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README.md
Optionator
Optionator is a JavaScript/Node.js option parsing and help generation library used by eslint, Grasp, LiveScript, esmangle, escodegen, and many more.
For an online demo, check out the Grasp online demo.
About · Usage · Settings Format · Argument Format
Why?
The problem with other option parsers, such as yargs
or minimist
, is they just accept all input, valid or not.
With Optionator, if you mistype an option, it will give you an error (with a suggestion for what you meant).
If you give the wrong type of argument for an option, it will give you an error rather than supplying the wrong input to your application.
$ cmd --halp
Invalid option '--halp' - perhaps you meant '--help'?
$ cmd --count str
Invalid value for option 'count' - expected type Int, received value: str.
Other helpful features include reformatting the help text based on the size of the console, so that it fits even if the console is narrow, and accepting not just an array (eg. process.argv), but a string or object as well, making things like testing much easier.
About
Optionator uses type-check and levn behind the scenes to cast and verify input according the specified types.
MIT license. Version 0.9.1
npm install optionator
For updates on Optionator, follow me on twitter.
Optionator is a Node.js module, but can be used in the browser as well if packed with webpack/browserify.
Usage
require('optionator');
returns a function. It has one property, VERSION
, the current version of the library as a string. This function is called with an object specifying your options and other information, see the settings format section. This in turn returns an object with three properties, parse
, parseArgv
, generateHelp
, and generateHelpForOption
, which are all functions.
var optionator = require('optionator')({
prepend: 'Usage: cmd [options]',
append: 'Version 1.0.0',
options: [{
option: 'help',
alias: 'h',
type: 'Boolean',
description: 'displays help'
}, {
option: 'count',
alias: 'c',
type: 'Int',
description: 'number of things',
example: 'cmd --count 2'
}]
});
var options = optionator.parseArgv(process.argv);
if (options.help) {
console.log(optionator.generateHelp());
}
...
parse(input, parseOptions)
parse
processes the input
according to your settings, and returns an object with the results.
arguments
- input -
[String] | Object | String
- the input you wish to parse - parseOptions -
{slice: Int}
- all options optionalslice
specifies how much to slice away from the beginning if the input is an array or string - by default0
for string,2
for array (works withprocess.argv
)
returns
Object
- the parsed options, each key is a camelCase version of the option name (specified in dash-case), and each value is the processed value for that option. Positional values are in an array under the _
key.
example
parse(['node', 't.js', '--count', '2', 'positional']); // {count: 2, _: ['positional']}
parse('--count 2 positional'); // {count: 2, _: ['positional']}
parse({count: 2, _:['positional']}); // {count: 2, _: ['positional']}
parseArgv(input)
parseArgv
works exactly like parse
, but only for array input and it slices off the first two elements.
arguments
- input -
[String]
- the input you wish to parse
returns
See "returns" section in "parse"
example
parseArgv(process.argv);
generateHelp(helpOptions)
generateHelp
produces help text based on your settings.
arguments
- helpOptions -
{showHidden: Boolean, interpolate: Object}
- all options optionalshowHidden
specifies whether to show options withhidden: true
specified, by default it isfalse
interpolate
specify data to be interpolated inprepend
andappend
text,{{key}}
is the format - eg.generateHelp({interpolate:{version: '0.4.2'}})
, will change thisappend
text:Version {{version}}
toVersion 0.4.2
returns
String
- the generated help text
example
generateHelp(); /*
"Usage: cmd [options] positional
-h, --help displays help
-c, --count Int number of things
Version 1.0.0
"*/
generateHelpForOption(optionName)
generateHelpForOption
produces expanded help text for the specified with optionName
option. If an example
was specified for the option, it will be displayed, and if a longDescription
was specified, it will display that instead of the description
.
arguments
- optionName -
String
- the name of the option to display
returns
String
- the generated help text for the option
example
generateHelpForOption('count'); /*
"-c, --count Int
description: number of things
example: cmd --count 2
"*/
Settings Format
When your require('optionator')
, you get a function that takes in a settings object. This object has the type:
{
prepend: String,
append: String,
options: [{heading: String} | {
option: String,
alias: [String] | String,
type: String,
enum: [String],
default: String,
restPositional: Boolean,
required: Boolean,
overrideRequired: Boolean,
dependsOn: [String] | String,
concatRepeatedArrays: Boolean | (Boolean, Object),
mergeRepeatedObjects: Boolean,
description: String,
longDescription: String,
example: [String] | String
}],
helpStyle: {
aliasSeparator: String,
typeSeparator: String,
descriptionSeparator: String,
initialIndent: Int,
secondaryIndent: Int,
maxPadFactor: Number
},
mutuallyExclusive: [[String | [String]]],
concatRepeatedArrays: Boolean | (Boolean, Object), // deprecated, set in defaults object
mergeRepeatedObjects: Boolean, // deprecated, set in defaults object
positionalAnywhere: Boolean,
typeAliases: Object,
defaults: Object
}
All of the properties are optional (the Maybe
has been excluded for brevities sake), except for having either heading: String
or option: String
in each object in the options
array.
