How do you access ARGV in Mathematica?

Question

I'd like to write command line scripts in Mathematica, but I can't seem to find an Argv[i_Integer] like function. (The docs are FANTASTIC otherwise.)

similar question: [If doing “math foo bar”, how to get foo and bar inside Mathematica?](http://stackoverflow.com/q/7149252/211232) — WReach, Nov 01 '11 at 22:29

score 6 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:52

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It seems that $ScriptCommandLine is the variable you would need for this, assuming you're using MathematicaScript for scripting. If you use math or MathKernel -script it would be $CommandLine.

Other relevant discussions: a rather old one and one in the MMA toolbag.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:52

Community

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answered Nov 01 '11 at 20:52

Sjoerd C. de Vries

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Thanks. Unfortunately, `MathKernel` reports `$ScriptCommandLine` as empty `{}`, no matter the actual arguments supplied. And `MathematicaScript` reports `Could not find Mathematica installation directory.` – mcandre Nov 01 '11 at 21:50
@mcandre Are the executables on your path? – Sjoerd C. de Vries Nov 01 '11 at 22:24
@mcandre .... and did you see this line in the docs: "The first line of the script must contain the -script option, which must be the **last** option on the line." – Sjoerd C. de Vries Nov 01 '11 at 22:28
@mcandre "If no -script option was provided, $ScriptCommandLine gives an empty list." – Sjoerd C. de Vries Nov 01 '11 at 22:44
@mcandre This all still assuming you're using MathematicaScript. – Sjoerd C. de Vries Nov 01 '11 at 23:14
@mcandre What's the value of $InstallationDirectory when you run Mathematica from the frontend? – Brett Champion Nov 02 '11 at 01:53
`$InstallationDirectory` = `"/Applications/Mathematica.app"`, from both `MathKernel -script` and from the Mathematica GUI. – mcandre Nov 02 '11 at 04:50
@mcandre MathematicaScript is new in v8. What version do you have? – Szabolcs Nov 02 '11 at 09:01
@mcandre It seems my assumption you were using MathematicaScript was wrong. In that case you should try `$CommandLine`. – Sjoerd C. de Vries Nov 02 '11 at 09:08
Congrats on 10k, Sjoerd! Welcome to the club of deleted crap viewers :) – abcd Nov 06 '11 at 17:01
@yoda Thanks, and now the Mathematica gold badge, that'll impress my kids ;-) – Sjoerd C. de Vries Nov 06 '11 at 19:21

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 02 '11 at 17:18

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$CommandLine works for Mathematica, MathematicaScript, MathKernel, and math.

args.ma:

#!/usr/bin/env MathKernel -script

Print[$CommandLine]

Example:

$ ./args.ma a b c
{"MathKernel", "-script", "./args.ma", "a", "b", "c"}

answered Nov 02 '11 at 17:18

mcandre

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score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 02 '11 at 01:07

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I'm fond of passing things in using environment variables:

http://reference.wolfram.com/mathematica/ref/Environment.html

answered Nov 02 '11 at 01:07

Joshua Martell

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Helpful, but it's a bit more manual than specifying command line flags. – mcandre Nov 02 '11 at 04:48

How do you access ARGV in Mathematica?

3 Answers3