Operation

cli-generate reads in a CLI (command line interface) description file, parses it into its various sections, and prints out one of a set of output files. In typical usage, that output would be directed to a file and later compiled or included in other sources.

The CLI file (named PROGRAM.cli) is divided into two parts, a header (formatted much like a standard mail header) and a series of sections. Headers and sections other than those specified below are ignored. All headers and sections are optional.

File Format

file = header "\n" *section
header = *(header-line "\n")
header-line = header-field ":" whitespace value
whitespace = *(SPACE / TAB)
section = "[" name "]" "\n" lines
lines = *( line "\n" )

Headers

Description:

A one-line description of what the program does.

Include:

Add C statements to #include the given source file. Must be formatted as either <file> or file

Min:

The minimum number of allowed non-option arguments. Defaults to 0.

Max:

The maximum number of allowed non-option arguments. Negative values mean unlimited. Defaults to -1.

Show-Pid:

Set to non-zero if the resulting program is to show its PID with every output message. Defaults to 0.

Usage:

A one-line description of the intended usage. Defaults to empty.

Section Names

[prefix]

The text in this section is shown in the command usage before the options description.

[options]

The list of options this program accepts. See below for their format.

[suffix]

The text in this section is shown in the command usage after the options description.

[description]

[return value]

[errors]

[examples]

[environment]

[files]

[see also]

[notes]

[caveats]

[diagnostics]

[bugs]

[restrictions]

[author]

[history]

These sections are formatted and copied into the man page in the standard order.

Options Format

options = *(option / separator)
option = option1 "\n" option2 "\n" *(line "\n")
option1 = [shortopt] [longopt] type ["=" flag-value] variable ["=" init]
option2 = helpstr ["=" default]
separator = "-- " text "\n"
shortopt = "-" character
longopt = "--" word
type = "FLAG" / "COUNTER" / "INTEGER" / "UINTEGER" / "STRING" / "STRINGLIST" / "FUNCTION"

If not specified, flag-value and init are 0, and default is empty.

Formatting

Except for [prefix], [options], and [suffix], all of the sections support formatting instructions similar to that of TeXinfo (but greatly simplified).

@strong{text}

Use "strong" (bold) text.

@command{text}

Indicate the name of a command.

@option{text}

Indicate a command-line option.

@emph{text}

Use "emphatic" (italicized) text.

@var{text}

Indicate a metasyntactic variable.

@env{text}

Indicate an environment variable.

@file{text}

Indicate the name of a file.

@code{text}

Indicate text that is a literal example of a piece of a program.

@samp{text}

Indicate text that is a literal example of a sequence of characters.

@example

@end example

The text between these two tags is indented.

@verbatim

@end verbatim

Everything between these two tags is passed as-is (verbatim) to the output.

@table @format

@end table

Mark up a two-column table, or "definition list".

@item paragraph

Add an item to a table. The @item starts a paragraph that will be the actual list entry. Any subsequent paragraphs will be typeset seperately.