docopt 0.6.1 (experimental)

Pythonic argument parser, that will make you smile

Usage pattern format

Usage pattern is a substring of doc that starts with usage: (case insensitive) and ends with a visibly empty line. Minimum example:

.. code:: python

    """Usage: my_program.py

    """

The first word after usage: is interpreted as your program's name. You can specify your program's name several times to signify several exclusive patterns:

.. code:: python

    """Usage: my_program.py FILE
              my_program.py COUNT FILE

    """

Each pattern can consist of the following elements:

• <arguments>, ARGUMENTS. Arguments are specified as either upper-case words, e.g. my_program.py CONTENT-PATH or words surrounded by angular brackets: my_program.py <content-path>.
• --options. Options are words started with dash (-), e.g. --output, -o. You can "stack" several of one-letter options, e.g. -oiv which will be the same as -o -i -v. The options can have arguments, e.g. --input=FILE or -i FILE or even -iFILE. However it is important that you specify option descriptions if you want for option to have an argument, a default value, or specify synonymous short/long versions of option (see next section on option descriptions).
• commands are words that do not follow the described above conventions of --options or <arguments> or ARGUMENTS, plus two special commands: dash "-" and double dash "--" (see below).

Use the following constructs to specify patterns:

• [ ] (brackets) optional elements. e.g.: my_program.py [-hvqo FILE]
• ( ) (parens) required elements. All elements that are not put in [ ] are also required, e.g.: my_program.py --path=<path> <file>... is the same as my_program.py (--path=<path> <file>...). (Note, "required options" might be not a good idea for your users).
• | (pipe) mutualy exclusive elements. Group them using ( ) if one of the mutually exclusive elements is required: my_program.py (--clockwise | --counter-clockwise) TIME. Group them using [ ] if none of the mutually-exclusive elements are required: my_program.py [--left | --right].
• ... (ellipsis) one or more elements. To specify that arbitrary number of repeating elements could be accepted, use ellipsis (...), e.g. my_program.py FILE ... means one or more FILE-s are accepted. If you want to accept zero or more elements, use brackets, e.g.: my_program.py [FILE ...]. Ellipsis works as a unary operator on the expression to the left.
• [options] (case sensitive) shortcut for any options. You can use it if you want to specify that the usage pattern could be provided with any options defined below in the option-descriptions and do not want to enumerate them all in usage-pattern. - "[--]". Double dash "--" is used by convention to separate positional arguments that can be mistaken for options. In order to support this convention add "[--]" to you usage patterns. - "[-]". Single dash "-" is used by convention to signify that stdin is used instead of a file. To support this add "[-]" to you usage patterns. "-" act as a normal command.

If your pattern allows to match argument-less option (a flag) several times:

Usage: my_program.py [-v | -vv | -vvv]

then number of occurences of the option will be counted. I.e. args['-v'] will be 2 if program was invoked as my_program -vv. Same works for commands.

If your usage patterns allows to match same-named option with argument or positional argument several times, the matched arguments will be collected into a list:

Usage: my_program.py <file> <file> --path=<path>...

I.e. invoked with my_program.py file1 file2 --path=./here --path=./there the returned dict will contain args['<file>'] == ['file1', 'file2'] and args['--path'] == ['./here', './there'].

Option descriptions format

Option descriptions consist of a list of options that you put below your usage patterns.

It is necessary to list option descriptions in order to specify:

• synonymous short and long options,
• if an option has an argument,
• if option's argument has a default value.

The rules are as follows:

• Every line in doc that starts with - or -- (not counting spaces) is treated as an option description, e.g.:

  Options:
    --verbose   # GOOD
    -o FILE     # GOOD
  Other: --bad  # BAD, line does not start with dash "-"
  

• To specify that option has an argument, put a word describing that argument after space (or equals "=" sign) as shown below. Follow either <angular-brackets> or UPPER-CASE convention for options' arguments. You can use comma if you want to separate options. In the example below, both lines are valid, however you are recommended to stick to a single style.:

  -o FILE --output=FILE       # without comma, with "=" sign
  -i <file>, --input <file>   # with comma, wihtout "=" sing
  

• Use two spaces to separate options with their informal description:

  --verbose More text.   # BAD, will be treated as if verbose option had
                         # an argument "More", so use 2 spaces instead
  -q        Quit.        # GOOD
  -o FILE   Output file. # GOOD
  --stdout  Use stdout.  # GOOD, 2 spaces
  

• If you want to set a default value for an option with an argument, put it into the option-description, in form [default: <my-default-value>]:

  --coefficient=K  The K coefficient [default: 2.95]
  --output=FILE    Output file [default: test.txt]
  --directory=DIR  Some directory [default: ./]
  

• If the option is not repeatable, the value inside [default: ...] will be interpeted as string. If it is repeatable, it will be splited into a list on whitespace:

  Usage: my_program.py [--repeatable=<arg> --repeatable=<arg>]
                       [--another-repeatable=<arg>]...
                       [--not-repeatable=<arg>]
  
  # will be ['./here', './there']
  --repeatable=<arg>          [default: ./here ./there]
  
  # will be ['./here']
  --another-repeatable=<arg>  [default: ./here]
  
  # will be './here ./there', because it is not repeatable
  --not-repeatable=<arg>      [default: ./here ./there]
  

Examples

We have an extensive list of examples which cover every aspect of functionality of docopt. Try them out, read the source if in doubt.

Subparsers, multi-level help and huge applications (like git)

If you want to split your usage-pattern into several, implement multi-level help (whith separate help-screen for each subcommand), want to interface with existing scripts that don't use docopt, or you're building the next "git", you will need the new options_first parameter (described in API section above). To get you started quickly we implemented a subset of git command-line interface as an example: examples/git

Data validation

docopt does one thing and does it well: it implements your command-line interface. However it does not validate the input data. On the other hand there are libraries like python schema which make validating data a breeze. Take a look at validation_example.py which uses schema to validate data and report an error to the user.