LANGUAGE » PYTHON » PACKAGE

Argparse

Description

Easily parse command line arguments to a python application.

Usage

python
import argparse

In the add_argument, add -- to the beginning for optional arguments.

python
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Optional app description')
parser.add_argument('--input', type=str, help='input file')
parser.add_argument('--switch', action='store_true', help='a switch that holds true or false')
args = parser.parse_args()

Access the arguments using the dot notation:

python
input = args.input
switch = args.switch

Send the arguments to a function:

python
main(**vars(args))

Mutually exclusive arguments

python
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
group = parser.add_mutually_exclusive_group(required=True)
group.add_argument('--foo', action='store_true')
group.add_argument('--bar', action='store_true')
args = parser.parse_args()