Example Usage

Register arguments:

add_arg(name="foo", kind="flag", help="Foo it")
add_arg(name="path", kind="argument", required=true, help="Pathfinder Dir")

# Adding a `-b` alt to the `--bar` value flag
# This will work with `--bar=x` and `-b=x`
add_arg(name="bar", kind="value", required=false, help="Heaps Alloy", alt="b")
let c = add_arg(name="catnip" kind="value" value="cosmic")

# Make a value flag that accepts multiple values
# For instance myprogram --name=Joe --name=Bill
# Default values can be sent as a list
let name = add_arg(name="name", kind="value", multiple=true, values=["jaja", "jojo"], alt="n")

# Examples are shown at the top of --help. 
# Content is a string that can have multiple lines
# If a line starts with # it is treated as a comment
add_example(title="Cook the food", content="cook -mbv pizza\n#This makes the pizza\n#Very cool")

# Information at the top
add_header("MyProgram")
add_header("Version 1.2.3")

# Notes at the bottom
add_note("Licensed under the FreeBeer public license")
add_note("Made with industrial boots")

When ready start the argument parser.

parse_args()

Now it's ready to use:

let foo = get_arg("foo")
echo foo.used

let bar = get_arg("bar")
if bar.used:
   echo bar.value

# Parsing

# Parse the arg into the proper type
echo some_int_value.get_int()
echo some_float_value.get_float()
echo some_bool_value.get_bool()

# Rest of the arguments
let tail = get_argtail()
for argument in tail:
    echo argument

# This will either print "cosmic" 
# or a user submitted value
echo c.value

# Iterate through the multiple --name values
for n in name:
  echo n

Properties

name (string): The name of the argument. If the name is "bar" then it will be used as "--bar", if the name is "b" then it will be used as "-b". This means there's no need to specify if it's a short or long flag, as this is deduced automatically. In the case of arguments the name will be used in order. For instance if you register two arguments: "path" and "file", the first two arguments provided will fill those.

kind (string): Available kinds are "flag", "value", and "argument". Flags are "-a" and "--abc". Values are "-a=x" and "--abc=x". Arguments are any unflagged input "myprogram /some/path"

required (bool): Whether the value is required. This only affects "value" and "argument" since there's no point in making a flag that doesn't take value required.

help (string): The message shown for the argument when using --help

value (string): A default value that is set initially on the object. Defaults to an empty string.

alt (string): This is used to make alts in flag and values. For instance -a and --acorn.

multiple (bool): Whether a value flag should add provided values to the values list instead of the value property.

values (seq[string]): When multiple is true add values to this list. When adding an arg it is received as an openarray[string] so it's easy to send values like ["aa", "bb"].

Automatic Properties

These are properties that are handled internally, but will still be available to the user.

used (bool): If the argument was used at all. For instance if "-b" was provided, used will be true.

value (string): The value it has when parsed. For instance in "--foo=200" foo.value = "200". The value will always be a string.

ikind (string): This is used internally to differentiate between different kinds of flag and value kinds.

aikind (string): This is used internally to differentiate between different kinds of flag and value kinds in alts.

count (int): How many times a flag was repeated. For instance, count of 'c' in -ccc would be 3.

Methods

add_arg: Register an argument to be considered.

parse_args: Do the processing. Optional parameters list can be sent, else it uses the default one.

get_arg: Get an argument object.

get_args: Get all argument objects.

get_argtail: Get the rest of the arguments.

add_header: Include a line that will appear at the top.

add_note: Include a line that will appear in the notes at the bottom.

add_example: Add an example to show in the help. Receives title and content. Content can have multiple lines. If a line starts with # it is treated as a comment.

print_help: Prints the help.

print_version: Prints the version.

Parsing

These will try to parse a provided value to a specific type.

If no value was manually provided it uses the "value" property that was used when creating the argument.

obj.get_int(): int

obj.get_float(): float

obj.get_bool(): bool

Help

Using --help will show a summary of all available arguments, headers, examples, and notes.

Version

Using --version will show all the headers.