argparse

Argparser is inspired by python argparse

It's small but fully Functional & Powerful

Provide not just simple parsing args, but :

Aim

The aim of the package is to better serve programers to build better command line programs.

Installation

go get -u github.com/dartie/argparse

no dependence needed

Usage

Just go:

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "github.com/dartie/argparse"
)

func main() {
    parser := argparse.NewParser("basic", "this is a basic program", nil)
  
    name := parser.String("n", "name", nil)
  
    if e := parser.Parse(nil); e != nil {
        fmt.Println(e.Error())
      	return
    }
    fmt.Printf("hello %s\n", *name)
}

example

Check output:

=> go run main.go
usage: basic [-h] [-n NAME]

this is a basic program

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message
  -n NAME, --name NAME

=> go run main.go -n dartie
hello dartie

A few points

About object parser :

NewParser first argument is the name of your program, but it's ok not to fill , when it's empty string, program name will be os.Args[0] , which can be wired when using go run, but it will be the executable file's name when you release the code(using go build). It can be convinient where the release name is uncertain
help function is auto injected, but you can disable it when using NewParser, with &ParserConfig{DisableHelp: true}. then you can use any way to define the help function, or whether to help
When help showed up, the program will default exit with code 1 , this is stoppable by setting ParserConfig.ContinueOnHelp to be true, you can use your own help function instead

About parse action:

The argument name is only usable after parser.Parse
When passing parser.Parse a nil as argument, os.Args[1:] is used as parse source
The short name of your argument can be more than one character

Based on those points above, the code can be like this:

func main() {
    parser := argparse.NewParser("", "this is a basic program", &argparse.ParserConfig{
        DisableHelp:true,
        DisableDefaultShowHelp: true})
  
    name := parser.String("n", "name", nil)
    help := parser.Flag("help", "help-me", nil)
  
    if e := parser.Parse(os.Args[1:]); e != nil {
        fmt.Println(e.Error())
        return
    }
    if *help {
        parser.PrintHelp()
        return
    }
    if *name != "" {
        fmt.Printf("hello %s\n", *name)
    }
}

example

Check output:

=> go run main.go  # there will be no output

=> go run main.go -h
unrecognized arguments: -h
do you mean: -n

# the real help entry is -help / --help-me
=> go run main.go -help
usage: /var/folq1pddT/go-build42601/exe/main [-n NAME] [-help]

this is a basic program

optional arguments:
  -n NAME, --name NAME
  -help, --help-me

=> go run main.go --name dartie
hello dartie

A few points:

DisableHelp only prevent -h/--help flag to register to parser, but the help is still available
If keep DisableDefaultShowHelp to be false, when there is no argument, the help message will still show up as Default Action
After the manually call of parser.PrintHelp() , return will put an end to main
Notice the order of usage array, it's mostly the order of creating arguments, I tried to keep them this way

Features

some show case

1. Levenshtein error correct [ >= v1.2.0 ]

the Parser will try to match optional arguments when there is no match

parser := NewParser("", "", nil)
parser.String("a", "aa", nil)
if e := parser.Parse([]string{"--ax"}); e != nil {
  if e.Error() != "unrecognized arguments: --ax\ndo you mean: --aa" {
    t.Error("failed to guess input")
    return
  }
}
// when user input '--ax', Parser will try to find best matches with smallest levenshtein-distance
// here for eg is: --aa

Notice that if there are multiple Positional Argument , the unrecognized arguments will be seen as Positional Argument , then there will be no error correct.

Supported Arguments

1. Flag

parser.Flag("short", "full", nil)

Flag create flag argument, Return a *bool point to the parse result

Python version is like add_argument("-s", "--full", action="store_true")

Flag Argument can only be used as an OptionalArguments

2. String

parser.String("short", "full", nil)

String create string argument, return a *string point to the parse result

String Argument can be used as Optional or Positional Arguments, default to be Optional, then it's like add_argument("-s", "--full") in python

Set Option.Positional = true to use as Positional Argument, then it's like add_argument("s", "full") in python

3. StringList

parser.Strings("short", "full", nil)

Strings create string list argument, return a *[]string point to the parse result

Mostly like *Parser.String()

Python version is like add_argument("-s", "--full", nargs="*")

4. Int

parser.Int("short", "full", nil)

Int create int argument, return a *int point to the parse result

Mostly like *Parser.String(), except the return type

Python version is like add_argument("-s", "--full", type=int)

