Minimist-like PHP $argv parser

readme.md

This snippet allows for very simple argument parsing. Use it like

$args = require_once 'args.php';

Features:

• arguments in quotes are handled correctly
• long names: php app.php --name foo → $args['name'] === "foo"
• short names: php app.php -n foo → $args['n'] === "foo"
• values without names: php app.php foo bar → $args['_'] === [ "foo", "bar" ]
• names without subsequent values are booleans (true): php app.php --name → $args['name'] === true
• combined short names are always booleans (true): php app.php -wvb → $args['w'] === true, $args['v'] === true, $args['b'] === true

Non-Features:

No error handling at all. Being in a CLI environment is assumed and arguments are trusted to be well-formatted.

args.php

<?php

$args = array_slice($argv, 1);

$unnamedArgs = [];
$namedArgs = [];
$currentArg = null;

foreach ($args as $arg) {
	// Long name
	if (substr($arg, 0, 2) === '--') {
		// Boolean arg if no value is given
		if (!is_null($currentArg)) {
			$namedArgs[$currentArg] = true;
		}

		$currentArg = substr($arg, 2);

	// Short name(s)
	} elseif (substr($arg, 0, 1) === '-') {
		// Boolean arg if no value is given
		if (!is_null($currentArg)) {
			$namedArgs[$currentArg] = true;
		}

		// One short name = await value
		if (strlen($arg) === 2) {
			$currentArg = substr($arg, 1);

		// Multiple short names = all booleans
		} else {
			for ($i = 1; $i < strlen($arg); $i++) {
				$namedArgs[$arg[$i]] = true;
			}
		}
	// Unnamed
	} else {
		// Set for last arg name
		if (!is_null($currentArg)) {
			$namedArgs[$currentArg] = $arg;
			$currentArg = null;

		// Set as unnamed arg
		} else {
			$unnamedArgs[] = $arg;
		}
	}
}

// If there's an open named arg, make it true
if ($currentArg) $namedArgs[$currentArg] = true;

return array_merge([ '_' => $unnamedArgs ], $namedArgs);