File Coverage

lib/Getopt/ArgParse.pm

Criterion	Covered	Total	%
statement	14	14	100.0
branch			n/a
condition			n/a
subroutine	5	5	100.0
pod	0	1	0.0
total	19	20	95.0

require 5.008001;

package Getopt::ArgParse;
{
    $Getopt::ArgParse::VERSION = '1.0.4';
};

# ABSTRACT: Getopt::ArgParse - Parsing args with a richer and more user-friendly API

use strict;
use warnings;
use Carp;

use Getopt::ArgParse::Parser;

sub new_parser {
    shift;
    return Getopt::ArgParse::Parser->new(@_);
}

1;

# perldoc

=pod

=head1 NAME

Getopt::ArgParse - Parsing command line arguments with a richer and
more user-friendly API interface, similar to python's argpare but with
perlish extras.

In particular, the modules provides the following features:

  - generating usage messages
  - storing parsed arg values in an object, which can be also used to
    load configuration values from files and therefore the ability for
    applications to combine configurations in a single interface
  - A more user-friendly interface to specify arguments, such as
    argument types, argument values split, etc.
  - Subcommand parsing, such svn
  - Supporting both flag based optional arguments and positional arguments

=head1 VERSION

version 1.0.4

=head1 SYNOPSIS

 use Getopt::ArgParse;

 $ap = Getopt::ArgParse->new_parser(
 	prog        => 'MyProgramName',
 	description => 'This is a program',
    epilog      => 'This appears at the bottom of usage',
 );

 # Parse an option: '--foo value' or '-f value'
 $ap->add_arg('--foo', '-f', required => 1);

 # Parse a boolean: '--bool' or '-b' using a different name from
 # the option
 $ap->add_arg('--bool', '-b', type => 'Bool', dest => 'boo');

 # Parse a positonal option.
 # But in this case, better using subcommand. See below
 $ap->add_arg('command', required => 1);

 # $ns is also accessible via $ap->namespace
 $ns = $ap->parse_args(split(' ', 'test -f 1 -b'));

 say $ns->command; # 'test'
 say $ns->foo;     # false
 say $ns->boo;     # false
 say $ns->no_boo;   # true - 'no_' is added for boolean options

 # You can continue to add arguments and parse them again
 # $ap->namespace is accumulatively populated

 # Parse an Array type option and split the value into an array of values
 $ap->add_arg('--emails', type => 'Array', split => ',');
 $ns = $ap->parse_args(split(' ', '--emails [e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail]'));
 # Because this is an array option, this also allows you to specify the
 # option multiple times and splitting
 $ns = $ap->parse_args(split(' ', '--emails [e-mail],[e-mail] --emails [e-mail]'));

 # Below will print: [e-mail]|[e-mail]|[e-mail]|[e-mail]|[e-mail]|[e-mail]
 # Because Array types are appended
 say join('|', $ns->emails);

 # Parse an option as key,value pairs
 $ap->add_arg('--param', type => 'Pair', split => ',');
 $ns = $ap->parse_args(split(' ', '--param a=1,b=2,c=3'));

 say $ns->param->{a}; # 1
 say $ns->param->{b}; # 2
 say $ns->param->{c}; # 3

 # You can use choice to restrict values
 $ap->add_arg('--env', choices => [ 'dev', 'prod' ],);

 # or use case-insensitive choices
 # Override the previous option with reset
 $ap->add_arg('--env', choices_i => [ 'dev', 'prod' ], reset => 1);

 # or use a coderef
 # Override the previous option
 $ap->add_args(
 	'--env',
 	choices => sub {
 		die "--env invalid values" if $_[0] !~ /^(dev|prod)$/i;
 	},
    reset => 1,
 );

 # subcommands
 $ap->add_subparsers(title => 'subcommands'); # Must be called to initialize subcommand parsing
 $list_parser = $ap->add_parser(
         'list',
         help => 'List directory entries',
         description => 'A multiple paragraphs long description.',
 );

