[net.unix] How to get the C-shell to recognize -?

ken@turtlevax.UUCP (Ken Turkowski) (05/10/85)

In trying to make my shell scripts understand a standard help inquiry,
I would like to have the csh recognize the flag "-?" , so that one might say:
	gobble -\?
and have it echo:
	gobble takes the flags:
	-v		Verbose
	-o <outfile>	Output is directed to <outfile> rather than the default
	-?		Prints this help message
	...
I have done this easily with sh, but csh is very stubborn.  I have tried
	switch ("$flag")
		case
		case -?:
		case '-?':
		case -\?:
		case "-?":
		case "-\?":
		case "-\\?":
		case "-\\\?":
		case "-\\\\?":
		case "-\\\\\?":
		case '-?':
		case '-\?':
		case '-\\?':
		case '-\\\?':
		case '-\\\\?':
		case '-\\\\\?':
	endsw
and none of them will match.  So I offer this problem as a puzzle to the
Unix community (including Bill Joy, the author).
-- 

Ken Turkowski @ CADLINC, Menlo Park, CA
UUCP: {amd,decwrl,hplabs,nsc,seismo,spar}!turtlevax!ken
ARPA: turtlevax!ken@DECWRL.ARPA

jra@BRL-VAT.ARPA (VLD/ATB) (05/13/85)

>In trying to make my shell scripts understand a standard help inquiry,
>I would like to have the csh recognize the flag "-?" , so that one might say:
>	gobble -\?
>and have it echo:
>	gobble takes the flags:
>	-v		Verbose
>	-o <outfile>	Output is directed to <outfile> rather than the default
>	-?		Prints this help message
>	...
>I have done this easily with sh, but csh is very stubborn.  I have tried
>	switch ("$flag")
>		case
>		case -?:
>		case '-?':
>		case -\?:
>		case "-?":
		.
		.
		.
>	endsw
>and none of them will match.  So I offer this problem as a puzzle to the
>Unix community (including Bill Joy, the author).
>-- 

Try this:
	set noglob
	switch ( $FLAG )
		case "-?":
			.
			.
			.
	endsw
	unset noglob

ken@turtlevax.UUCP (Ken Turkowski) (05/13/85)

An the winner is:
Paul Richards	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Dept of Comp Sci
uiucdcs!richards

	switch ("$flag")
		case '-[?]':
			<cmds>
			breaksw
		case '-a':
			<othercmds>
			...
	endsw

This is the only correct entry so far.  Other entries matched -a as well as -?.
One entry had the gall to have the csh invoke a Bourne shell script (is there
no ethnic pride?!).  This version matches -? only,using no other than the csh.
I'd still be interested in any other approaches that work.

But imagine that!  Using brackets for quotes!  Who would have ever thought that
the C-shell, with its infinitely helpful programmer-oriented features, has this
level of protection against matching metacharacters!	:-)	:*S

Here's the essence of the original posting:
> In trying to make my shell scripts understand a standard help inquiry,
> I would like to have the csh recognize the flag "-?" , so that one might say:
> 	gobble -\?
> and have it echo:
> 	gobble takes the flags:
> 	-v		Verbose
> 	-o <outfile>	Output is directed to <outfile> rather than the default
> 	-?		Prints this help message
> 	...
-- 

Ken Turkowski @ CADLINC, Menlo Park, CA
UUCP: {amd,decwrl,hplabs,nsc,seismo,spar}!turtlevax!ken
ARPA: turtlevax!ken@DECWRL.ARPA