"argparse" — Parser for command-line options, arguments and subcommands
***********************************************************************

Added in version 3.2.

**Source code:** Lib/argparse.py

Note:

  While "argparse" is the default recommended standard library module
  for implementing basic command line applications, authors with more
  exacting requirements for exactly how their command line
  applications behave may find it doesn’t provide the necessary level
  of control. Refer to Choosing an argument parsing library for
  alternatives to consider when "argparse" doesn’t support behaviors
  that the application requires (such as entirely disabling support
  for interspersed options and positional arguments, or accepting
  option parameter values that start with "-" even when they
  correspond to another defined option).

======================================================================


Tutorial
^^^^^^^^

This page contains the API reference information. For a more gentle
introduction to Python command-line parsing, have a look at the
argparse tutorial.

The "argparse" module makes it easy to write user-friendly command-
line interfaces. The program defines what arguments it requires, and
"argparse" will figure out how to parse those out of "sys.argv".  The
"argparse" module also automatically generates help and usage
messages.  The module will also issue errors when users give the
program invalid arguments.

The "argparse" module’s support for command-line interfaces is built
around an instance of "argparse.ArgumentParser".  It is a container
for argument specifications and has options that apply to the parser
as whole:

   parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
                       prog='ProgramName',
                       description='What the program does',
                       epilog='Text at the bottom of help')

The "ArgumentParser.add_argument()" method attaches individual
argument specifications to the parser.  It supports positional
arguments, options that accept values, and on/off flags:

   parser.add_argument('filename')           # positional argument
   parser.add_argument('-c', '--count')      # option that takes a value
   parser.add_argument('-v', '--verbose',
                       action='store_true')  # on/off flag

The "ArgumentParser.parse_args()" method runs the parser and places
the extracted data in a "argparse.Namespace" object:

   args = parser.parse_args()
   print(args.filename, args.count, args.verbose)

Note:

  If you’re looking for a guide about how to upgrade "optparse" code
  to "argparse", see Upgrading Optparse Code.


ArgumentParser objects
======================

class argparse.ArgumentParser(prog=None, usage=None, description=None, epilog=None, parents=[], formatter_class=argparse.HelpFormatter, prefix_chars='-', fromfile_prefix_chars=None, argument_default=None, conflict_handler='error', add_help=True, allow_abbrev=True, exit_on_error=True)

   Create a new "ArgumentParser" object. All parameters should be
   passed as keyword arguments. Each parameter has its own more
   detailed description below, but in short they are:

   * prog - The name of the program (default:
     "os.path.basename(sys.argv[0])")

   * usage - The string describing the program usage (default:
     generated from arguments added to parser)

   * description - Text to display before the argument help (by
     default, no text)

   * epilog - Text to display after the argument help (by default, no
     text)

   * parents - A list of "ArgumentParser" objects whose arguments
     should also be included

   * formatter_class - A class for customizing the help output

   * prefix_chars - The set of characters that prefix optional
     arguments (default: ‘-‘)

   * fromfile_prefix_chars - The set of characters that prefix files
     from which additional arguments should be read (default: "None")

   * argument_default - The global default value for arguments
     (default: "None")

   * conflict_handler - The strategy for resolving conflicting
     optionals (usually unnecessary)

   * add_help - Add a "-h/--help" option to the parser (default:
     "True")

   * allow_abbrev - Allows long options to be abbreviated if the
     abbreviation is unambiguous. (default: "True")

   * exit_on_error - Determines whether or not "ArgumentParser" exits
     with error info when an error occurs. (default: "True")

   Changed in version 3.5: *allow_abbrev* parameter was added.

   Changed in version 3.8: In previous versions, *allow_abbrev* also
   disabled grouping of short flags such as "-vv" to mean "-v -v".

   Changed in version 3.9: *exit_on_error* parameter was added.

The following sections describe how each of these are used.


prog
----

By default, "ArgumentParser" calculates the name of the program to
display in help messages depending on the way the Python interpreter
was run:

* The "base name" of "sys.argv[0]" if a file was passed as argument.

* The Python interpreter name followed by "sys.argv[0]" if a directory
  or a zipfile was passed as argument.

* The Python interpreter name followed by "-m" followed by the module
  or package name if the "-m" option was used.

This default is almost always desirable because it will make the help
messages match the string that was used to invoke the program on the
command line. However, to change this default behavior, another value
can be supplied using the "prog=" argument to "ArgumentParser":

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='myprogram')
   >>> parser.print_help()
   usage: myprogram [-h]

   options:
    -h, --help  show this help message and exit

Note that the program name, whether determined from "sys.argv[0]" or
from the "prog=" argument, is available to help messages using the
"%(prog)s" format specifier.

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='myprogram')
   >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', help='foo of the %(prog)s program')
   >>> parser.print_help()
   usage: myprogram [-h] [--foo FOO]

   options:
    -h, --help  show this help message and exit
    --foo FOO   foo of the myprogram program


usage
-----

By default, "ArgumentParser" calculates the usage message from the
arguments it contains. The default message can be overridden with the
"usage=" keyword argument:

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='PROG', usage='%(prog)s [options]')
   >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', nargs='?', help='foo help')
   >>> parser.add_argument('bar', nargs='+', help='bar help')
   >>> parser.print_help()
   usage: PROG [options]

   positional arguments:
    bar          bar help

   options:
    -h, --help   show this help message and exit
    --foo [FOO]  foo help

The "%(prog)s" format specifier is available to fill in the program
name in your usage messages.


description
-----------

Most calls to the "ArgumentParser" constructor will use the
"description=" keyword argument.  This argument gives a brief
description of what the program does and how it works.  In help
messages, the description is displayed between the command-line usage
string and the help messages for the various arguments.

By default, the description will be line-wrapped so that it fits
within the given space.  To change this behavior, see the
formatter_class argument.


epilog
------

Some programs like to display additional description of the program
after the description of the arguments.  Such text can be specified
using the "epilog=" argument to "ArgumentParser":

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
   ...     description='A foo that bars',
   ...     epilog="And that's how you'd foo a bar")
   >>> parser.print_help()
   usage: argparse.py [-h]

   A foo that bars

   options:
    -h, --help  show this help message and exit

   And that's how you'd foo a bar

As with the description argument, the "epilog=" text is by default
line-wrapped, but this behavior can be adjusted with the
formatter_class argument to "ArgumentParser".


parents
-------

Sometimes, several parsers share a common set of arguments. Rather
than repeating the definitions of these arguments, a single parser
with all the shared arguments and passed to "parents=" argument to
"ArgumentParser" can be used.  The "parents=" argument takes a list of
"ArgumentParser" objects, collects all the positional and optional
actions from them, and adds these actions to the "ArgumentParser"
object being constructed:

   >>> parent_parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(add_help=False)
   >>> parent_parser.add_argument('--parent', type=int)

   >>> foo_parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(parents=[parent_parser])
   >>> foo_parser.add_argument('foo')
   >>> foo_parser.parse_args(['--parent', '2', 'XXX'])
   Namespace(foo='XXX', parent=2)

   >>> bar_parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(parents=[parent_parser])
   >>> bar_parser.add_argument('--bar')
   >>> bar_parser.parse_args(['--bar', 'YYY'])
   Namespace(bar='YYY', parent=None)

Note that most parent parsers will specify "add_help=False".
Otherwise, the "ArgumentParser" will see two "-h/--help" options (one
in the parent and one in the child) and raise an error.

Note:

  You must fully initialize the parsers before passing them via
  "parents=". If you change the parent parsers after the child parser,
  those changes will not be reflected in the child.


formatter_class
---------------

"ArgumentParser" objects allow the help formatting to be customized by
specifying an alternate formatting class.  Currently, there are four
such classes:

class argparse.RawDescriptionHelpFormatter
class argparse.RawTextHelpFormatter
class argparse.ArgumentDefaultsHelpFormatter
class argparse.MetavarTypeHelpFormatter

"RawDescriptionHelpFormatter" and "RawTextHelpFormatter" give more
control over how textual descriptions are displayed. By default,
"ArgumentParser" objects line-wrap the description and epilog texts in
command-line help messages:

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
   ...     prog='PROG',
   ...     description='''this description
   ...         was indented weird
   ...             but that is okay''',
   ...     epilog='''
   ...             likewise for this epilog whose whitespace will
   ...         be cleaned up and whose words will be wrapped
   ...         across a couple lines''')
   >>> parser.print_help()
   usage: PROG [-h]

   this description was indented weird but that is okay

   options:
    -h, --help  show this help message and exit

   likewise for this epilog whose whitespace will be cleaned up and whose words
   will be wrapped across a couple lines

Passing "RawDescriptionHelpFormatter" as "formatter_class=" indicates
that description and epilog are already correctly formatted and should
not be line-wrapped:

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
   ...     prog='PROG',
   ...     formatter_class=argparse.RawDescriptionHelpFormatter,
   ...     description=textwrap.dedent('''\
   ...         Please do not mess up this text!
   ...         --------------------------------
   ...             I have indented it
   ...             exactly the way
   ...             I want it
   ...         '''))
   >>> parser.print_help()
   usage: PROG [-h]

   Please do not mess up this text!
   --------------------------------
      I have indented it
      exactly the way
      I want it

   options:
    -h, --help  show this help message and exit

"RawTextHelpFormatter" maintains whitespace for all sorts of help
text, including argument descriptions. However, multiple newlines are
replaced with one. If you wish to preserve multiple blank lines, add
spaces between the newlines.

