• Setup
• Flags and Options
• Retrieving Values
• Positional Arguments
• Commands

Setup

argslib.ArgParser(helptext=None, version=None)

Initializes a new ArgParser instance. Supplying help text activates an automatic --help flag; supplying a version string activates an automatic --version flag. (Automatic -h and -v shortcuts are also activated unless registered by other options.)

.parse()

Parses the application's command line arguments. Raises ArgsError if any of the arguments are not valid unicode strings.

Flags and Options

.flag(name)

Registers a new flag. The name parameter accepts an unlimited number of space-separated aliases and single-character shortcuts.

.option(name, type=str, default=None)

Registers a new option. The name parameter accepts an unlimited number of space-separated aliases and single-character shortcuts. Options are string-valued by default but the type parameter can be changed to int, float, or any other callable which can parse a string value. A default value can be specified which will be used if the option is not found.

Retrieving Values

.count(name)

Returns the number of times the specified flag or option was found. Raises ArgsError if name is not a recognised flag or option name.

.found(name)

Returns True if the specified flag or option was found, False if not. Raises ArgsError if name is not a recognised flag or option name.

.value(name)

Returns the value of the specified option. Returns the default value if the option was not found. Raises ArgsError if name is not a recognised option name.

.values(name)

Returns the specified option's list of values. Raises ArgsError if name is not a recognised option name.

Positional Arguments

.args

Stores the positional arguments as a list of strings.

Commands

.command(name, helptext=None, callback=None)

Registers a new command. The name parameter accepts an unlimited number of space-separated aliases. Returns the command's ArgParser instance which can be used to register the command's flags and options. If the command is found, the callback function will be called with the command's name and ArgParser instance as arguments.

.command_name

Stores the command name if a command was found, otherwise None.

.command_parser

Stores the command parser if a command was found, otherwise None.

.enable_help_command

This boolean switch toggles support for an automatic help command that prints subcommand helptext. The value defaults to false but gets toggled automatically to true whenever a command is registered. You can use this switch to disable the feature if required.