darp 1.2

Derek's Argument Parser

This is a Pythonic argument parser. It automatically converts your sys.argv to *args, **kwargs and passes them to whatever function you wish. It also automatically generates usage messages and handles python type checking / conversions.

For example, if you have the following program:

import darp

def serve(name, port:int=8888):
  '''Example DArP (Derek's Argument Parser) app...'''
  print('running', name, 'on', port)

if __name__=='__main__':
  darp.prep(serve).run()

And run it with arguments, you’ll get the following output:

$ python3 example.py
Example DArP (Derek's Argument Parser) app...
serve() missing 1 required positional argument: 'name'
usage: python3 example.py <name> [--port <int>]

Required Parameters

*arg parameters are always required. Keyword parameters (like --port) can be marked as required like this:

def serve(name, port:int=darp.REQUIRED):
  print('running', name, 'on', port)

if __name__=='__main__':
  darp.prep(serve, p='port').run()

If run without the required argument this error is printed:

$ python3 example_required.py
serve() missing 1 required argument: '-p|--port'
usage: python3 example_required.py <name> --port <int>

Shortcut Parameters

Keyword parameters are prefixed with -- (like --port). A shortcut parameter is when you want your script to respond to -p 7777 as if the user typed --port 7777. You specify this relationship via arguments to darp.prep like:

if __name__=='__main__':
  darp.prep(serve, p='port').run()

Example:

$ python3 example.py server -p 7777
running server on 7777

Existence Parameters

Keyword parameters without values are considered True if present. For example:

def doit(dry_run=False):
  if dry_run:
    print('doing a dry run...')
  else:
    print('doing it for real!')

if __name__=='__main__':
  darp.prep(doit).run()

Example run:

$ python3 example_existence.py --dry-run
doing a dry run...

Notice that --dry-run is mapped to the dry_run kwarg.

Existence params can be combined if using shortcuts. See:

def doit(apple=False, banana=False):
  print('apple', apple)
  print('banana', banana)

if __name__=='__main__':
  darp.prep(doit, a='apple', b='banana').run()

Example run:

$ python3 example_squashed_existence.py -ab
apple True
banana True