"ArgumentDefaultsHelpFormatter" automatically adds information about
default values to each of the argument help messages:

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
   ...     prog='PROG',
   ...     formatter_class=argparse.ArgumentDefaultsHelpFormatter)
   >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', type=int, default=42, help='FOO!')
   >>> parser.add_argument('bar', nargs='*', default=[1, 2, 3], help='BAR!')
   >>> parser.print_help()
   usage: PROG [-h] [--foo FOO] [bar ...]

   positional arguments:
    bar         BAR! (default: [1, 2, 3])

   options:
    -h, --help  show this help message and exit
    --foo FOO   FOO! (default: 42)

"MetavarTypeHelpFormatter" uses the name of the type argument for each
argument as the display name for its values (rather than using the
dest as the regular formatter does):

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
   ...     prog='PROG',
   ...     formatter_class=argparse.MetavarTypeHelpFormatter)
   >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', type=int)
   >>> parser.add_argument('bar', type=float)
   >>> parser.print_help()
   usage: PROG [-h] [--foo int] float

   positional arguments:
     float

   options:
     -h, --help  show this help message and exit
     --foo int


prefix_chars
------------

Most command-line options will use "-" as the prefix, e.g. "-f/--foo".
Parsers that need to support different or additional prefix
characters, e.g. for options like "+f" or "/foo", may specify them
using the "prefix_chars=" argument to the "ArgumentParser"
constructor:

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='PROG', prefix_chars='-+')
   >>> parser.add_argument('+f')
   >>> parser.add_argument('++bar')
   >>> parser.parse_args('+f X ++bar Y'.split())
   Namespace(bar='Y', f='X')

The "prefix_chars=" argument defaults to "'-'". Supplying a set of
characters that does not include "-" will cause "-f/--foo" options to
be disallowed.


fromfile_prefix_chars
---------------------

Sometimes, when dealing with a particularly long argument list, it may
make sense to keep the list of arguments in a file rather than typing
it out at the command line.  If the "fromfile_prefix_chars=" argument
is given to the "ArgumentParser" constructor, then arguments that
start with any of the specified characters will be treated as files,
and will be replaced by the arguments they contain.  For example:

   >>> with open('args.txt', 'w', encoding=sys.getfilesystemencoding()) as fp:
   ...     fp.write('-f\nbar')
   ...
   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(fromfile_prefix_chars='@')
   >>> parser.add_argument('-f')
   >>> parser.parse_args(['-f', 'foo', '@args.txt'])
   Namespace(f='bar')

Arguments read from a file must be one per line by default (but see
also "convert_arg_line_to_args()") and are treated as if they were in
the same place as the original file referencing argument on the
command line.  So in the example above, the expression "['-f', 'foo',
'@args.txt']" is considered equivalent to the expression "['-f',
'foo', '-f', 'bar']".

Note:

  Each line is treated as a single argument, so an empty line is read
  as an empty string ("''").

"ArgumentParser" uses *filesystem encoding and error handler* to read
the file containing arguments.

The "fromfile_prefix_chars=" argument defaults to "None", meaning that
arguments will never be treated as file references.

Changed in version 3.12: "ArgumentParser" changed encoding and errors
to read arguments files from default (e.g.
"locale.getpreferredencoding(False)" and ""strict"") to the
*filesystem encoding and error handler*. Arguments file should be
encoded in UTF-8 instead of ANSI Codepage on Windows.


argument_default
----------------

Generally, argument defaults are specified either by passing a default
to "add_argument()" or by calling the "set_defaults()" methods with a
specific set of name-value pairs.  Sometimes however, it may be useful
to specify a single parser-wide default for arguments.  This can be
accomplished by passing the "argument_default=" keyword argument to
"ArgumentParser".  For example, to globally suppress attribute
creation on "parse_args()" calls, we supply
"argument_default=SUPPRESS":

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(argument_default=argparse.SUPPRESS)
   >>> parser.add_argument('--foo')
   >>> parser.add_argument('bar', nargs='?')
   >>> parser.parse_args(['--foo', '1', 'BAR'])
   Namespace(bar='BAR', foo='1')
   >>> parser.parse_args([])
   Namespace()


allow_abbrev
------------

Normally, when you pass an argument list to the "parse_args()" method
of an "ArgumentParser", it recognizes abbreviations of long options.

This feature can be disabled by setting "allow_abbrev" to "False":

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='PROG', allow_abbrev=False)
   >>> parser.add_argument('--foobar', action='store_true')
   >>> parser.add_argument('--foonley', action='store_false')
   >>> parser.parse_args(['--foon'])
   usage: PROG [-h] [--foobar] [--foonley]
   PROG: error: unrecognized arguments: --foon

Added in version 3.5.


conflict_handler
----------------

"ArgumentParser" objects do not allow two actions with the same option
string.  By default, "ArgumentParser" objects raise an exception if an
attempt is made to create an argument with an option string that is
already in use:

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='PROG')
   >>> parser.add_argument('-f', '--foo', help='old foo help')
   >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', help='new foo help')
   Traceback (most recent call last):
    ..
   ArgumentError: argument --foo: conflicting option string(s): --foo

Sometimes (e.g. when using parents) it may be useful to simply
override any older arguments with the same option string.  To get this
behavior, the value "'resolve'" can be supplied to the
"conflict_handler=" argument of "ArgumentParser":

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='PROG', conflict_handler='resolve')
   >>> parser.add_argument('-f', '--foo', help='old foo help')
   >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', help='new foo help')
   >>> parser.print_help()
   usage: PROG [-h] [-f FOO] [--foo FOO]

   options:
    -h, --help  show this help message and exit
    -f FOO      old foo help
    --foo FOO   new foo help

Note that "ArgumentParser" objects only remove an action if all of its
option strings are overridden.  So, in the example above, the old
"-f/--foo" action is retained as the "-f" action, because only the "--
foo" option string was overridden.


add_help
--------

By default, "ArgumentParser" objects add an option which simply
displays the parser’s help message. If "-h" or "--help" is supplied at
the command line, the "ArgumentParser" help will be printed.

Occasionally, it may be useful to disable the addition of this help
option. This can be achieved by passing "False" as the "add_help="
argument to "ArgumentParser":

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='PROG', add_help=False)
   >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', help='foo help')
   >>> parser.print_help()
   usage: PROG [--foo FOO]

   options:
    --foo FOO  foo help

The help option is typically "-h/--help". The exception to this is if
the "prefix_chars=" is specified and does not include "-", in which
case "-h" and "--help" are not valid options.  In this case, the first
character in "prefix_chars" is used to prefix the help options:

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='PROG', prefix_chars='+/')
   >>> parser.print_help()
   usage: PROG [+h]

   options:
     +h, ++help  show this help message and exit


exit_on_error
-------------

Normally, when you pass an invalid argument list to the "parse_args()"
method of an "ArgumentParser", it will print a *message* to
"sys.stderr" and exit with a status code of 2.

If the user would like to catch errors manually, the feature can be
enabled by setting "exit_on_error" to "False":

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(exit_on_error=False)
   >>> parser.add_argument('--integers', type=int)
   _StoreAction(option_strings=['--integers'], dest='integers', nargs=None, const=None, default=None, type=<class 'int'>, choices=None, help=None, metavar=None)
   >>> try:
   ...     parser.parse_args('--integers a'.split())
   ... except argparse.ArgumentError:
   ...     print('Catching an argumentError')
   ...
   Catching an argumentError

Added in version 3.9.


The add_argument() method
=========================

ArgumentParser.add_argument(name or flags..., *[, action][, nargs][, const][, default][, type][, choices][, required][, help][, metavar][, dest][, deprecated])

   Define how a single command-line argument should be parsed.  Each
   parameter has its own more detailed description below, but in short
   they are:

   * name or flags - Either a name or a list of option strings, e.g.
     "'foo'" or "'-f', '--foo'".

   * action - The basic type of action to be taken when this argument
     is encountered at the command line.

