i'd do something like:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;

use Getopt::Long;


my( $username, $password, $group );
my %params = (
    'u=s' => \$username,
    'p=s' => \$password,
    'g=s' => \$group,
);

sub usage
{
    die << "USAGE";
Usage: 
  $0 -u username -p password -g group [-others]

Description:
  whatever...

USAGE
}

usage() unless( GetOptions( %params ) );
for( values %params )
{
    usage() unless defined ${ $_ };
}
[download]

• this captures the return code from GetOptions (please do this!)
• i tend not to customize usage information (one doc for everyone, and they should read it!)
• there's no $err_msg variable in file scope for the rest of the program (remember to use undef when you're done with it)

~Particle *accelerates*

---

---

Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!

Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.

Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.

Please read these before you post! —

• How do I compose an effective node title?
• How do I post a question effectively?
• Markup in the Monastery

Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:

a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr

You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)

	For:		Use:
	&		&
	<		&lt;
	>		&gt;
	[		&#91;
	]		&#93;

Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?

See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.