This code illustrates how ASDF-3 for Common Lisp makes it easy to

• access command line arguments and
• create a standalone executable.

To get going, run e.g.

% ccl --no-init --batch < build.lisp
% cmucl -noinit -nositeinit -batch < build.lisp
% ecl --norc --shell build.lisp
% lispworks-console -build build.lisp
% sbcl --no-sysinit --no-userinit --script build.lisp

This should leave you with a standalone executable named echo in the current directory, which you can then run like this:

% ./echo arg1 arg2 arg3
Arguments: (arg1 arg2 arg3)
Raw arguments: (./echo arg1 arg2 arg3)
%