match_tok.h

    #include <mplib1/match_tok.h>

    int match_string (  const char *line_ptr,
			const char *match_ptr,
			char ** next_tok );

This function returns a non-zero value if the buffer pointed to by line_ptr contains the string pointed to by match_ptr. It returns zero otherwise. If the match_ptr string starts with a ^ then the string comparision will be against match_ptr+1 and line_ptr.

If the next_tok parameter is non-NULL then value is set to either the next non-space character following a match, or to the line_ptr value.

    struct match_token
    {
    int m_val;
    const char *m_ptr;
    };

    int match_a_string( const char *line_ptr,
			struct match_token *match_ptr,
			char ** next_tok );

This function takes an input line pointed to by the line_ptr parameter and array of match_token structures pointed to by match_ptr which is terminated by an entry with a NULL string pointer, and an optional pointer to a character pointer.

The routine effectively performs a series of match_token calls against each entry in the match_ptr array until it matches and then returns the corresponding m_val. If there is no match then the value returned is that of the terminating match token.

This function can be used to build a simple command parser as illustrated by the following code.

    struct match_token my_tokens[] =
    {
     { 1, "^help" },.
     { 2, "^quit" },
     { 3, "^details" },

     { 0, NULL }
    };

    void use_line( char *line_ptr )
    {
	char *next_cp;
	switch( match_a_string( line_ptr, my_tokens, &next_cp ) )
	{
	1 :
	    printf("Help not available\n");
	    break;
	2 :
	    printf("Thank you and goodbye\n");
	    exit(0);
	3 : /* call detail function
		and pass remainder of line for parameters
	    */
	    print_details( next_cp );
	    break;
	0 :
	    printf("Unrecognised command \"%s\"\n", line_ptr );
	break;
	}
	return;
    }