Where did the output go and question regarding return values of getopt_long()

[Mikael Åsberg <mikas493 at student dot liu dot se>]

Hello, consider this c++-function:

void
handle_command_line(int argc,
                   char* const argv[],
                   bool& verbose,
                   vector<string>& numbers)
{
  const int id_numbers = 4711;
  const int id_verbose = 4712;
  const int id_help = 4713;

  const option long_options[] =
  {
     {"numbers", 1, NULL, id_numbers},
     {"verbose", 0, NULL, id_verbose},
     {"help", 0, NULL, id_help},
     {NULL, 0, NULL, 0}
  };

  const char* const short_options = "";

  int c = 0;

  while((c = getopt_long(
            argc,
            argv,
            short_options,
            long_options,
            NULL)) != -1)
  {
     switch(c)
     {
        cout << "c = " << c << endl; /* Never shown on screen... */

        case id_numbers:
        {
           cout << "Calling extract_numbers() with " << optarg << endl;

           extract_numbers(optarg, numbers);

           break;
        }
        case id_verbose:
        {
           cout << "Setting verbose = true" << endl;

           verbose = true;

           break;
        }
        case id_help:
        {
           cout << "TODO: Add short description regarding usage here." << 
endl;

           exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
        }
        /* c seems to equal '?' for missing parameter as well... */
        case ':':
        {
           cerr << "Missing parameter." << endl;

           break;
        }
        /* Only triggers for unknown options beginning with -- */
        case '?':
        {
           cerr << "Ignoring unknown option." << endl;

           break;
        }
        default:
        {
           /* Throw exception? */
           cerr << "Should not be reached." << endl;
        }
     }
  }
}

My first question is about the
cout << "c = " << c << endl;
inside the switch. I never see this output, why? I tried writing the output 
to a file as well but that file was empty when the program finished. All 
other "output-statements" are displayed just fine in this function (and the 
rest of the program).

And my second questions is why does getopt_long() return '?' for the error 
when an option requires an argument but none was supplied? I thought that it 
would return ? for unknown option and return : for missing required 
parameters, but it seems to return ? for both those errors (but it ouputs 
the correct diagnostic).

I'm using latest offical cygwin, all relevant packages up-to-date. Running 
fully-updated winxp pro.

Thanks for any replies 



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