I have some trouble while working with the argparse module for Python v2.7.
Basically, what I have is a script that works with 5 mandatory arguments :
- url
- method
- login
- password
- output
An example of the syntax would look like this :
script.py -w/--url [URL] -m/--method [METHOD] -l/--login [LOGIN] -p/--password [PASSWORD] -o/--output [OUTPUT]
What I'd like to do is this :
- add an optional argument
-t/--test - its behavior would be that, based on the url used with the
-w/--urlargument, it would bypass completely the-m/--method,-l/--loginand-p/--passwordarguments but, for it to work, I need to tellargparseto stop processing arguments if-t/--testis provided (but only with-w/--url).
Is this behavior even possible? I tried to play with argparse sub-commands but it seems to be (at least to my small knowledge) a bit overkill.
NB: Here is my original code :
# Description : parses script arguments
# Argument(s) : all
# Return value : all arguments values
def testArgs():
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Foo', formatter_class=argparse.RawDescriptionHelpFormatter)
parser.add_argument('-w','--url', help='URL', required=True)
parser.add_argument('-t','--test', help='Test command', action='store_true')
parser.add_argument('-m','--method', help='METHOD', required=True)
parser.add_argument('-u','--login_name', help='LOGIN', required=True)
parser.add_argument('-p','--login_password', help='PASSWORD', required=True)
parser.add_argument('-o','--output_format', help='OUTPUT', required=True, choices=['json', 'yaml', 'python'], default='json')
args = parser.parse_args()
return args
EDIT : After a lot of testing, I have managed the following :
def testArgs():
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='DESCRIPTION')
subparsers = parser.add_subparsers()
p_list = subparsers.add_parser('test', help='List all available methods')
p_list.add_argument('-w', help='URL', required=True)
p_list.add_argument('-t', help='Test', action='store_true', required=True)
p_cmd = subparsers.add_parser('cmd', help='Executes command')
p_cmd.add_argument('-w', help='URL', required=True)
p_cmd.add_argument('-m', help='Method', required=True)
p_cmd.add_argument('-l', help='Login', required=True)
p_cmd.add_argument('-p', help='Password', required=True)
p_cmd.add_argument('-o', help='Output', required=True)
args = parser.parse_args()
return args
Which exhibits the following behavior :
$ python testArgparse.py -h
usage: testArgeparse.py [-h] {test,cmd} ...
DESCRIPTION
positional arguments:
{test,cmd}
test Lists all available methods
cmd Executes command
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
But to access help on the others arguments, I need to do the following :
$ python testArgparse.py test -h
usage: testArgparse.py test [-h] -w W -t
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-w W URL
-t Test
$ python testArgparse.py cmd -h
usage: testArgparse.py cmd [-h] -w W -m M -l L -p P -o O
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-w W URL
-m M Method
-l L Login
-p P Password
-o O Output
I'd like to be able to, at least, display help about all arguments without having to use --help for both test and cmd arguments.
Ideally, what I'd like is this behavior :
$ python testArgparse.py [-w URL -t] | [-w URL -m METHOD -u LOGIN -p PASS -o OUTPUT]
-t/--testparse_argsfor the presence or absence of necessary values.