I'm going through the docs on the argparse module and I can't figure out how to get the same results as explained in the docs. You can either specify the arguments on the command-line, or it allows you to specify them within parse_args() which is helpful for testing. Here is an example:
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
parser.add_argument('--foo')
parser.parse_args('--foo 1'.split())
That is directly from the docs here:
https://docs.python.org/3.6/library/argparse.html#action
It is supposed to output this:
Namespace(foo='1')
But this is what I get:
Namespace(foo=None)
I also tried the following:
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
parser.add_argument('--foo', action='store_true')
parser.add_argument('--bar', action='store_false')
parser.add_argument('--baz', action='store_false')
parser.parse_args(['--foo', '--bar'])
And that one outputs this:
Namespace(bar=True, baz=True, foo=False)
which is what it's supposed to do. Can anyone tell me what's going on here? Here is my full code that I used to generate the output for both snippets of code shown above:
import argparse
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
parser.add_argument('--foo')
parser.parse_args('--foo 1'.split())
args = parser.parse_args()
print(args)
#supposed to be Namespace(foo='1')
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
parser.add_argument('--foo', action='store_true')
parser.add_argument('--bar', action='store_false')
parser.add_argument('--baz', action='store_false')
parser.parse_args(['--foo', '--bar'])
args = parser.parse_args()
print(args)
#supposed to be Namespace(foo=True, bar=False, baz=True)
I don't know if it makes a difference, but I'm doing this in Spyder 3.1.4 and I'm running Python 3.6.0
UPDATE
Due to some ambiguity in the docs I didn't know how they got from setting the command-line arguments to displaying the output. With the help of #hpaulj I realized all I was doing was displaying the output relative to arg.sysv instead of the specified custom command-line - oops! Here's the corrected code:
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
parser.add_argument('--foo')
#added this assignment to args
args = parser.parse_args('--foo 1'.split())
#following line was wrong - removing
#args = parser.parse_args()
print(args)
#supposed to be Namespace(foo='1')
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
parser.add_argument('--foo', action='store_true')
parser.add_argument('--bar', action='store_false')
parser.add_argument('--baz', action='store_false')
#added this assignment to args
args = parser.parse_args(['--foo', '--bar'])
#following line was wrong - removing
#args = parser.parse_args()
print(args)
#supposed to be Namespace(foo=True, bar=False, baz=True)
import argparse
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
parser.add_argument('--foo')
args = parser.parse_args('--foo 1'.split())
print(args)
This will give you your answer. You are trying to parse again thats why it was giving None
Related
I've got a parser with some sub-parsers. I setup a global argument to be used on all subparser. Here's the relevant snippet
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog="my_prog", add_help=False)
parser.add_argument('-d', '--debug', action='store_true', help='debug flag')
subparsers = parser.add_subparsers(dest="subparser_name", help='some help notes')
parser_cmd1 = subparsers.add_parser('cmd1', parents=[parser])
parser_cmd1.add_argument('-f', '-foo', type=str, action=foo, required=False, help='foo command')
parser_cmd2 = subparsers.add_parser('cmd2', parents=[parser])
parser_cmd2.add_argument('-b', '-bar', type=str, action=bar, required=False, help='bar command')
args = parser.parse_args()
parser = args.subparser_name
print(args)
if args.debug:
logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO)
if parser == 'cmd1':
if args.foo:
//do foo stuff
if parser == 'cmd2':
if args.bar:
//do bar stuff
So you can a command like such my_prog.py cmd1 -d -f inp_str. Here's the problem: subparser_name is None. The output of print(args) looks kind of like this
Namespace(debug=True, foo="inp_str", subparser_name=None)
Before I added the global debug argument, subparser_name would be the name of the command I ran, i.e. 'cmd1' or 'cmd2'. Now, it's 'None'. Even with the parents=[parser] addition in the subparser creation. How can I fix this? How do I know which command was called?
Split out the common args to a separate ArgumentParser, which is then used as parent for the sub parsers. Also your foo and bar options were specified using -foo and -bar whi should be --foo and --bar. Also you didn't have default values for these so e.g. when -f/--foo wasn't specified args.foo correctly didn't exist.