5. IntList

parser.Ints("short", "full", nil)

Ints create int list argument, return a *[]int point to the parse result

Mostly like *Parser.Int()

Python version is like add_argument("-s", "--full", type=int, nargs="*")

6. Float

parser.Float("short", "full", nil)

Float create float argument, return a *float64 point to the parse result

Mostly like *Parser.String(), except the return type

Python version is like add_argument("-s", "--full", type=double)

7. FloatList

parser.Floats("short", "full", nil)

Floats create float list argument, return a *[]float64 point to the parse result

Mostly like *Parser.Float()

Python version is like add_argument("-s", "--full", type=double, nargs="*")

Other Types

For complex type or even customized types are not directly supported , but it doesn't mean you can't do anything before parsing to your own type, here shows some cases:

1. File type

You can check file's existence before read it, and tell if it's a valid file, etc. eg is here

Though the return type is still a string , but it's more garanteed to use the argument as what you wanted

path := parser.String("f", "file", &argparse.Option{
  Validate: func(arg string) error {
    if _, e := os.Stat(arg); e != nil {
      return fmt.Errorf("unable to access '%s'", arg)
    }
    return nil
  },
})

if e := parser.Parse(nil); e != nil {
  fmt.Println(e.Error())
  return
}

if *path != "" {
  if read, e := ioutil.ReadFile(*path); e == nil {
    fmt.Println(string(read))
  }
}

It used Validate to do the magic, we'll talk about it later in more detail

Python code is like:

function valid_type(arg) {
  if !os.path.exist(arg) {
    raise Exception("can't access {}".format(arg))
  }
  return arg
}

parser.add_argument("-s", "--full", type=valid_type)

The difference is that, python can return any type from the type function valid_type , and you can just return a File type in there

There is a little problem if Argument return a *File in go. the *File might be used somewhere before, which makes it non-idempotent, and you need to Close the file somewhere, or the memory may leak. Instead of a *File to use with danger, you can manage the resouce much safer:

func dealFile(path) {
  f, e := os.Open("")
  if e != nil {
    fmt.Println(e.Error())
    return
  }
  defer f.Close()  // close file
  io.ReadAll(f)
}

2. Any Type

Checkout Action for example, then you can handle any type when parsing arguments !

Advanced

1. ArgumentGroup

Argument group is useful to present argument help infos in group, only affects how the help info displays, using Group config to do so, eg

parser.Flag("", "version", &argparse.Option{
  Help: "Print program version and exit", 
  Group: "General Options",
})

2. DisplayMeta

When the full name of the argument is too long or seems ugly, Meta can change how it displays in help, eg

parser.Int("", "playlist-start", &argparse.Option{
  Help: "Playlist video to start at (default is 1)", 
  Meta: "NUMBER",
})

It will looks like this in help message:

  --playlist-start NUMBER  Playlist video to start at (default is 1)

3.DefaultValue

If the argument is not passed from arguments array (like os.Args), default value can be passed to continue, eg

parser.Int("", "playlist-start", &argparse.Option{
  Help: "Playlist video to start at (default is 1)", 
  Default: "1",
})

Noted the Default value is not the type of Int , because the value is used like an argument from parse args (like os.Args), it's got to get through Validate & Formatter & parse actions (if these actions exist), Validate & Formatter will be mentioned below

Also, the Default value can only be one String , if you want an Array arguments, you can only have one element Array as default value

4. RequiredArgument

If the argument must be input, set Required to be true, eg

parser.Strings("", "url", &argparse.Option{
  Help: "youtube links, like 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxxxxxxx'", 
  Required: true,
})

Flag argument can not be Required , you should know the reason, Flag argument has more restrictions, you will be noticed when using it

5. PositionalArgument

If the input argument is the value you want, set Positional to be true, eg

parser.Strings("", "url", &argparse.Option{
  Help: "youtube links, like 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxxxxxxx'", 
  Positional: true,
})

The position of the PositionalArgument is quit flex, with not much restrictions, it's ok to be

in the middle of arguments, --play-list 2 xxxxxxxx --update, if the argument before it is not an Array argument, won't parse url in this case: --user-ids id1 id2 url --update
after another single value PositionalArgument, --mode login username password , the last password will be parsed as second PositionalArgument

So, use it carefully, it cause fusion sometime, which is the same as Python Version of argparse

