1 Changes in version 2.28
2 -----------------------
4 * When an option is specified more than once, a warning is generated
5 if perl is run with -w. This is a correction to 2.27, where it would
8 An example of duplicate specification is GetOptions('foo', 'foo'),
9 but also GetOptions('foo=s', 'foo') and GetOptions('Foo', 'foo')
10 (the latter only when ignore_case is in effect).
12 Changes in version 2.27
13 -----------------------
15 * You can now specify integer options to take an optional argument.
16 that defaults to a specific value. E.g., GetOptions('foo:5' => \$var)
17 will allow $var to get the value 5 when no value was specified with
18 the -foo option on the command line.
20 Instead of a value, a '+' may be specified. E.g.,
21 GetOptions('foo:+' => \$var) will allow $var to be incremented when
22 no value was specified with the -foo option on the command line.
24 * Fix several problems with internal and external use of 'die' and
27 * Fixed some bugs with subtle combinations of bundling_override and
30 * A callback routine that is associated with a hash-valued option will
31 now have both the hask key and the value passed. It used to get only
34 * Eliminated the use of autoloading. Autoloading kept generating
35 problems during development, and when using perlcc.
37 * Avoid errors on references when an option is found in error, e.g.
38 GetOptions('fo$@#' => \$var).
39 Thanks to Wolfgang Laun <Wolfgang.Laun@alcatel.at>.
41 * When an option is specified more than once, an error is now
42 generated. E.g., GetOptions('foo', 'foo').
43 Thanks to Wolfgang Laun <Wolfgang.Laun@alcatel.at>.
45 * Lots of internal restructoring to make room for extensions.
47 * Redesigned the regression tests.
49 * Enhance the documentation to prevent common misunderstandings about
50 single character options.
52 Changes in version 2.26
53 -----------------------
55 * New option type: 'o'. It accepts all kinds of integral numbers in
56 Perl style, including decimal (24), octal (012), hexadecimal (0x2f)
59 * Fix problem with getopt_compat not matching +foo=bar.
61 * Remove $VERSION_STRING for production versions.
63 Changes in version 2.26
64 -----------------------
66 * New option type: 'o'. It accepts all kinds of integral numbers in
67 Perl style, including decimal (24), octal (012), hexadecimal (0x2f)
70 * Fix problem with getopt_compat not matching +foo=bar.
72 * Remove $VERSION_STRING for production versions.
74 Changes in version 2.25
75 -----------------------
77 * Change handling of a lone "-" on the command line. It will now be
78 treated as a non-option unless an explicit specification was passed
79 to GetOptions. See the manual.
80 In the old implementation an error was signalled, so no
81 compatibility breaks are expected from this change.
83 * Add $VERSION_STRING. This is the string form of $VERSION. Usually
84 they are identical, unless it is a pre-release in which case
85 $VERSION will be (e.g.) 2.2403 and $VERSION_STRING will be "2.24_03".
87 Changes in version 2.24
88 -----------------------
90 * Add object oriented interface:
93 $p = new Getopt::Long::Parser;
94 $p->configure(...configuration options...);
95 if ($p->getoptions(...options descriptions...)) ...
97 * Add configuration at 'use' time:
99 use Getopt::Long qw(:config no_ignore_case bundling);
101 * Add configuration options "gnu_getopt" and "gnu_compat".
103 "gnu_compat" controls whether --opt= is allowed, and what it should
104 do. Without "gnu_compat", --opt= gives an error. With "gnu_compat",
105 --opt= will give option "opt" and empty value.
106 This is the way GNU getopt_long does it.
108 "gnu_getopt" is a short way of setting "gnu_compat bundling permute
109 no_getopt_compat. With "gnu_getopt", command line handling should be
110 fully compatible with GNU getopt_long.
112 * Correct warnings when the user specified an array or hash
113 destination using a non-lowercase option, e.g. "I=s@".
115 * Correct ambiguous use of 'set' and 'reset' in the Configuration
116 section of the documentation.
118 * Add configuration option "posix_default" to reset to defaults as if
119 POSIXLY_CORRECT were set.
121 * Disallow "no" prefix on configuration options "default", "prefix" and
124 * Add a section "Trouble Shooting" to the documentation, with
125 frequently asked questions.
127 Changes in version 2.23
128 -----------------------
130 * When a call-back routine issues 'die', messages starting with "!"
131 are treated specially. Currently, only "!FINISH" is recognised (see
132 the next bullet point). Other messages that start with "!" are
135 * Change 'die("FINISH") (see changes in 2.21) to die("!FINISH"). This
136 is an incompatible change, but I guess noone is using this yet.
138 Changes in version 2.22
139 -----------------------
141 * Fixes a bug in the combination of aliases and negation.