   * nargs - The number of command-line arguments that should be
     consumed.

   * const - A constant value required by some action and nargs
     selections.

   * default - The value produced if the argument is absent from the
     command line and if it is absent from the namespace object.

   * type - The type to which the command-line argument should be
     converted.

   * choices - A sequence of the allowable values for the argument.

   * required - Whether or not the command-line option may be omitted
     (optionals only).

   * help - A brief description of what the argument does.

   * metavar - A name for the argument in usage messages.

   * dest - The name of the attribute to be added to the object
     returned by "parse_args()".

   * deprecated - Whether or not use of the argument is deprecated.

   The method returns an "Action" object representing the argument.

The following sections describe how each of these are used.


name or flags
-------------

The "add_argument()" method must know whether an optional argument,
like "-f" or "--foo", or a positional argument, like a list of
filenames, is expected.  The first arguments passed to
"add_argument()" must therefore be either a series of flags, or a
simple argument name.

For example, an optional argument could be created like:

   >>> parser.add_argument('-f', '--foo')

while a positional argument could be created like:

   >>> parser.add_argument('bar')

When "parse_args()" is called, optional arguments will be identified
by the "-" prefix, and the remaining arguments will be assumed to be
positional:

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='PROG')
   >>> parser.add_argument('-f', '--foo')
   >>> parser.add_argument('bar')
   >>> parser.parse_args(['BAR'])
   Namespace(bar='BAR', foo=None)
   >>> parser.parse_args(['BAR', '--foo', 'FOO'])
   Namespace(bar='BAR', foo='FOO')
   >>> parser.parse_args(['--foo', 'FOO'])
   usage: PROG [-h] [-f FOO] bar
   PROG: error: the following arguments are required: bar


action
------

"ArgumentParser" objects associate command-line arguments with
actions.  These actions can do just about anything with the command-
line arguments associated with them, though most actions simply add an
attribute to the object returned by "parse_args()".  The "action"
keyword argument specifies how the command-line arguments should be
handled. The supplied actions are:

* "'store'" - This just stores the argument’s value.  This is the
  default action.

* "'store_const'" - This stores the value specified by the const
  keyword argument; note that the const keyword argument defaults to
  "None".  The "'store_const'" action is most commonly used with
  optional arguments that specify some sort of flag.  For example:

     >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
     >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', action='store_const', const=42)
     >>> parser.parse_args(['--foo'])
     Namespace(foo=42)

* "'store_true'" and "'store_false'" - These are special cases of
  "'store_const'" that respectively store the values "True" and
  "False" with default values of "False" and "True":

     >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
     >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', action='store_true')
     >>> parser.add_argument('--bar', action='store_false')
     >>> parser.add_argument('--baz', action='store_false')
     >>> parser.parse_args('--foo --bar'.split())
     Namespace(foo=True, bar=False, baz=True)

* "'append'" - This appends each argument value to a list. It is
  useful for allowing an option to be specified multiple times. If the
  default value is a non-empty list, the parsed value will start with
  the default list’s elements and any values from the command line
  will be appended after those default values. Example usage:

     >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
     >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', action='append', default=['0'])
     >>> parser.parse_args('--foo 1 --foo 2'.split())
     Namespace(foo=['0', '1', '2'])

* "'append_const'" - This appends the value specified by the const
  keyword argument to a list; note that the const keyword argument
  defaults to "None". The "'append_const'" action is typically useful
  when multiple arguments need to store constants to the same list.
  For example:

     >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
     >>> parser.add_argument('--str', dest='types', action='append_const', const=str)
     >>> parser.add_argument('--int', dest='types', action='append_const', const=int)
     >>> parser.parse_args('--str --int'.split())
     Namespace(types=[<class 'str'>, <class 'int'>])

* "'extend'" - This appends each item from a multi-value argument to a
  list. The "'extend'" action is typically used with the nargs keyword
  argument value "'+'" or "'*'". Note that when nargs is "None" (the
  default) or "'?'", each character of the argument string will be
  appended to the list. Example usage:

     >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
     >>> parser.add_argument("--foo", action="extend", nargs="+", type=str)
     >>> parser.parse_args(["--foo", "f1", "--foo", "f2", "f3", "f4"])
     Namespace(foo=['f1', 'f2', 'f3', 'f4'])

  Added in version 3.8.

* "'count'" - This counts the number of times an argument occurs. For
  example, this is useful for increasing verbosity levels:

     >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
     >>> parser.add_argument('--verbose', '-v', action='count', default=0)
     >>> parser.parse_args(['-vvv'])
     Namespace(verbose=3)

  Note, the *default* will be "None" unless explicitly set to *0*.

* "'help'" - This prints a complete help message for all the options
  in the current parser and then exits. By default a help action is
  automatically added to the parser. See "ArgumentParser" for details
  of how the output is created.

* "'version'" - This expects a "version=" keyword argument in the
  "add_argument()" call, and prints version information and exits when
  invoked:

     >>> import argparse
     >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='PROG')
     >>> parser.add_argument('--version', action='version', version='%(prog)s 2.0')
     >>> parser.parse_args(['--version'])
     PROG 2.0

You may also specify an arbitrary action by passing an "Action"
subclass (e.g. "BooleanOptionalAction") or other object that
implements the same interface. Only actions that consume command-line
arguments (e.g. "'store'", "'append'", "'extend'", or custom actions
with non-zero "nargs") can be used with positional arguments.

The recommended way to create a custom action is to extend "Action",
overriding the "__call__()" method and optionally the "__init__()" and
"format_usage()" methods. You can also register custom actions using
the "register()" method and reference them by their registered name.

An example of a custom action:

   >>> class FooAction(argparse.Action):
   ...     def __init__(self, option_strings, dest, nargs=None, **kwargs):
   ...         if nargs is not None:
   ...             raise ValueError("nargs not allowed")
   ...         super().__init__(option_strings, dest, **kwargs)
   ...     def __call__(self, parser, namespace, values, option_string=None):
   ...         print('%r %r %r' % (namespace, values, option_string))
   ...         setattr(namespace, self.dest, values)
   ...
   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
   >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', action=FooAction)
   >>> parser.add_argument('bar', action=FooAction)
   >>> args = parser.parse_args('1 --foo 2'.split())
   Namespace(bar=None, foo=None) '1' None
   Namespace(bar='1', foo=None) '2' '--foo'
   >>> args
   Namespace(bar='1', foo='2')

For more details, see "Action".


nargs
-----

"ArgumentParser" objects usually associate a single command-line
argument with a single action to be taken.  The "nargs" keyword
argument associates a different number of command-line arguments with
a single action. See also Specifying ambiguous arguments. The
supported values are:

* "N" (an integer).  "N" arguments from the command line will be
  gathered together into a list.  For example:

     >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
     >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', nargs=2)
     >>> parser.add_argument('bar', nargs=1)
     >>> parser.parse_args('c --foo a b'.split())
     Namespace(bar=['c'], foo=['a', 'b'])

  Note that "nargs=1" produces a list of one item.  This is different
  from the default, in which the item is produced by itself.

* "'?'". One argument will be consumed from the command line if
  possible, and produced as a single item.  If no command-line
  argument is present, the value from default will be produced.  Note
  that for optional arguments, there is an additional case - the
  option string is present but not followed by a command-line
  argument.  In this case the value from const will be produced.  Some
  examples to illustrate this:

     >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
     >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', nargs='?', const='c', default='d')
     >>> parser.add_argument('bar', nargs='?', default='d')
     >>> parser.parse_args(['XX', '--foo', 'YY'])
     Namespace(bar='XX', foo='YY')
     >>> parser.parse_args(['XX', '--foo'])
     Namespace(bar='XX', foo='c')
     >>> parser.parse_args([])
     Namespace(bar='d', foo='d')

  One of the more common uses of "nargs='?'" is to allow optional
  input and output files:

     >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
     >>> parser.add_argument('infile', nargs='?', type=argparse.FileType('r'),
     ...                     default=sys.stdin)
     >>> parser.add_argument('outfile', nargs='?', type=argparse.FileType('w'),
     ...                     default=sys.stdout)
     >>> parser.parse_args(['input.txt', 'output.txt'])
     Namespace(infile=<_io.TextIOWrapper name='input.txt' encoding='UTF-8'>,
               outfile=<_io.TextIOWrapper name='output.txt' encoding='UTF-8'>)
     >>> parser.parse_args([])
     Namespace(infile=<_io.TextIOWrapper name='<stdin>' encoding='UTF-8'>,
               outfile=<_io.TextIOWrapper name='<stdout>' encoding='UTF-8'>)

* "'*'".  All command-line arguments present are gathered into a list.
  Note that it generally doesn’t make much sense to have more than one
  positional argument with "nargs='*'", but multiple optional
  arguments with "nargs='*'" is possible.  For example:

