Re: [PATCH v2 1/4] git-compat-util: introduce skip_to_optional_val()

Christian Couder [off-list ref] writes:

From: Christian Couder <redacted>

We often accept both a "--key" option and a "--key=<val>" option.

These options currently are parsed using something like:

if (!strcmp(arg, "--key")) {
	/* do something */
} else if (skip_prefix(arg, "--key=", &arg)) {
	/* do something with arg */
}

which is a bit cumbersome compared to just:

if (skip_to_optional_val(arg, "--key", &arg)) {
	/* do something with arg */
}

This also introduces skip_to_optional_val_default() for the few
cases where something different should be done when the first
argument is exactly "--key" than when it is exactly "--key=".

In general it is better for UI consistency and simplicity if
"--key" and "--key=" do the same thing though, so that using
skip_to_optional_val() should be encouraged compared to
skip_to_optional_val_default().

Note that these functions can be used to parse any "key=value"
string where "key" is also considered as valid, not just
command line options.

Signed-off-by: Christian Couder <redacted>
---
 git-compat-util.h | 23 +++++++++++++++++++++++
 strbuf.c          | 20 ++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 43 insertions(+)

After thinking about it a bit more and taking a look at the
current code, I thought that it was probably best to have
both skip_to_optional_val() and skip_to_optional_val_default().

I guess we came to the same conclusion independently while our mails
crossed ;-)

  - 2 new functions instead of 1
  - "optional" instead of "opt" in the function names

I thought that the more important part you agreed was s/val/arg/,
though.

I had a few small comments on later steps, but I think these are
moving in the right direction.

Thanks.