The parse_args() method

Function signature

[[nodiscard]] map_type parse_args();

Explanation of how it works

• map_type is equivalent to std::unordered_map<std::string, Arg>
• The function will immediately create the usage and help messages to be display on command

  this->create_usage_message();
  this->create_help_message();
  

• The function will also before even parsing the command line arguments check if any builtins are present and if so, execute them

  if (const auto builtin = this->get_builtin_if(); builtin.has_value()) {
      const auto fn = builtin.value();
      fn();
      exit(0);
  }
  

• The function will then split the program arguments into positional and optional arguments

  const auto [positional_args, optional_args] = this->split_program_args();
  

• The function will then parse the positional arguments

  this->parse_positional_args(positional_args);
  

• The function will then throw if a not registered optional argument is found in the program args

  this->throw_if_unrecognized(optional_args);
  this->parse_optional_args(optional_args);
  

Whatever is returned from the function can be then accessed through the .at() method and then cast to the appropriate type as it is explained here.

Exceptions

Be also aware that this function may throw an exception in one of these cases:

• If not enough positional arguments were provided
• If an optional argument that is not registered was provided

NOTE: The return type of the method is marked as [[nodiscard]] which means that the result of the call to this method cannot be ignored and the value has necessarily to be stored in a variable.