[ID 19990930.014] getops() Problems

This is a bug report for perl from brent@marooned.tamu.edu,
generated with the help of perlbug 1.17 running under perl 5.00401.

To: perlbug@perl.com
Subject: getopts() returns a 1 when no opts are given
Reply-To: brent@marooned.tamu.edu

This is a bug report for perl from brent@marooned.tamu.edu,
generated with the help of perlbug 1.17 running under perl 5.00401.


-----------------------------------------------------------------
[Please enter your report here]
If I use:
$ret = getopts('hf:d:m:');
then 
if (!$ret || $opt_h){
    &PrintUsage;
    exit(1);
}

$ret has the value of "1" even when no args are entered.
I do not understand why this is so.  Can functionality be added
that will make getopts() return 0 if no args are passed?

The manpage also could use some work.
perldoc Getopt::Std

It appears to me that:
 getopt('oDI');    # -o, -D & -I take arg.
appears to be incorrect...I understood that : signified if it took an arg or not.

Also, can I ask that the manpage explain the return codes?


[Please do not change anything below this line]
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---
Site configuration information for perl 5.00401:

Configured by root at Thu Sep 11 18:55:58 CDT 1997.

Summary of my perl5 (5.0 patchlevel 4 subversion 1) configuration:
  Platform:
    osname=linux, osvers=2.0.27, archname=i686-linux
    uname='linux marooned 2.0.27 #6 thu apr 10 10:45:30 cdt 1997 i686 '
    hint=recommended, useposix=true, d_sigaction=define
    bincompat3=n useperlio=define d_sfio=
  Compiler:
    cc='gcc', optimize='-O2', gccversion=2.7.2.1
    cppflags='-Dbool=char -DHAS_BOOL -I/usr/local/include'
    ccflags ='-Dbool=char -DHAS_BOOL -I/usr/local/include'
    stdchar='char', d_stdstdio=define, usevfork=false
    voidflags=15, castflags=0, d_casti32=define, d_castneg=define
    intsize=4, alignbytes=4, usemymalloc=n, randbits=31
  Linker and Libraries:
    ld='gcc', ldflags =' -L/usr/local/lib'
    libpth=/usr/local/lib /shlib /lib /usr/lib
    libs=-lgdbm -ldbm -ldb -ldl -lm -lc
    libc=/lib/libc.so.5.4.17, so=so
    useshrplib=false, libperl=libperl.a
  Dynamic Linking:
    dlsrc=dl_dlopen.xs, dlext=so, d_dlsymun=, ccdlflags='-rdynamic'
    cccdlflags='-fpic', lddlflags='-shared -L/usr/local/lib'


---
@INC for perl 5.00401:
	/usr/lib/perl5/i686-linux/5.00401
	/usr/lib/perl5
	/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/i686-linux
	/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl
	.

---
Environment for perl 5.00401:
    HOME=/home/brent
    LANG (unset)
    LD_LIBRARY_PATH (unset)
    LOGDIR (unset)
    PATH=/home/brent:/home/brent/bin:.:/home/brent/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/ucb:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/etc:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/games:/usr/local/bin:.
    PERL_BADLANG (unset)
    SHELL=/bin/zsh

---
Site configuration information for perl 5.00401:

Configured by root at Thu Sep 11 18:55:58 CDT 1997.

Summary of my perl5 (5.0 patchlevel 4 subversion 1) configuration:
  Platform:
    osname=linux, osvers=2.0.27, archname=i686-linux
    uname='linux marooned 2.0.27 #6 thu apr 10 10:45:30 cdt 1997 i686 '
    hint=recommended, useposix=true, d_sigaction=define
    bincompat3=n useperlio=define d_sfio=
  Compiler:
    cc='gcc', optimize='-O2', gccversion=2.7.2.1
    cppflags='-Dbool=char -DHAS_BOOL -I/usr/local/include'
    ccflags ='-Dbool=char -DHAS_BOOL -I/usr/local/include'
    stdchar='char', d_stdstdio=define, usevfork=false
    voidflags=15, castflags=0, d_casti32=define, d_castneg=define
    intsize=4, alignbytes=4, usemymalloc=n, randbits=31
  Linker and Libraries:
    ld='gcc', ldflags =' -L/usr/local/lib'
    libpth=/usr/local/lib /shlib /lib /usr/lib
    libs=-lgdbm -ldbm -ldb -ldl -lm -lc
    libc=/lib/libc.so.5.4.17, so=so
    useshrplib=false, libperl=libperl.a
  Dynamic Linking:
    dlsrc=dl_dlopen.xs, dlext=so, d_dlsymun=, ccdlflags='-rdynamic'
    cccdlflags='-fpic', lddlflags='-shared -L/usr/local/lib'


---
@INC for perl 5.00401:
	/usr/lib/perl5/i686-linux/5.00401
	/usr/lib/perl5
	/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/i686-linux
	/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl
	.

---
Environment for perl 5.00401:
    HOME=/home/brent
    LANG (unset)
    LD_LIBRARY_PATH (unset)
    LOGDIR (unset)
    PATH=/home/brent:/home/brent/bin:.:/home/brent/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/ucb:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/etc:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/games:/usr/local/bin:.
    PERL_BADLANG (unset)
    SHELL=/bin/zsh

• [ID 19990930.014] getops() Problems by brent
• Re: [ID 19990930.014] getops() Problems by Ronald J Kimball
• Re: [ID 19990930.014] getops() Problems by Nick Ing-Simmons