Python argparse value range help message appearance

Question

I have an argument for a program that is an integer from 1-100 and I just don\'t like the way that it shows up in the -h help message when using argparse (it literally lists 0,

Answer 1

You can customize action, e.g:

#!/usr/bin/env python
import argparse


class Range(argparse.Action):
    def __init__(self, minimum=None, maximum=None, *args, **kwargs):
        self.min = minimum
        self.max = maximum
        kwargs["metavar"] = "[%d-%d]" % (self.min, self.max)
        super(Range, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)

    def __call__(self, parser, namespace, value, option_string=None):
        if not (self.min <= value <= self.max):
            msg = 'invalid choice: %r (choose from [%d-%d])' % \
                (value, self.min, self.max)
            raise argparse.ArgumentError(self, msg)
        setattr(namespace, self.dest, value)


norse = argparse.ArgumentParser('Norse')
norse.add_argument('--threshold', required=False, type=int, min=0, max=100,
                   action=Range,
                   help='Threshold [%(min)d-%(max)d] denoting at what threat \
                         level to provide additional data on an IP address. \
                         Default is %(default)s.', default=49)
args = norse.parse_args()
print args

Test it:

~: user$ ./test.py --threshold 10
Namespace(threshold=10)
~: user$ ./test.py --threshold -1
usage: Norse [-h] [--threshold [0-100]]
Norse: error: argument --threshold: invalid choice: -1 (choose from [0-100])
~: user$ ./test.py -h
usage: Norse [-h] [--threshold [0-100]]

optional arguments:
  -h, --help           show this help message and exit
  --threshold [0-100]  Threshold [0-100] denoting at what threat level to
                       provide additional data on an IP address. Default is
                       49.