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Accepting Command Line Arguments in C Using Argc and Argv

The document discusses accepting command line arguments in C programs using argc and argv. Main can accept two arguments: argc is the number of command line arguments and argv is an array of the argument strings. Command line arguments allow programs to be customized at runtime. As an example, a program is shown that prints the contents of a file passed as the first command line argument.

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Kristian Gatchalian
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126 views

Accepting Command Line Arguments in C Using Argc and Argv

The document discusses accepting command line arguments in C programs using argc and argv. Main can accept two arguments: argc is the number of command line arguments and argv is an array of the argument strings. Command line arguments allow programs to be customized at runtime. As an example, a program is shown that prints the contents of a file passed as the first command line argument.

Uploaded by

Kristian Gatchalian
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Accepting command line arguments in C using argc and argv

In C it is possible to accept command line arguments. Command-line arguments are


given after the name of a program in command-line operating systems like DOS or
Linux, and are passed in to the program from the operating system. To use
command line arguments in your program, you must first understand the full
declaration of the main function, which previously has accepted no arguments. In
fact, main can actually accept two arguments: one argument is number of
command line arguments, and the other argument is a full list of all of the command
line arguments.

The full declaration of main looks like this:

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

The integer, argc is the argument count. It is the number of arguments passed into
the program from the command line, including the name of the program.

The array of character pointers is the listing of all the arguments. argv[0] is the
name of the program, or an empty string if the name is not available. After that,
every element number less than argc is a command line argument. You can use
each argv element just like a string, or use argv as a two dimensional array.
argv[argc] is a null pointer.

How could this be used? Almost any program that wants its parameters to be set
when it is executed would use this. One common use is to write a function that
takes the name of a file and outputs the entire text of it onto the screen.

#include <stdio.h>

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


{
if ( argc != 2 ) /* argc should be 2 for correct execution */
{
/* We print argv[0] assuming it is the program name */
printf( "usage: %s filename", argv[0] );
}
else
{
// We assume argv[1] is a filename to open
FILE *file = fopen( argv[1], "r" );

/* fopen returns 0, the NULL pointer, on failure */


if ( file == 0 )
{
printf( "Could not open file\n" );
}
else
{
int x;
/* read one character at a time from file, stopping at EOF, which
indicates the end of the file. Note that the idiom of "assign
to a variable, check the value" used below works because
the assignment statement evaluates to the value assigned. */

while ( ( x = fgetc( file ) ) != EOF )


{
printf( "%c", x );
}
fclose( file );
}
}
}

This program is fairly short, but it incorporates the full version of main and even
performs a useful function. It first checks to ensure the user added the second
argument, theoretically a file name. The program then checks to see if the file is
valid by trying to open it. This is a standard operation, and if it results in the file
being opened, then the return value of fopen will be a valid FILE*; otherwise, it will
be 0, the NULL pointer. After that, we just execute a loop to print out one character
at a time from the file. The code is self-explanatory, but is littered with comments;
you should have no trouble understanding its operation this far into the tutorial.

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