How do I parse command line arguments in Java?

Question

What is a good way of parsing command line arguments in Java?

Answer 1

This is Google's command line parsing library open-sourced as part of the Bazel project. Personally I think it's the best one out there, and far easier than Apache CLI.

https://github.com/pcj/google-options

Installation

Bazel

maven_jar(
    name = "com_github_pcj_google_options",
    artifact = "com.github.pcj:google-options:jar:1.0.0",
    sha1 = "85d54fe6771e5ff0d54827b0a3315c3e12fdd0c7",
)

Gradle

dependencies {
  compile 'com.github.pcj:google-options:1.0.0'
}

Maven

  com.github.pcj
  google-options
  1.0.0

Usage

Create a class that extends OptionsBase and defines your @Option(s).

package example;

import com.google.devtools.common.options.Option;
import com.google.devtools.common.options.OptionsBase;

import java.util.List;

/**
 * Command-line options definition for example server.
 */
public class ServerOptions extends OptionsBase {

  @Option(
      name = "help",
      abbrev = 'h',
      help = "Prints usage info.",
      defaultValue = "true"
    )
  public boolean help;

  @Option(
      name = "host",
      abbrev = 'o',
      help = "The server host.",
      category = "startup",
      defaultValue = ""
  )
  public String host;

  @Option(
    name = "port",
    abbrev = 'p',
    help = "The server port.",
    category = "startup",
    defaultValue = "8080"
    )
    public int port;

  @Option(
    name = "dir",
    abbrev = 'd',
    help = "Name of directory to serve static files.",
    category = "startup",
    allowMultiple = true,
    defaultValue = ""
    )
    public List dirs;

}

Parse the arguments and use them.

package example;

import com.google.devtools.common.options.OptionsParser;
import java.util.Collections;

public class Server {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    OptionsParser parser = OptionsParser.newOptionsParser(ServerOptions.class);
    parser.parseAndExitUponError(args);
    ServerOptions options = parser.getOptions(ServerOptions.class);
    if (options.host.isEmpty() || options.port < 0 || options.dirs.isEmpty()) {
      printUsage(parser);
      return;
    }

    System.out.format("Starting server at %s:%d...\n", options.host, options.port);
    for (String dirname : options.dirs) {
      System.out.format("\\--> Serving static files at <%s>\n", dirname);
    }
  }

  private static void printUsage(OptionsParser parser) {
    System.out.println("Usage: java -jar server.jar OPTIONS");
    System.out.println(parser.describeOptions(Collections.emptyMap(),
                                              OptionsParser.HelpVerbosity.LONG));
  }

}

https://github.com/pcj/google-options