Help with command line arguments?

[the0nlyb0ss]

I tried writing a replacement for "dir" because I'm so accustomed to using "ls". I wrote it successfully in Python, but wanted it to be faster so I decided to write it C++, which I have very limited knowledge in. Here's my code:

Code: Select all

#include <iostream>
#include <string>

using namespace std;

void usage();
void version();

void version()
{
   cout << endl;
   cout << "VERSION : 0.1 BETA\n";
   cout << "AUTHOR  : the0nlyb0ss\n";
   cout << "DATE    : 10/2/2010\n";
   cout << "OS      : Windows\n";
   cout << endl;
   cout << "LS.EXE was created as a 'dir' subsitute for all us UNIX lovers out there.\n";
   cout << "It takes a few of the common argv for 'ls' such as '-l' and '-a'.\n";
   cout << endl;
}   

void usage()
{
   cout << endl;
   cout << "USAGE: ls <options> <folder>" << endl << endl;
   cout << "\t-h     : Show this help text" << endl;
   cout << "\t-v     : Show version and program info" << endl;
   cout << "\t-l     : Show files with owner information" << endl;
   cout << "\t-a     : Show only hidden files" << endl;
}

int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
   if(argc < 1 || argc > 3){
      usage();
   }
   if(argc == 1){
      system("DIR");
   }
      if(argv[1] == "-h"){
         usage();
      }
      else if(argv[1] == "-v"){
         version();
      }
      else if(argv[1] == "-l"){
         system("DIR /Q");
      }
      else if(argv[1] == "-a"){
         system("DIR /A:H");
      }
      else if(argv[1] == "-la"){
         system("DIR /A:H /Q");
      }
   return 0;
}


The program works fine when I simply type "ls", and it also gives me the usage() function when I type more than 3 arguments, but when I try typing any valid arguments, whether it's "-h", "-a", "-l", "-v", or "-la", it doesn't do anything at all.

[Goatboy]

EDIT: I see you did that already.

Does it work for -v, -a, and -la?

[the0nlyb0ss]

No, no arguments work at all. No matter what I put whether it be "-h", "-v", "-l", "-a", or "-la"
I'll edit the OP to say that to avoid confusion

[Assassian360]

The problem is what you are doing with the command line arguments.

For example:
if(argv[1] == "-h")

You can't use the == here like this. You won't actually be comparing the contents of each of these. Instead pointers will be compared. This will mean none of your checks will ever be true. So instead I suggest you lookup comparing strings in C++. Or otherwise look for existing solutions for getting command line options just like what you are doing. Sadly the best version of this type of thing that I have seen is a Linux code file, but there should be windows variations around.

[thetan]

The traditional and accepted _*nix_ way to do this is to use getopt()
http://linux.die.net/man/3/getopt

If you're trying to write portable code in C++ i suggest you take a look at the boost library.
http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_44_0/do ... tions.html

[the0nlyb0ss]

Thank you guys! This just goes to show how little (none?) I know about C++, i decided to just make it do the standard "dir" without any options
Now I'm going to start seriously learning C++ and maybe somewhere along the road I'll look back on this and say "Doh!"