 $list_parser->add_args(
   [
     '--verbose', '-v',
      type => 'Count',
      help => 'Verbosity',
   ],
   [
     '--depth',
      help => 'depth',
   ],
 );

 $ns = $ap->parse_args(split(' ', 'list -v'));

 say $ns->current_command(); # current_command stores list,
                             # Don't use this name for your own option

 $ns =$ap->parse_args(split(' ', 'help list')); # This will print the usage for the list command
 # help subcommand is automatically added for you
 say $ns->help_command(); # list

 # Copy parsing
 $common_args = Getopt::ArgParse->new_parser();
 $common_args->add_args(
   [
     '--dry-run',
      type => 'Bool',
      help => 'Dry run',
   ],
 );

 $sp = $ap->add_parser(
   'remove',
   aliases => [qw(rm)],           # prog remove or prog rm
   parents => [ $command_args ],  # prog rm --dry-run
 );

 # Or copy explicitly
 $sp = $ap->add_parser(
   'copy',
   aliases => [qw(cp)],           # prog remove or prog rm
 );

 $sp->copy_args($command_parser); # You can also copy_parsers() but in this case
                                  # $common_parser doesn't have subparsers

=head1 DESCRIPTIOIN

Getopt::ArgParse, Getopt::ArgParse::Parser and related classes
together aim to provide user-friendly interfaces for writing
command-line interfaces. A user should be able to use it without
looking up the document most of the time. It allows applications to
define argument specifications and it will parse them out of @AGRV by
default or a command line if provided. It implements both optional
arguments, using Getopt::Long for parsing, and positional
arguments. The class also generates help and usage messages.

The parser has a namespace property, which is an object of
ArgParser::Namespace. The parsed argument values are stored in this
namespace property. Moreover, the values are stored accumulatively
when parse_args() is called multiple times.

Though inspired by Python's argparse and names and ideas are borrowed
from it, there is a lot of difference from the Python one.

=head2 Getopt::ArgParser::Parser

This is the underlying parser that does the heavylifting.

Getopt::ArgParse::Parser is a Moo class.

=head3 Constructor

  my $parser = Getopt::ArgParse->new_parser(
    help        => 'short description',
    description => 'long description',
  );

The former calls Getopt::ArgParser::Parser->new to create a parser
object. The parser constructor accepts the following parameters.

All parsers are created with a predefined Bool option --help|-h. The
program can choose to reset it, though.

=over 8

=item * prog

The program's name. Default $0.

=item * help

A short description of the program.

=item * description

A long description of the program.

=item * namespace

An object of Getopt::ArgParse::Namespace. An empty namespace is created if
not provided. The parsed values are stored in it, and they can be
refered to by their argument names as the namespace's properties,
e.g. $parser->namespace->boo. See also Getopt::ArgParse::Namespace

=item * parser_configs

The Getopt::Long configurations. See also Getopt::Long

=item * parents

Parent parsents, whose argument and subparser specifications the new
parser will copy. See copy() below

=item * error_prefix

Customize the message prefixed to error messages thrown by
Getop::ArgParse, default to 'Getopt::ArgParse: '

=item * print_usage_if_help

Set this to false to not display usage messages even if --help is on
or the subcommand help is called. The default behavior is to display
usage messages if help is set.

=back

=head3 add_arg, add_argument, add_args, and add_arguments

  $parser->add_args(
    [ '--foo', required => 1, type => 'Array', split => ',' ],
    [ 'boo', required => 1, nargs => '+' ],
  );

The object method, arg_arg or the longer version add_argument, defines
the specfication of an argument. It accepts the following parameters.

add_args or add_arguments() is to add multiple multiple arguments.

=over 8

=item * name or flags

Either a name or a list of option strings, e.g. foo or -f, --foo.