6. ArgumentValidate

Provide Validate function to check each passed-in argument

parser.Strings("", "url", &argparse.Option{
  Help: "youtube links", 
  Validate: func(arg string) error {
    if !strings.HasPrefix(arg, "https://") {
      return fmt.Errorf("url should be start with 'https://'")
    }
    return nil
  },
})

Validate function has high priority, executed just after Default value is set, which means, the default value has to go through Validate check

7. ArgumentFormatter

Format input argument to most basic types you want, the limitation is that, the return type of Formatter should be the same as your argument type

parser.String("", "b", &Option{
  Formatter: func(arg string) (i interface{}, err error) {
    if arg == "False" {
      err = fmt.Errorf("no False")
      return
    }
    i = fmt.Sprintf("=> %s", arg)
    return
  },
})

If Validate is set, Formatter is right after Validate

If raise errors in Formatter, it will do some job like Validate

The return type of interface{} should be the same as your Argument Type, or Element Type of your Arguments, here, to be string as Example shows

8. ArgumentChoices

Restrict inputs to be within the given choices, using Choices

parser.Ints("", "hours", &Option{
  Choices: []interface{}{1, 2, 3, 4},
})

If Formatter is set, Choice check is right after Formatter

When it's single value, the value must be one of the Choices

When it's value array, each value must be one of of Choices

9. SubCommands

Create new parser scope, within the sub command parser, arguments won't interrupt main parser

func main() {
  parser := argparse.NewParser("sub-command", "Go is a tool for managing Go source code.", nil)
  t := parser.Flag("f", "flag", &argparse.Option{Help: "from main parser"})
  testCommand := parser.AddCommand("test", "start a bug report", nil)
  tFlag := testCommand.Flag("f", "flag", &argparse.Option{Help: "from test parser"})
  otherFlag := testCommand.Flag("o", "other", nil)
  defaultInt := testCommand.Int("i", "int", &argparse.Option{Default: "1"})
  if e := parser.Parse(nil); e != nil {
    fmt.Println(e.Error())
    return
  }
  println(*tFlag, *otherFlag, *t, *defaultInt)
}

Output:

=> ./sub-command
usage: sub-command <cmd> [-h] [-f]

Go is a tool for managing Go source code.

available commands:
  test        start a bug report

optional arguments:
  -h, --help  show this help message
  -f, --flag  from main parser

# when using sub command, it's a total different context
=> ./sub-command test
usage: sub-command test [-h] [-f] [-o] [-i INT]

start a bug report

optional arguments:
  -h, --help         show this help message
  -f, --flag         from test parser
  -o, --other
  -i INT, --int INT

The two --flag will parse seperately, so you can use tFlag & t to reference flag in test parser and main parser.

sub command has different context, so you can have two --flag, and different help message output
sub command show help message seperately, it's for user to understand your program step by step. While Group Argument helps user to understand your program group by group

10. Argument Action √

Argument Action allows you to do anything with the argument when there is any match, this enables infinite possibility when parsing arguments, eg

p := NewParser("action", "test action", nil)

sum := 0
p.Strings("", "number", &Option{Positional: true, Action: func(args []string) error {
  // here tries to sum every input number
  for _, a := range args {
    if i, e := strconv.Atoi(a); e != nil {
      return fmt.Errorf("I don't know this number: %s", a)
    } else {
      sum += i
    }
  }
  return nil
}})

if e := p.Parse([]string{"1", "2", "3"}); e != nil {
  fmt.Println(e.Error())
  return
}

fmt.Println(sum)  // this is a 6 if everything goes on fine

A few points to be noted:

Action takes function with args []string as input，the args has two kind of input
- nil : which means it's a Flag argument
- []string{"a1", "a2"} : which means you have bind other type of argument, other than Flag argument
Errors can be returned if necessary, it can be normally captured
The return type of the argument is not of much importance, using the p.Strings is the same as p.Ints , because arg.Action will be executed before binding return value, which means, Action has top priority

11. Default Parse Action [ >= v0.4 ]

Instead of showing help message as default, now you can set your own default action when no user input is given, eg

parser := argparse.NewParser("basic", "this is a basic program", &argparse.ParserConfig{DefaultAction: func() {
  fmt.Println("hi ~\ntell me what to do?")
}})
parser.AddCommand("test", "testing", &argparse.ParserConfig{DefaultAction: func() {
  fmt.Println("ok, now you know you are testing")
}})
if e := parser.Parse(nil); e != nil {
  fmt.Println(e.Error())
  return
}

When DefaultAction is set, default show help message will be ignored.

