1 Changes in version 2.35
2 -----------------------
4 * [Experimental] Options can take multiple values at once. E.g.,
6 --coordinates 52.2 16.4 --rgbcolor 255 255 149
8 To handle the above command line, the following call to GetOptions
11 GetOptions('coordinates=f{2}' => \@coor, 'rgbcolor=i{3}' => \@color);
13 You can specify the minimum and maximum number of values desired.
14 The syntax for this is similar to that of regular expression
15 patterns: { min , max }.
17 Changes in version 2.34
18 -----------------------
20 * Auto-vivification of array and hash refs
22 If an option is specified to require an array or hash ref, and a
23 scalar reference is passed, this is auto-vivified to array or hash
29 GetOptions("foo=s@", \$var);
30 # Now $var->[0] eq "xx"
32 * Auto-supplied verbose and help options are no longer taken into
33 account when determining option ambiguity. This eliminates the
34 common problem that you suddenly get an ambiguous option warning
35 when you have an option "verbose" and run your program with "-v".
37 * Cosmetic changes in some error messages.
39 Changes in version 2.33
40 -----------------------
42 **************** WARNING -- EXPERIMENTAL CODE AHEAD ****************
44 The following new features are marked experimental. This means that if
45 you are going to use them you _must_ watch out for the next release of
46 Getopt::Long to see if the API has changed.
48 * Getopt::Long can automatically handle --version and --help options
49 if the calling program did not specify a handler explicitly.
51 Two configuration parameters have been added: 'auto_help' (or
52 'help') and 'auto_version' (or 'version'). If set, Getopt::Long will
53 itself take care of --help and --version options. Otherwise,
54 everything is exactly as it was before.
56 The new features will be enabled by default for programs that
57 explicitly require version 2.3203 or later.
59 Getopt::Long uses module Pod::Usage to produce the help message from
60 the SYNOPSIS section of the program's POD.
62 Using a --help (or -?) command line option will write the SYNOPSIS
63 section of the program's POD to STDOUT, and exit with status 0.
64 However, an illegal option will produce the help text to STDERR,
65 and exit with status 2. This is in accordance with current
68 * Two subroutines can be exported on demand:
72 This subroutine prints the standard version message.
76 This subroutine prints the standard help message.
78 Both subroutines take the same arguments as Pod::Usage::pod2usage,
79 see its documentation for details.
83 use Getopt::Long 2.33 qw(GetOptions HelpMessage);
84 GetOptions(...) or HelpMessage(2);
86 **************** END EXPERIMENTAL CODE ****************
88 * Subroutine Configure can now be exported on demand.
90 * Negatable options (with "!") now also support the "no-" prefix.
91 On request of Ed Avis.
93 * Some fixes with hashes and bundling.
94 Thanks to Anders Johnson and Andrei Gnepp.
95 Mandatory/optional status for hash values is now effective.
96 String valued options with no value now default to the empty string
98 NOTE: The hash options still remain more or less experimental.
100 * Fix a pass_through bug where the options terminator (normally "--")
101 was not passed through in @ARGV.
102 Thanks to Philippe Verdret.
104 * Add FAQ: I "use GetOpt::Long;" (Windows) and now it doesn't work.
106 Changes in version 2.32
107 -----------------------
109 * Fix a bug where the initial value for a optional numeric argument
110 was not used for value of a hash option.
112 * Remove 5.005 thread safety code. Getopt::Long is completely thread
113 safe when using the 5.8 ithreads.
115 Changes in version 2.31
116 -----------------------
118 * Fix a bug where calling the configure method on a
119 Getopt::Long::Parser object would bail out with
120 Undefined subroutine &Getopt::Long::Parser::Configure called at
121 Getopt/Long.pm line 186.
123 Changes in version 2.30
124 -----------------------
126 * Fix a problem where a 'die' from a 'warn' via a localized
127 $SIG{__WARN__} was not properly propagated from a callback.
128 Thanks to Diab Jerius.
130 Changes in version 2.29
131 -----------------------
133 * Fix a problem where options were not recognized when both
134 auto_abbrev and ignore_case were disabled. Thanks to Seth Robertson.
138 Changes in version 2.28
139 -----------------------
141 * When an option is specified more than once, a warning is generated
142 if perl is run with -w. This is a correction to 2.27, where it would
145 An example of duplicate specification is GetOptions('foo', 'foo'),
146 but also GetOptions('foo=s', 'foo') and GetOptions('Foo', 'foo')
147 (the latter only when ignore_case is in effect).
