# Getoptlong question **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [March 7, 2006, 3:40pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getoptlong-question/77843 "2006-03-07T15:40:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hazmatt](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@hazmatt](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/hazmatt)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 3:40pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getoptlong-question/77843/1 "2006-03-07T15:40:48Z")
This has been bugging me for weeks now, intermittently. By all accounts I’ve read, this getoptlong code should work require ‘getoptlong’ opts = GetoptLong.new( [“–devel”,“-d”,GetoptLong::NO\_ARGUMENT], [“–getpass”,“-g”,GetoptLong::NO\_ARGUMENT], [“–debug”,“-D”,GetoptLong::NO\_ARGUMENT], [“–verbose”,“-V”,GetoptLong::NO\_ARGUMENT] ) server = ‘[http://192.168.10.16/](http://192.168.10.16/)’ verbose = false opts.each { |o,a| p o } opts.each { |o,a| case o when ‘–devel’ server = ‘[http://192.168.20.56/](http://192.168.20.56/)’ when ‘–getpass’ puts “this option does nothing” when ‘–debug’: $DEBUG = true when ‘–verbose’: verbose = true end } p server p $DEBUG p verbose This is the output I expect when I run it: “–devel” “–debug” “–verbose” “[http://192.168.20.56/](http://192.168.20.56/)” true true This is the output I get: “–devel” “–debug” “–verbose” “[http://192.168.10.16/](http://192.168.10.16/)” false false What am I missing? ---
**Author:** ![hazmatt](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@hazmatt](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/hazmatt)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 4:05pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getoptlong-question/77843/2 "2006-03-07T16:05:39Z")
> 2006/3/7, Matt R. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid): > ``` > ["--debug","-D",GetoptLong::NO_ARGUMENT], > when '--getpass' > > ``` > > “–debug” > “–verbose” > “[http://192.168.10.16/](http://192.168.10.16/)” > false > false > > What am I missing? Insert a “p a” in the second opts.each block and see what happens. 🙂 Kind regards robert ---
**Author:** ![hazmatt](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@hazmatt](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/hazmatt)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 4:05pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getoptlong-question/77843/3 "2006-03-07T16:05:45Z")
On Tue, 7 Mar 2006, Matt R. wrote: > ``` > ["--debug","-D",GetoptLong::NO_ARGUMENT], > when '--getpass' > > ``` > > “–debug” > “–verbose” > “[http://192.168.10.16/](http://192.168.10.16/)” > false > false > > What am I missing? harp:~ \> diff -ubB [a.rb.org](http://a.rb.org) a.rb — [a.rb.org](http://a.rb.org) 2006-03-07 07:56:07.000000000 -0700 +++ a.rb 2006-03-07 07:58:12.000000000 -0700 @@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ server = ‘[http://192.168.10.16/](http://192.168.10.16/)’ verbose = false -opts.each { |o,a| p o } +#opts.each { |o,a| p o } opts.each { |o,a| case o when ‘–devel’ harp:~ \> ruby – a.rb --debug --devel --verbose “[http://192.168.20.56/](http://192.168.20.56/)” true true each is destructive - as most argv parsers are. hth. -a ---
**Author:** ![hazmatt](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@hazmatt](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/hazmatt)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 4:24pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getoptlong-question/77843/4 "2006-03-07T16:24:06Z")
On Wed, 8 Mar 2006, removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid wrote: > server = ‘[http://192.168.10.16/](http://192.168.10.16/)’ > true > true > > each is destructive - as most argv parsers are. Oh, fer cryin’ out loud I’m an idiot. > hth. Certainly did. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![hazmatt](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@hazmatt](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/hazmatt)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 4:33pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getoptlong-question/77843/5 "2006-03-07T16:33:15Z")
On Wed, 8 Mar 2006, Matt R. wrote: > > each is destructive - as most argv parsers are. > > Oh, fer cryin’ out loud I’m an idiot. welcome to the club! 😉 -a ---
**Author:** ![hazmatt](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@hazmatt](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/hazmatt)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 4:20pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getoptlong-question/77843/6 "2006-03-07T16:20:58Z")
Matt R. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) writes: > What am I missing? GetoptLong::each as well as GetoptLong::get consume the options. After the first opts.each{…} your opts are emtpy. The docs don’t mention that, I think. I also had those troubles when I used opts.get == nil to check if no options were given. Perhaps you should have a look at the optparse module in the stdlib. Regards, Tassilo