A Discrete-Event Network Simulator
API
ns3::CommandLine Class Reference

Parse command-line arguments. More...

#include "command-line.h"

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Classes

class  CallbackItem
 An argument Item using a Callback to parse the input. More...
 
class  Item
 The argument base class. More...
 
class  UserItem
 An argument Item assigning to POD. More...
 

Public Member Functions

 CommandLine ()
 Constructor. More...
 
 CommandLine (const CommandLine &cmd)
 Copy constructor. More...
 
 ~CommandLine ()
 Destructor. More...
 
template<typename T >
void AddValue (const std::string &name, const std::string &help, T &value)
 Add a program argument, assigning to POD. More...
 
void AddValue (const std::string &name, const std::string &help, Callback< bool, std::string > callback)
 Add a program argument, using a Callback to parse the value. More...
 
void AddValue (const std::string &name, const std::string &attributePath)
 Add a program argument as a shorthand for an Attribute. More...
 
std::string GetName () const
 Get the program name. More...
 
CommandLineoperator= (const CommandLine &cmd)
 Assignment. More...
 
void Parse (int argc, char *argv[])
 Parse the program arguments. More...
 
void PrintHelp (std::ostream &os) const
 Print program usage to the desired output stream. More...
 
void Usage (const std::string usage)
 Supply the program usage and documentation. More...
 

Private Types

typedef std::list< Item * > Items
 Argument list container. More...
 

Private Member Functions

void Clear (void)
 Remove all arguments, Usage(), name. More...
 
void Copy (const CommandLine &cmd)
 Copy constructor. More...
 
void HandleArgument (const std::string &name, const std::string &value) const
 Match name against the program or general arguments, and dispatch to the appropriate handler. More...
 
void PrintAttributes (std::ostream &os, const std::string &type) const
 Handler for --PrintAttributes: print the attributes for a given type. More...
 
void PrintGlobals (std::ostream &os) const
 Handler for --PrintGlobals: print all global variables and values. More...
 
void PrintGroup (std::ostream &os, const std::string &group) const
 Handler for --PrintGroup: print all types belonging to a given group. More...
 
void PrintGroups (std::ostream &os) const
 Handler for --PrintGroups: print all TypeId group names. More...
 
void PrintTypeIds (std::ostream &os) const
 Handler for --PrintTypeIds: print all TypeId names. More...
 

Static Private Member Functions

static bool HandleAttribute (const std::string name, const std::string value)
 Callback function to handle attributes. More...
 

Private Attributes

Items m_items
 The list of arguments. More...
 
std::string m_name
 The program name. More...
 
std::string m_usage
 The Usage string. More...
 

Detailed Description

Parse command-line arguments.

Instances of this class can be used to parse command-line arguments. Programs can register a general usage message with CommandLine::Usage, and arguments with CommandLine::AddValue. POD argument variables will be set directly; more general arguments can be processed via a Callback.

CommandLine also provides handlers for these standard arguments:

--PrintGlobals:              Print the list of globals.
--PrintGroups:               Print the list of groups.
--PrintGroup=[group]:        Print all TypeIds of group.
--PrintTypeIds:              Print all TypeIds.
--PrintAttributes=[typeid]:  Print all attributes of typeid.
--PrintHelp:                 Print this help message. 

The more common –help is a synonym for –PrintHelp; an example is given below.

Finally, CommandLine processes Attribute and GlobalValue arguments. Default values for chosen attributes can be set using a shorthand argument name.

In use, arguments are given in the form

--arg=value --toggle 

Most arguments expect a value, as in the first form, –arg=value. Toggles, corresponding to boolean arguments, can be given in any of the forms

--toggle1 --toggle2=1 --toggle3=t --toggle4=true 

The first form changes the state of toggle1 from its default; all the rest set the corresponding boolean variable to true. 0, f and false are accepted to set the variable to false.

Arguments can be repeated on the command line; the last value given will be the final value used. For example,

--arg=one --toggle=f --arg=another --toggle 

The variable set by –arg will end up with the value "another"; the boolean set by –toggle will end up as true.

Because arguments can be repeated it can be hard to decipher what value each variable ended up with, especially when using boolean toggles. Suggested best practice is for scripts to report the values of all items settable throught CommandLine, as done by the example below.

CommandLine can set the initial value of every attribute in the system with the –TypeIdName::AttributeName=value syntax, for example

--Application::StartTime=3s 

In some cases you may want to highlight the use of a particular attribute for a simulation script. For example, you might want to make it easy to set the Application::StartTime using the argument –start, and have its help string show as part of the help message. This can be done using the AddValue (name, attributePath) method.