149 Changes in version 2.27
150 -----------------------
152 * You can now specify integer options to take an optional argument.
153 that defaults to a specific value. E.g., GetOptions('foo:5' => \$var)
154 will allow $var to get the value 5 when no value was specified with
155 the -foo option on the command line.
157 Instead of a value, a '+' may be specified. E.g.,
158 GetOptions('foo:+' => \$var) will allow $var to be incremented when
159 no value was specified with the -foo option on the command line.
161 * Fix several problems with internal and external use of 'die' and
164 * Fixed some bugs with subtle combinations of bundling_override and
167 * A callback routine that is associated with a hash-valued option will
168 now have both the hask key and the value passed. It used to get only
171 * Eliminated the use of autoloading. Autoloading kept generating
172 problems during development, and when using perlcc.
174 * Avoid errors on references when an option is found in error, e.g.
175 GetOptions('fo$@#' => \$var).
176 Thanks to Wolfgang Laun.
178 * When an option is specified more than once, an error is now
179 generated. E.g., GetOptions('foo', 'foo').
180 Thanks to Wolfgang Laun.
182 * Lots of internal restructoring to make room for extensions.
184 * Redesigned the regression tests.
186 * Enhance the documentation to prevent common misunderstandings about
187 single character options.
189 Changes in version 2.26
190 -----------------------
192 * New option type: 'o'. It accepts all kinds of integral numbers in
193 Perl style, including decimal (24), octal (012), hexadecimal (0x2f)
196 * Fix problem with getopt_compat not matching +foo=bar.
198 * Remove $VERSION_STRING for production versions.
200 Changes in version 2.25
201 -----------------------
203 * Change handling of a lone "-" on the command line. It will now be
204 treated as a non-option unless an explicit specification was passed
205 to GetOptions. See the manual.
206 In the old implementation an error was signalled, so no
207 compatibility breaks are expected from this change.
209 * Add $VERSION_STRING. This is the string form of $VERSION. Usually
210 they are identical, unless it is a pre-release in which case
211 $VERSION will be (e.g.) 2.2403 and $VERSION_STRING will be "2.24_03".
213 Changes in version 2.24
214 -----------------------
216 * Add object oriented interface:
219 $p = new Getopt::Long::Parser;
220 $p->configure(...configuration options...);
221 if ($p->getoptions(...options descriptions...)) ...
223 * Add configuration at 'use' time:
225 use Getopt::Long qw(:config no_ignore_case bundling);
227 * Add configuration options "gnu_getopt" and "gnu_compat".
229 "gnu_compat" controls whether --opt= is allowed, and what it should
230 do. Without "gnu_compat", --opt= gives an error. With "gnu_compat",
231 --opt= will give option "opt" and empty value.
232 This is the way GNU getopt_long does it.
234 "gnu_getopt" is a short way of setting "gnu_compat bundling permute
235 no_getopt_compat. With "gnu_getopt", command line handling should be
236 fully compatible with GNU getopt_long.
238 * Correct warnings when the user specified an array or hash
239 destination using a non-lowercase option, e.g. "I=s@".
241 * Correct ambiguous use of 'set' and 'reset' in the Configuration
242 section of the documentation.
244 * Add configuration option "posix_default" to reset to defaults as if
245 POSIXLY_CORRECT were set.
247 * Disallow "no" prefix on configuration options "default", "prefix" and
250 * Add a section "Trouble Shooting" to the documentation, with
251 frequently asked questions.
253 Changes in version 2.23
254 -----------------------
256 * When a call-back routine issues 'die', messages starting with "!"
257 are treated specially. Currently, only "!FINISH" is recognised (see
258 the next bullet point). Other messages that start with "!" are
261 * Change 'die("FINISH") (see changes in 2.21) to die("!FINISH"). This
262 is an incompatible change, but I guess noone is using this yet.
264 Changes in version 2.22
265 -----------------------
267 * Fixes a bug in the combination of aliases and negation.
269 Old: "foo|bar!" allowed negation on foo, but not on bar.
270 New: "foo|bar!" allows negation on foo and bar.
272 Caveat: "foo|f!", with bundling, issues the warning that negation on
273 a short option is ignored. To obtain the desired behaviour, use
275 "foo!" => \$opt_foo, "f" => \$opt_foo
277 "foo|f" => \$opt_foo, "nofoo" => sub { $opt_foo = 0 }
279 Remember that this is _only_ required when bundling is in effect.
281 Changes in version 2.21
282 -----------------------
286 * User defined subroutines should use 'die' to signal errors.