     >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
     >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', nargs='*')
     >>> parser.add_argument('--bar', nargs='*')
     >>> parser.add_argument('baz', nargs='*')
     >>> parser.parse_args('a b --foo x y --bar 1 2'.split())
     Namespace(bar=['1', '2'], baz=['a', 'b'], foo=['x', 'y'])

* "'+'". Just like "'*'", all command-line arguments present are
  gathered into a list.  Additionally, an error message will be
  generated if there wasn’t at least one command-line argument
  present.  For example:

     >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='PROG')
     >>> parser.add_argument('foo', nargs='+')
     >>> parser.parse_args(['a', 'b'])
     Namespace(foo=['a', 'b'])
     >>> parser.parse_args([])
     usage: PROG [-h] foo [foo ...]
     PROG: error: the following arguments are required: foo

If the "nargs" keyword argument is not provided, the number of
arguments consumed is determined by the action.  Generally this means
a single command-line argument will be consumed and a single item (not
a list) will be produced. Actions that do not consume command-line
arguments (e.g. "'store_const'") set "nargs=0".


const
-----

The "const" argument of "add_argument()" is used to hold constant
values that are not read from the command line but are required for
the various "ArgumentParser" actions.  The two most common uses of it
are:

* When "add_argument()" is called with "action='store_const'" or
  "action='append_const'".  These actions add the "const" value to one
  of the attributes of the object returned by "parse_args()". See the
  action description for examples. If "const" is not provided to
  "add_argument()", it will receive a default value of "None".

* When "add_argument()" is called with option strings (like "-f" or "
  --foo") and "nargs='?'".  This creates an optional argument that can
  be followed by zero or one command-line arguments. When parsing the
  command line, if the option string is encountered with no command-
  line argument following it, the value from "const" will be used. See
  the nargs description for examples.

Changed in version 3.11: "const=None" by default, including when
"action='append_const'" or "action='store_const'".


default
-------

All optional arguments and some positional arguments may be omitted at
the command line.  The "default" keyword argument of "add_argument()",
whose value defaults to "None", specifies what value should be used if
the command-line argument is not present. For optional arguments, the
"default" value is used when the option string was not present at the
command line:

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
   >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', default=42)
   >>> parser.parse_args(['--foo', '2'])
   Namespace(foo='2')
   >>> parser.parse_args([])
   Namespace(foo=42)

If the target namespace already has an attribute set, the action
*default* will not overwrite it:

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
   >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', default=42)
   >>> parser.parse_args([], namespace=argparse.Namespace(foo=101))
   Namespace(foo=101)

If the "default" value is a string, the parser parses the value as if
it were a command-line argument.  In particular, the parser applies
any type conversion argument, if provided, before setting the
attribute on the "Namespace" return value.  Otherwise, the parser uses
the value as is:

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
   >>> parser.add_argument('--length', default='10', type=int)
   >>> parser.add_argument('--width', default=10.5, type=int)
   >>> parser.parse_args()
   Namespace(length=10, width=10.5)

For positional arguments with nargs equal to "?" or "*", the "default"
value is used when no command-line argument was present:

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
   >>> parser.add_argument('foo', nargs='?', default=42)
   >>> parser.parse_args(['a'])
   Namespace(foo='a')
   >>> parser.parse_args([])
   Namespace(foo=42)

Because "nargs='*'" gathers any supplied values into a list, an absent
positional argument yields an empty list ("[]"). Only a non-"None"
*default* overrides this (so "default=None" still gives "[]").

For required arguments, the "default" value is ignored. For example,
this applies to positional arguments with nargs values other than "?"
or "*", or optional arguments marked as "required=True".

Providing "default=argparse.SUPPRESS" causes no attribute to be added
if the command-line argument was not present:

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
   >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', default=argparse.SUPPRESS)
   >>> parser.parse_args([])
   Namespace()
   >>> parser.parse_args(['--foo', '1'])
   Namespace(foo='1')


type
----

By default, the parser reads command-line arguments in as simple
strings. However, quite often the command-line string should instead
be interpreted as another type, such as a "float" or "int".  The
"type" keyword for "add_argument()" allows any necessary type-checking
and type conversions to be performed.

If the type keyword is used with the default keyword, the type
converter is only applied if the default is a string.

The argument to "type" can be a callable that accepts a single string
or the name of a registered type (see "register()") If the function
raises "ArgumentTypeError", "TypeError", or "ValueError", the
exception is caught and a nicely formatted error message is displayed.
Other exception types are not handled.

Common built-in types and functions can be used as type converters:

   import argparse
   import pathlib

   parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
   parser.add_argument('count', type=int)
   parser.add_argument('distance', type=float)
   parser.add_argument('street', type=ascii)
   parser.add_argument('code_point', type=ord)
   parser.add_argument('dest_file', type=argparse.FileType('w', encoding='latin-1'))
   parser.add_argument('datapath', type=pathlib.Path)

User defined functions can be used as well:

   >>> def hyphenated(string):
   ...     return '-'.join([word[:4] for word in string.casefold().split()])
   ...
   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
   >>> _ = parser.add_argument('short_title', type=hyphenated)
   >>> parser.parse_args(['"The Tale of Two Cities"'])
   Namespace(short_title='"the-tale-of-two-citi')

The "bool()" function is not recommended as a type converter.  All it
does is convert empty strings to "False" and non-empty strings to
"True". This is usually not what is desired:

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
   >>> _ = parser.add_argument('--verbose', type=bool)
   >>> parser.parse_args(['--verbose', 'False'])
   Namespace(verbose=True)

See "BooleanOptionalAction" or "action='store_true'" for common
alternatives.

In general, the "type" keyword is a convenience that should only be
used for simple conversions that can only raise one of the three
supported exceptions. Anything with more interesting error-handling or
resource management should be done downstream after the arguments are
parsed.

For example, JSON or YAML conversions have complex error cases that
require better reporting than can be given by the "type" keyword.  A
"JSONDecodeError" would not be well formatted and a
"FileNotFoundError" exception would not be handled at all.

Even "FileType" has its limitations for use with the "type" keyword.
If one argument uses "FileType" and then a subsequent argument fails,
an error is reported but the file is not automatically closed.  In
this case, it would be better to wait until after the parser has run
and then use the "with"-statement to manage the files.

For type checkers that simply check against a fixed set of values,
consider using the choices keyword instead.


choices
-------

Some command-line arguments should be selected from a restricted set
of values. These can be handled by passing a sequence object as the
*choices* keyword argument to "add_argument()".  When the command line
is parsed, argument values will be checked, and an error message will
be displayed if the argument was not one of the acceptable values:

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='game.py')
   >>> parser.add_argument('move', choices=['rock', 'paper', 'scissors'])
   >>> parser.parse_args(['rock'])
   Namespace(move='rock')
   >>> parser.parse_args(['fire'])
   usage: game.py [-h] {rock,paper,scissors}
   game.py: error: argument move: invalid choice: 'fire' (choose from 'rock',
   'paper', 'scissors')

Any sequence can be passed as the *choices* value, so "list" objects,
"tuple" objects, and custom sequences are all supported.

Use of "enum.Enum" is not recommended because it is difficult to
control its appearance in usage, help, and error messages.

Note that *choices* are checked after any type conversions have been
performed, so objects in *choices* should match the type specified.
This can make *choices* appear unfamiliar in usage, help, or error
messages.

To keep *choices* user-friendly, consider a custom type wrapper that
converts and formats values, or omit type and handle conversion in
your application code.

Formatted choices override the default *metavar* which is normally
derived from *dest*.  This is usually what you want because the user
never sees the *dest* parameter.  If this display isn’t desirable
(perhaps because there are many choices), just specify an explicit
metavar.


required
--------

In general, the "argparse" module assumes that flags like "-f" and "--
bar" indicate *optional* arguments, which can always be omitted at the
command line. To make an option *required*, "True" can be specified
for the "required=" keyword argument to "add_argument()":

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
   >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', required=True)
   >>> parser.parse_args(['--foo', 'BAR'])
   Namespace(foo='BAR')
   >>> parser.parse_args([])
   usage: [-h] --foo FOO
   : error: the following arguments are required: --foo

As the example shows, if an option is marked as "required",
"parse_args()" will report an error if that option is not present at
the command line.

Note:

  Required options are generally considered bad form because users
  expect *options* to be *optional*, and thus they should be avoided
  when possible.


help
----

The "help" value is a string containing a brief description of the
argument. When a user requests help (usually by using "-h" or "--help"
at the command line), these "help" descriptions will be displayed with
each argument.