CommandLine can also set the value of every GlobalValue in the system with the –GlobalValueName=value syntax, for example

--SchedulerType=HeapScheduler 

A simple example is in src/core/example/command-line-example.cc The heart of that example is this code:

int intArg = 1;
bool boolArg = false;
std::string strArg = "strArg default";
cmd.Usage ("CommandLine example program.\n"
"\n"
"This little program demonstrates how to use CommandLine.");
cmd.AddValue ("intArg", "an int argument", intArg);
cmd.AddValue ("boolArg", "a bool argument", boolArg);
cmd.AddValue ("strArg", "a string argument", strArg);
cmd.AddValue ("anti", "ns3::RandomVariableStream::Antithetic");
cmd.AddValue ("cbArg", "a string via callback", MakeCallback (SetCbArg));
cmd.Parse (argc, argv);

after which it prints the values of each variable. (The SetCbArg function is not shown here; see src/core/example/command-line-example.cc)

Here is the output from a few runs of that program:

$ ./waf --run="command-line-example"
intArg:   1
boolArg:  false
strArg:   "strArg default"
cbArg:    "cbArg default"

$ ./waf --run="command-line-example --intArg=2 --boolArg --strArg=Hello --cbArg=World"
intArg:   2
boolArg:  true
strArg:   "Hello"
cbArg:    "World"

$ ./waf --run="command-line-example --help"
ns3-dev-command-line-example-debug [Program Arguments] [General Arguments]

CommandLine example program.

This little program demonstrates how to use CommandLine.

Program Arguments:
    --intArg:   an int argument [1]
    --boolArg:  a bool argument [false]
    --strArg:   a string argument [strArg default]
    --anti:     Set this RNG stream to generate antithetic values (ns3::RandomVariableStream::Antithetic) [false]
    --cbArg:    a string via callback

General Arguments:
    --PrintGlobals:              Print the list of globals.
    --PrintGroups:               Print the list of groups.
    --PrintGroup=[group]:        Print all TypeIds of group.
    --PrintTypeIds:              Print all TypeIds.
    --PrintAttributes=[typeid]:  Print all attributes of typeid.
    --PrintHelp:                 Print this help message. 

Having parsed the arguments, some programs will need to perform some additional validation of the received values. A common issue at this point is to discover that the supplied arguments are incomplete or incompatible. Suggested best practice is to supply an error message and the complete usage message. For example,

int value1;
int value2;
cmd.Usage ("...");
cmd.AddValue ("value1", "first value", value1);
cmd.AddValue ("value2", "second value", value1);
cmd.Parse (argc, argv);
if (value1 * value2 < 0)
{
std::cerr << "value1 and value2 must have the same sign!" << std::endl;
std::cerr << cmd;
exit (-1);
}

Bug 2461 Treat non-option arguments like traditional getopt(), by permuting non-option arguments to the end and providing a query function for the equivalent of optind.

Definition at line 205 of file command-line.h.

Member Typedef Documentation

Argument list container.

Definition at line 435 of file command-line.h.

Constructor & Destructor Documentation

ns3::CommandLine::CommandLine ( )

Constructor.

Definition at line 48 of file command-line.cc.

References NS_LOG_FUNCTION.

ns3::CommandLine::CommandLine ( const CommandLine cmd)

Copy constructor.

Parameters
[in]cmdThe CommandLine to copy from

Definition at line 52 of file command-line.cc.

References Copy().

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ns3::CommandLine::~CommandLine ( )

Destructor.

Definition at line 63 of file command-line.cc.

References Clear(), and NS_LOG_FUNCTION.

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Member Function Documentation

template<typename T >
void ns3::CommandLine::AddValue ( const std::string &  name,
const std::string &  help,
T &  value 
)

Add a program argument, assigning to POD.

Parameters
[in]nameThe name of the program-supplied argument
[in]helpThe help text used by --PrintHelp
[out]valueA reference to the variable where the value parsed will be stored (if no value is parsed, this variable is not modified).

Definition at line 495 of file command-line.h.

References ns3::CommandLine::UserItem< T >::m_default, ns3::CommandLine::Item::m_help, m_items, ns3::CommandLine::Item::m_name, and ns3::CommandLine::UserItem< T >::m_valuePtr.

