Make a command line application with parameter

Question

I made a command line application which uses parameters. So I try to make a system like the linux command.
So I have 4 parameters, initialized to a default value, used if wrong or none parameter are given. The user can modify those parameter by calling associate options "-options".

   public static void main(String [] args) {
    String locParameter = "centralOffice";
    String dirResult = "//home//"+System.getProperty("user.name")+"//Documents//ResultMyApp";
    int periodParameter = 24;
    String counterParameter = "ALL";
    int i = 0;

    for (String s: args) {
        switch (s) {
            case "-o":  if (args[i+1].equalsIgnoreCase("remote")){
                            locParameter = "remoteOffice";
                            break;
                        } else if (args[i+1].equalsIgnoreCase("central")){
                            locParameter = "centralOffice";
                            break;
                        } else {
                            System.err.println("Unknow parameter for location, default value: centralOffice");
                            break;
                        }
            case "-p":  dirResult = args[i+1];
                        break;
            case "-kpi": counterParameter = args[i+1].toUpperCase();
                        break;
            case "-t":  try { 
                            periodParameter = Integer.parseInt(args[i+1]) ;               
                        } catch(NumberFormatException e){
                            System.err.println("Error parsing parameter, default value 24 hours");
                        } finally {
                            break;
                        }
        }
        i++;
    }

    System.out.println("parameter choosed: " + locParameter + ", " + periodParameter + ", " + counterParameter );}

So I am wondering, is this ok? Of course it works but maybe it is not the easiest way to do it or the most optimized code.

Answer 1

Parameter validation is sorely missing. For example, if you call this with -o as last argument (no more arguments), the program will crash with an array index out of bounds exception and a stack trace. Getting a lengthy stack trace for invalid output is not very UNIX-y ;-)

The finally in the exception handling is not necessary and a bit confusing. I suggest simply moving the break after the catch.

The indenting is a bit strange. I suggest to use an IDE to reformat nicely.

In any case, instead of worrying your own, I suggest using a library. Recently I tried Argparse4j, and I'm happy to say I really like it, works very well for me.