The "help" strings can include various format specifiers to avoid
repetition of things like the program name or the argument default.
The available specifiers include the program name, "%(prog)s" and most
keyword arguments to "add_argument()", e.g. "%(default)s", "%(type)s",
etc.:

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='frobble')
   >>> parser.add_argument('bar', nargs='?', type=int, default=42,
   ...                     help='the bar to %(prog)s (default: %(default)s)')
   >>> parser.print_help()
   usage: frobble [-h] [bar]

   positional arguments:
    bar     the bar to frobble (default: 42)

   options:
    -h, --help  show this help message and exit

As the help string supports %-formatting, if you want a literal "%" to
appear in the help string, you must escape it as "%%".

"argparse" supports silencing the help entry for certain options, by
setting the "help" value to "argparse.SUPPRESS":

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='frobble')
   >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', help=argparse.SUPPRESS)
   >>> parser.print_help()
   usage: frobble [-h]

   options:
     -h, --help  show this help message and exit


metavar
-------

When "ArgumentParser" generates help messages, it needs some way to
refer to each expected argument.  By default, "ArgumentParser" objects
use the dest value as the “name” of each object.  By default, for
positional argument actions, the dest value is used directly, and for
optional argument actions, the dest value is uppercased.  So, a single
positional argument with "dest='bar'" will be referred to as "bar". A
single optional argument "--foo" that should be followed by a single
command-line argument will be referred to as "FOO".  An example:

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
   >>> parser.add_argument('--foo')
   >>> parser.add_argument('bar')
   >>> parser.parse_args('X --foo Y'.split())
   Namespace(bar='X', foo='Y')
   >>> parser.print_help()
   usage:  [-h] [--foo FOO] bar

   positional arguments:
    bar

   options:
    -h, --help  show this help message and exit
    --foo FOO

An alternative name can be specified with "metavar":

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
   >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', metavar='YYY')
   >>> parser.add_argument('bar', metavar='XXX')
   >>> parser.parse_args('X --foo Y'.split())
   Namespace(bar='X', foo='Y')
   >>> parser.print_help()
   usage:  [-h] [--foo YYY] XXX

   positional arguments:
    XXX

   options:
    -h, --help  show this help message and exit
    --foo YYY

Note that "metavar" only changes the *displayed* name - the name of
the attribute on the "parse_args()" object is still determined by the
dest value.

Different values of "nargs" may cause the metavar to be used multiple
times. Providing a tuple to "metavar" specifies a different display
for each of the arguments:

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='PROG')
   >>> parser.add_argument('-x', nargs=2)
   >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', nargs=2, metavar=('bar', 'baz'))
   >>> parser.print_help()
   usage: PROG [-h] [-x X X] [--foo bar baz]

   options:
    -h, --help     show this help message and exit
    -x X X
    --foo bar baz


dest
----

Most "ArgumentParser" actions add some value as an attribute of the
object returned by "parse_args()".  The name of this attribute is
determined by the "dest" keyword argument of "add_argument()".  For
positional argument actions, "dest" is normally supplied as the first
argument to "add_argument()":

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
   >>> parser.add_argument('bar')
   >>> parser.parse_args(['XXX'])
   Namespace(bar='XXX')

For optional argument actions, the value of "dest" is normally
inferred from the option strings.  "ArgumentParser" generates the
value of "dest" by taking the first long option string and stripping
away the initial "--" string.  If no long option strings were
supplied, "dest" will be derived from the first short option string by
stripping the initial "-" character.  Any internal "-" characters will
be converted to "_" characters to make sure the string is a valid
attribute name.  The examples below illustrate this behavior:

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
   >>> parser.add_argument('-f', '--foo-bar', '--foo')
   >>> parser.add_argument('-x', '-y')
   >>> parser.parse_args('-f 1 -x 2'.split())
   Namespace(foo_bar='1', x='2')
   >>> parser.parse_args('--foo 1 -y 2'.split())
   Namespace(foo_bar='1', x='2')

"dest" allows a custom attribute name to be provided:

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
   >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', dest='bar')
   >>> parser.parse_args('--foo XXX'.split())
   Namespace(bar='XXX')

Multiple arguments may share the same "dest".  By default, the value
from the last such argument given on the command line wins.  Use
"action='append'" to collect values from all of them into a list
instead.  For conflicting *option strings* rather than "dest" names,
see conflict_handler.


deprecated
----------

During a project’s lifetime, some arguments may need to be removed
from the command line. Before removing them, you should inform your
users that the arguments are deprecated and will be removed. The
"deprecated" keyword argument of "add_argument()", which defaults to
"False", specifies if the argument is deprecated and will be removed
in the future. For arguments, if "deprecated" is "True", then a
warning will be printed to "sys.stderr" when the argument is used:

   >>> import argparse
   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='snake.py')
   >>> parser.add_argument('--legs', default=0, type=int, deprecated=True)
   >>> parser.parse_args([])
   Namespace(legs=0)
   >>> parser.parse_args(['--legs', '4'])
   snake.py: warning: option '--legs' is deprecated
   Namespace(legs=4)

Added in version 3.13.


Action classes
--------------

"Action" classes implement the Action API, a callable which returns a
callable which processes arguments from the command-line. Any object
which follows this API may be passed as the "action" parameter to
"add_argument()".

class argparse.Action(option_strings, dest, nargs=None, const=None, default=None, type=None, choices=None, required=False, help=None, metavar=None)

   "Action" objects are used by an "ArgumentParser" to represent the
   information needed to parse a single argument from one or more
   strings from the command line. The "Action" class must accept the
   two positional arguments plus any keyword arguments passed to
   "ArgumentParser.add_argument()" except for the "action" itself.

   Instances of "Action" (or return value of any callable to the
   "action" parameter) should have attributes "dest",
   "option_strings", "default", "type", "required", "help", etc.
   defined. The easiest way to ensure these attributes are defined is
   to call "Action.__init__()".

   __call__(parser, namespace, values, option_string=None)

      "Action" instances should be callable, so subclasses must
      override the "__call__()" method, which should accept four
      parameters:

      * *parser* - The "ArgumentParser" object which contains this
        action.

      * *namespace* - The "Namespace" object that will be returned by
        "parse_args()".  Most actions add an attribute to this object
        using "setattr()".

      * *values* - The associated command-line arguments, with any
        type conversions applied.  Type conversions are specified with
        the type keyword argument to "add_argument()".

      * *option_string* - The option string that was used to invoke
        this action. The "option_string" argument is optional, and
        will be absent if the action is associated with a positional
        argument.

      The "__call__()" method may perform arbitrary actions, but will
      typically set attributes on the "namespace" based on "dest" and
      "values".

   format_usage()

      "Action" subclasses can define a "format_usage()" method that
      takes no argument and return a string which will be used when
      printing the usage of the program. If such method is not
      provided, a sensible default will be used.

class argparse.BooleanOptionalAction

   A subclass of "Action" for handling boolean flags with positive and
   negative options. Adding a single argument such as "--foo"
   automatically creates both "--foo" and "--no-foo" options, storing
   "True" and "False" respectively:

      >>> import argparse
      >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
      >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', action=argparse.BooleanOptionalAction)
      >>> parser.parse_args(['--no-foo'])
      Namespace(foo=False)

   Added in version 3.9.


The parse_args() method
=======================

ArgumentParser.parse_args(args=None, namespace=None)

   Convert argument strings to objects and assign them as attributes
   of the namespace.  Return the populated namespace.

   Previous calls to "add_argument()" determine exactly what objects
   are created and how they are assigned. See the documentation for
   "add_argument()" for details.

   * args - List of strings to parse.  The default is taken from
     "sys.argv".

   * namespace - An object to take the attributes.  The default is a
     new empty "Namespace" object.


Option value syntax
-------------------

The "parse_args()" method supports several ways of specifying the
value of an option (if it takes one).  In the simplest case, the
option and its value are passed as two separate arguments:

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='PROG')
   >>> parser.add_argument('-x')
   >>> parser.add_argument('--foo')
   >>> parser.parse_args(['-x', 'X'])
   Namespace(foo=None, x='X')
   >>> parser.parse_args(['--foo', 'FOO'])
   Namespace(foo='FOO', x=None)

For long options (options with names longer than a single character),
the option and value can also be passed as a single command-line
argument, using "=" to separate them:

   >>> parser.parse_args(['--foo=FOO'])
   Namespace(foo='FOO', x=None)

For short options (options only one character long), the option and
its value can be concatenated:

   >>> parser.parse_args(['-xX'])
   Namespace(foo=None, x='X')

Several short options can be joined together, using only a single "-"
prefix, as long as only the last option (or none of them) requires a
value:

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='PROG')
   >>> parser.add_argument('-x', action='store_true')
   >>> parser.add_argument('-y', action='store_true')
   >>> parser.add_argument('-z')
   >>> parser.parse_args(['-xyzZ'])
   Namespace(x=True, y=True, z='Z')


Invalid arguments
-----------------

While parsing the command line, "parse_args()" checks for a variety of
errors, including ambiguous options, invalid types, invalid options,
wrong number of positional arguments, etc.  When it encounters such an
error, it exits and prints the error along with a usage message:

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='PROG')
   >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', type=int)
   >>> parser.add_argument('bar', nargs='?')