If dest is not specified, the name or the first option without leading
dashes will be used as the name for retrieving values. If a name is
given, this argument is a positional argument. Otherwise, it's an
option argument.

Hyphens can be used in names and flags, but they will be replaced with
underscores '_' when used as option names. For example:

    $parser->add_argument( [ '--dry-run', type => 'Bool' ]);
    # command line: prog --dry-run
    $parser->namespace->dry_run; # The option's name is dry_run

A name or option strings are following by named paramters.

=item * dest

The name of the attribute to be added to the namespace populated by
parse_args().

=item * type => $type

Specify the type of the argument. It can be one of the following values:

=over 8

=item * Scalar

The option takes a scalar value.

=item * Array

The option takes a list of values. The option can appear multiple
times in the command line. Each value is appended to the list. It's
stored in an arrayref in the namespace.

=item * Pair

The option takes a list of key-value pairs separated by the equal sign
'='. It's stored in a hashref in the namespace.

=item * Bool

The option does not take an argument. It's set to true if the option
is present or false otherwise. A 'no_bool' option is also available,
which is the negation of bool().

For example:

    $parser->add_argument('--dry-run', type => 'Bool');

    $ns = $parser->parse_args(split(' ', '--dry-run'));

    print $ns->dry_run; # true
    print $ns->no_dry_run; # false

=item * Count

The option does not take an argument and its value will be incremented
by 1 every time it appears on the command line.

=back

=item * split

split should work with types 'Array' and 'Pair' only.

split specifies a string by which to split the argument string e.g. if
split => ',', a,b,c will be split into [ 'a', 'b', 'c' ].When split
works with type 'Pair', the parser will split the argument string and
then parse each of them as pairs.

=item * choices or choices_i

choices specifies a list of the allowable values for the argument or a
subroutine that validates input values.

choices_i specifies a list of the allowable values for the argument,
but case insenstive, and it doesn't allow to use a subroutine for
validation.

Either choices or chioces_i can be present or completely omitted, but
not both at the same time.

=item * default

The value produced if the argument is absent from the command line.

Only one value is allowed for scalar argument types: Scalar, Count, and Bool.

=item * required

Whether or not the command-line option may be omitted (optionals
only). This has no effect on types 'Bool' and 'Count'. An optional
option is marked by the question mark ? in the generated usage, e.g.
    --help, -h             ? show this help message and exit

This parameter is ignored for Bool and Count types for they will
already have default values.

=item * help

A brief description of what the argument does.

=item * metavar

A name for the argument in usage messages.

=item * reset

Set reset to override the existing definition of an option. This will
clear the value in the namspace as well.

=cut

=item * nargs - Positional option only

This only instructs how many arguments the parser consumes. The
program still needs to specify the right type to achieve the desired
result.

=over 8

=item * n

1 if not specified

=item * ?

1 or 0

=item * +

1 or more

=item * *

0 or many. This will consume the rest of arguments.

=back

=back

=head3 parse_args

  $namespace = $parser->parse_args(@command_line);

This object method accepts a list of arguments or @ARGV if
unspecified, parses them for values, and stores the values in the
namespace object.

A few things may be worth noting about parse_args().

First, parsing for Optional Arguments is done by Getopt::Long

Second, parsing for positional arguments takes place after that for
optional arguments. It will consume what's still left in the command
line.

Finally, the Namespace object is accumulatively poplulated. If
parse_args() is called multiple times to parse a number of command
lines, the same namespace object is accumulatively populated.  For
Scalar and Bool options, this means the previous value will be
overwrittend. For Pair and Array options, values will be appended. And
for a Count option, it will add on top of the previous value.

In face, the program can choose to pass a already populated namespace
when creating a parser object. This is to allow the program to pre-load
values to a namespace from conf files before parsing the command line.

And finally, it does NOT display usage messages if the argument list
is empty. This may be contrary to many other implementations of
argument parsing.

