My Requirement:
For now when I run my python application with this command
python main.py -d listhere/users.txt
The program will run and save the result file as predefined name say reports.txt
Now I want to add this functionality to allow users to choose what to put the filename and where to save as so
python main.py -d -o output/newfilname -i listhere/users.txt
Everything is same but I want another argument -o to be passed which will determine the filpath and name to be saved. How do I do it. What is the best way to handle or combine multiple options.
I tried this
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description = "CHECK-ACCESS REPORTING.")
parser.add_argument('--user','-d', nargs='?')
parser.add_argument('--output','-d -o', nargs='?')
parser.add_argument('--input','-i', nargs='?')
args = parser.parse_args(sys.argv[1:])
if args.output and args.input:
#operation that involves output filename too
elif args.user and not args.input:
#default operation only
else:
#notset
I am getting this error when trying to solve the issue this way
Error:
report.py: error: unrecognized arguments: -o listhere/users.txt
A nargs='?'
flagged option works in 3 ways
parser.add_argument('-d', nargs='?', default='DEF', const='CONST')
commandline:
foo.py -d value # => args.d == 'value'
foo.py -d # => args.d == 'CONST'
foo.py # => args.d == 'DEF'
https://docs.python.org/3/library/argparse.html#const
Taking advantage of that, you shouldn't need anything like this erroneous -d -o
flag.
If you don't use the const
parameter, don't use '?'
parser.add_argument('--user','-u', nargs='?', const='CONST', default='default_user')
parser.add_argument('--output','-o', default='default_outfile')
parser.add_argument('--input','-i', default='default_infile')
Do you want to have something like this:
import argparse
def main():
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
description='Check-Access Reporting.',
formatter_class=argparse.ArgumentDefaultsHelpFormatter,
)
parser.add_argument(
'-d',
dest='discrepancy',
action='store_true',
help='Generate discrepancy report.',
)
parser.add_argument(
'--input',
'-i',
default='users.txt',
help='Input file for the report.',
)
parser.add_argument(
'--output',
'-o',
default='reports.txt',
help='Output file for the report.',
)
args = parser.parse_args()
if args.discrepancy:
print('Report type: {}'.format(args.report_type))
print('Input file: {}'.format(args.input))
print('Output file: {}'.format(args.output))
else:
print('Report type is not specified.')
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
Result of option --help
:
usage: ptest_047.py [-h] [-d] [--input INPUT] [--output OUTPUT]
Check-Access Reporting.
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-d generate discrepancy report (default: False)
--input INPUT, -i INPUT
input file for the report (default: users.txt)
--output OUTPUT, -o OUTPUT
output file for the report (default: reports.txt)
Without any option (or missing option -d
):
Report type is not specified.
With option -d
:
Report type: discrepancy
Input file: users.txt
Output file: reports.txt
With -d --input input.txt --output output.txt
:
Report type: discrepancy
Input file: input.txt
Output file: output.txt