Last Modified
2016-08-02 18:20:40 -0500
Requires
  • rdoc/markup/simple_markup
  • rdoc/markup/simple_markup/to_flow
  • rdoc/ri/ri_formatter
  • rdoc/ri/ri_options

Description

Synopsis

This library allows command-line tools to encapsulate their usage as a comment at the top of the main file. Calling RDoc::usage then displays some or all of that comment, and optionally exits the program with an exit status. We always look for the comment in the main program file, so it is safe to call this method from anywhere in the executing program.

Usage

RDoc::usage( [ exit_status ], [ section, ...])
RDoc::usage_no_exit( [ section, ...])

where:

exit_status

the integer exit code (default zero). RDoc::usage will exit the calling program with this status.

section

an optional list of section names. If specified, only the sections with the given names as headings will be output. For example, this section is named 'Usage', and the next section is named 'Examples'. The section names are case insensitive.

Examples

# Comment block describing usage
# with (optional) section headings
# . . .

require 'rdoc/usage'

# Display all usage and exit with a status of 0

RDoc::usage

# Display all usage and exit with a status of 99

RDoc::usage(99)

# Display usage in the 'Summary' section only, then
# exit with a status of 99

RDoc::usage(99, 'Summary')

# Display information in the Author and Copyright
# sections, then exit 0.

RDoc::usage('Author', 'Copyright')

# Display information in the Author and Copyright
# sections, but don't exit

RDoc::usage_no_exit('Author', 'Copyright')

Author

Dave Thomas, The Pragmatic Programmers, LLC

Copyright

Copyright © 2004 Dave Thomas. Licensed under the same terms as Ruby