter presenter.

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up vote 0 down vote

You could use foreach for iterating through the agruments and then for your argument with index 1 you could use regular expression to retrieve parsed text after p1:

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1  
I was hoping to avoid using loops. As for Regex, I think it would be too much, the pattern is quite simple. –  frennky Jan 28 '11 at 18:36
up vote 0 down vote

Please check solution from link. IT uses linq. It short and reuseble in my opinion. Provides extension method so you just do somethink like:

args.Process(
           () => Console.WriteLine("Usage is switch1=value1,value2 switch2=value3"),
           new CommandLine.Switch("switch1",
               val => Console.WriteLine("switch 1 with value {0}",
                   string.Join(" ", val))),
           new CommandLine.Switch("switch2",
               val => Console.WriteLine("switch 2 with value {0}",
                   string.Join(" ", val)), "s1"));
   }

for details please visit my blog

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protected by syb0rg Mar 1 at 23:47

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