An example of how to use getopts in bash

Question

I want to call myscript file in this way:

$ ./myscript -s 45 -p any_string

or

$ ./myscript -h  #should display help
$ ./myscript     #should display help

My requirements are:

• getopt here to get the input arguments
• check that -s exists, if not return an error
• check that the value after the -s is 45 or 90
• check that the -p exists and there is an input string after
• if the user enters ./myscript -h or just ./myscript then display help

I tried so far this code:

#!/bin/bash
while getopts "h:s:" arg; do
  case $arg in
    h)
      echo "usage" 
      ;;
    s)
      strength=$OPTARG
      echo $strength
      ;;
  esac
done

But with that code I get errors. How to do it with Bash and getopt?

Answer 1

#!/bin/bash

usage() { echo "Usage: $0 [-s <45|90>] [-p <string>]" 1>&2; exit 1; }

while getopts ":s:p:" o; do
    case "${o}" in
        s)
            s=${OPTARG}
            ((s == 45 || s == 90)) || usage
            ;;
        p)
            p=${OPTARG}
            ;;
        *)
            usage
            ;;
    esac
done
shift $((OPTIND-1))

if [ -z "${s}" ] || [ -z "${p}" ]; then
    usage
fi

echo "s = ${s}"
echo "p = ${p}"

Example runs:

$ ./myscript.sh
Usage: ./myscript.sh [-s <45|90>] [-p <string>]

$ ./myscript.sh -h
Usage: ./myscript.sh [-s <45|90>] [-p <string>]

$ ./myscript.sh -s "" -p ""
Usage: ./myscript.sh [-s <45|90>] [-p <string>]

$ ./myscript.sh -s 10 -p foo
Usage: ./myscript.sh [-s <45|90>] [-p <string>]

$ ./myscript.sh -s 45 -p foo
s = 45
p = foo

$ ./myscript.sh -s 90 -p bar
s = 90
p = bar