GETOPT(1)			 HP-UX 5.0		     GETOPT(1)

     NAME
	  getopt - parse command options

     SYNOPSIS
	  getopt optstring args

     HP-UX COMPATIBILITY
	  Level:    HP-UX/NUCLEUS

	  Origin:   System V

	  Native Language Support:
		    8-bit filenames.

     DESCRIPTION
	  Getopt is used to break up options in command lines for easy
	  parsing  by shell procedures and to check for legal options.
	  Optstring is a string	 of  recognized	 option	 letters  (see
	  getopt (3C)); if a letter is followed by a colon, the option
	  is expected to have an argument which	 may  or  may  not  be
	  separated  from it by white space.  The special option -- is
	  used to delimit the end of  the  options.   If  it  is  used
	  explicitly, getopt will recognize it; otherwise, getopt will
	  generate it; in either case, getopt will place it at the end
	  of  the  options.   The positional parameters ($1 $2 ...) of
	  the shell are reset so that each option is preceded by  a  -
	  and is in its own positional parameter; each option argument
	  is also parsed into its own positional parameter.

	  The most common use of getopt is in the shell's set  command
	  (see the example below).  There, getopt converts the command
	  line to a  more  easily  parsed  form.   Getopt  writes  the
	  modified command line to the standard output.

     EXAMPLE
	  The following code fragment shows how one might process  the
	  arguments for a command that can take the options a or b, as
	  well as the option o, which requires an argument:

	       set -- `getopt abo: $*`
	       if [ $? != 0 ]
	       then
		    echo $USAGE
		    exit 2
	       fi
	       for i in $*
	       do
		    case $i in
		    -a | -b)  FLAG=$i; shift;;
		    -o)	      OARG=$2; shift 2;;
		    --)	      shift; break;;
		    esac
	       done

	  This code will accept any of the following as equivalent:

	       cmd -aoarg file file
	       cmd -a -o arg file file
	       cmd -oarg -a file file
	       cmd -a -oarg -- file file

     SEE ALSO
	  sh(1), getopt(3C).

     DIAGNOSTICS
	  Getopt prints an error message on the standard error when it
	  encounters an option letter not included in optstring.