Here, have a look at this concept.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
namespace SharpConsole
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Console.WriteLine("Welcome to SharpConsole. Type in a command.");
while (true)
{
Console.Write("$ ");
string command = Console.ReadLine();
string command_main = command.Split(new char[] { ' ' }).First();
string[] arguments = command.Split(new char[] { ' ' }).Skip(1).ToArray();
if (lCommands.ContainsKey(command_main))
{
Action<string[]> function_to_execute = null;
lCommands.TryGetValue(command_main, out function_to_execute);
function_to_execute(arguments);
}
else
Console.WriteLine("Command '" + command_main + "' not found");
}
}
private static Dictionary<string, Action<string[]>> lCommands =
new Dictionary<string, Action<string[]>>()
{
{ "help", HelpFunc },
{ "cp" , CopyFunc }
};
private static void CopyFunc(string[] obj)
{
if (obj.Length != 2) return;
Console.WriteLine("Copying " + obj[0] + " to " + obj[1]);
}
public static void HelpFunc(string[] args)
{
Console.WriteLine("===== SOME MEANINGFULL HELP ==== ");
}
}
}
The basic idea is to generalize the idea of a command. We have a Dictionary, where the key is a string (the command's name), and the value you get from the dictionary is a function of type Action<string[]>. Any function which has the signature void Function(string[]) can be used as this type. Then, you can set up this dictionary with a bunch of commands and route them to the functions you want. Each of these functions will receive an array of optional arguments. So here, the command "help" will be routed to the HelpFunc(). And the "cp" command e.g. will receive an array of filenames. The parsing of the command is always the same. We read a line, split it a space. The first string is the program's name, command_main here. If you skip the first string, you'll get an enumeration of all the other subcommands or switches you typed in. Then, a lookup in the dictionary is being done to see if there is such a command. If yes, we get the function and execute it with the arguments. If not, you should display "command not found" or something. All in all, this exercise can be minimized to looking up a function in a dictionary of possible command strings, then executing it. So a possible output is
Welcome to SharpConsole. Type in a command.
$ help
===== SOME MEANINGFULL HELP ====
$ cp file1 otherfile2
Copying file1 to otherfile2
$ python --version
Command 'python' not found
$ ...
