Using command-line flags

The flag package makes it simple to add command-line flag arguments to a Go application. It has a few shortcomings--you tend to duplicate a lot of code in order to add shorthand versions of flags, and they're ordered alphabetically from the help prompt. There are a number of third-party libraries that attempt to address these shortcomings, but this chapter will focus on the standard library version and not on those libraries.

Getting ready

Configure your environment according to these steps:

1. Download and install Go on your operating system from https://golang.org/doc/install, and configure your GOPATH environment variable:
2. Open a terminal/console application, and navigate to your GOPATH/src and...