288 * User defined subroutines can preliminary terminate options
289 processing by calling die("FINISH");
291 * Correct erroneous install of Getopt::Long manpage.
292 Previous versions seem to install Getopt::GetoptLong instead of
295 Changes in version 2.20
296 -----------------------
298 * Prevent the magic argument "<>" from being interpreted as option
299 starter characters if it is the first argument passed.
300 To use the characters "<>" as option starters, pass "><" instead.
302 * Changed license: Getopt::Long may now also be used under the Perl
305 * Changed the file name of the distribution kit from "GetoptLong..."
306 to "Getopt-Long-..." to match the standards.
308 Changes in version 2.19
309 -----------------------
311 * Fix a warning bug with bundling_override.
313 There's no version 2.18
314 -----------------------
316 Changes in version 2.17
317 -----------------------
319 * Getopt::Long::config is renamed Getopt::Long::Configure. The old
320 name will remain supported without being documented.
322 * Options can have the specifier '+' to denote that the option value
323 must be incremented each time the option occurs on the command line.
327 Getopt::Long::Configure("bundling");
328 GetOptions ("v+" => \$more);
329 print STDOUT ("more = $more\n");
331 will print "more = 3" when called with "-v", "more = 4" when called
332 with "-vv" (or "-v -v"), and so on.
334 * Getopt::Long now uses autoloading. This substantially reduces the
335 resources required to 'use Getopt::Long' (about 100 lines of over
338 * It is now documented that global option variables like $opt_foo
339 need to be declared using 'use vars ...' when running under 'use
342 * To install, it is now required to use the official procedure:
349 Changes in version 2.16
350 -----------------------
352 * A couple of small additional fixes to the $` $& $' fixes.
354 * The option prefix can be set using config("prefix=...") or, more
355 powerful, with config("prefix_pattern=..."); see the documentation
358 * More 'perl -w' warnings eliminated for obscure cases of bundling.
360 This version is identical to 2.15, which was not released.
362 There's no version 2.14
363 -----------------------
365 Changes in version 2.13
366 -----------------------
368 * All regexps are changed to avoid the use of $`, $& and $'. Using one
369 of these causes all pattern matches in the program to be much slower
372 * Configuration errors are signalled using die() and will cause the
373 program to be terminated (unless eval{...} or $SIG{__DIE__} is
376 * Option parsing errors are now signalled with calls to warn().
378 * In option bundles, numeric values may be embedded in the bundle
381 * More 'perl -w' warnings eliminated for obscure cases of bundling.
383 * Removed non-standard version number matching. Version 1.121 is now
384 more than 1.12 but less than 1.13.
386 Changes in version 2.12
387 -----------------------
389 * A single question mark is allowed as an alias to an option, e.g.
391 GetOptions ("help|?", ...)
393 Changes in version 2.11
394 -----------------------
396 * User linkage may be an object, provided the object is really a hash.
401 sub new () { return bless {}; }
404 my $linkage = Foo->new();
406 GetOptions ($linkage, ... );
408 * Some bug fixes in handling obscure cases of pass-through.
410 Changes in version 2.9
411 ----------------------
413 * A new way to configure Getopt::Long. Instead of setting module local
414 variables, routine Getopt::Long::config can be called with the names
415 of options to be set or reset, e.g.
417 Getopt::Long::config ("no_auto_abbrev", "ignore_case");
419 Configuring by using the module local variables is deprecated, but
420 it will continue to work for backwark compatibility.
422 Changes in version 2.6
423 ----------------------
425 * Handle ignorecase even if autoabbrev is off.
429 Changes in version 2.4
430 ----------------------
432 * Pass-through of unrecognized options. Makes it easy to write wrapper
433 programs that process some of the command line options but pass the
434 others to another program.
436 * Options can be of type HASH, now you can say
440 and have $opt_define{"foo"} set to "bar".
442 * An enhanced skeleton program, skel2.pl, that combines the power of
443 Getopt::Long with Pod::Usage.
444 Module Pod::Usage can be obtained from CPAN,
445 http://www.perl.com/CPAN/authors/Brad_Appleton.
447 Possible incompatibility in version 2.4
448 ---------------------------------------
450 Previous versions of Getopt::Long always downcased the option variable
451 names when ignorecase was in effect. This bug has been corrected. As a
452 consequence, &GetOptions ("Foo") will now set variable $opt_Foo