=head3 argv

  @argv = $parser->argv; # called after parse_args

Call this after parse_args() is invoked to get the unconsumed
arguments. It's up to the application to decide what to do if there is
a surplus of arguments.

=head3 The Namespace Object

The parsed values are stored in a namespace object. Any class with the
following three methods:

  * A constructor new()
  * set_attr(name => value)
  * get_attr(name)

can be used as the Namespace class.

The default one is Getopt::ArgParse::Namespace. It uses autoload to
provide a readonly accessor method using dest names to access parsed
values. However, this is not required for user-defined namespace. So
within the implementation, $namespace->get_attr($dest) should always
be used.

=head2 Subcommand Support

Note only ne level of subcommand parsing is supported. Subcommands
cannot have subcommands.

Call add_subparsers() first to initialize the current parser for
subcommand support. A help subcommand is created as part of the
initialization. The help subcommand has the following options:

=over 4

positional arguments:
     COMMAND      ? Show the usage for this command
optional arguments:
    --help, -h     ? show this help message and exit
    --all, -a      ? Show the full usage

=back

Call add_parser() to add a subparser for each subcommand. Use the
parser object returned by add_parser() to add the options to the
subcommand.

Once subcommand support is on, if the first argument is not a flag,
i.e. starting with a dash '-', the parser's parse_args() will treat it
as a subcommand. Otherwise, the parser parses for the defined
arguments.

The namespace's current_command() will contain the subcommand after
parsing successfully.

Unlike arguments, subparsers cannot be reset.

=head3 add_subparsers

  $parser->add_subparsers(
    title       => 'Subcommands',
    description => 'description about providing subcommands',
  );

add_subparsers must be called to initialize subcommand support.

=over 8

=item * title

A title message to mark the beginning of subcommand usage in the usage
message

=item * description

A general description appearing about the title

=back

=head3 add_parser

  $subparser = $parser->add_parser(
     'list',
     aliases     => [qw(ls)],
     help        => 'short description',
     description => 'a long one',
     parents => [ $common_args ], # inherit common args from
                                  # $common_args
  );

=over 8

=item * $command

The first argument is the name of the new command.

=item * help

A short description of the subcommand.

=item * description

A long description of the subcommand.

=item * aliases

An array reference containing a list of command aliases.

=item * parents

An array reference containing a list of parsers whose specification
will be copied by the new parser.

=back

=head2 get_parser

   $subparser = $parser->get_parser('ls');

Return the parser for parsing the $alias command if exsist.

=head2 Copying Parsers

A parser can copy argument specification or subcommand specifciation
for existing parsers. A use case for this is that the program wants all
subcommands to have a command set of arguments.

=head3 copy_args

   $parser->copy_args($common_args_parser);

Copy argument specification from the $parent parser

=head3 copy_parsers

   $parser->copy_parsers($common_args_parser);

Copy parser specification for subcommands from the $parent parser

=head3 copy

   $parser->copy($common_args_parser);

Copy both arguments and subparsers.

=head2 Usage Messages and Related Methods

=head3 format_usage

  $usage = $parser->format_usage;

Return the formated usage message for the whole program in an array
reference.

=head3 print_usage

   $parser->print_usage;

Print the usage mesage returned by format_usage().

=head3 format_command_usage

  $usage = $parser->format_command_usage($subcommand);

Return the formated usage message for the command in an array
reference.

=head3 print_command_usage

  $parser->print_command_usage($subcommand);

Print the usage message returned by format_command_usage(). If
$command is not given, it will first try to use
$self->namespace->help_command, which will be present for the help
subcommand, and then $self->namespace->current_command.

=head3

=head1 SEE ALSO

Getopt::Long
Python's argparse

=head1 AUTHOR

Mytram  (original author)

=head1 COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This software is Copyright (c) 2014 by Mytram.

This is free software, licensed under:

  The Artistic License 2.0 (GPL Compatible)

=cut

__END__