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datargs

A paper-thin wrapper around argparse that creates type-safe parsers from dataclass and attrs classes.

Quickstart

Install datargs:

pip install datargs

Create a dataclass (or an attrs class) describing your command line interface, and call datargs.parse() with the class:

# script.py
from dataclasses import dataclass
from pathlib import Path
from datargs import parse

@dataclass  # or @attr.s(auto_attribs=True)
class Args:
    url: str
    output_path: Path
    verbose: bool
    retries: int = 3

def main():
    args = parse(Args)
    print(args)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

(experimental) Alternatively: convert an existing parser to a dataclass:

# script.py
parser = ArgumentParser()
parser.add_argument(...)
from datargs import convert
convert(parser)

convert() prints a class definition to the console. Copy it to your script.

Mypy and pycharm correctly infer the type of args as Args, and your script is good to go!

$ python script.py -h
usage: test.py [-h] --url URL --output-path OUTPUT_PATH [--retries RETRIES]
               [--verbose]

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --url URL
  --output-path OUTPUT_PATH
  --retries RETRIES
  --verbose
$ python script.py --url "https://..." --output-path out --retries 4 --verbose
Args(url="https://...", output_path=Path("out"), retries=4, verbose=True)

Table of Contents

Features

Static verification

Mypy/Pycharm have your back when you when you make a mistake:

...
def main():
    args = parse(Args)
    args.urll  # typo
...

Pycharm says: Unresolved attribute reference 'urll' for class 'Args'.

Mypy says: script.py:15: error: "Args" has no attribute "urll"; maybe "url"?

dataclass/attr.s agnostic

>>> import attr, datargs
>>> @attr.s
... class Args:
...     flag: bool = attr.ib()
>>> datargs.parse(Args, [])
Args(flag=False)

Aliases

Aliases and ArgumentParser.add_argument() parameters are taken from metadata:

>>> from dataclasses import dataclass, field
>>> from datargs import parse
>>> @dataclass
... class Args:
...     retries: int = field(default=3, metadata=dict(help="number of retries", aliases=["-r"], metavar="RETRIES"))
>>> parse(Args, ["-h"])
usage: ...
optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --retries RETRIES, -r RETRIES
>>> parse(Args, ["-r", "4"])
Args(retries=4)

arg is a replacement for field that puts add_argument() parameters in metadata and makes aliases behaves like in the original method. Use it to save precious keystrokes:

>>> from dataclasses import dataclass
>>> from datargs import parse, arg
>>> @dataclass
... class Args:
...     retries: int = arg("-r", default=3, help="number of retries", metavar="RETRIES")
>>> parse(Args, ["-h"])
# exactly the same as before

NOTE: arg() does not currently work with attr.s.

arg() also supports all field/attr.ib() keyword arguments.

ArgumentParser options

You can pass ArgumnetParser keyword arguments to argsclass. Description is its own parameter - the rest are passed as the parser_params parameter as a dict.

When a class is used as a subcommand (see below), parser_params are passed to add_parser, including aliases.

>>> from datargs import parse, argsclass
>>> @argsclass(description="Romans go home!", parser_params=dict(prog="messiah.py"))
... class Args:
...     flag: bool
>>> parse(Args, ["-h"], parser=parser)
usage: messiah.py [-h] [--flag]
Romans go home!
...

or you can pass your own parser:

>>> from argparse import ArgumentParser
>>> from datargs import parse, argsclass
>>> @argsclass
... class Args:
...     flag: bool
>>> parser = ArgumentParser(description="Romans go home!", prog="messiah.py")
>>> parse(Args, ["-h"], parser=parser)
usage: messiah.py [-h] [--flag]
Romans go home!
...

Use make_parser() to create a parser and save it for later:

>>> from datargs import make_parser
>>> @dataclass
... class Args:
...     ...
>>> parser = make_parser(Args)  # pass `parser=...` to modify an existing parser

NOTE: passing your own parser ignores ArgumentParser params passed to argsclass().

Enums

With datargs, enums Just Work™:

>>> import enum, attr, datargs
>>> class FoodEnum(enum.Enum):
...     ham = 0
...     spam = 1
>>> @attr.dataclass
... class Args:
...     food: FoodEnum
>>> datargs.parse(Args, ["--food", "ham"])
Args(food=<FoodEnum.ham: 0>)
>>> datargs.parse(Args, ["--food", "eggs"])
usage: enum_test.py [-h] --food {ham,spam}
enum_test.py: error: argument --food: invalid choice: 'eggs' (choose from ['ham', 'spam'])

NOTE: enums are passed by name on the command line and not by value.