This works better:
import argparse
common_args = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog="my_prog", add_help=False)
common_args.add_argument('-d', '--debug', action='store_true', help='debug flag')
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog="my_prog", add_help=True)
subparsers = parser.add_subparsers(dest="subparser_name", help='some help notes')
parser_cmd1 = subparsers.add_parser('cmd1', parents=[common_args])
parser_cmd1.add_argument('-f', '--foo', type=str, default='', required=False, help='foo command')
parser_cmd2 = subparsers.add_parser('cmd2', parents=[common_args])
parser_cmd2.add_argument('-b', '--bar', type=str, default='', required=False, help='bar command')
args = parser.parse_args()
parser = args.subparser_name
print(args)
if args.debug:
logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO)
if parser == 'cmd1':
if args.foo:
#//do foo stuff
print( f"foo {args.foo}" )
if parser == 'cmd2':
if args.bar:
#//do bar stuff
print( f"bar {args.bar}" )
run with:
args.py cmd1 -f asd
output:
Namespace(subparser_name='cmd1', debug=False, foo='asd')
foo asd
Update:
If you want to be able to use e.g. args.py -d cmd1 then on the creation of parser, specify parents=[common_args]
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog="my_prog", add_help=True, parents=[common_args])
Next time you ask a question ensure you only post code as a minimal reproducible example - i.e. that can be run without adding anything
The subparser's defaults have priority of any values set by the main parser - default or user input. The main does set the subparser_name to 'cmd1', but the subparser changes it back to the default None.
While not evident in your test case, defining debug at both levels has the same problem. The subparser's default overwrites anything set in the main.
In general, it is not a good idea to use the same dest in the main and subparsers. Flags can be the same, but the dest should be different - at least if you want to see anything set by the main.
And using the main parser as a parent to the sub, is just asking for confusion.
I am coding an argument parser for my script:
import argparse
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='My parser.')
parser.add_argument('path',
type=str)
parser.add_argument('-a',
'--all',
action='store_true')
parser.add_argument('-t',
'--type',
type=str)
parser.add_argument('-d',
'--date',
type=str)
This is the logic I want to implement:
path: must be provided always.
--all: if it is provided, the --type and --date should not appear.
--type and --date: must be provided only if the --all flag is not introduced.
The command would look something like this:
python myscript.py mypath [-a] OR [-t mytype -d mydate]
How can I implement this logic?
You can do something like this:
from argparse import ArgumentParser
parser = ArgumentParser(description='My parser.')
parser.add_argument('path',
type=str)
parser.add_argument('-a',
'--all',
action='store_true')
parser.add_argument('-t',
'--type',
type=str)
parser.add_argument('-d',
'--date',
type=str)
args = parser.parse_args()
if args.all:
print('all argument flow')
else:
if not args.type or not args.date:
print('you need to put either all or specify both type and date')
else:
print(args.type, args.date)
print('and',args.path)
My argparse has only 3 flags (store_true) on the top level, everything else is handled through subparsers. When I run myprog.py --help, the output shows a list of all subcommands like normal, {sub1, sub2, sub3, sub4, ...}. So, the default is working great...
I usually can't remember the exact subcommand name I need, and all of its options. So I end up doing 2 help lookups:
myprog.py --help
myprog.py sub1 --help
I do this so often, I decided to cram this into one step. I would rather have my toplevel help output a huge summary, and then I scroll through the list manually. I find it is much faster (for me at least).
I was using a RawDescriptionHelpFormatter, and typing the long help output by hand. But now I have lots of subcommands, and its becoming a pain to manage.
Is there a way to get a verbose help output with just one program call?
If not, how can I iterate the subparsers of my argparse instance, and then retrieve the help output individually from each one (which I will then later glue together)?
Here is a quick outline of my argparse setup. I cleaned/stripped the code a fair bit, so this may not run without a bit of help.