Top Level Properties
prepend
is an optional string to be placed before the options in the help textappend
is an optional string to be placed after the options in the help textoptions
is a required array specifying your options and headings, the options and headings will be displayed in the order specifiedhelpStyle
is an optional object which enables you to change the default appearance of some aspects of the help textmutuallyExclusive
is an optional array of arrays of either strings or arrays of strings. The top level array is a list of rules, each rule is a list of elements - each element can be either a string (the name of an option), or a list of strings (a group of option names) - there will be an error if more than one element is presentconcatRepeatedArrays
see description under the "Option Properties" heading - use at the top level is deprecated, if you want to set this for all options, use thedefaults
propertymergeRepeatedObjects
see description under the "Option Properties" heading - use at the top level is deprecated, if you want to set this for all options, use thedefaults
propertypositionalAnywhere
is an optional boolean (defaults totrue
) - whentrue
it allows positional arguments anywhere, whenfalse
, all arguments after the first positional one are taken to be positional as well, even if they look like a flag. For example, withpositionalAnywhere: false
, the arguments--flag --boom 12 --crack
would have two positional arguments:12
and--crack
typeAliases
is an optional object, it allows you to set aliases for types, eg.{Path: 'String'}
would allow you to use the typePath
as an alias for the typeString
defaults
is an optional object following the option properties format, which specifies default values for all options. A default will be overridden if manually set. For example, you can dodefault: { type: "String" }
to set the default type of all options toString
, and then override that default in an individual option by setting thetype
property
Heading Properties
heading
a required string, the name of the heading
Option Properties
option
the required name of the option - use dash-case, without the leading dashesalias
is an optional string or array of strings which specify any aliases for the optiontype
is a required string in the type check format, this will be used to cast the inputted value and validate itenum
is an optional array of strings, each string will be parsed by levn - the argument value must be one of the resulting values - each potential value must validate against the specifiedtype
default
is a optional string, which will be parsed by levn and used as the default value if none is set - the value must validate against the specifiedtype
restPositional
is an optional boolean - if set totrue
, everything after the option will be taken to be a positional argument, even if it looks like a named argumentrequired
is an optional boolean - if set totrue
, the option parsing will fail if the option is not definedoverrideRequired
is a optional boolean - if set totrue
and the option is used, and there is another option which is required but not set, it will override the need for the required option and there will be no error - this is useful if you have required options and want to use--help
or--version
flagsconcatRepeatedArrays
is an optional boolean or tuple with boolean and options object (defaults tofalse
) - when set totrue
and an option contains an array value and is repeated, the subsequent values for the flag will be appended rather than overwriting the original value - eg. optiong
of type[String]
:-g a -g b -g c,d
will result in['a','b','c','d']
You can supply an options object by giving the following value: [true, options]
. The one currently supported option is oneValuePerFlag
, this only allows one array value per flag. This is useful if your potential values contain a comma.
mergeRepeatedObjects
is an optional boolean (defaults tofalse
) - when set totrue
and an option contains an object value and is repeated, the subsequent values for the flag will be merged rather than overwriting the original value - eg. optiong
of typeObject
:-g a:1 -g b:2 -g c:3,d:4
will result in{a: 1, b: 2, c: 3, d: 4}
dependsOn
is an optional string or array of strings - if simply a string (the name of another option), it will make sure that that other option is set, if an array of strings, depending on whether'and'
or'or'
is first, it will either check whether all (['and', 'option-a', 'option-b']
), or at least one (['or', 'option-a', 'option-b']
) other options are setdescription
is an optional string, which will be displayed next to the option in the help textlongDescription
is an optional string, it will be displayed instead of thedescription
whengenerateHelpForOption
is usedexample
is an optional string or array of strings with example(s) for the option - these will be displayed whengenerateHelpForOption
is used
Help Style Properties
aliasSeparator
is an optional string, separates multiple names from each other - default: ' ,'typeSeparator
is an optional string, separates the type from the names - default: ' 'descriptionSeparator
is an optional string , separates the description from the padded name and type - default: ' 'initialIndent
is an optional int - the amount of indent for options - default: 2secondaryIndent
is an optional int - the amount of indent if wrapped fully (in addition to the initial indent) - default: 4maxPadFactor
is an optional number - affects the default level of padding for the names/type, it is multiplied by the average of the length of the names/type - default: 1.5
Argument Format
At the highest level there are two types of arguments: named, and positional.
Name arguments of any length are prefixed with --
(eg. --go
), and those of one character may be prefixed with either --
or -
(eg. -g
).
There are two types of named arguments: boolean flags (eg. --problemo
, -p
) which take no value and result in a true
if they are present, the falsey undefined
if they are not present, or false
if present and explicitly prefixed with no
(eg. --no-problemo
). Named arguments with values (eg. --tseries 800
, -t 800
) are the other type. If the option has a type Boolean
it will automatically be made into a boolean flag. Any other type results in a named argument that takes a value.
For more information about how to properly set types to get the value you want, take a look at the type check and levn pages.
You can group single character arguments that use a single -
, however all except the last must be boolean flags (which take no value). The last may be a boolean flag, or an argument which takes a value - eg. -ba 2
is equivalent to -b -a 2
.
Positional arguments are all those values which do not fall under the above - they can be anywhere, not just at the end. For example, in cmd -b one -a 2 two
where b
is a boolean flag, and a
has the type Number
, there are two positional arguments, one
and two
.
Everything after an --
is positional, even if it looks like a named argument.
You may optionally use =
to separate option names from values, for example: --count=2
.
If you specify the option NUM
, then any argument using a single -
followed by a number will be valid and will set the value of NUM
. Eg. -2
will be parsed into NUM: 2
.
If duplicate named arguments are present, the last one will be taken.
Technical About
optionator
is written in LiveScript - a language that compiles to JavaScript. It uses levn to cast arguments to their specified type, and uses type-check to validate values. It also uses the prelude.ls library.