Sequences, Optionals, and Literals

Have a Sequence or a List of something to automatically use nargs:

from pathlib import Path
from dataclasses import dataclass
from typing import Sequence
from datargs import parse

@dataclass
class Args:
    # same as nargs='*'
    files: Sequence[Path] = ()

args = parse(Args, ["--files", "foo.txt", "bar.txt"])
assert args.files == [Path("foo.txt"), Path("bar.txt")]

Specify a list of positional parameters like so:

from datargs import argsclass, arg
@argsclass
class Args:
    arg: Sequence[int] = arg(default=(), positional=True)

Optional arguments default to None:

from pathlib import Path
from dataclasses import dataclass
from typing import Optional
from datargs import parse

@dataclass
class Args:
    path: Optional[Path] = None

args = parse(Args, ["--path", "foo.txt"])
assert args.path == Path("foo.txt")

args = parse(Args, [])
assert args.path is None

And Literal can be used to specify choices:

from pathlib import Path
from dataclasses import dataclass
from typing import Literal
from datargs import parse

@dataclass
class Args:
    path: Literal[Path("foo.txt"), Path("bar.txt")]

args = parse(Args, ["--path", "foo.txt"])
assert args.path == Path("foo.txt")

# Throws an error!
args = parse(Args, ["--path", "bad-option.txt"])

Sub Commands

No need to specify a useless dest to dispatch on different commands. A Union of dataclasses/attrs classes automatically becomes a group of subparsers. The attribute holding the Union holds the appropriate instance upon parsing, making your code type-safe:

import typing, logging
from datargs import argsclass, arg, parse

@argsclass(description="install package")
class Install:
    package: str = arg(positional=True, help="package to install")

@argsclass(description="show all packages")
class Show:
    verbose: bool = arg(help="show extra info")

@argsclass(description="Pip Install Packages!")
class Pip:
    action: typing.Union[Install, Show]
    log: str = None

args = parse(Pip, ["--log", "debug.log", "install", "my_package"])
print(args)
# prints: Pip(action=Install(package='my_package'), log='debug.log')

# Consume arguments:
if args.log:
    logging.basicConfig(filename=args.log)
if isinstance(args.action, Install):
    install_package(args.action.package)
    # static type error: args.action.verbose
elif isinstance(args.action, Show):
    list_all_packages(verbose=args.action.verbose)
else:
    assert False, "Unreachable code"

Command name is derived from class name. To change this, use the name parameter to @argsclass.

As with all other parameters to add_parser, aliases can be passed as a key in parser_params to add subcommand aliases.

NOTE: if the commented-out line above does not issue a type error, try adding an @dataclass/@attr.s before or instead of @argsclass():

@argsclass(description="Pip Install Packages!")  # optional
@dataclass
class Pip:
    action: typing.Union[Install, Show]
    log: str = None
...
if isinstance(args.action, Install):
    install_package(args.action.package)
    # this should now produce a type error: args.action.verbose

"Why not"s and design choices

Many libraries out there do similar things. This list serves as documentation for existing solutions and differences.

So, why not...

Just use argparse?

That's easy. The interface is clumsy and repetitive, a.k.a boilerplate. Additionally, ArgumentParser.parse_args() returns a Namespace, which is equivalent to Any, meaning that it any attribute access is legal when type checking. Alas, invalid attribute access will fail at runtime. For example:

def parse_args():
    parser = ArgumentParser()
    parser.add_argument("--url")
    return parser.parse_args()

def main():
    args = parse_args()
    print(args.url)

Let's say for some reason --url is changed to --uri:

parser.add_argument("--uri")
...
print(args.url)  # oops

You won't discover you made a mistake until you run the code. With datargs, a static type checker will issue an error. Also, why use a carriage when you have a spaceship?

Use click?

click is a great library. It provides many utilities for command line programs.

Use datargs if you believe user interface should not be coupled with implementation, or if you want to use argparse without boilerplate. Use click if you don't care.

Use clout?

It seems that clout aims to be an end-to-end solution for command line programs à la click.

Use it if you need a broader solution. Use datargs if you want to use argparse without boilerplate.

Use simple-parsing?

This is another impressive library.

Use it if you have deeply-nested options, or if the following points don't apply to you.

Use datargs if you:

  • need attrs support
  • want as little magic as possible
  • don't have many options or they're not nested
  • prefer dashes (--like-this) over underscores (--like_this)

Use argparse-dataclass?

It's similar to this library. The main differences I found are:

  • no attrs support
  • not on github, so who you gonna call?

Use argparse-dataclasses?

Same points argparse-dataclass but also Uses inheritance.

FAQs

Is this cross-platform?

Yes, just like argparse. If you find a bug on a certain platform (or any other bug), please report it.

Why are mutually exclusive options not supported?

This library is based on the idea of a one-to-one correspondence between most parsers and simple classes. Conceptually, mutually exclusive options are analogous to sum types, just like subparsers are, but writing a class for each flag is not ergonomic enough. Contact me if you want this feature or if you come up with a better solution.