sysargv

Sysargv is a generic term used in programming to denote the array or list of command-line arguments passed to a program at startup. It is not a standardized feature of any single language, but a conventional identifier appearing in tutorials, documentation, and sample code to represent the argument vector. In practice, the exact name and structure of this data vary by language, and some ecosystems use a different convention or naming.

Typically, the argument vector is an ordered collection of strings. The first element often contains the program name or its path, with the remaining elements representing arguments supplied by the user. The presence of the program name and the exact indexing convention depend on the language and runtime. The data is usually immutable within the program and reflects the environment that launched the process.

Accessing sysargv allows programs to react to inputs, perform validation, or convert argument strings to other types. Many languages provide libraries or built-in structures to parse options, such as Python’s sys.argv alongside libraries like argparse; C and C++ use argc and argv; Java uses String[] args; and .NET uses string[] args. In some codebases, sysargv may be used interchangeably with argv, argument vector, or argument list.

Common considerations include input validation, encoding, and platform differences in how arguments are quoted and passed. To handle complex command lines robustly, developers often rely on dedicated parsing libraries that manage flags, options, and positional arguments, rather than manually indexing into the raw argument array.