[#BloombergLP-balcl-Option]
= xref:BloombergLP.adoc[BloombergLP]::xref:BloombergLP/balcl.adoc[balcl]::Option
:relfileprefix: ../../
:mrdocs:

This `class`, constructible from and implicitly convertible to `OptionInfo`, provides the same attributes, but also uses a `bslma::Allocator` and thus can be stored in a container. A minor subtlety arises in the `name` attribute, whereby any suffix starting with an `=` sign in the `name` attribute of a `OptionInfo` is removed in order to derive the `name` of the `Option`.

== Synopsis

Declared in `<balcl_option.h>`

[source,cpp,subs="verbatim,replacements,macros,-callouts"]
----
class Option;
----

== Member Functions

[cols="1,4"]
|===
| Name| Description
| xref:BloombergLP/balcl/Option/2constructor-09.adoc[`Option`]         [.small]#[constructor]#
| Constructors
| xref:BloombergLP/balcl/Option/2destructor.adoc[`~Option`] [.small]#[destructor]#
| Destroy this command‐line option object.
| xref:BloombergLP/balcl/Option/operator_assign-0f.adoc[`operator=`] 
| Assignment operators
| xref:BloombergLP/balcl/Option/allocator.adoc[`allocator`] 
| Return the allocator used by this object to supply memory. Note that if no allocator was supplied at construction the currently installed default allocator at construction is used.
| xref:BloombergLP/balcl/Option/argType.adoc[`argType`] 
| Return the `ArgType` enumerator identifying whether this option is a flag (i.e., a tag not followed by a value), or whether it is an option (i.e., a tag followed by a value), or a non‐option argument (i.e., a value not preceded by a short or long tag).
| xref:BloombergLP/balcl/Option/description.adoc[`description`] 
| Return the description of this option.
| xref:BloombergLP/balcl/Option/environmentVariableName.adoc[`environmentVariableName`] 
| Return the environment variable name of this option.
| xref:BloombergLP/balcl/Option/isArray.adoc[`isArray`] 
| Return `true` if the value of this option is of array type, and `false` otherwise.
| xref:BloombergLP/balcl/Option/isDescriptionValid.adoc[`isDescriptionValid`] 
| Return `true` if the description is valid for this option, leaving the specified `stream` unaffected; otherwise, write a diagnostic message to `stream` and return `false`.
| xref:BloombergLP/balcl/Option/isLongTagValid.adoc[`isLongTagValid`] 
| Return `true` if the specified `longTag` is valid for this option, leaving the specified `stream` unaffected; otherwise, write a diagnostic message to `stream` and return `false`.
| xref:BloombergLP/balcl/Option/isNameValid.adoc[`isNameValid`] 
| Return `true` if the name is valid for this option, leaving the specified `stream` unaffected; otherwise, write a diagnostic message to `stream` and return `false`.
| xref:BloombergLP/balcl/Option/isTagValid.adoc[`isTagValid`] 
| Return `true` if the tag is valid for this option, leaving the specified `stream` unaffected; otherwise, write a diagnostic message to `stream` and return `false`.
| xref:BloombergLP/balcl/Option/longTag.adoc[`longTag`] 
| Return the string used to identify this option on a command line preceded with `‐‐`, or 0 if there is no long tag associated with this option. The behavior is undefined if this option is a non‐option argument (i.e., has no tag).
| xref:BloombergLP/balcl/Option/name.adoc[`name`] 
| Return the name of this option.
| xref:BloombergLP/balcl/Option/occurrenceInfo.adoc[`occurrenceInfo`] 
| Return a `const` reference to the occurrence info for this option (i.e., whether the option is required, optional, or hidden, and its default value, if any).
| xref:BloombergLP/balcl/Option/print.adoc[`print`] 
| Format this object to the specified output `stream` at the (absolute value of) the optionally specified indentation `level` and return a reference to `stream`. If `level` is specified, optionally specify `spacesPerLevel`, the number of spaces per indentation level for this object. If `level` is negative, suppress indentation of the first line. If `stream` is not valid on entry, this operation has no effect. The behavior is undefined if `spacesPerLevel` is negative.
| xref:BloombergLP/balcl/Option/shortTag.adoc[`shortTag`] 
| Return the single character used to identify this option on a command line preceded with a single `‐`, or 0 if this option only has a long tag. The behavior is undefined if this option is a non‐option argument (i.e., has no tag).
| xref:BloombergLP/balcl/Option/tagString.adoc[`tagString`] 
| Return the tag string provided to this object at construction. Note that this string is empty if this is a non‐option argument.
| xref:BloombergLP/balcl/Option/typeInfo.adoc[`typeInfo`] 
| Return a `const` reference to the type info for this option (i.e., the type of the option, whether the option is linked to a variable, and whether it has a constraint).
| xref:BloombergLP/balcl/Option/2conversion-04.adoc[`operator BloombergLP::bslmf::NestedTraitDeclaration<Option, HasPrintMethod>`] 
| Nested trait declaration for `bslma::UsesBslmaAllocator`.
| xref:BloombergLP/balcl/Option/2conversion-0f.adoc[`operator OptionInfo const&`] 
| Return a `const` reference to the `OptionInfo` object having the value of this option.
|===


== Non-Member Functions

[cols="1,4"]
|===
| Name| Description
| xref:BloombergLP/balcl/operator_not_eq-009.adoc[`operator!=`]
| Return `true` if the specified `lhs` command‐line option has a different value from the specified `rhs` command‐line option, and `false` otherwise. Two `Option` objects do not have the same value if their underlying `OptionInfo` objects do not have the same value.
| xref:BloombergLP/balcl/operator_eq-09.adoc[`operator==`]
| Return `true` if the specified `lhs` and `rhs` have the same value, and `false` otherwise. Two `Option` objects have the same value if their underlying `OptionInfo` objects have the same value.
|===


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