   >>> # invalid type
   >>> parser.parse_args(['--foo', 'spam'])
   usage: PROG [-h] [--foo FOO] [bar]
   PROG: error: argument --foo: invalid int value: 'spam'

   >>> # invalid option
   >>> parser.parse_args(['--bar'])
   usage: PROG [-h] [--foo FOO] [bar]
   PROG: error: no such option: --bar

   >>> # wrong number of arguments
   >>> parser.parse_args(['spam', 'badger'])
   usage: PROG [-h] [--foo FOO] [bar]
   PROG: error: extra arguments found: badger


Arguments containing "-"
------------------------

The "parse_args()" method attempts to give errors whenever the user
has clearly made a mistake, but some situations are inherently
ambiguous.  For example, the command-line argument "-1" could either
be an attempt to specify an option or an attempt to provide a
positional argument. The "parse_args()" method is cautious here:
positional arguments may only begin with "-" if they look like
negative numbers and there are no options in the parser that look like
negative numbers:

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='PROG')
   >>> parser.add_argument('-x')
   >>> parser.add_argument('foo', nargs='?')

   >>> # no negative number options, so -1 is a positional argument
   >>> parser.parse_args(['-x', '-1'])
   Namespace(foo=None, x='-1')

   >>> # no negative number options, so -1 and -5 are positional arguments
   >>> parser.parse_args(['-x', '-1', '-5'])
   Namespace(foo='-5', x='-1')

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='PROG')
   >>> parser.add_argument('-1', dest='one')
   >>> parser.add_argument('foo', nargs='?')

   >>> # negative number options present, so -1 is an option
   >>> parser.parse_args(['-1', 'X'])
   Namespace(foo=None, one='X')

   >>> # negative number options present, so -2 is an option
   >>> parser.parse_args(['-2'])
   usage: PROG [-h] [-1 ONE] [foo]
   PROG: error: no such option: -2

   >>> # negative number options present, so both -1s are options
   >>> parser.parse_args(['-1', '-1'])
   usage: PROG [-h] [-1 ONE] [foo]
   PROG: error: argument -1: expected one argument

If you have positional arguments that must begin with "-" and don’t
look like negative numbers, you can insert the pseudo-argument "'--'"
which tells "parse_args()" that everything after that is a positional
argument:

   >>> parser.parse_args(['--', '-f'])
   Namespace(foo='-f', one=None)

See also the argparse howto on ambiguous arguments for more details.


Argument abbreviations (prefix matching)
----------------------------------------

The "parse_args()" method by default allows long options to be
abbreviated to a prefix, if the abbreviation is unambiguous (the
prefix matches a unique option):

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='PROG')
   >>> parser.add_argument('-bacon')
   >>> parser.add_argument('-badger')
   >>> parser.parse_args('-bac MMM'.split())
   Namespace(bacon='MMM', badger=None)
   >>> parser.parse_args('-bad WOOD'.split())
   Namespace(bacon=None, badger='WOOD')
   >>> parser.parse_args('-ba BA'.split())
   usage: PROG [-h] [-bacon BACON] [-badger BADGER]
   PROG: error: ambiguous option: -ba could match -badger, -bacon

An error is produced for arguments that could produce more than one
options. This feature can be disabled by setting allow_abbrev to
"False".


Beyond "sys.argv"
-----------------

Sometimes it may be useful to have an "ArgumentParser" parse arguments
other than those of "sys.argv".  This can be accomplished by passing a
list of strings to "parse_args()".  This is useful for testing at the
interactive prompt:

   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
   >>> parser.add_argument(
   ...     'integers', metavar='int', type=int, choices=range(10),
   ...     nargs='+', help='an integer in the range 0..9')
   >>> parser.add_argument(
   ...     '--sum', dest='accumulate', action='store_const', const=sum,
   ...     default=max, help='sum the integers (default: find the max)')
   >>> parser.parse_args(['1', '2', '3', '4'])
   Namespace(accumulate=<built-in function max>, integers=[1, 2, 3, 4])
   >>> parser.parse_args(['1', '2', '3', '4', '--sum'])
   Namespace(accumulate=<built-in function sum>, integers=[1, 2, 3, 4])


The Namespace object
--------------------

class argparse.Namespace

   Simple class used by default by "parse_args()" to create an object
   holding attributes and return it.

   This class is deliberately simple, just an "object" subclass with a
   readable string representation. If you prefer to have dict-like
   view of the attributes, you can use the standard Python idiom,
   "vars()":

      >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
      >>> parser.add_argument('--foo')
      >>> args = parser.parse_args(['--foo', 'BAR'])
      >>> vars(args)
      {'foo': 'BAR'}

   It may also be useful to have an "ArgumentParser" assign attributes
   to an already existing object, rather than a new "Namespace"
   object.  This can be achieved by specifying the "namespace="
   keyword argument:

      >>> class C:
      ...     pass
      ...
      >>> c = C()
      >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
      >>> parser.add_argument('--foo')
      >>> parser.parse_args(args=['--foo', 'BAR'], namespace=c)
      >>> c.foo
      'BAR'


Other utilities
===============


Subcommands
-----------

ArgumentParser.add_subparsers(*[, title][, description][, prog][, parser_class][, action][, dest][, required][, help][, metavar])

   Many programs split up their functionality into a number of
   subcommands, for example, the "svn" program can invoke subcommands
   like "svn checkout", "svn update", and "svn commit".  Splitting up
   functionality this way can be a particularly good idea when a
   program performs several different functions which require
   different kinds of command-line arguments. "ArgumentParser"
   supports the creation of such subcommands with the
   "add_subparsers()" method.  The "add_subparsers()" method is
   normally called with no arguments and returns a special action
   object.  This object has a single method, "add_parser()", which
   takes a command name and any "ArgumentParser" constructor
   arguments, and returns an "ArgumentParser" object that can be
   modified as usual.

   Description of parameters:

   * *title* - title for the sub-parser group in help output; by
     default “subcommands” if description is provided, otherwise uses
     title for positional arguments

   * *description* - description for the sub-parser group in help
     output, by default "None"

   * *prog* - usage information that will be displayed with subcommand
     help, by default the name of the program and any positional
     arguments before the subparser argument

   * *parser_class* - class which will be used to create sub-parser
     instances, by default the class of the current parser (e.g.
     "ArgumentParser")

   * action - the basic type of action to be taken when this argument
     is encountered at the command line

   * dest - name of the attribute under which subcommand name will be
     stored; by default "None" and no value is stored

   * required - Whether or not a subcommand must be provided, by
     default "False" (added in 3.7)

   * help - help for sub-parser group in help output, by default
     "None"

   * metavar - string presenting available subcommands in help; by
     default it is "None" and presents subcommands in form {cmd1,
     cmd2, ..}

   Some example usage:

      >>> # create the top-level parser
      >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='PROG')
      >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', action='store_true', help='foo help')
      >>> subparsers = parser.add_subparsers(help='subcommand help')
      >>>
      >>> # create the parser for the "a" command
      >>> parser_a = subparsers.add_parser('a', help='a help')
      >>> parser_a.add_argument('bar', type=int, help='bar help')
      >>>
      >>> # create the parser for the "b" command
      >>> parser_b = subparsers.add_parser('b', help='b help')
      >>> parser_b.add_argument('--baz', choices=('X', 'Y', 'Z'), help='baz help')
      >>>
      >>> # parse some argument lists
      >>> parser.parse_args(['a', '12'])
      Namespace(bar=12, foo=False)
      >>> parser.parse_args(['--foo', 'b', '--baz', 'Z'])
      Namespace(baz='Z', foo=True)

   Note that the object returned by "parse_args()" will only contain
   attributes for the main parser and the subparser that was selected
   by the command line (and not any other subparsers).  So in the
   example above, when the "a" command is specified, only the "foo"
   and "bar" attributes are present, and when the "b" command is
   specified, only the "foo" and "baz" attributes are present.

   If a subparser defines an argument with the same "dest" as the
   parent parser, the two share a single namespace attribute, so the
   parent’s value won’t be retained. Users should give them  distinct
   "dest" values to keep both.

   Similarly, when a help message is requested from a subparser, only
   the help for that particular parser will be printed.  The help
   message will not include parent parser or sibling parser messages.
   (A help message for each subparser command, however, can be given
   by supplying the "help=" argument to "add_parser()" as above.)

