Command line arguments

When you write the main function you should code it in a way simular to this example.


  int main(int argc, char *argv[])
  {

  }

This enables you to access any command line arguments passed to your program and the program name its self.

argc means argument count. It contains the number of command line arguments including the command name its self. If a command is started with no arguments, argc will have a value of 1.
argv is a pointer to a list of pointers.
- argv[0] points to the program name.
- argv[1] points to the first argument.

Notes for Unix users

If the program has a soft link pointing to it and it is executed via the soft link, argv[0] will contain the name of the soft link i.e. the name used to start the program.

Examples:

Example using argc and argv

Bob Stout's example.

See Also:

getopt function.