Referenced by AddValue(), Experiment::CommandSetup(), RoutingExperiment::CommandSetup(), VanetRoutingExperiment::CommandSetup(), AodvExample::Configure(), MeshTest::Configure(), CommandLineBooleanTestCase::DoRun(), CommandLineIntTestCase::DoRun(), CommandLineUnsignedIntTestCase::DoRun(), CommandLineStringTestCase::DoRun(), and PrintPsrVsCollisionInterval().

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void ns3::CommandLine::AddValue ( const std::string &  name,
const std::string &  help,
Callback< bool, std::string >  callback 
)

Add a program argument, using a Callback to parse the value.

Parameters
[in]nameThe name of the program-supplied argument
[in]helpThe help text used by –help
[in]callbackA Callback function that will be invoked to parse and store the value.

The callback should have the signature bool callback (const std::string value)

Definition at line 439 of file command-line.cc.

References ns3::CommandLine::CallbackItem::m_callback, ns3::CommandLine::Item::m_help, m_items, ns3::CommandLine::Item::m_name, and NS_LOG_FUNCTION.

void ns3::CommandLine::AddValue ( const std::string &  name,
const std::string &  attributePath 
)

Add a program argument as a shorthand for an Attribute.

Parameters
[in]nameThe name of the program-supplied argument.
[out]attributePathThe fully-qualified name of the Attribute

Definition at line 452 of file command-line.cc.

References AddValue(), ns3::TypeId::AttributeInformation::checker, HandleAttribute(), ns3::TypeId::AttributeInformation::help, ns3::TypeId::AttributeInformation::initialValue, ns3::TypeId::LookupAttributeByName(), ns3::TypeId::LookupByNameFailSafe(), ns3::MakeBoundCallback(), NS_FATAL_ERROR, NS_LOG_DEBUG, and NS_LOG_FUNCTION.

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void ns3::CommandLine::Clear ( void  )
private

Remove all arguments, Usage(), name.

Definition at line 82 of file command-line.cc.

References m_items, m_name, m_usage, and NS_LOG_FUNCTION.

Referenced by operator=(), and ~CommandLine().

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void ns3::CommandLine::Copy ( const CommandLine cmd)
private

Copy constructor.

Parameters
[in]cmdCommandLine to copy

Definition at line 69 of file command-line.cc.

References m_items, m_name, m_usage, and NS_LOG_FUNCTION.

Referenced by CommandLine(), and operator=().

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std::string ns3::CommandLine::GetName ( void  ) const

Get the program name.

Returns
The program name. Only valid after calling Parse()

Definition at line 102 of file command-line.cc.

References m_name.

void ns3::CommandLine::HandleArgument ( const std::string &  name,
const std::string &  value 
) const
private

Match name against the program or general arguments, and dispatch to the appropriate handler.

Parameters
[in]nameThe argument name
[in]valueThe command line value

Definition at line 360 of file command-line.cc.

References m_items, NS_LOG_DEBUG, NS_LOG_FUNCTION, PrintAttributes(), PrintGlobals(), PrintGroup(), PrintGroups(), PrintHelp(), PrintTypeIds(), ns3::Config::SetDefaultFailSafe(), and ns3::Config::SetGlobalFailSafe().

Referenced by Parse().

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bool ns3::CommandLine::HandleAttribute ( const std::string  name,
const std::string  value 
)
staticprivate

Callback function to handle attributes.

Parameters
[in]nameThe full name of the Attribute.
[in]valueThe value to assign to name.
Returns
true if the value was set successfully, false otherwise.

Definition at line 486 of file command-line.cc.

References ns3::Config::SetDefaultFailSafe(), and ns3::Config::SetGlobalFailSafe().

Referenced by AddValue().

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CommandLine & ns3::CommandLine::operator= ( const CommandLine cmd)

Assignment.

Parameters
[in]cmdThe CommandLine to assign from
Returns
The CommandLine

Definition at line 57 of file command-line.cc.

References Clear(), and Copy().

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void ns3::CommandLine::Parse ( int  argc,
char *  argv[] 
)

Parse the program arguments.

Parameters
[in]argcThe 'argc' variable: number of arguments (including the main program name as first element).
[in]argvThe 'argv' variable: a null-terminated array of strings, each of which identifies a command-line argument.

Obviously, this method will parse the input command-line arguments and will attempt to handle them all.

As a side effect, this method saves the program basename, which can be retrieved by GetName().

Definition at line 113 of file command-line.cc.