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
prog='myprog.py',
formatter_class=argparse.RawDescriptionHelpFormatter,
description=textwrap.dedent(""" You can manually type Help here """) )
parser.add_argument('--debuglog', action='store_true', help='Verbose logging for debug purposes.')
parser.add_argument('--ipyonexit', action='store_true', help='Drop into an embeded Ipython session instead of exiting command.')
subparser = parser.add_subparsers()
### --- Subparser B
parser_b = subparser.add_parser('pdfreport', description="Used to output reports in PDF format.")
parser_b.add_argument('type', type=str, choices=['flatlist', 'nested', 'custom'],
help="The type of PDF report to generate.")
parser_b.add_argument('--of', type=str, default='',
help="Override the path/name of the output file.")
parser_b.add_argument('--pagesize', type=str, choices=['letter', '3x5', '5x7'], default='letter',
help="Override page size in output PDF.")
parser_b.set_defaults(func=cmd_pdf_report)
### ---- Subparser C
parser_c = subparser.add_parser('dbtables', description="Used to perform direct DB import/export using XLS files.")
parser_c.add_argument('action', type=str, choices=['push', 'pull', 'append', 'update'],
help="The action to perform on the Database Tables.")
parser_c.add_argument('tablename', nargs="+",
help="The name(s) of the DB-Table to operate on.")
parser_c.set_defaults(func=cmd_db_tables)
args = parser.parse_args()
args.func(args)
This is a bit tricky, as argparse does not expose a list of defined sub-parsers directly. But it can be done:
import argparse
# create the top-level parser
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='PROG')
parser.add_argument('--foo', action='store_true', help='foo help')
subparsers = parser.add_subparsers(help='sub-command help')
# create the parser for the "a" command
parser_a = subparsers.add_parser('a', help='a help')
parser_a.add_argument('bar', type=int, help='bar help')
# create the parser for the "b" command
parser_b = subparsers.add_parser('b', help='b help')
parser_b.add_argument('--baz', choices='XYZ', help='baz help')
# print main help
print(parser.format_help())
# retrieve subparsers from parser
subparsers_actions = [
action for action in parser._actions
if isinstance(action, argparse._SubParsersAction)]
# there will probably only be one subparser_action,
# but better safe than sorry
for subparsers_action in subparsers_actions:
# get all subparsers and print help
for choice, subparser in subparsers_action.choices.items():
print("Subparser '{}'".format(choice))
print(subparser.format_help())
This example should work for python 2.7 and python 3. The example parser is from Python 2.7 documentation on argparse sub-commands.
The only thing left to do is adding a new argument for the complete help, or replacing the built in -h/--help.
Here is complete soulution with custom help handler (almost all code from #Adaephon answer):
import argparse
class _HelpAction(argparse._HelpAction):
def __call__(self, parser, namespace, values, option_string=None):
parser.print_help()
# retrieve subparsers from parser
subparsers_actions = [
action for action in parser._actions
if isinstance(action, argparse._SubParsersAction)]
# there will probably only be one subparser_action,
# but better save than sorry
for subparsers_action in subparsers_actions:
# get all subparsers and print help
for choice, subparser in subparsers_action.choices.items():
print("Subparser '{}'".format(choice))
print(subparser.format_help())
parser.exit()
# create the top-level parser
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='PROG', add_help=False) # here we turn off default help action
parser.add_argument('--help', action=_HelpAction, help='help for help if you need some help') # add custom help
parser.add_argument('--foo', action='store_true', help='foo help')
subparsers = parser.add_subparsers(help='sub-command help')
# create the parser for the "a" command
parser_a = subparsers.add_parser('a', help='a help')
parser_a.add_argument('bar', type=int, help='bar help')
# create the parser for the "b" command
parser_b = subparsers.add_parser('b', help='b help')
parser_b.add_argument('--baz', choices='XYZ', help='baz help')
parsed_args = parser.parse_args()
Perhaps an easier approach is to use parser.epilog:
def define_parser():
import argparse
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
prog='main',
formatter_class=argparse.RawDescriptionHelpFormatter,
)
commands = parser.add_subparsers(
title="required commands",
help='Select one of:',
)
command_list = commands.add_parser(
'list',
help='List included services',
)
command_ensure = commands.add_parser(
'ensure',
help='Provision included service',
)
command_ensure.add_argument(
"service",
help='Service name',
)
import textwrap
parser.epilog = textwrap.dedent(
f"""\
commands usage:\n
{command_list.format_usage()}
{command_ensure.format_usage()}
"""
)
return parser
parser = define_parser()
parser.print_help()
which results in the following output:
usage: main [-h] {list,ensure} ...