      >>> parser.parse_args(['--help'])
      usage: PROG [-h] [--foo] {a,b} ...

      positional arguments:
        {a,b}   subcommand help
          a     a help
          b     b help

      options:
        -h, --help  show this help message and exit
        --foo   foo help

      >>> parser.parse_args(['a', '--help'])
      usage: PROG a [-h] bar

      positional arguments:
        bar     bar help

      options:
        -h, --help  show this help message and exit

      >>> parser.parse_args(['b', '--help'])
      usage: PROG b [-h] [--baz {X,Y,Z}]

      options:
        -h, --help     show this help message and exit
        --baz {X,Y,Z}  baz help

   The "add_subparsers()" method also supports "title" and
   "description" keyword arguments.  When either is present, the
   subparser’s commands will appear in their own group in the help
   output.  For example:

      >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
      >>> subparsers = parser.add_subparsers(title='subcommands',
      ...                                    description='valid subcommands',
      ...                                    help='additional help')
      >>> subparsers.add_parser('foo')
      >>> subparsers.add_parser('bar')
      >>> parser.parse_args(['-h'])
      usage:  [-h] {foo,bar} ...

      options:
        -h, --help  show this help message and exit

      subcommands:
        valid subcommands

        {foo,bar}   additional help

   Furthermore, "add_parser()" supports an additional *aliases*
   argument, which allows multiple strings to refer to the same
   subparser. This example, like "svn", aliases "co" as a shorthand
   for "checkout":

      >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
      >>> subparsers = parser.add_subparsers()
      >>> checkout = subparsers.add_parser('checkout', aliases=['co'])
      >>> checkout.add_argument('foo')
      >>> parser.parse_args(['co', 'bar'])
      Namespace(foo='bar')

   "add_parser()" supports also an additional *deprecated* argument,
   which allows to deprecate the subparser.

   >>> import argparse
   >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='chicken.py')
   >>> subparsers = parser.add_subparsers()
   >>> run = subparsers.add_parser('run')
   >>> fly = subparsers.add_parser('fly', deprecated=True)
   >>> parser.parse_args(['fly'])
   chicken.py: warning: command 'fly' is deprecated
   Namespace()

   Added in version 3.13.

   One particularly effective way of handling subcommands is to
   combine the use of the "add_subparsers()" method with calls to
   "set_defaults()" so that each subparser knows which Python function
   it should execute.  For example:

      >>> # subcommand functions
      >>> def foo(args):
      ...     print(args.x * args.y)
      ...
      >>> def bar(args):
      ...     print('((%s))' % args.z)
      ...
      >>> # create the top-level parser
      >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
      >>> subparsers = parser.add_subparsers(required=True)
      >>>
      >>> # create the parser for the "foo" command
      >>> parser_foo = subparsers.add_parser('foo')
      >>> parser_foo.add_argument('-x', type=int, default=1)
      >>> parser_foo.add_argument('y', type=float)
      >>> parser_foo.set_defaults(func=foo)
      >>>
      >>> # create the parser for the "bar" command
      >>> parser_bar = subparsers.add_parser('bar')
      >>> parser_bar.add_argument('z')
      >>> parser_bar.set_defaults(func=bar)
      >>>
      >>> # parse the args and call whatever function was selected
      >>> args = parser.parse_args('foo 1 -x 2'.split())
      >>> args.func(args)
      2.0
      >>>
      >>> # parse the args and call whatever function was selected
      >>> args = parser.parse_args('bar XYZYX'.split())
      >>> args.func(args)
      ((XYZYX))

   This way, you can let "parse_args()" do the job of calling the
   appropriate function after argument parsing is complete.
   Associating functions with actions like this is typically the
   easiest way to handle the different actions for each of your
   subparsers.  However, if it is necessary to check the name of the
   subparser that was invoked, the "dest" keyword argument to the
   "add_subparsers()" call will work:

      >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
      >>> subparsers = parser.add_subparsers(dest='subparser_name')
      >>> subparser1 = subparsers.add_parser('1')
      >>> subparser1.add_argument('-x')
      >>> subparser2 = subparsers.add_parser('2')
      >>> subparser2.add_argument('y')
      >>> parser.parse_args(['2', 'frobble'])
      Namespace(subparser_name='2', y='frobble')

   Changed in version 3.7: New *required* keyword-only parameter.


FileType objects
----------------

class argparse.FileType(mode='r', bufsize=-1, encoding=None, errors=None)

   The "FileType" factory creates objects that can be passed to the
   type argument of "ArgumentParser.add_argument()".  Arguments that
   have "FileType" objects as their type will open command-line
   arguments as files with the requested modes, buffer sizes,
   encodings and error handling (see the "open()" function for more
   details):

      >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
      >>> parser.add_argument('--raw', type=argparse.FileType('wb', 0))
      >>> parser.add_argument('out', type=argparse.FileType('w', encoding='UTF-8'))
      >>> parser.parse_args(['--raw', 'raw.dat', 'file.txt'])
      Namespace(out=<_io.TextIOWrapper name='file.txt' mode='w' encoding='UTF-8'>, raw=<_io.FileIO name='raw.dat' mode='wb'>)

   FileType objects understand the pseudo-argument "'-'" and
   automatically convert this into "sys.stdin" for readable "FileType"
   objects and "sys.stdout" for writable "FileType" objects:

      >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
      >>> parser.add_argument('infile', type=argparse.FileType('r'))
      >>> parser.parse_args(['-'])
      Namespace(infile=<_io.TextIOWrapper name='<stdin>' encoding='UTF-8'>)

   Changed in version 3.4: Added the *encoding* and *errors*
   parameters.


Argument groups
---------------

ArgumentParser.add_argument_group(title=None, description=None, *[, argument_default][, conflict_handler])

   By default, "ArgumentParser" groups command-line arguments into
   “positional arguments” and “options” when displaying help messages.
   When there is a better conceptual grouping of arguments than this
   default one, appropriate groups can be created using the
   "add_argument_group()" method:

      >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='PROG', add_help=False)
      >>> group = parser.add_argument_group('group')
      >>> group.add_argument('--foo', help='foo help')
      >>> group.add_argument('bar', help='bar help')
      >>> parser.print_help()
      usage: PROG [--foo FOO] bar

      group:
        bar    bar help
        --foo FOO  foo help

   The "add_argument_group()" method returns an argument group object
   which has an "add_argument()" method just like a regular
   "ArgumentParser".  When an argument is added to the group, the
   parser treats it just like a normal argument, but displays the
   argument in a separate group for help messages.  The
   "add_argument_group()" method accepts *title* and *description*
   arguments which can be used to customize this display:

      >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='PROG', add_help=False)
      >>> group1 = parser.add_argument_group('group1', 'group1 description')
      >>> group1.add_argument('foo', help='foo help')
      >>> group2 = parser.add_argument_group('group2', 'group2 description')
      >>> group2.add_argument('--bar', help='bar help')
      >>> parser.print_help()
      usage: PROG [--bar BAR] foo

      group1:
        group1 description

        foo    foo help

      group2:
        group2 description

        --bar BAR  bar help

   The optional, keyword-only parameters argument_default and
   conflict_handler allow for finer-grained control of the behavior of
   the argument group. These parameters have the same meaning as in
   the "ArgumentParser" constructor, but apply specifically to the
   argument group rather than the entire parser.

   Note that any arguments not in your user-defined groups will end up
   back in the usual “positional arguments” and “optional arguments”
   sections.

   Within each argument group, arguments are displayed in help output
   in the order in which they are added.

   Changed in version 3.11: Calling "add_argument_group()" on an
   argument group is deprecated. This feature was never supported and
   does not always work correctly. The function exists on the API by
   accident through inheritance and will be removed in the future.


