#!/bin/sh help() { cat <<HELP This is a generic command line parser demo. USAGE EXAMPLE: cmdparser -l hello -f -- -somefile1 somefile2 HELP exit 0 } while [ -n "$1" ]; do case $1 in -h) help;shift 1;; # function help is called -f) opt_f=1;shift 1;; # variable opt_f is set -l) opt_l=$2;shift 2;; # -l takes an argument -> shift by 2 --) shift;break;; # end of options -*) echo "error: no such option $1. -h for help";exit 1;; *) break;; esac done echo "opt_f is $opt_f" echo "opt_l is $opt_l" echo "first arg is $1" echo "2nd arg is $2"