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
required commands:
{list,ensure} Select one of:
list List included services
ensure Provision included service
commands usage:
usage: main list [-h]
usage: main ensure [-h] service
A simpler way to iterate over the subparsers in Adaephon's example is
for subparser in [parser_a, parser_b]:
subparser.format_help()
Python does allow you to access hidden attributes like parser._actions, but that's not encouraged. It is just as easy to build your own list while defining the parser. Same goes for doing special things with the arguments. add_argument and add_subparser return their respective Action and Parser objects for a reason.
If I were making a subclass of ArgumentParser I would feel free to use _actions. But for a one off application, building my own list would be clearer.
An example:
import argparse
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
parser.add_argument('mainpos')
parser.add_argument('--mainopt')
sp = parser.add_subparsers()
splist = [] # list to collect subparsers
sp1 = sp.add_parser('cmd1')
splist.append(sp1)
sp1.add_argument('--sp1opt')
sp2 = sp.add_parser('cmd2')
splist.append(sp2)
sp2.add_argument('--sp2opt')
# collect and display for helps
helps = []
helps.append(parser.format_help())
for p in splist:
helps.append(p.format_help())
print('\n'.join(helps))
# or to show just the usage
helps = []
helps.append(parser.format_usage())
for p in splist:
helps.append(p.format_usage())
print(''.join(helps))
The combined 'usage' display is:
usage: stack32607706.py [-h] [--mainopt MAINOPT] mainpos {cmd1,cmd2} ...
usage: stack32607706.py mainpos cmd1 [-h] [--sp1opt SP1OPT]
usage: stack32607706.py mainpos cmd2 [-h] [--sp2opt SP2OPT]
The display of the combined helps is long and redundant. It could be edited in various ways, either after formatting, or with special help formatters. But who is going make such choices?
I was also able to print a short help for commands using _choices_actions.
def print_help(parser):
print(parser.description)
print('\ncommands:\n')
# retrieve subparsers from parser
subparsers_actions = [
action for action in parser._actions
if isinstance(action, argparse._SubParsersAction)]
# there will probably only be one subparser_action,
# but better save than sorry
for subparsers_action in subparsers_actions:
# get all subparsers and print help
for choice in subparsers_action._choices_actions:
print(' {:<19} {}'.format(choice.dest, choice.help))
add_subparsers().add_parser() accepts not only a description, which shows up in the help of the subcommand, but also a help= which is used as one-line description in the top-level parsers' help.
The docs have this hidden in the formulation
(A help message for each subparser command, however, can be given by supplying the help= argument to add_parser() as above.)
and even in the sample code around that sentence:
>>> # create the parser for the "b" command
>>> parser_b = subparsers.add_parser('b', help='b help')
>>> parser_b.add_argument('--baz', choices='XYZ', help='baz help')
[...]
usage: PROG [-h] [--foo] {a,b} ...
positional arguments:
{a,b} sub-command help
a a help
b b help
Yes, this is not the full help for everthing, but IMHO covers the basic use case very well and is not easily discoverable.
if __name__ == '__main__':
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser("TOML FILE OVERWRITE SCRIPT")
subparsers = parser.add_subparsers()
parser_set = subparsers.add_parser('set', help='Set Toml')
parser_set.add_argument('set', help='TOMl file edit set action', action='store_true')
parser_set.add_argument('-n', '--name', type=str, help='Service Name', required=True)
parser_set.add_argument('-s', '--section', type=str, help='Toml Section Name', required=True)
parser_set.add_argument('-k', '--key', type=str, help='Toml Key of Section', required=True)
parser_set.add_argument('-v', '--value', help='New Value', required=True)
args = parser.parse_args()
if args.set:
setter = ConfigurationSetter(args.name, args.section, args.key, args.value)
setter.execute()
else:
print("Ops! Something is wrong, type --help or -h")
You can check my code maybe inspires you!
