diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index a23b1d8..533b23e 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -31,15 +31,25 @@ An acceptable CLI parser library should be all of the following: * Work with standard types, simple custom types, and extendible to exotic types. * Permissively licenced. -The major CLI parsers for C++ include: - -* [Boost Program Options]: A great library if you already depend on Boost, but its pre-C++11 syntax is really odd and setting up the correct call in the main function is poorly documented (and is nearly a page of code). A simple wrapper for the Boost library was originally developed, but was discarded as CLI11 became more powerful. The idea of capturing a value and setting it originated with Boost PO. -* [The Lean Mean C++ Option Parser]: One header file is great, but the syntax is atrocious, in my opinion. It was quite impractical to wrap the syntax or to use in a complex project. It seems to handle standard parsing quite well. -* [TCLAP]: The not-quite-standard command line parsing causes common shortcuts to fail. It also seems to be poorly supported, with only minimal bugfixes accepted. Header only, but in quite a few files. Has not managed to get enough support to move to GitHub yet. No subcommands. Produces wrapped values. -* [Cxxopts]: C++11, single file, and nice CMake support, but requires regex, therefore GCC 4.8 (CentOS 7 default) does not work. Syntax closely based on Boost PO, so not ideal but familiar. -* [DocOpt]: Completely different approach to program options in C++11, you write the docs and the interface is generated. Too fragile and specialized. -* [GFlags]: The Google Commandline Flags library. Uses macros heavily, and is limited in scope, missing things like subcommands. It provides a simple syntax and supports config files/env vars. -* [GetOpt]: Very limited C solution with long, convoluted syntax. Does not support much of anything, like help generation. Always available on UNIX, though (but in different flavors). +The major CLI parsers for C++ include (with my biased opinions): + +| Library | My biased opinion | +|---------|-------------------| +| [Boost Program Options] | A great library if you already depend on Boost, but its pre-C++11 syntax is really odd and setting up the correct call in the main function is poorly documented (and is nearly a page of code). A simple wrapper for the Boost library was originally developed, but was discarded as CLI11 became more powerful. The idea of capturing a value and setting it originated with Boost PO. | +| [The Lean Mean C++ Option Parser] | One header file is great, but the syntax is atrocious, in my opinion. It was quite impractical to wrap the syntax or to use in a complex project. It seems to handle standard parsing quite well. | +| [TCLAP] | The not-quite-standard command line parsing causes common shortcuts to fail. It also seems to be poorly supported, with only minimal bugfixes accepted. Header only, but in quite a few files. Has not managed to get enough support to move to GitHub yet. No subcommands. Produces wrapped values. | +| [Cxxopts] | C++11, single file, and nice CMake support, but requires regex, therefore GCC 4.8 (CentOS 7 default) does not work. Syntax closely based on Boost PO, so not ideal but familiar. | +| [DocOpt] | Completely different approach to program options in C++11, you write the docs and the interface is generated. Too fragile and specialized. | + +After I wrote this, I also found the following libraries: + +| Library | My biased opinion | +|---------|-------------------| +| [GFlags] | The Google Commandline Flags library. Uses macros heavily, and is limited in scope, missing things like subcommands. It provides a simple syntax and supports config files/env vars. | +| [GetOpt] | Very limited C solution with long, convoluted syntax. Does not support much of anything, like help generation. Always available on UNIX, though (but in different flavors). | +| [ProgramOptions.hxx] | Intresting library, less powerful and no subcommands. | +| [Args] | Also interesting, and supports subcommands. I like the optional-like design, but CLI11 is cleaner and provides direct value access, and is less verbose. | +| [Argument Aggregator] | I'm a big fan of the [fmt] library, and the try-catch statement looks familiar. :thumbsup: Doesn't seem to support subcommands. | None of these libraries fulfill all the above requirements. As you probably have already guessed, CLI11 does. So, this library was designed to provide a great syntax, good compiler compatibility, and minimal installation fuss. @@ -306,4 +316,8 @@ CLI11 was developed at the [University of Cincinnati] to support of the [GooFit] [DIANA/HEP]: http://diana-hep.org [NSF Award 1414736]: https://nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1414736 [University of Cincinnati]: http://www.uc.edu -[GitBook]: https://henryiii.gitbooks.io/cli11/content +[GitBook]: https://henryiii.gitbooks.io/cli11/content +[ProgramOptions.hxx]: https://github.com/Fytch/ProgramOptions.hxx +[Argument Aggregator]: https://github.com/vietjtnguyen/argagg +[Args]: https://github.com/Taywee/args +[fmt]: https://github.com/fmtlib/fmt diff --git a/examples/CMakeLists.txt b/examples/CMakeLists.txt index d08459a..b4efebd 100644 --- a/examples/CMakeLists.txt +++ b/examples/CMakeLists.txt @@ -14,6 +14,6 @@ function(add_cli_exe T) endif() endfunction() -add_cli_exe(try try.cpp) -add_cli_exe(try1 try1.cpp) -add_cli_exe(try2 try2.cpp) +add_cli_exe(simple simple.cpp) +add_cli_exe(subcommands subcommands.cpp) +add_cli_exe(groups groups.cpp) diff --git a/examples/try2.cpp b/examples/groups.cpp index 0b6b109..0b6b109 100644 --- a/examples/try2.cpp +++ b/examples/groups.cpp diff --git a/examples/try.cpp b/examples/simple.cpp index 505af06..505af06 100644 --- a/examples/try.cpp +++ b/examples/simple.cpp diff --git a/examples/try1.cpp b/examples/subcommands.cpp index 39bc7eb..39bc7eb 100644 --- a/examples/try1.cpp +++ b/examples/subcommands.cpp