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159 lines
5.9 KiB
HTML
<html><head>
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<title>swim - COMMAND LINE OPTION SYNTAX
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</title>
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<link rev=made href="mailto:mttrader@access.mountain.net">
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</head><body>
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<h1>
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swim - chapter 2<br>
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COMMAND LINE OPTION SYNTAX
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</h1>
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When you press ``<strong>swim</strong>
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<<strong>enter</strong>>`` you will see a listing of command line
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options in a particular syntax. This is to help you understand under what
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context to use the options. When you enter the options on the command
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line, the brackets, parentheses, braces, diamonds, and question marks are
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not actually used.
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<P>
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<strong>Major Mode Option</strong>
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<P>
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All command line options for <strong>swim</strong> always start with a
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<strong>major mode option</strong>, except for ``swim <enter>``
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which will show the whole listing of options. A major mode option is
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surrounded in braces <strong>{ major mode option }</strong>. In the case
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of {--search} there are the alternative major mode options
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{--refinesearch} and {--research}, but because --search needs to be used
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first before either of these two options, --refinesearch and --research
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are surrounded in parentheses ().
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<P>
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Note: Through the other chapters of this manual <strong>{}</strong> is
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assumed for the <strong>major modes</strong> in the
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<strong>usage:</strong> section shown at the beginning of every chapter.
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<P>
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Let's take a closer look at this situation:
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<P>
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<code>{--search ? (--research || --refinesearch)<pattern(s)>}</code>
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<P>
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`<strong>||</strong>' or `<strong>|</strong>' are used to indicate
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`<strong>or</strong>', `<strong>?</strong>' indicates
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`<strong>optional</strong>', <diamond> indicates an
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<strong>argument</strong> (a required argument - see Arguments below),
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(parenthesis) means `if used, must be used after the
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previous required option was used'. Note: for readability
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<code>--research</code> and -<code>-refinesearch</code> are not surrounded in
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<code>{}</code>.
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<P>
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<strong>Normal Options</strong>
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<P>
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Options to the major mode options are enclosed in brackets <strong>[
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option to major mode ]</strong>. <code>swim [-n]</code>
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<<code>enter</code>> (assume enter from here on out), for instance,
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will show all the command line options without using the pager. The pager
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which swim uses can be set in <em>swimrc</em> (see <em>swimrc(8)</em>).
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``<code>swim {--help} [-n]</code>'' will provide brief explanations of all of
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swim's options without using the pager. In this case the major mode option
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<strong>{--help}</strong>, and the option <strong>[-n]</strong> were used.
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<P>
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<strong>Dashes</strong>
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<P>
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Options which have a single dash can be combined with other single dashed
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options <strong>(-qaint)</strong>. Double dashed options need to be
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entered by themselves <strong>(--help --nopager)</strong>, many double
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dashed options have an alternative single dash option <strong>(-n for
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--nopager)</strong>. The meaning of options is related to the major
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mode they are being used with. <strong>[-n]</strong> means no pager
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when called with <strong>{--help}</strong>, but it's a reference to the
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not-installed databases when used with <strong>{-q --query}</strong>,
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fortunately most options do not have double meanings.
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<P>
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<strong>Arguments</strong>
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<P>
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Many options require an argument. Arguments are enclose in diamonds <
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<strong>argument</strong> >. An argument to an option may also be
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optional in which case a question mark ``<strong>?</strong>'' will be
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placed between the option and the argument. <strong>[-l ?
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<[--df]>]</strong> illustrates such a situation.
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<strong>[-l]</strong> shows a file listings, and optionally the option
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<strong>[--df]</strong> can be use with <strong>[-l]</strong> to show an
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expanded listing.
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<P>
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<strong>[--dbpath</strong> <<strong>dir>]</strong> requires an
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argument, this time the argument would not be another option, but rather
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it is a directory.
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<P>
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Rule: When an option is an argument to another option it can be written
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anywhere, but when a non-option is an argument
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<<strong>dir</strong>> <strong>(notice no brackets)</strong> it has
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to be placed directly after the option. Sometimes, there may be
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alternative arguments divided with ``<strong>|</strong>''.
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<<strong>argument1|argument2</strong>> means use argument1 or
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argument2, but not both.
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<P>
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Based on what we now know, let's compare this situation to the
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<strong>{--search}</strong> situation shown above:
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<P>
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<code>[--ftp ? --source | --source_only ? <[--diff]>]</code>
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<P>
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In this case <strong>--source</strong> or alternatively
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<strong>--source_only</strong> can be optionally used along with
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<strong>--ftp</strong> because they aren't in parentheses
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<strong>()</strong> (also notice: | was used instead of ||, but means the
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same thing ``or''). <strong>--diff</strong> can optionally be provided as
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an argument to either <strong>--source</strong> or
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<strong>--source_only</strong>. For readability --source and --source_only
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weren't enclosed in brackets.
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<P>
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<strong>Global Arguments</strong>
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<P>
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A <strong>global argument</strong> can be typed anywhere on the command
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line, and can be an option or text. If global arguments
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exist they are placed last after the list of normal
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options that can be used with a major mode
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option.
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<P>
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[targets | -S] and [targets|APT|DF] are
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examples. {-q}, {--initndb}, and
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{--rebuildndb} all use global arguments.
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<P>
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<strong>Minor Mode Options</strong>
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<P>
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{-q --query} will generally use zero or more
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minor mode options [-afpgn --dir], with
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one exception (see <A href="ch-query.html">QUERYING THE INSTALLED AND NOT-INSTALLED DATABASES
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, chapter 9</A>).
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<hr>
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swim
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- <A href="index.html#copyright">
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Copyright <20> 1999 Jonathan D. Rosenbaum
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</A>
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<br>
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<A href="index.html#toc">Contents</A>; <A href="ch-version.html">next</A>; <A href="ch-description.html">back</A>.
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<br>
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<address>15 June 1999<br>
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Jonathan D. Rosenbaum<A href="mailto:mttrader@access.mountain.net">mttrader@access.mountain.net</A></address>
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</body></html>
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