Command line arguements in functions.

Alright, I don't have any code for this one cause I've yet to start it, I just want to clear a few things up before I figure out how I do it. I'll note now that I'm struggling with how to explain this and I may end up repeating the same points or droning on and on about nothing. Be warned.

As with my last command line post, this is dealing with files, but now I want to add some functions that allow you to manipulate parts of files, such as replacing words, cutting them down to a certain size (by the way, I may have later questions in this as I want people to be able to cut down files by number of bytes if they wish), and other things to manipulate them.

The thing I'm not sure about is, would I be allowed to pass all command line arguements to a function in a function call and how would it be done. Basically, the main program will decide what the person is trying to do up until argv[1], then it will pass the action of how to handle it to the function.

...but in the function, I may need to send the rest of the command line arguements to it so it can handle them appropriately. Let me give an example of user input:

Code:

C:\ > fileManip replace "January 15th" "Febuary 12th" all report.txt

Where the format would this is:
fileManip replace <word(s) to replace> <word(s) to replace with> <starting instance(or all)> 
<ending instance(if not all)> <filename or pathname>

That's a lot of aguements being passed. The way I want the program to handle it is in main() have a if statement for argv[1] and depending what that is, call the appropriate function and pass the arguements to it. Now, what I'm hoping you're gonna tell me is this:

Code:

 if (strcmp(argv[1], "replace") == 0)
    replace(argv[]);    // The function call passing the arguements

Is it that simple to pass the arguements with no problems?

Alright... I'll stop here with that question. I have more but I'll give you this one first and maybe post the rest in replies.

This is the correct syntax. If you are passing all of argv to a function then you will probably want to also pass argc so that the function will know how many arguments are in the array. Never "assume" the arguments or number of arguments are correct.

Code:

 if ( strcmp(argv[1], "replace") == 0)
    replace(argc, argv);    // The function call passing the arguements

OK, thanks. So it was simple. I'll edit this post with a question in a bit.

You can pass a slice of argv (or any array) simply by ignoring the first number of indices that you want remove. Do that by subscripting the first index that you want to keep, and then pass its address:

Code:

#include <iostream>

void foo ( char *a[] )
{
  while ( *a != NULL )
    std::cout<< *a++ <<'\n';
}

int main ( int argc, char *argv[] )
{
  if ( argc >= 2 )
    foo ( &argv[2] );
}

Great answer, thank you.

By the way, if anyone was curious, here is a prototype of what this will be able to do. All of it is subject to change, but if you have any opinions, critiques are welcome.

Code:

Function Name   Description                        Format

replace()       Replace a string in a              replace <word(s) to replace> <word(s) to replace with> <starting
                file with another string           instance(or all)> <ending instance(if not all)> <filename or pathname> 
                                                   <save to>

fileCat()       Merges two files together          merge <file 1> <file 2> <merge type*> <save to>

count()         Counts the number of units         count <unit*> <filename>
                in a file

setSize()       Changes the size of a file by      setsize <size> <unit*> <filename>
                unit

compare()       Compares the similiarites of       compare <file 1> <file 2>
                two files by words

format()        Formats the structural apperance   format <format option*> <suboption*> <filename>
                of a file

excelFormat()   Excel has a specific format that   excelFormat <filename>
                a txt file must be in to upload
                to a spreadsheet. This formats
                the file for you.


Merge Types can do: One after the next, alternating words, alternating paragraphs

Units are: letters, words, paragraphs, bytes

Format Options are: Line Spacing, Capitalization (if I can, I'd like it to be able to capitalize words
                    at the beginning of sentences), puntuation (Again, this would be tough, but I can thinl
                    of a few standard rules it can check for), indentation, column setting

Sub Options are: for Line Spacing (Single, Double, double between paragraphs) for column setting (width between)