BlinkParse

A python library for parsing command line arguments

Installation

pip install blinkparse

Usage

Parser(args=[], commands=[], description='', commandRequired=False, noOperands=False)

• Returns a blinkparse.Arguments object
• args is a list of blinkparse.Argument objects
• commands is a list of blinkparse.Command objects
• description is a description to show at the top of the help page
• commandRequired is whether the program requires a command to be passed in
• noOperands is whether the program is allowed to take operands
• parse(inputArgs=None)
  • Returns a blinkparse.Arguments object
  • inputArgs is a list of the arguments to parse. This defaults to sys.argv[1:]

Argument(name, shortName=None, takesValue=False, required=False, description=None)

• name is the argument name used in the long syntax (--myArg, --myArg=myValue)
• shortName is the argument name used in the long syntax (-a, -a myValue)
• takesValue is whether the argument takes a input (see above)
• required makes the blinkparse raise an error if the argument isn't passed in
• description is a description to show in the help page

Command(name, args=[], aliases=[])

• Usage
  • Command('hello', [CommandArgument('person'), CommandArgument('gender', required=False, options=['male', 'female', 'other])], 'h')
  • $ python3 example.py hello jered
  • $ python3 example.py hello joe male
• name is the name of the command
• args is a list of blinkparse.CommandArgument objects that the command takes
• CommandArgument(name, options=None, required=True)
  • name is the name of the command argument
  • options is a list of allowed options for the argument (defaults to everything)
  • required makes blinkparse raise an error if the command argument isn't passed in
• aliases is a list of other names for the command

Full example

from blinkparse import *

args = Parser(
    args=[
        Argument('save', 's', description='Save the program output'),
    ],
    commands=[
        Command('hello', [
            CommandArgument('person'),
            CommandArgument('gender', required=False, options=['male', 'female', 'other'])
        ]),
        Command('bye', [
            CommandArgument('person')
        ])
    ],
    description='''
hello.py
A simple demo of blinkparse
    ''',
    commandRequired=True
).parse()

if args.command == 'hello':
    output = 'Hello ' + args.commandArgs['person']
    if 'gender' in args.commandArgs:
        output += ', you are ' + args.commandArgs['gender']
else:
    output = 'Bye ' + args.commandArgs['person']

if 'save' in args.args:
    with open('hello.txt', 'w') as outputFile:
        outputFile.write(output)
else:
    print(output)