use Getopt::Std;

getopts('ed:', \%opts);

if ($opts{e})   # updated as per [Chemboy]
{ 
print "option e used!\n";
} else {
print "option e not used!\n";
}
[download]

use Getopt::Long;

my %opt = ();

GetOptions(\%opt,

    "file=s",    

    );

    die "No file specified : $!" unless $opt{file};

if ($opt{file})
{
print "File is $opt{file}!\n";
}
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Well, it must be me. I copied your code and all i get is "option e used!" now matter what option I give it.

"The Universe is not only more complex than we imagine, it is more complex than the can imagine." - Albert Einstein

If you are use'ing strict; (and you should be), then you have to predefine your variables as package variables.

A couple of meta-comments on your post: choose a more precise subject title, otherwise people will ignore the post (too much noise, not enough signal). Secondly, sling a couple of <br>'s before your sig.

if ( $opt_e ) {
  print "option e\n";
...
[download]

Jeroen
"We are not alone"(FZ)

Yes, you're missing a bracket at the end of the line. :-) Syntax errors aside (use the -w switch to avoid the problem jeroenes pointed out), I don't think anything's wrong with what you wrote, in principle. I can't get Getopt::Std::getopt() to work either (I'm not sure what's up with that--possibly we're both idiots), but if you use getopts() (note the s) instead, it should work (assuming, of course, that your syntax checks out otherwise ;-).

If you like use strict; (and you should), try the two-argument syntax that azatoth mentions (check the docs for how), so you don't have to declare a variable for every switch.

Update:
I got so excited about getopt that I forgot the main point: check the return value of the whichever function you use to see if it's failing (returns a true value if it works normally).
Correction: <blush>
only check the return value of getopts(), getopt() always returns false.

Update 2:
The source of your original problem was probably that getopt() expects all flags to have arguments (e.g. -e1 or -e 1), not be booleans (-e): getopts() allows for both. Which I should have pointed out earlier, sorry.

Thanks for all the help

"The Universe is not only more complex than we imagine, it is more complex than the can imagine." - Albert Einstein