1 Changes in version 2.29
2 -----------------------
4 * Fix a problem where options were not recognized when both
5 auto_abbrev and ignore_case were disabled. Thanks to Seth Robertson
6 <seth@systemdetection.com>.
10 Changes in version 2.28
11 -----------------------
13 * When an option is specified more than once, a warning is generated
14 if perl is run with -w. This is a correction to 2.27, where it would
17 An example of duplicate specification is GetOptions('foo', 'foo'),
18 but also GetOptions('foo=s', 'foo') and GetOptions('Foo', 'foo')
19 (the latter only when ignore_case is in effect).
21 Changes in version 2.27
22 -----------------------
24 * You can now specify integer options to take an optional argument.
25 that defaults to a specific value. E.g., GetOptions('foo:5' => \$var)
26 will allow $var to get the value 5 when no value was specified with
27 the -foo option on the command line.
29 Instead of a value, a '+' may be specified. E.g.,
30 GetOptions('foo:+' => \$var) will allow $var to be incremented when
31 no value was specified with the -foo option on the command line.
33 * Fix several problems with internal and external use of 'die' and
36 * Fixed some bugs with subtle combinations of bundling_override and
39 * A callback routine that is associated with a hash-valued option will
40 now have both the hask key and the value passed. It used to get only
43 * Eliminated the use of autoloading. Autoloading kept generating
44 problems during development, and when using perlcc.
46 * Avoid errors on references when an option is found in error, e.g.
47 GetOptions('fo$@#' => \$var).
48 Thanks to Wolfgang Laun <Wolfgang.Laun@alcatel.at>.
50 * When an option is specified more than once, an error is now
51 generated. E.g., GetOptions('foo', 'foo').
52 Thanks to Wolfgang Laun <Wolfgang.Laun@alcatel.at>.
54 * Lots of internal restructoring to make room for extensions.
56 * Redesigned the regression tests.
58 * Enhance the documentation to prevent common misunderstandings about
59 single character options.
61 Changes in version 2.26
62 -----------------------
64 * New option type: 'o'. It accepts all kinds of integral numbers in
65 Perl style, including decimal (24), octal (012), hexadecimal (0x2f)
68 * Fix problem with getopt_compat not matching +foo=bar.
70 * Remove $VERSION_STRING for production versions.
72 Changes in version 2.26
73 -----------------------
75 * New option type: 'o'. It accepts all kinds of integral numbers in
76 Perl style, including decimal (24), octal (012), hexadecimal (0x2f)
79 * Fix problem with getopt_compat not matching +foo=bar.
81 * Remove $VERSION_STRING for production versions.
83 Changes in version 2.25
84 -----------------------
86 * Change handling of a lone "-" on the command line. It will now be
87 treated as a non-option unless an explicit specification was passed
88 to GetOptions. See the manual.
89 In the old implementation an error was signalled, so no
90 compatibility breaks are expected from this change.
92 * Add $VERSION_STRING. This is the string form of $VERSION. Usually
93 they are identical, unless it is a pre-release in which case
94 $VERSION will be (e.g.) 2.2403 and $VERSION_STRING will be "2.24_03".
96 Changes in version 2.24
97 -----------------------
99 * Add object oriented interface:
102 $p = new Getopt::Long::Parser;
103 $p->configure(...configuration options...);
104 if ($p->getoptions(...options descriptions...)) ...
106 * Add configuration at 'use' time:
108 use Getopt::Long qw(:config no_ignore_case bundling);
110 * Add configuration options "gnu_getopt" and "gnu_compat".
112 "gnu_compat" controls whether --opt= is allowed, and what it should
113 do. Without "gnu_compat", --opt= gives an error. With "gnu_compat",
114 --opt= will give option "opt" and empty value.
115 This is the way GNU getopt_long does it.
117 "gnu_getopt" is a short way of setting "gnu_compat bundling permute
118 no_getopt_compat. With "gnu_getopt", command line handling should be
119 fully compatible with GNU getopt_long.
121 * Correct warnings when the user specified an array or hash
122 destination using a non-lowercase option, e.g. "I=s@".
124 * Correct ambiguous use of 'set' and 'reset' in the Configuration
125 section of the documentation.
127 * Add configuration option "posix_default" to reset to defaults as if
128 POSIXLY_CORRECT were set.
130 * Disallow "no" prefix on configuration options "default", "prefix" and
133 * Add a section "Trouble Shooting" to the documentation, with
134 frequently asked questions.
136 Changes in version 2.23
137 -----------------------
139 * When a call-back routine issues 'die', messages starting with "!"
140 are treated specially. Currently, only "!FINISH" is recognised (see
141 the next bullet point). Other messages that start with "!" are
144 * Change 'die("FINISH") (see changes in 2.21) to die("!FINISH"). This
145 is an incompatible change, but I guess noone is using this yet.
147 Changes in version 2.22
148 -----------------------
150 * Fixes a bug in the combination of aliases and negation.
