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+# Command Options
+
+Some _NNG_ utilities need to parse command line options,
+and the supplementary function here allows applications that
+need the same support to benefit from this.
+
+To make use of this, the supplemental header `<nng/supplemental/util/options.h>`
+must be included.
+
+## Parse Command Line Options
+
+```c
+typedef struct nng_optspec {
+    const char *o_name;  // Long style name (may be NULL for short only)
+    int         o_short; // Short option (no clustering!)
+    int         o_val;   // Value stored on a good parse (>0)
+    bool        o_arg;   // Option takes an argument if true
+} nng_optspec;
+
+int nng_opts_parse(int argc, char *const *argv,
+                   const nng_optspec *spec, int *val, char **arg, int *idx);
+```
+
+The {{i:`nng_opts_parse`}} function is a intended to facilitate parsing
+{{i:command-line arguments}}.
+This function exists largely to stand in for {{i:`getopt`}} from POSIX systems,
+but it is available everywhere that _NNG_ is, and it includes
+some capabilities missing from `getopt`.
+
+The function parses arguments from
+`main`{{footnote: Parsing argument strings from other sources can be done as well,
+although usually then _idx_ will be initialized to zero.}}
+(using _argc_ and _argv_),
+starting at the index referenced by _idx_.
+(New invocations typically set the value pointed to by _idx_ to 1.)
+
+Options are parsed as specified by _spec_ (see [Option Specification](#option-specification).)
+The value of the parsed option will be stored at the address indicated by
+_val_, and the value of _idx_ will be incremented to reflect the next
+option to parse.
+
+> [!TIP]
+> For using this to parse command-line like strings that do not include
+> the command name itself, set the value referenced by _idx_ to zero instead of one.
+
+If the option had an argument, a pointer to that is returned at the address
+referenced by _arg_.
+
+This function should be called repeatedly, until it returns either -1
+(indicating the end of options is reached) or a non-zero error code is
+returned.
+
+This function may return the following errors:
+
+- [`NNG_EAMBIGUOUS`]: Parsed option matches more than one specification.
+- [`NNG_ENOARG`]: Option requires an argument, but one is not present.
+- [`NNG_EINVAL`]: An invalid (unknown) argument is present.
+
+### Option Specification
+
+The calling program must first create an array of {{i:`nng_optspec`}} structures
+describing the options to be supported.
+This structure has the following members:
+
+- `o_name`:
+
+  The long style name for the option, such as "verbose".
+  This will be parsed as a [long option](#long-options) on the command line when it is prefixed with two dashes.
+  It may be `NULL` if only a [short option](#short-options) is to be supported.
+
+- `o_short`:
+
+  This is a single letter (at present only ASCII letters are supported).
+  These options appear as just a single letter, and are prefixed with a single dash on the command line.
+  The use of a slash in lieu of the dash is _not_ supported, in order to avoid confusion with path name arguments.
+  This value may be set to 0 if no [short option](#short-options) is needed.
+
+- `o_val`:
+
+  This is a numeric value that is unique to this option.
+  This value is assigned by the application program, and must be non-zero for a valid option.
+  If this is zero, then it indicates the end of the specifications, and the
+  rest of this structure is ignored.
+  The value will be returned to the caller in _val_ by `nng_opts_parse` when
+  this option is parsed from the command line.
+
+- `o_arg`:
+
+  This value should be set to `true` if the option should take an argument.
+
+### Long Options
+
+Long options are parsed from the _argv_ array, and are indicated when
+the element being scanned starts with two dashes.
+For example, the "verbose" option would be specified as `--verbose` on
+the command line.
+If a long option takes an argument, it can either immediately follow
+the option as the next element in _argv_, or it can be appended to
+the option, separated from the option by an equals sign (`=`) or a
+colon (`:`).
+
+### Short Options
+
+Short options appear by themselves in an _argv_ element, prefixed by a dash (`-`).
+If the short option takes an argument, it can either be appended in the
+same element of _argv_, or may appear in the next _argv_ element.
+
+> [!NOTE]
+> Option clustering, where multiple options can be crammed together in
+> a single _argv_ element, is not supported by this function (yet).
+
+### Prefix Matching
+
+When using long options, the parser will match if it is equal to a prefix
+of the `o_name` member of a option specification, provided that it do so
+unambiguously (meaning it must not match any other option specification.)
+
+## Example
+
+The following program fragment demonstrates this function.
+
+```c
+    enum { OPT_LOGFILE, OPT_VERBOSE };
+    char *logfile; // options to be set
+    bool verbose;
+
+    static nng_optspec specs[] = {
+        {
+            .o_name = "logfile",
+            .o_short = 'D',
+            .o_val = OPT_LOGFILE,
+            .o_arg = true,
+        }, {
+            .o_name = "verbose",
+            .o_short = 'V',
+            .o_val = OPT_VERBOSE,
+            .o_arg = false,
+        }, {
+            .o_val = 0; // Terminate array
+        }
+    };
+
+    for (int idx = 1;;) {
+        int rv, opt;
+        char *arg;
+        rv = nng_opts_parse(argc, argv, specs, &opt, &arg, &idx);
+        if (rv != 0) {
+            break;
+        }
+        switch (opt) {
+        case OPT_LOGFILE:
+            logfile = arg;
+            break;
+        case OPT_VERBOSE:
+            verbose = true;
+            break;
+        }
+    }
+    if (rv != -1) {
+        printf("Options error: %s\n", nng_strerror(rv));
+        exit(1);
+    }
+```
+
+{{#include ../xref.md}}