simple command line interface (CLI) architecture

When you think about it, what you need is a loop (because you want to do it over and over), a read, some parsing logic and a something to do. Try that format...

while (true) { printf("Enter cmd>"); fgets(); i = parse() // for example switch( i ) { case cmd1: break; case cmd2: break; default: printf("Unknown Command\n"); } }

char *cmds[4] {"cmd1", "cmd2", "cmd3", "" };

int parse( char *str_in ) { // there are many ways to do this - mostly depending on what format the command is to take. char * parsed[20]; int parse_i = 0; char *p; int i;

p = strtok( str_in, " ," ); // parse "cmd1 arg1, arg2" do { parsed[parse_i++] = p; p = strtok( NULL, " ," ); } while ( !*p);

for ( i=0; *cmd[i], i++) { if ( strcmp ( parsed[0], cmds[i]) == 0) return i; return -1; }

When I needed a highly reliable embedded parser, I used flex and bison to generate it. It is possible to develop a bulletproof parser that can be easily extended should need arise. The initial learning curve can be steep, however.