SWI-Prolog 9.2.9 Reference Manual: Section A.26

## A.26 library(main): Provide entry point for scripts

See also
  - `library(prolog_stack)` to force backtraces in case of an uncaught exception.
  - XPCE users should have a look at `library(pce_main)`, which starts the GUI and processes events until all windows have gone.

This library is intended for supporting PrologScript on Unix using the `#!` magic sequence for scripts using commandline options. The entry point main/0 calls the user-supplied predicate main/1 passing a list of commandline options. Below is a simle `echo` implementation in Prolog.

    #!/usr/bin/env swipl

    :- initialization(main, main).

    main(Argv) :-
        echo(Argv).

    echo([]) :- nl.
    echo([Last]) :- !,
        write(Last), nl.
    echo([H|T]) :-
        write(H), write(' '),
        echo(T).

main
  Call main/1 using the passed command-line arguments. Before calling main/1 this predicate installs a signal handler for `SIGINT` (Control-C) that terminates the process with status 1.

  When main/0 is called interactively it simply calls main/1 with the arguments. This allows for debugging scripts as follows:

      $ swipl -l script.pl -- arg ...
      ?- gspy(suspect/1).		% setup debugging
      ?- main.			% run program

[det]argv_options(:Argv, -Positional, -Options)
  Parse command line arguments. This predicate acts in one of two modes.

  - If the calling module defines opt_type/3, full featured parsing with long and short options, type conversion and help is provided.
  - If opt_type/3 is not defined, only unguided transformation using long options is supported. See argv_untyped_options/3 for details.

  When guided, three predicates are called in the calling module. opt_type/3 must be defined, the others need not. Note that these three predicates may be defined as multifile to allow multiple modules contributing to the provided commandline options. Defining them as discontiguous allows for creating blocks that describe a group of related options.

  opt_type(Opt, Name, Type)
    Defines Opt to add an option Name(Value), where Value statisfies Type. Opt does not include the leading `-`. A single character implies a short option, multiple a long option. Long options use `_` as word separator, user options may use either `_` or `-`. Type is one of:
    A `|` B
      Disjunctive type. Disjunction can be used create long options with optional values. For example, using the type `nonneg|boolean`, for an option `http` handles `--http` as `http(true)`, `--no-http` as `http(false)` and `--http=3000` as `http(3000)`. Note that with an optional boolean a option is considered boolean unless it has a value written as `--longopt=value`.
    boolean(Default)
    boolean
      Boolean options are special. They do not take a value except for when using the long `--opt=value` notation. This explicit value specification converts `true`, `True`, `TRUE`, `on`, `On`, `ON`, `1` and the obvious false equivalents to Prolog `true` or `false`. If the option is specified, Default is used. If `--no-opt` or `--noopt` is used, the inverse of Default is used.
    integer
      Argument is converted to an integer
    float
      Argument is converted to a float. User may specify an integer
    nonneg
      As `integer`. Requires value `>=` 0.
    natural
      As `integer`. Requires value `>=` 1.
    number
      Any number (integer, float, rational).
    between(Low, High)
      If both one of Low and High is a float, convert as `float`, else convert as `integer`. Then check the range.
    atom
      No conversion
    oneof(List)
      As `atom`, but requires the value to be a member of List (enum type).
    string
      Convert to a SWI-Prolog string
    file
      Convert to a file name in Prolog canonical notation using prolog_to_os_filename/2.
    directory
      Convert to a file name in Prolog canonical notation using prolog_to_os_filename/2. No checking is done and thus this type is the same as `file`
    file(Access)
      As `file`, and check access using access_file/2. A value `-` is not checked for access, assuming the application handles this as standard input or output.
    directory(Access)
      As `directory`, and check access. Access is one of `read` `write` or `create`. In the latter case the parent directory must exist and have write access.
    term
      Parse option value to a Prolog term.
    term(+Options)
      As `term`, but passes Options to term_string/3. If the option `variable_names(Bindings)` is given the option value is set to the pair `Term-Bindings`.
  opt_help(Name, HelpString)
    Help string used by argv_usage/1.
  opt_meta(Name, Meta)
    If a typed argument is required this defines the placeholder in the help message. The default is the uppercase version of the type functor name. This produces the `FILE` in e.g. `-f FILE`.

  By default, `-h`, `-?` and `--help` are bound to help. If `opt_type(Opt, help, boolean)` is true for some Opt, the default help binding and help message are disabled and the normal user rules apply. In particular, the user should also provide a rule for `opt_help(help, String)`.

[det]argv_options(:Argv, -Positional, -Options, +ParseOptions)
  As argv_options/3 in guided mode, Currently this version allows parsing argument options throwing an exception rather than calling halt/1 by passing an empty list to ParseOptions. ParseOptions:
  on_error(+Goal)
    If Goal is `halt(Code)`, exit with Code. Other goals are currently not supported.
  options_after_arguments(+Boolean)
    If `false` (default `true`), stop parsing after the first positional argument, returning options that follow this argument as positional arguments. E.g, `-x file -y` results in positional arguments `[file, '-y']`
[det]argv_usage(:Level)
  Use print_message/2 to print a usage message at Level. To print the message as plain text indefault color, use `debug`. Other meaningful options are `informational` or `warning`. The help page consists of four sections, two of which are optional:

  1. The header is created from `opt_help(help(header), String)`. It is optional.
  2. The usage is added by default. The part behind `Usage: <command>` is by default `[options]` and can be overruled using `opt_help(help(usage), String)`.
  3. The actual option descriptions. The options are presented in the order they are defined in opt_type/3. Subsequent options for the same destination (option name) are joined with the first.
  4. The footer_ is created from `opt_help(help(footer), String)`. It is optional.

  The help provided by `help(header)`, `help(usage)` and `help(footer)` are either a simple string or a list of elements as defined by print_message_lines/3. In the latter case, the construct `\Callable` can be used to call a DCG rule in the module from which the user calls argv_options/3. For example, we can add a bold title using

      opt_help(help(header), [ansi(bold, '~w', ['My title'])]).

[det]cli_parse_debug_options(+OptionsIn, -Options)
  Parse certain commandline options for debugging and development purposes. Options processed are below. Note that the option argument is an atom such that these options may be activated as e.g., `--debug='http(_)'`.
  debug(Topic)
    Call `debug(Topic)`. See debug/1 and debug/3.
  spy(Predicate)
    Place a spy-point on Predicate.
  gspy(Predicate)
    As spy using the graphical debugger. See tspy/1.
  interactive(true)
    Start the Prolog toplevel after main/1 completes.
cli_debug_opt_type(-Flag, -Option, -Type)
cli_debug_opt_help(-Option, -Message)
cli_debug_opt_meta(-Option, -Arg)
  Implements opt_type/3, opt_help/2 and opt_meta/2 for debug arguments. Applications that wish to use these features can call these predicates from their own hook. Fot example:

      opt_type(..., ..., ...).	% application types
      opt_type(Flag, Opt, Type) :-
          cli_debug_opt_type(Flag, Opt, Type).
      % similar for opt_help/2 and opt_meta/2

      main(Argv) :-
          argv_options(Argv, Positional, Options0),
          cli_parse_debug_options(Options0, Options),
          ...

cli_enable_development_system
  Re-enable the development environment. Currently re-enables xpce if this was loaded, but not initialised and causes the interactive toplevel to be re-enabled.

  This predicate may be called from main/1 to enter the Prolog toplevel rather than terminating the application after main/1 completes.