DefaultAction is effective on sub-command, and if sub parser's ParserConfig is nil, DefaultAction from main parser will be inherited.

12. Shell Completion Support [ >= v0.4 ]

Set ParserConfig.AddShellCompletion to true will register --completion to the parser, eg

p := argparse.NewParser("start", "this is test", &argparse.ParserConfig{AddShellCompletion: true})
p.Strings("a", "aa", nil)
p.Int("", "bb", nil)
p.Float("c", "cc", &argparse.Option{Positional: true})
test := p.AddCommand("test", "", nil)
test.String("a", "aa", nil)
test.Int("", "bb", nil)
install := p.AddCommand("install", "", nil)
install.Strings("i", "in", nil)
if e := p.Parse(nil); e != nil {
  fmt.Println(e.Error())
  return
}

Though, if you didn't set ParserConfig.AddShellCompletion to true , shell complete script is still available via parser.FormatCompletionScript , which will generate the script.

Note:

the completion script only support bash & zsh for now
and it only generate simple complete code for basic use, it should be better than nothing.
sub command has no completion entry

Save the output code to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc or ~/bash_profile or some file at /etc/bash_completion.d/ or /usr/local/etc/bash_completion.d/ , then restart the shell or source ~/.bashrc will enable the completion.

Completion will register to your shell by your program name, so you have to give your program a fix name

13. Hide Entry [ >= 1.3.0 ]

Sometimes, you want to hide some entry from user, because they should not see or are not necessary to know the entry, but you can still use the entry. Situations like:

the entry is to help generate completion candidates (which has mess and not much meaningful output)
secret back door that user should not know (you can use os.Getenv instead, but argparse has type convert)

You only need to set Option{HideEntry: true}

func main() {
  parser := argparse.NewParser("basic", "this is a basic program", nil)
  name := parser.String("n", "name", nil)
  greet := parser.String("g", "greet", &argparse.Option{HideEntry: true})
  if e := parser.Parse(nil); e != nil {
    fmt.Println(e.Error())
    return
  }
  greetWord := "hello"
  if *greet != "" {
    greetWord = *greet
  }
  fmt.Printf("%s %s\n", greetWord, *name)
}

check ouput:

usage: basic [--help] [--name NAME]

this is a basic program

optional arguments:
  --help, -h               show this help message
  --name NAME, -n NAME

Which will have effect on Shell Completion Script

full eg

14. Invoked & InvokeAction [ >= 1.4.0 ]

When there is valid match for main parser or sub parser, Parser.Invoked will be set true. If Parser.InvokeAction is set, it will be executed with the state Parser.Invoked.

p := NewParser("", "", nil)
a := p.String("a", "", nil)
sub := p.AddCommand("sub", "", nil)
b := sub.String("b", "", nil)
p.InvokeAction = func(invoked bool) {
  // do things when main parser has any match
}
sub.InvokeAction = func(invoked bool) {
  // do things when sub parser has any match
}
subNo2 := p.AddCommand("sub2", "", nil)
subNo2.Int("a", "", nil)
subNo2.InvokeAction = func(invoked bool) {
  // do things when sub2 parser has any match
}

if e := p.Parse(nil); e != nil {
  t.Error(e.Error())
  return
}

// check parser Invoked

fmt.Println(p.Invoked, sub.Invoked, subNo2.Invoked)

Argument Process Flow Map


                    ┌────►  BindAction？
                    │            │
                    │            │  Consume it's Arguments
                    │            ▼
                    │    ┌──────┐
  --date 20210102 --list │ arg1 │ arg2  arg3
                         └───┬──┘
                             │
                             │
                             ▼
                        ApplyDefault?
                             │
                             │
                       ┌─────▼──────┐
                       │  Validate  │
                       └─────┬──────┘
                             │
                       ┌─────▼──────┐
                       │  Formatter │
                       └─────┬──────┘
                             │
                       ┌─────▼───────┐
                       │ ChoiceCheck │
                       └─────────────┘

The return value of last process will be the input of next process, if shows it in code, it's like

with MatchFound:
  if MatchFound.BindAction:
    return MatchFound.BindAction(*args)
  else:
    for arg in args:
      if Validate(arg):
        yield ChoiceCheck(Formatter(arg))

