Metadata-Version: 2.0
Name: pycommand
Version: 0.4.0
Summary: Library / toolkit for creating command line programs with minimal effort.
Home-page: https://babab.github.io/pycommand/
Author: Benjamin Althues
Author-email: benjamin@babab.nl
License: ISC
Download-URL: http://pypi.python.org/pypi/pycommand/
Platform: any
Classifier: Development Status :: 5 - Production/Stable
Classifier: Environment :: Console
Classifier: Intended Audience :: Developers
Classifier: License :: OSI Approved :: ISC License (ISCL)
Classifier: Natural Language :: English
Classifier: Operating System :: OS Independent
Classifier: Programming Language :: Python :: 2.7
Classifier: Programming Language :: Python :: 3
Classifier: Topic :: Software Development :: Libraries :: Python Modules
Classifier: Topic :: System :: Shells
Classifier: Topic :: System :: Software Distribution
Classifier: Topic :: Terminals
Classifier: Topic :: Utilities

pycommand 0.4.0
******************************************************************************

**Library / toolkit for creating command line programs with minimal effort.**

Pycommand is essentially a fancy wrapper around getopt that consists of
one simple `CommandBase` class that you can inherit to create executable
commands for your (Python) programs with very simplistic and readable
code. It has support for subcommands and also nesting commands, so you
can create (multiple levels of) subcommands, with the ability to pass
the values of optional arguments of a command object to its subcommand
objects. Supported Python versions are 2.7 and 3.2 and later.

- Documentation: https://babab.github.io/pycommand/
- PyPI: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pycommand/
- Github: https://github.com/babab/pycommand


Features
========

- Parsing of optional and positional arguments
- Minimalistic approach with a clean API
- Create scripts in a matter of minutes using the code generator
- Auto compiled usage messages
- Graceful semi-automatic handling of exit status codes
- Subcommands can have subcommands that can have subcommands
  (each with their own optional arguments)
- Pass values for --some-option from a parent command into child commands.


Download and install
====================

If you have pip installed, you can just do:

.. code-block:: console

   # pip install pycommand


Script generator
================

To quickly start writing a command from a template (much like the
examples below), use the script generator by running:

.. code-block:: console

   $ python -m pycommand init

This will ask you for an executable name, class name and template type
and it will save it to an executable python script, ready to be used as
a command line program.

You can have a very basic command line program that handles ``-v,
--version`` and ``-h, --help`` arguments set up in less than a minute.


Example
=======

For full documentation and examples, visit http://pythonhosted.org/pycommand/

Here is an undocumented code example of getting automated usage text
generation and parsing of optional arguments. If we name the script
for which you can see the code below ``basic-example`` and execute it,
the following will be the output for running ``basic-example -h`` or
``basic-example --help``:

.. code-block:: console

   usage: basic-example [options]

   An example of a basic CLI program

   Options:
   -h, --help                        show this help information
   -f <filename>, --file=<filename>  use specified file
   --version                         show version information

And here is the code:

.. code-block:: python

   #!/usr/bin/env python

   import pycommand
   import sys


   class BasicExampleCommand(pycommand.CommandBase):
       '''An example of a basic CLI program'''
       usagestr = 'usage: basic-example [options]'
       description = __doc__

       optionList = (
           ('help', ('h', False, 'show this help information')),
           ('file', ('f', '<filename>', 'use specified file')),
           ('version', ('', False, 'show version information')),
       )

       def run(self):
           if self.flags.help:
               print(self.usage)
               return 0
           elif self.flags.version:
               print('Python version ' + sys.version.split()[0])
               return 0
           elif self.flags.file:
               print('filename = ' + self.flags.file)
               return 0

           print('Program completed. Try adding "--help"')

   if __name__ == '__main__':
       # Shortcut for reading from sys.argv[1:] and sys.exit(status)
       pycommand.run_and_exit(BasicExampleCommand)

       # The shortcut is equivalent to the following:

       # cmd = BasicExampleCommand(sys.argv[1:])
       # if cmd.error:
       #     print('error: {0}'.format(cmd.error))
       #     sys.exit(1)
       # else:
       #     sys.exit(cmd.run())


Why was it created?
===================

When parsing command line program arguments, I sometimes work with
`argparse` (a replacement for `optparse`). I don't really like the API
and the output it gives, which is the main reason I've always used
`getopt` for parsing arguments whenever possible.

The `CommandBase` class was originally written for *DisPass*,
which is a password manager/generator, as a means to easily define new
subcommands and have auto-generated usage messages. Because I want to
have this in other projects I've decided to put it in the cheeseshop in 2013.
It has since been refined for more generic usage and has proven to be
stable and workable throughout the years.


Software license
================

Copyright (c) 2013-2016, 2018 Benjamin Althues <benjamin@babab.nl>

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN
ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

Change Log
==========

pycommand adheres to `Semantic Versioning <http://semver.org/>`_.

0.4.0 - 2018-03-27
------------------

Added
#####
- Full templates can now (also) be auto generated
- CI testing for Python 3.5 and 3.6

Changed
#######

.. note::

   The ``pycommand init`` script is removed and is included in the
   pycommand package itself.

   To auto generate scripts from templates, from now on use:

      python -m pycommand init


- The code is split up into several modules and pycommand is now
  distributed as a package rather than a single module. The public
  API does not change however, all relevant members (CommandBase,
  run_and_exit) that are now placed in pycommand.pycommand are
  exposed through __init__ and therefore are still available as
  ``pycommand.CommandBase`` and ``pycommand.run_and_exit``.
- Code generator is included in the package itself instead of
  using an installed script (``pycommand init``)
- All templates are now embedded as well

Removed
#######
- Pycommand init script (installed into /usr/local/bin)
- Templates directory
- GNU info docs and manpage from distribution (they can still be generated)

  * pycommand.3 (prev. installed into /share/man/man3)
  * pycommand.info


0.3.0 - 2015-06-04
------------------

Added
#####
- Shortcut ``run_and_exit()`` for reading from ``sys.argv[1:]`` and exiting
  the interpreter via ``sys.exit(status)``
- Package as wheel distribution to speed up installations
- Add ``man pycommand`` ability, i.e. install mandoc in ``/usr/share/man3/``

Changed
#######
- Add support for getting flags by attribute like ``self.flags.help``.
  The default approach for normal dicts like ``self.flags['help']``
  remains valid.


0.2.0 - 2015-05-21
------------------

Added
#####
- Full example of a command with subcommands
- Create quick templates via pycommand script (``pycommand init``)
- Unit tests and automatic testing via Travis-CI
- Documentation ``man`` (.3) and ``info`` (.info) pages

Changed
#######
- Specification of subcommands can be `defined in CommandBase.command`__
  as a shortcut.

__ https://github.com/babab/pycommand/commit/a978a05ef92f70f0ce6b06d96a38c2caa8297ecc

0.1.0 - 2013-08-08
------------------
Added
#####
- Initial release


