getopt

• bash
• getopts
• sh

Generally speaking, use getopts since it is newer and a built-in function of bash. Use getopt if you are looking for consistency across platforms.

The man page has a good example, but here are some of the basics:

Use -a: to requires an argument, either directly after the -a or with a whitespace first.

getopt a: $*

Use -b to set a boolean value.

getopt b $*

# Allow -a <arg>, -d and -z
args=`getopt a:vz $*`
 
# If getopt fails, then throw an error and quit
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then echo "Usage: ... "; exit 1; fi
 
# Set the new arguments
set -- $args
 
while true; do
  case "$1" in
  -a)
    echo "Passed '$2' argument to -a"; shift; shift;;
  -v)
    echo "Verbose output enabled"; verbose=1; shift;;
  -z)
    echo "Debug output enabled"; verbose=1; debug=1; shift;;
  --)
    shift; break;;
  esac
done