Config

1. ParserConfig

Relative struct:

type ParserConfig struct {
  Usage                  string // manual usage display
  EpiLog                 string // message after help
  DisableHelp            bool   // disable help entry register [-h/--help]
  ContinueOnHelp         bool   // set true to: continue program after default help is printed
  DisableDefaultShowHelp bool   // set false to: default show help when there is no args to parse (default action)
  DefaultAction          func() // set default action to replace default help action
  AddShellCompletion     bool   // set true to register shell completion entry [--completion]
}

eg:

func main() {
  parser := argparse.NewParser("basic", "this is a basic program",
		&argparse.ParserConfig{
      Usage:                  "basic xxx",
      EpiLog:                 "more detail please visit https://github.com/dartie/argparse",
      DisableHelp:            true,
      ContinueOnHelp:         true,
      DisableDefaultShowHelp: true,
    })

  name := parser.String("n", "name", nil)
  help := parser.Flag("help", "help-me", nil)

  if e := parser.Parse(nil); e != nil {
    fmt.Println(e.Error())
    return
  }
  if *help {
    parser.PrintHelp()
    return
  }
  if *name != "" {
    fmt.Printf("hello %s\n", *name)
  }
}

example

Output:

=> go run main.go
# there will be no help message
# affected by DisableDefaultShowHelp

=> go run main.go --help-me
usage: basic xxx   # <=== Usage

this is a basic program

optional arguments: # no [-h/--help] flag is registerd, which is affected by DisableHelp
  -n NAME, --name NAME
  -help, --help-me 

more detail please visit https://github.com/dartie/argparse  # <=== EpiLog

Except the comment above, ContinueOnHelp is only affective on your program process, which give you possibility to do something when default help is shown

2. ArgumentOptions

Related struct:

type Option struct {
  Meta       string // meta value for help/usage generate
  multi      bool   // take more than one argument
  Default    string // default argument value if not given
  isFlag     bool   // use as flag
  Required   bool   // require to be set
  Positional bool   // is positional argument
  HideEntry  bool   // hide usage & help display
  Help       string // help message
  Group      string // argument group info, default to be no group
  Action     func(args []string) error // bind actions when the match is found, 'args' can be nil to be a flag
  Choices    []interface{}  // input argument must be one/some of the choice
  Validate   func(arg string) error  // customize function to check argument validation
  Formatter  func(arg string) (interface{}, error) // format input arguments by the given method
}

How it works

  ┌──────────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────────┐
  │                      │ │                      │
  │     OptionArgsMap    │ │  PositionalArgsList  │
  │                      │ │                      │
  │      -h ───► helpArg │ │                      │
  │                      │ │[  posArg1  posArg2  ]│
  │      -n ──┐          │ │                      │
  │           │► nameArg │ │                      │
  │  --name ──┘          │ │                      │
  │                      │ │                      │
  └──────────────────────┘ └──────────────────────┘
             ▲ yes                  no ▲
             │                         │
             │ match?──────────────────┘
             │
             │
           ┌─┴──┐                   match helpArg:
    args:  │ -h │-n  dartie           ▼
           └────┘                  ┌──isflag?───┐
                                   ▼            ▼
                                  done ┌──MultiValue?───┐
                                       ▼                ▼
                                   ┌──parse     consume untill
                                   ▼            NextOptionArgs
                                 done

Error & Panic

The principle of returning error or just panic is that, no panic for production use

Cases where argparse will panic:

failed to add subcommand
failed to add argument entry, Strings, Flag, etc.

Those failures is not allowed, and you will notice when you develop your program. The rest errors will be returned in Parse, which you should be able to tell users what to do.

Examples

there are some useful use cases to help you build your own command line program

feel free to add different use cases

# Packages

# README

argparse

Aim

Installation

Usage

Features

1. Levenshtein error correct [ >= v1.2.0 ]

Supported Arguments

1. Flag

2. String

3. StringList

4. Int

5. IntList

6. Float

7. FloatList

Other Types

1. File type

2. Any Type

Advanced

1. ArgumentGroup

2. DisplayMeta

3.DefaultValue

4. RequiredArgument

5. PositionalArgument

6. ArgumentValidate

7. ArgumentFormatter

8. ArgumentChoices

9. SubCommands

10. Argument Action √

11. Default Parse Action [ >= v0.4 ]

12. Shell Completion Support [ >= v0.4 ]

13. Hide Entry [ >= 1.3.0 ]

14. Invoked & InvokeAction [ >= 1.4.0 ]

Argument Process Flow Map

Config

1. ParserConfig

2. ArgumentOptions

How it works

Error & Panic

Examples