152 Old: "foo|bar!" allowed negation on foo, but not on bar.
153 New: "foo|bar!" allows negation on foo and bar.
155 Caveat: "foo|f!", with bundling, issues the warning that negation on
156 a short option is ignored. To obtain the desired behaviour, use
158 "foo!" => \$opt_foo, "f" => \$opt_foo
160 "foo|f" => \$opt_foo, "nofoo" => sub { $opt_foo = 0 }
162 Remember that this is _only_ required when bundling is in effect.
164 Changes in version 2.21
165 -----------------------
169 * User defined subroutines should use 'die' to signal errors.
171 * User defined subroutines can preliminary terminate options
172 processing by calling die("FINISH");
174 * Correct erroneous install of Getopt::Long manpage.
175 Previous versions seem to install Getopt::GetoptLong instead of
178 Changes in version 2.20
179 -----------------------
181 * Prevent the magic argument "<>" from being interpreted as option
182 starter characters if it is the first argument passed.
183 To use the characters "<>" as option starters, pass "><" instead.
185 * Changed license: Getopt::Long may now also be used under the Perl
188 * Changed the file name of the distribution kit from "GetoptLong..."
189 to "Getopt-Long-..." to match the standards.
191 Changes in version 2.19
192 -----------------------
194 * Fix a warning bug with bundling_override.
196 There's no version 2.18
197 -----------------------
199 Changes in version 2.17
200 -----------------------
202 * Getopt::Long::config is renamed Getopt::Long::Configure. The old
203 name will remain supported without being documented.
205 * Options can have the specifier '+' to denote that the option value
206 must be incremented each time the option occurs on the command line.
210 Getopt::Long::Configure("bundling");
211 GetOptions ("v+" => \$more);
212 print STDOUT ("more = $more\n");
214 will print "more = 3" when called with "-v", "more = 4" when called
215 with "-vv" (or "-v -v"), and so on.
217 * Getopt::Long now uses autoloading. This substantially reduces the
218 resources required to 'use Getopt::Long' (about 100 lines of over
221 * It is now documented that global option variables like $opt_foo
222 need to be declared using 'use vars ...' when running under 'use
225 * To install, it is now required to use the official procedure:
232 Changes in version 2.16
233 -----------------------
235 * A couple of small additional fixes to the $` $& $' fixes.
237 * The option prefix can be set using config("prefix=...") or, more
238 powerful, with config("prefix_pattern=..."); see the documentation
241 * More 'perl -w' warnings eliminated for obscure cases of bundling.
243 This version is identical to 2.15, which was not released.
245 There's no version 2.14
246 -----------------------
248 Changes in version 2.13
249 -----------------------
251 * All regexps are changed to avoid the use of $`, $& and $'. Using one
252 of these causes all pattern matches in the program to be much slower
255 * Configuration errors are signalled using die() and will cause the
256 program to be terminated (unless eval{...} or $SIG{__DIE__} is
259 * Option parsing errors are now signalled with calls to warn().
261 * In option bundles, numeric values may be embedded in the bundle
264 * More 'perl -w' warnings eliminated for obscure cases of bundling.
266 * Removed non-standard version number matching. Version 1.121 is now
267 more than 1.12 but less than 1.13.
269 Changes in version 2.12
270 -----------------------
272 * A single question mark is allowed as an alias to an option, e.g.
274 GetOptions ("help|?", ...)
276 Changes in version 2.11
277 -----------------------
279 * User linkage may be an object, provided the object is really a hash.
284 sub new () { return bless {}; }
287 my $linkage = Foo->new();
289 GetOptions ($linkage, ... );
291 * Some bug fixes in handling obscure cases of pass-through.
293 Changes in version 2.9
294 ----------------------
296 * A new way to configure Getopt::Long. Instead of setting module local
297 variables, routine Getopt::Long::config can be called with the names
298 of options to be set or reset, e.g.
300 Getopt::Long::config ("no_auto_abbrev", "ignore_case");
302 Configuring by using the module local variables is deprecated, but
303 it will continue to work for backwark compatibility.
305 Changes in version 2.6
306 ----------------------
308 * Handle ignorecase even if autoabbrev is off.
312 Changes in version 2.4
313 ----------------------
315 * Pass-through of unrecognized options. Makes it easy to write wrapper
316 programs that process some of the command line options but pass the
317 others to another program.
319 * Options can be of type HASH, now you can say
323 and have $opt_define{"foo"} set to "bar".
325 * An enhanced skeleton program, skel2.pl, that combines the power of
326 Getopt::Long with Pod::Usage.
327 Module Pod::Usage can be obtained from CPAN,
328 http://www.perl.com/CPAN/authors/Brad_Appleton.
330 Possible incompatibility in version 2.4
331 ---------------------------------------
333 Previous versions of Getopt::Long always downcased the option variable
334 names when ignorecase was in effect. This bug has been corrected. As a
335 consequence, &GetOptions ("Foo") will now set variable $opt_Foo