I'd like to implement arguments parsing.
./app.py -E [optional arg] -T [optional arg]
The script requires at least one of parameters: -E or -T
What should I pass in parser.add_argument to have such functionality?
UPDATE
For some reason(s) the suggested solution with add_mutually_exclusive_group didn't work, when I added nargs='?' and const= attributes:
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='PROG')
group = parser.add_mutually_exclusive_group(required=True)
group.add_argument('-F', '--foo', nargs='?', const='/tmp')
group.add_argument('-B', '--bar', nargs='?', const='/tmp')
parser.parse_args([])
Running as script.py -F still throws error:
PROG: error: one of the arguments -F/--foo -B/--bar is required
However, the following workaround helped me:
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='PROG')
parser.add_argument('-F', '--foo', nargs='?', const='/tmp')
parser.add_argument('-B', '--bar', nargs='?', const='/tmp')
args = parser.parse_args()
if (not args.foo and not args.bar) or (args.foo and args.bar):
print('Must specify one of -F/-B options.')
sys.exit(1)
if args.foo:
foo_func(arg.foo)
elif args.bar:
bar_func(args.bar)
...
You can make them both optional and check in your code if they are set.
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
parser.add_argument('--foo')
parser.add_argument('--bar')
args = parser.parse_args()
if args.foo is None and args.bar is None:
parser.error("please specify at least one of --foo or --bar")
If you want only one of the two arguments to be present, see [add_mutually_exclusive_group] (https://docs.python.org/2/library/argparse.html#mutual-exclusion) with required=True
>>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='PROG')
>>> group = parser.add_mutually_exclusive_group(required=True)
>>> group.add_argument('--foo', action='store_true')
>>> group.add_argument('--bar', action='store_false')
>>> parser.parse_args([])
usage: PROG [-h] (--foo | --bar)
PROG: error: one of the arguments --foo --bar is required
For example:
example.py
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Will take arguments... or none")
parser.add_argument("-a", action="store_true")
parser.add_argument("-b", action="store_true")
parser.add_argument("-c", action="store_true")
parser.add_argument("-d", action="store_true")
args = parser.parse_args()
print args
I want example.py to set a to True, but only if either:
The -a flag is used
No flags are used
I tried messing around with
parser.set_defaults(a=True, b=False)
and
parser.add_argument("-a", action="store_true", default=True)
but they will set a to True even if I decide to use the b flag.
yes using the default values will set a to True even other arguments are specified. This will violate your second requirement, following is a simple fix with a naive condition checking.
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Will take arguments... or none")
parser.add_argument("-a", action="store_true")
parser.add_argument("-b", action="store_true")
parser.add_argument("-c", action="store_true")
parser.add_argument("-d", action="store_true")
args = parser.parse_args()
if not (args.b or args.c or args.d):
args.a=True
print args
Sounds like you want a 'radio button' effect - choosing just one of several alternatives. An alternative to a set of flags would be an argument with choices.
parser.add_argument('flag', choices=['a','b','c','d'], default='a', nargs='?')
You can check the result in args.flag, which will be one of 4 strings.
Obviously the positional argument couple replaced by a flag, e.g. -f.
I went for the following solution:
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Will take arguments... or none")
lettergroup = parser.add_mutually_exclusive_group()
lettergroup.add_argument("-a", action="store_const", dest="letter", const="a", default="a")
lettergroup.add_argument("-b", action="store_const", dest="letter", const="b")
lettergroup.add_argument("-c", action="store_const", dest="letter", const="c")
lettergroup.add_argument("-d", action="store_const", dest="letter", const="d")
args = parser.parse_args()
Now, the value is stored in args.letter. If no flag is called, args.letter will have the value a. If two flags are called at the same time, the parser will throw an error.
Just another way to solve this problem.