PetscOptionsGetString#

Gets the string value for a particular option in the database.

Synopsis#

#include "petscsys.h"   
PetscErrorCode PetscOptionsGetString(PetscOptions options, const char pre[], const char name[], char string[], size_t len, PetscBool *set)

Not Collective

Input Parameters#

options - options database, use NULL for default global database
pre - string to prepend to name or NULL
name - the option one is seeking
len - maximum length of the string including null termination

Output Parameters#

string - location to copy string
set - PETSC_TRUE if found, else PETSC_FALSE

Note#

if the option is given but no string is provided then an empty string is returned and set is given the value of PETSC_TRUE

If the user does not use the option then the string is not changed. Thus you should ALWAYS initialize the string if you access it without first checking if the set flag is true.

Even if the user provided no string (for example -optionname -someotheroption) the flag is set to PETSC_TRUE (and the string is fulled with nulls).

Fortran Note#

The Fortran interface is slightly different from the C/C++ interface (len is not used). Sample usage in Fortran follows

      character *20    string
      PetscErrorCode   ierr
      PetscBool        set
      call PetscOptionsGetString(PETSC_NULL_OPTIONS,PETSC_NULL_CHARACTER,'-s',string,set,ierr)