143 Old: "foo|bar!" allowed negation on foo, but not on bar.
144 New: "foo|bar!" allows negation on foo and bar.
146 Caveat: "foo|f!", with bundling, issues the warning that negation on
147 a short option is ignored. To obtain the desired behaviour, use
149 "foo!" => \$opt_foo, "f" => \$opt_foo
151 "foo|f" => \$opt_foo, "nofoo" => sub { $opt_foo = 0 }
153 Remember that this is _only_ required when bundling is in effect.
155 Changes in version 2.21
156 -----------------------
160 * User defined subroutines should use 'die' to signal errors.
162 * User defined subroutines can preliminary terminate options
163 processing by calling die("FINISH");
165 * Correct erroneous install of Getopt::Long manpage.
166 Previous versions seem to install Getopt::GetoptLong instead of
169 Changes in version 2.20
170 -----------------------
172 * Prevent the magic argument "<>" from being interpreted as option
173 starter characters if it is the first argument passed.
174 To use the characters "<>" as option starters, pass "><" instead.
176 * Changed license: Getopt::Long may now also be used under the Perl
179 * Changed the file name of the distribution kit from "GetoptLong..."
180 to "Getopt-Long-..." to match the standards.
182 Changes in version 2.19
183 -----------------------
185 * Fix a warning bug with bundling_override.
187 There's no version 2.18
188 -----------------------
190 Changes in version 2.17
191 -----------------------
193 * Getopt::Long::config is renamed Getopt::Long::Configure. The old
194 name will remain supported without being documented.
196 * Options can have the specifier '+' to denote that the option value
197 must be incremented each time the option occurs on the command line.
201 Getopt::Long::Configure("bundling");
202 GetOptions ("v+" => \$more);
203 print STDOUT ("more = $more\n");
205 will print "more = 3" when called with "-v", "more = 4" when called
206 with "-vv" (or "-v -v"), and so on.
208 * Getopt::Long now uses autoloading. This substantially reduces the
209 resources required to 'use Getopt::Long' (about 100 lines of over
212 * It is now documented that global option variables like $opt_foo
213 need to be declared using 'use vars ...' when running under 'use
216 * To install, it is now required to use the official procedure:
223 Changes in version 2.16
224 -----------------------
226 * A couple of small additional fixes to the $` $& $' fixes.
228 * The option prefix can be set using config("prefix=...") or, more
229 powerful, with config("prefix_pattern=..."); see the documentation
232 * More 'perl -w' warnings eliminated for obscure cases of bundling.
234 This version is identical to 2.15, which was not released.
236 There's no version 2.14
237 -----------------------
239 Changes in version 2.13
240 -----------------------
242 * All regexps are changed to avoid the use of $`, $& and $'. Using one
243 of these causes all pattern matches in the program to be much slower
246 * Configuration errors are signalled using die() and will cause the
247 program to be terminated (unless eval{...} or $SIG{__DIE__} is
250 * Option parsing errors are now signalled with calls to warn().
252 * In option bundles, numeric values may be embedded in the bundle
255 * More 'perl -w' warnings eliminated for obscure cases of bundling.
257 * Removed non-standard version number matching. Version 1.121 is now
258 more than 1.12 but less than 1.13.
260 Changes in version 2.12
261 -----------------------
263 * A single question mark is allowed as an alias to an option, e.g.
265 GetOptions ("help|?", ...)
267 Changes in version 2.11
268 -----------------------
270 * User linkage may be an object, provided the object is really a hash.
275 sub new () { return bless {}; }
278 my $linkage = Foo->new();
280 GetOptions ($linkage, ... );
282 * Some bug fixes in handling obscure cases of pass-through.
284 Changes in version 2.9
285 ----------------------
287 * A new way to configure Getopt::Long. Instead of setting module local
288 variables, routine Getopt::Long::config can be called with the names
289 of options to be set or reset, e.g.
291 Getopt::Long::config ("no_auto_abbrev", "ignore_case");
293 Configuring by using the module local variables is deprecated, but
294 it will continue to work for backwark compatibility.
296 Changes in version 2.6
297 ----------------------
299 * Handle ignorecase even if autoabbrev is off.
303 Changes in version 2.4
304 ----------------------
306 * Pass-through of unrecognized options. Makes it easy to write wrapper
307 programs that process some of the command line options but pass the
308 others to another program.
310 * Options can be of type HASH, now you can say
314 and have $opt_define{"foo"} set to "bar".
316 * An enhanced skeleton program, skel2.pl, that combines the power of
317 Getopt::Long with Pod::Usage.
318 Module Pod::Usage can be obtained from CPAN,
319 http://www.perl.com/CPAN/authors/Brad_Appleton.
321 Possible incompatibility in version 2.4
322 ---------------------------------------
324 Previous versions of Getopt::Long always downcased the option variable
325 names when ignorecase was in effect. This bug has been corrected. As a
326 consequence, &GetOptions ("Foo") will now set variable $opt_Foo