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I am learning how to pass arguments to main and it should not be hard to learn! But if someone could explain why it is used, what its for. i do not get the whole concept. The more/better i understand what i am learning the better! Thanks in advanced!
The arguments to main come from the command line you enter to run the program...
If, for example, you had a program called weather and entered the command line:
weather Monday Rain Light
Inside weather main would receive...
argc = 3;
argv[1] = Monday
argv[2] = Rain
argv[3] = Light
It's a way of passing options and startup info into a program.
Still a tad bit confused, sorry! Why am i passing arguments to main anyway? If you may provide a more elaborate definition/explination. And may you give me a working example to run so i can see it work?
Programs need parameters passed to them, just like our functions do sometimes. This is how it's done.
What else is there to say about it? Google and read up, maybe?
i have googled and i have two books on C programming. that is why i am asking for insight and help, because i still do not understand. I try and learn on my own and if i need help i ask. that is what i am doing now.
Well... you're learning C... here's a little project for you...Quote:
Originally Posted by codecaine_21
Write a program that accepts and displays command line arguments.
Some examples where command line arguments are extremely helpful can be found by opening a windows CMD shell (Win+r -> CMD -> ok) then type help. Then type help command for each of the programs listed... The whole thing is 100% driven by command line arguments.
Linux is the same only bigger... just about everything on Linux is CLA driven.
Why would you use CLA in your own programs... well that's entirely a matter of what you are trying to accomplish. One of the most common uses is to pass in a filename to be opened when the program starts. Every windows program needs this feature.
That's what I'm getting at -- there isn't much "insight" on this matter, to share. *Argv[] is how parameters are passed to main().
Just like an *array[] is passed to a function.
Read your books chapter on this, and work the exercises. You'll get it. Zee insight barrel, she is emp-ty.
Thank you CommonTater. And Adak, i didnt understand why it was used. so i asked!
Code:gcc
gcc: no input files
Code:grep
Usage: grep [OPTION]... PATTERN [FILE]...
Try `grep --help' for more information.
Code:cp
cp: missing file operand
Try `cp --help' for more information.
...you now see the value in passing arguments to programs.Code:sudo
usage: sudo -h | -K | -k | -L | -V
usage: sudo -v [-AknS] [-p prompt]
usage: sudo -l[l] [-AknS] [-g groupname|#gid] [-p prompt] [-U username] [-u
username|#uid] [-g groupname|#gid] [command]
usage: sudo [-AbEHknPS] [-C fd] [-g groupname|#gid] [-p prompt] [-u
username|#uid] [-g groupname|#gid] [VAR=value] [-i|-s] [<command>]
usage: sudo -e [-AknS] [-C fd] [-g groupname|#gid] [-p prompt] [-u
username|#uid] file ...
That was a very nice break down and helps a whole lot
QuadraticFighte!!!!! So when i pass an argument(s) like lets say sudo apt-get install. apt-get is an argument, install and sudo also. So when i write the code do i make or need a function for the first second and third arg??
Yes, you will have to write internal program code do deal with what comes in from the command line. C is pretty clever, but it's not a mind reader.Quote:
Originally Posted by codecaine_21
Well ya, if you want your program to process command line arguments, you need to program it to handle such arguments.Quote:
Originally Posted by codecaine_21
In your specific example, sudo is a program that runs other programs with root privileges, and the argument is the program to run with ITS own arguments: "apt-get install". Sudo just prompts for a password, and then, if we enter the right one, it executes apt-get install. Finally, install is an argument to apt-get.
If you have a program foo, you can pass it arguments, as in
So in your main function:Code:$foo Hello World
The values of argc and argv are:Code:int main(int argc, char** argv)
Code:argc = 3
argv[0] = "foo"
argv[1] = "Hello"
argv[2] = "World"
The zeroth argument doesn't have to be the program name so don't depend on that, though. What you can depend on argv looking like is having your arguments in subscripts 1..argc - 1, and then argv[argc] contains NULL.
I'd like to see a precipitous decline in use of CLI in general, as well.
That will only happen when it becomes easier to develop and verify a workable GUI to achieve <any specified function you care to name> than it is to develop a workable command line interface to do the equivalent.Quote:
Originally Posted by whiteflags
In other words, possibly never.
Effectively GUI development sets the bar pretty high in terms of various qualities (ease of use, aesthetics, etc). Developing a CLI does not require meeting those quality constraints. Quality constraints are much harder - and subjective - to meet well.
That would end file associations... sending all these point and click file browsers back to the stone age.Quote:
Originally Posted by whiteflags
That's okay, we'll just program computers to be telepathic and know what the users want.Quote:
Originally Posted by CommonTater
Nonsense. All it would do was use a different type of communication, eg API. Heck, there is already COM nonsense out there. Something similar could work.Quote:
Originally Posted by CommonTater
I agree. COM is nonsense.