References ns3::Singleton< DesMetrics >::Get(), HandleArgument(), ns3::DesMetrics::Initialize(), m_name, NS_LOG_FUNCTION, and ns3::SystemPath::Split().

Referenced by Experiment::CommandSetup(), RoutingExperiment::CommandSetup(), VanetRoutingExperiment::CommandSetup(), AodvExample::Configure(), MeshTest::Configure(), CommandLineTestCaseBase::Parse(), and PrintPsrVsCollisionInterval().

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void ns3::CommandLine::PrintAttributes ( std::ostream &  os,
const std::string &  type 
) const
private

Handler for --PrintAttributes: print the attributes for a given type.

Parameters
[in,out]osthe output stream.
[in]typeThe TypeId whose Attributes should be displayed

Definition at line 248 of file command-line.cc.

References ns3::TypeId::AttributeInformation::checker, ns3::TypeId::GetAttribute(), ns3::TypeId::GetAttributeFullName(), ns3::TypeId::GetAttributeN(), ns3::TypeId::GetName(), ns3::TypeId::AttributeInformation::help, ns3::TypeId::AttributeInformation::initialValue, ns3::TypeId::LookupByNameFailSafe(), NS_FATAL_ERROR, and NS_LOG_FUNCTION.

Referenced by HandleArgument().

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void ns3::CommandLine::PrintGlobals ( std::ostream &  os) const
private

Handler for --PrintGlobals: print all global variables and values.

Definition at line 216 of file command-line.cc.

References ns3::GlobalValue::Begin(), ns3::GlobalValue::End(), ns3::StringValue::Get(), and NS_LOG_FUNCTION.

Referenced by HandleArgument().

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void ns3::CommandLine::PrintGroup ( std::ostream &  os,
const std::string &  group 
) const
private

Handler for --PrintGroup: print all types belonging to a given group.

Parameters
[in,out]osThe output stream.
[in]groupThe name of the TypeId group to display

Definition at line 284 of file command-line.cc.

References ns3::TypeId::GetGroupName(), ns3::TypeId::GetName(), ns3::TypeId::GetRegistered(), ns3::TypeId::GetRegisteredN(), visualizer.higcontainer::group, and NS_LOG_FUNCTION.

Referenced by HandleArgument().

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void ns3::CommandLine::PrintGroups ( std::ostream &  os) const
private

Handler for --PrintGroups: print all TypeId group names.

Parameters
[in,out]osThe output stream.

Definition at line 338 of file command-line.cc.

References ns3::TypeId::GetGroupName(), ns3::TypeId::GetRegistered(), ns3::TypeId::GetRegisteredN(), and NS_LOG_FUNCTION.

Referenced by HandleArgument().

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void ns3::CommandLine::PrintHelp ( std::ostream &  os) const

Print program usage to the desired output stream.

Handler for --PrintHelp and --help: print Usage(), argument names, and help strings

Alternatively, an overloaded operator << can be used:

cmd.Parse (argc, argv);
...
std::cerr << cmd;
Parameters
[in,out]osThe output stream to print on.

Definition at line 164 of file command-line.cc.

References m_items, m_name, m_usage, max, and NS_LOG_FUNCTION.

Referenced by HandleArgument(), and ns3::operator<<().

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void ns3::CommandLine::PrintTypeIds ( std::ostream &  os) const
private

Handler for --PrintTypeIds: print all TypeId names.

Parameters
[in,out]osThe output stream.

Definition at line 313 of file command-line.cc.

References ns3::TypeId::GetName(), ns3::TypeId::GetRegistered(), ns3::TypeId::GetRegisteredN(), and NS_LOG_FUNCTION.

Referenced by HandleArgument().

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void ns3::CommandLine::Usage ( const std::string  usage)

Supply the program usage and documentation.

Parameters
[in]usageProgram usage message to write with –help.

Definition at line 96 of file command-line.cc.

References m_usage.

Member Data Documentation

Items ns3::CommandLine::m_items
private

The list of arguments.

Definition at line 436 of file command-line.h.

Referenced by AddValue(), Clear(), Copy(), HandleArgument(), and PrintHelp().

std::string ns3::CommandLine::m_name
private

The program name.

Definition at line 438 of file command-line.h.

Referenced by Clear(), Copy(), GetName(), Parse(), and PrintHelp().

std::string ns3::CommandLine::m_usage
private

The Usage string.

Definition at line 437 of file command-line.h.

Referenced by Clear(), Copy(), PrintHelp(), and Usage().


The documentation for this class was generated from the following files: