:mod:`!getopt` --- C-style parser for command line options
==========================================================
.. module:: getopt
:synopsis: Portable parser for command line options; support both short and
long option names.
**Source code:** :source:`Lib/getopt.py`
.. deprecated:: 3.13
The :mod:`getopt` module is :term:`soft deprecated` and will not be
developed further; development will continue with the :mod:`argparse`
module.
.. note::
The :mod:`getopt` module is a parser for command line options whose API is
designed to be familiar to users of the C :c:func:`!getopt` function. Users who
are unfamiliar with the C :c:func:`!getopt` function or who would like to write
less code and get better help and error messages should consider using the
:mod:`argparse` module instead.
--------------
This module helps scripts to parse the command line arguments in ``sys.argv``.
It supports the same conventions as the Unix :c:func:`!getopt` function (including
the special meanings of arguments of the form '``-``' and '``--``'). Long
options similar to those supported by GNU software may be used as well via an
optional third argument.
This module provides two functions and an
exception:
.. function:: getopt(args, shortopts, longopts=[])
Parses command line options and parameter list. *args* is the argument list to
be parsed, without the leading reference to the running program. Typically, this
means ``sys.argv[1:]``. *shortopts* is the string of option letters that the
script wants to recognize, with options that require an argument followed by a
colon (``':'``) and options that accept an optional argument followed by
two colons (``'::'``); i.e., the same format that Unix :c:func:`!getopt` uses.
.. note::
Unlike GNU :c:func:`!getopt`, after a non-option argument, all further
arguments are considered also non-options. This is similar to the way
non-GNU Unix systems work.
*longopts*, if specified, must be a list of strings with the names of the
long options which should be supported. The leading ``'--'`` characters
should not be included in the option name. Long options which require an
argument should be followed by an equal sign (``'='``).
Long options which accept an optional argument should be followed by
an equal sign and question mark (``'=?'``).
To accept only long options, *shortopts* should be an
empty string. Long options on the command line can be recognized so long as
they provide a prefix of the option name that matches exactly one of the
accepted options. For example, if *longopts* is ``['foo', 'frob']``, the
option ``--fo`` will match as ``--foo``, but ``--f`` will
not match uniquely, so :exc:`GetoptError` will be raised.
The return value consists of two elements: the first is a list of ``(option,
value)`` pairs; the second is the list of program arguments left after the
option list was stripped (this is a trailing slice of *args*). Each
option-and-value pair returned has the option as its first element, prefixed
with a hyphen for short options (e.g., ``'-x'``) or two hyphens for long
options (e.g., ``'--long-option'``), and the option argument as its
second element, or an empty string if the option has no argument. The
options occur in the list in the same order in which they were found, thus
allowing multiple occurrences. Long and short options may be mixed.
.. versionchanged:: 3.14
Optional arguments are supported.
.. function:: gnu_getopt(args, shortopts, longopts=[])
This function works like :func:`getopt`, except that GNU style scanning mode is
used by default. This means that option and non-option arguments may be
intermixed. The :func:`getopt` function stops processing options as soon as a
non-option argument is encountered.
If the first character of the option string is ``'+'``, or if the environment
variable :envvar:`!POSIXLY_CORRECT` is set, then option processing stops as
soon as a non-option argument is encountered.
If the first character of the option string is ``'-'``, non-option arguments
that are followed by options are added to the list of option-and-value pairs
as a pair that has ``None`` as its first element and the list of non-option
arguments as its second element.
The second element of the :func:`!gnu_getopt` result is a list of
program arguments after the last option.
.. versionchanged:: 3.14
Support for returning intermixed options and non-option arguments in order.
.. exception:: GetoptError
This is raised when an unrecognized option is found in the argument list or when
an option requiring an argument is given none. The argument to the exception is
a string indicating the cause of the error. For long options, an argument given
to an option which does not require one will also cause this exception to be
raised. The attributes :attr:`!msg` and :attr:`!opt` give the error message and
related option; if there is no specific option to which the exception relates,
:attr:`!opt` is an empty string.
.. XXX deprecated?
.. exception:: error
Alias for :exc:`GetoptError`; for backward compatibility.
An example using only Unix style options:
.. doctest::
>>> import getopt
>>> args = '-a -b -cfoo -d bar a1 a2'.split()
>>> args
['-a', '-b', '-cfoo', '-d', 'bar', 'a1', 'a2']
>>> optlist, args = getopt.getopt(args, 'abc:d:')
>>> optlist
[('-a', ''), ('-b', ''), ('-c', 'foo'), ('-d', 'bar')]
>>> args
['a1', 'a2']
Using long option names is equally easy:
.. doctest::
>>> s = '--condition=foo --testing --output-file abc.def -x a1 a2'
>>> args = s.split()
>>> args
['--condition=foo', '--testing', '--output-file', 'abc.def', '-x', 'a1', 'a2']
>>> optlist, args = getopt.getopt(args, 'x', [
... 'condition=', 'output-file=', 'testing'])
>>> optlist
[('--condition', 'foo'), ('--testing', ''), ('--output-file', 'abc.def'), ('-x', '')]
>>> args
['a1', 'a2']
Optional arguments should be specified explicitly:
.. doctest::
>>> s = '-Con -C --color=off --color a1 a2'
>>> args = s.split()
>>> args
['-Con', '-C', '--color=off', '--color', 'a1', 'a2']
>>> optlist, args = getopt.getopt(args, 'C::', ['color=?'])
>>> optlist
[('-C', 'on'), ('-C', ''), ('--color', 'off'), ('--color', '')]
>>> args
['a1', 'a2']
The order of options and non-option arguments can be preserved:
.. doctest::
>>> s = 'a1 -x a2 a3 a4 --long a5 a6'
>>> args = s.split()
>>> args
['a1', '-x', 'a2', 'a3', 'a4', '--long', 'a5', 'a6']
>>> optlist, args = getopt.gnu_getopt(args, '-x:', ['long='])
>>> optlist
[(None, ['a1']), ('-x', 'a2'), (None, ['a3', 'a4']), ('--long', 'a5')]
>>> args
['a6']
In a script, typical usage is something like this:
.. testcode::
import getopt, sys
def main():
try:
opts, args = getopt.getopt(sys.argv[1:], "ho:v", ["help", "output="])
except getopt.GetoptError as err:
# print help information and exit:
print(err) # will print something like "option -a not recognized"
usage()
sys.exit(2)
output = None
verbose = False
for o, a in opts:
if o == "-v":
verbose = True
elif o in ("-h", "--help"):
usage()
sys.exit()
elif o in ("-o", "--output"):
output = a
else:
assert False, "unhandled option"
# ...
if __name__ == "__main__":
main()
Note that an equivalent command line interface could be produced with less code
and more informative help and error messages by using the :mod:`argparse` module:
.. testcode::
import argparse
if __name__ == '__main__':
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
parser.add_argument('-o', '--output')
parser.add_argument('-v', dest='verbose', action='store_true')
args = parser.parse_args()
# ... do something with args.output ...
# ... do something with args.verbose ..
.. seealso::
Module :mod:`argparse`
Alternative command line option and argument parsing library.
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