Python argparse: command-line argument that can be either named or positional

Question

I am trying to make a Python program that uses the argparse module to parse command-line options.

I want to make an optional argument that can either be

Answer 1

The way the ArgumentParser works, it always checks for any trailing positional arguments after it has parsed the optional arguments. So if you have a positional argument with the same name as an optional argument, and it doesn't appear anywhere on the command line, it's guaranteed to override the optional argument (either with its default value or None).

Frankly this seems like a bug to me, at least when used in a mutually exclusive group, since if you had specified the parameter explicitly it would have been an error.

That said, my suggested solution, is to give the postional argument a different name.

parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
group = parser.add_mutually_exclusive_group()
group.add_argument('-u','--username')
group.add_argument('static_username',nargs='?',default='admin')

Then when parsing, you use the optional username if present, otherwise fallback to the positional static_username.

results = parser.parse_args()
username = results.username or results.static_username

I realise this isn't a particularly neat solution, but I don't think any of the answers will be.

Answer 2

Here is a solution that I think does everything you want:

import argparse
if __name__ == '__main__':
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
    parser.add_argument("-u", "--user-name", default="admin")
    # Gather all extra args into a list named "args.extra"
    parser.add_argument("extra", nargs='*')
    args = parser.parse_args()
    # Set args.user_name to first extra arg if it is not given and len(args.extra) > 0
    if args.user_name == parser.get_default("user_name") and args.extra:
        args.user_name = args.extra.pop(0)
    print args

If you run myScript -u batman or myScript --user-name=batman, args.user_name is set to 'batman'. If you do myScript batman, args.user_name is again set to 'batman'. And finally, if you just do myScript, args.user_name is set to 'admin'.

Also, as an added bonus, you now have all of the extra arguments that were passed to the script stored in args.extra. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Try to use the "nargs" parameter of the add_argument methode. This way it works for me. Now you can add the username twice, so you have to check it and raise an error, if you want.

import argparse
if __name__ == '__main__':
   parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
   parser.add_argument("-u", "--user-name", default="admin")
   parser.add_argument("user_name", default="admin", nargs="?")
   args = parser.parse_args()
   print(args)