Mutual exclusion
----------------

ArgumentParser.add_mutually_exclusive_group(required=False)

   Create a mutually exclusive group. "argparse" will make sure that
   only one of the arguments in the mutually exclusive group was
   present on the command line:

      >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='PROG')
      >>> group = parser.add_mutually_exclusive_group()
      >>> group.add_argument('--foo', action='store_true')
      >>> group.add_argument('--bar', action='store_false')
      >>> parser.parse_args(['--foo'])
      Namespace(bar=True, foo=True)
      >>> parser.parse_args(['--bar'])
      Namespace(bar=False, foo=False)
      >>> parser.parse_args(['--foo', '--bar'])
      usage: PROG [-h] [--foo | --bar]
      PROG: error: argument --bar: not allowed with argument --foo

   The "add_mutually_exclusive_group()" method also accepts a
   *required* argument, to indicate that at least one of the mutually
   exclusive arguments is required:

      >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='PROG')
      >>> group = parser.add_mutually_exclusive_group(required=True)
      >>> group.add_argument('--foo', action='store_true')
      >>> group.add_argument('--bar', action='store_false')
      >>> parser.parse_args([])
      usage: PROG [-h] (--foo | --bar)
      PROG: error: one of the arguments --foo --bar is required

   Note that currently mutually exclusive argument groups do not
   support the *title* and *description* arguments of
   "add_argument_group()". However, a mutually exclusive group can be
   added to an argument group that has a title and description. For
   example:

      >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='PROG')
      >>> group = parser.add_argument_group('Group title', 'Group description')
      >>> exclusive_group = group.add_mutually_exclusive_group(required=True)
      >>> exclusive_group.add_argument('--foo', help='foo help')
      >>> exclusive_group.add_argument('--bar', help='bar help')
      >>> parser.print_help()
      usage: PROG [-h] (--foo FOO | --bar BAR)

      options:
        -h, --help  show this help message and exit

      Group title:
        Group description

        --foo FOO   foo help
        --bar BAR   bar help

   Changed in version 3.11: Calling "add_argument_group()" or
   "add_mutually_exclusive_group()" on a mutually exclusive group is
   deprecated. These features were never supported and do not always
   work correctly. The functions exist on the API by accident through
   inheritance and will be removed in the future.


Parser defaults
---------------

ArgumentParser.set_defaults(**kwargs)

   Most of the time, the attributes of the object returned by
   "parse_args()" will be fully determined by inspecting the command-
   line arguments and the argument actions.  "set_defaults()" allows
   some additional attributes that are determined without any
   inspection of the command line to be added:

      >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
      >>> parser.add_argument('foo', type=int)
      >>> parser.set_defaults(bar=42, baz='badger')
      >>> parser.parse_args(['736'])
      Namespace(bar=42, baz='badger', foo=736)

   Note that defaults can be set at both the parser level using
   "set_defaults()" and at the argument level using "add_argument()".
   If both are called for the same argument, the last default set for
   an argument is used:

      >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
      >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', default='bar')
      >>> parser.set_defaults(foo='spam')
      >>> parser.parse_args([])
      Namespace(foo='spam')

   Parser-level defaults can be particularly useful when working with
   multiple parsers.  See the "add_subparsers()" method for an example
   of this type.

ArgumentParser.get_default(dest)

   Get the default value for a namespace attribute, as set by either
   "add_argument()" or by "set_defaults()":

      >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
      >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', default='badger')
      >>> parser.get_default('foo')
      'badger'


Printing help
-------------

In most typical applications, "parse_args()" will take care of
formatting and printing any usage or error messages.  However, several
formatting methods are available:

ArgumentParser.print_usage(file=None)

   Print a brief description of how the "ArgumentParser" should be
   invoked on the command line.  If *file* is "None", "sys.stdout" is
   assumed.

ArgumentParser.print_help(file=None)

   Print a help message, including the program usage and information
   about the arguments registered with the "ArgumentParser".  If
   *file* is "None", "sys.stdout" is assumed.

There are also variants of these methods that simply return a string
instead of printing it:

ArgumentParser.format_usage()

   Return a string containing a brief description of how the
   "ArgumentParser" should be invoked on the command line.

ArgumentParser.format_help()

   Return a string containing a help message, including the program
   usage and information about the arguments registered with the
   "ArgumentParser".


Partial parsing
---------------

ArgumentParser.parse_known_args(args=None, namespace=None)

   Sometimes a script only needs to handle a specific set of command-
   line arguments, leaving any unrecognized arguments for another
   script or program. In these cases, the "parse_known_args()" method
   can be useful.

   This method works similarly to "parse_args()", but it does not
   raise an error for extra, unrecognized arguments. Instead, it
   parses the known arguments and returns a two item tuple that
   contains the populated namespace and the list of any unrecognized
   arguments.

      >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
      >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', action='store_true')
      >>> parser.add_argument('bar')
      >>> parser.parse_known_args(['--foo', '--badger', 'BAR', 'spam'])
      (Namespace(bar='BAR', foo=True), ['--badger', 'spam'])

Warning:

  Prefix matching rules apply to "parse_known_args()". The parser may
  consume an option even if it’s just a prefix of one of its known
  options, instead of leaving it in the remaining arguments list.


Customizing file parsing
------------------------

ArgumentParser.convert_arg_line_to_args(arg_line)

   Arguments that are read from a file (see the
   *fromfile_prefix_chars* keyword argument to the "ArgumentParser"
   constructor) are read one argument per line.
   "convert_arg_line_to_args()" can be overridden for fancier reading.

   This method takes a single argument *arg_line* which is a string
   read from the argument file.  It returns a list of arguments parsed
   from this string. The method is called once per line read from the
   argument file, in order.

   A useful override of this method is one that treats each space-
   separated word as an argument.  The following example demonstrates
   how to do this:

      class MyArgumentParser(argparse.ArgumentParser):
          def convert_arg_line_to_args(self, arg_line):
              return arg_line.split()

   Note that with this override an argument can no longer contain
   spaces, since each space-separated word becomes a separate
   argument.


Exiting methods
---------------

ArgumentParser.exit(status=0, message=None)

   This method terminates the program, exiting with the specified
   *status* and, if given, it prints a *message* to "sys.stderr"
   before that. The user can override this method to handle these
   steps differently:

      class ErrorCatchingArgumentParser(argparse.ArgumentParser):
          def exit(self, status=0, message=None):
              if status:
                  raise Exception(f'Exiting because of an error: {message}')
              exit(status)

ArgumentParser.error(message)

   This method prints a usage message, including the *message*, to
   "sys.stderr" and terminates the program with a status code of 2.


Intermixed parsing
------------------

ArgumentParser.parse_intermixed_args(args=None, namespace=None)

ArgumentParser.parse_known_intermixed_args(args=None, namespace=None)

   A number of Unix commands allow the user to intermix optional
   arguments with positional arguments.  The "parse_intermixed_args()"
   and "parse_known_intermixed_args()" methods support this parsing
   style.

   These parsers do not support all the "argparse" features, and will
   raise exceptions if unsupported features are used.  In particular,
   subparsers, and mutually exclusive groups that include both
   optionals and positionals are not supported.

   The following example shows the difference between
   "parse_known_args()" and "parse_intermixed_args()": the former
   returns "['2', '3']" as unparsed arguments, while the latter
   collects all the positionals into "rest".

      >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
      >>> parser.add_argument('--foo')
      >>> parser.add_argument('cmd')
      >>> parser.add_argument('rest', nargs='*', type=int)
      >>> parser.parse_known_args('doit 1 --foo bar 2 3'.split())
      (Namespace(cmd='doit', foo='bar', rest=[1]), ['2', '3'])
      >>> parser.parse_intermixed_args('doit 1 --foo bar 2 3'.split())
      Namespace(cmd='doit', foo='bar', rest=[1, 2, 3])

   "parse_known_intermixed_args()" returns a two item tuple containing
   the populated namespace and the list of remaining argument strings.
   "parse_intermixed_args()" raises an error if there are any
   remaining unparsed argument strings.

   Added in version 3.7.


Registering custom types or actions
-----------------------------------

ArgumentParser.register(registry_name, value, object)

   Sometimes it’s desirable to use a custom string in error messages
   to provide more user-friendly output. In these cases, "register()"
   can be used to register custom actions or types with a parser and
   allow you to reference the type by their registered name instead of
   their callable name.

   The "register()" method accepts three arguments - a
   *registry_name*, specifying the internal registry where the object
   will be stored (e.g., "action", "type"), *value*, which is the key
   under which the object will be registered, and object, the callable
   to be registered.

   The following example shows how to register a custom type with a
   parser:

      >>> import argparse
      >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
      >>> parser.register('type', 'hexadecimal integer', lambda s: int(s, 16))
      >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', type='hexadecimal integer')
      _StoreAction(option_strings=['--foo'], dest='foo', nargs=None, const=None, default=None, type='hexadecimal integer', choices=None, required=False, help=None, metavar=None, deprecated=False)
      >>> parser.parse_args(['--foo', '0xFA'])
      Namespace(foo=250)
      >>> parser.parse_args(['--foo', '1.2'])
      usage: PROG [-h] [--foo FOO]
      PROG: error: argument --foo: invalid 'hexadecimal integer' value: '1.2'


Exceptions
==========

exception argparse.ArgumentError

   An error from creating or using an argument (optional or
   positional).

   The string value of this exception is the message, augmented with
   information about the argument that caused it.

exception argparse.ArgumentTypeError

   Raised when something goes wrong converting a command line string
   to a type.

-[ Guides and Tutorials ]-

* Argparse Tutorial

* Migrating "optparse" code to "argparse"
