Specifying Arguments

When specifying command line arguments, they can either be specified as part of the command line, included in external files, or a mixture of the two.

Argument Names

Two different prefixes for denoting a command line argument are supported - a forward slash (/) or a hyphen (-).

For example, both of these arguments are equivalent

/format
-format

Argument Values

Some arguments require a value following the argument name. Values can be prefixed with either a space ( ), an equals sign (=) or a colon (:).

The following arguments are equivalent

/format:png
/format=png
/format png

If an argument value contains a space, then the entire value must be surrounded with either single or double quotes. For example:

/ac "Created with Cyotek Gif Animator"

Path and File Names

Unless otherwise noted, whenever the command line tools expect a filename, this can either be a fully qualified path, or will be resolved against the current working directory.

Using External List Files

Command line arguments can also be located in external list files. To reference an list file, enter the file name prefixed with the @ character.

List files can have arguments on one line, or spread over several. The ; character can be used to embed comments, anything after the ; will be ignored. If you need to use a ;, surround the entire value with quotes as you would with a space.

The following is an example of a list file, showing the use of named and un-named arguments, plus full and partial line comments.

; this example shows the easiest way of creating an animated gif by using
; a mask to select frames, and specifying global values

p1_walk*.png              ; add frames for all files matching this mask
create1.gif               ; last filename in the list is the output file
                          ; unless the /O argument is used

/l                        ; loop the animation. As we haven't specified
                          ; the /LC argument, the animation will loop
                          ; infinitely

/fd 100                   ; set the default frame duration to be 100ms
/fdm RestoreBackground    ; set the default disposal method to redraw
                          ; the back ground

/gp                       ; create a global palette and apply it to all
                          ; frames
                          
/ac "Created by Cyotek Gif Animator"
                          ; add a comment to the animation, but not to
                          ; the individual frames
                          
/y                        ; do not prompt overwrite files