Command Line Arguments in Python

Command Line Arguments in Python
The arguments that are given after the name of the program in the command line
shell of the operating system are known as Command Line Arguments. Python
provides various ways of dealing with these types of arguments. The three most
common are:
 Using sys.argv
 Using getopt module
 Using argparse module
Using sys.argv
The sys module provides functions and variables used to manipulate different parts
of the Python runtime environment. This module provides access to some variables
used or maintained by the interpreter and to functions that interact strongly with the
interpreter.
One such variable is sys.argv which is a simple list structure. It’s main purpose are:
 It is a list of command line arguments.
 len(sys.argv) provides the number of command line arguments.
 sys.argv[0] is the name of the current Python script.
 Example: Let’s suppose there is a Python script for adding two numbers and
the numbers are passed as command-line arguments.
 filter_none
 brightness_4
# Python program to demonstrate
# command line arguments
import sys
# total arguments
n = len(sys.argv)
print("Total arguments passed:", n)
# Arguments passed
print("\nName of Python script:", sys.argv[0])
print("\nArguments passed:", end = " ")

for i in range(1, n):
print(sys.argv[i], end = " ")
# Addition of numbers
Sum = 0
Using argparse module
for i in range(1, n):
Sum += int(sys.argv[i])
print("\n\nResult:", Sum)
 Output:
Using getopt module
Python getopt module is similar to the getopt() function of C. Unlike sys module
getopt module extends the separation of the input string by parameter validation. It
allows both short, and long options including a value assignment. However, this
module requires the use of the sys module to process input data properly. To use
getopt module, it is required to remove the first element from the list of command-line
arguments.
Syntax: getopt.getopt(args, options, [long_options])
Parameters:
args: List of arguments to be passed.
options: String of option letters that the script want to recognize. Options that
require an argument should be followed by a colon (:).
long_options: List of string with the name of long options. Options that require
arguments should be followed by an equal sign (=).
Return Type: Returns value consisting 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.
Example:
filter_none
brightness_4
import getopt, sys

# Remove 1st argument from the
# list of command line arguments
argumentList = sys.argv[1:]
# Options
options = "hmo:"
# Long options
long_options = ["Help", "My_file", "Output ="]
try:
# Parsing argument
arguments, values = getopt.getopt(argumentList, options, long_options)
# checking each argument
for currentArgument, currentValue in arguments:
if currentArgument in ("-h", "--Help"):
print ("Diplaying Help")
elif currentArgument in ("-m", "--My_file"):
print ("Displaying file_name:", sys.argv[0])
elif currentArgument in ("-o", "--Output"):
print (("Enabling special output mode (% s)") % (currentValue))
except getopt.error as err:
# output error, and return with an error code
print (str(err))
Output:
Using argparse module
Using argparse module is a better option than the above two options as it provides a
lot of options such as positional arguments, default value for arguments, help
message, specifying data type of argument etc.
Note: As a default optional argument, it includes -h, along with its long version --help.
Example 1: Basic use of argparse module.
filter_none
brightness_4
import argparse
# Initialize parser
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
parser.parse_args()
Output:
Example 2: Adding description to the help message.
filter_none
brightness_4
import argparse
msg = "Adding description"
# Initialize parser
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description = msg)
parser.parse_args()
Output:
Example 3: Defining optional value
filter_none
brightness_4
import argparse
# Initialize parser
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
# Adding optional argument

parser.add_argument("-o", "--Output", help = "Show Output")
# Read arguments from command line

args = parser.parse_args()
if args.Output:
print("Diplaying Output as: % s" % args.Output)

Command Line Arguments in Python

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Command Line Arguments in Python

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Command Line Arguments in Python

print("\nArguments passed:", end = " ")

Using getopt module

# command line arguments

import getopt, sys

# list of command line arguments

long_options = ["Help", "My_file", "Output ="]

arguments, values = getopt.getopt(argumentList, options, long_options)

# checking each argument

for currentArgument, currentValue in arguments:

if currentArgument in ("-h", "--Help"):

print ("Diplaying Help")

elif currentArgument in ("-m", "--My_file"):

print ("Displaying file_name:", sys.argv[0])

elif currentArgument in ("-o", "--Output"):

print (("Enabling special output mode (% s)") % (currentValue))

except getopt.error as err:

# output error, and return with an error code

Using argparse module

# command line arguments

# command line arguments

msg = "Adding description"

parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description = msg)

# Adding optional argument

# Read arguments from command line

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