https://github.com/75lb/command-line-args
A mature, feature-complete library to parse command-line options.
https://github.com/75lb/command-line-args
argv command-line-parser getopt nodejs-modules npm-package option-parser
Last synced: 8 days ago
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A mature, feature-complete library to parse command-line options.
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/75lb/command-line-args
- Owner: 75lb
- License: mit
- Created: 2014-05-26T22:35:23.000Z (almost 11 years ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2025-03-09T16:46:56.000Z (2 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-04-25T15:48:46.850Z (26 days ago)
- Topics: argv, command-line-parser, getopt, nodejs-modules, npm-package, option-parser
- Language: JavaScript
- Homepage:
- Size: 1010 KB
- Stars: 709
- Watchers: 5
- Forks: 106
- Open Issues: 8
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE
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***Upgraders, please read the [release notes](https://github.com/75lb/command-line-args/releases)***
# command-line-args
A mature, feature-complete library to parse command-line options.
## Synopsis
You can set options using the main notation standards ([learn more](https://github.com/75lb/command-line-args/wiki/Notation-rules)). These commands are all equivalent, setting the same values:
```
$ example --verbose --timeout=1000 --src one.js --src two.js
$ example --verbose --timeout 1000 --src one.js two.js
$ example -vt 1000 --src one.js two.js
$ example -vt 1000 one.js two.js
```
To access the values, first create a list of [option definitions](https://github.com/75lb/command-line-args/blob/master/doc/option-definition.md) describing the options your application accepts. The [`type`](https://github.com/75lb/command-line-args/blob/master/doc/option-definition.md#optiontype--function) property is a setter function (the value supplied is passed through this), giving you full control over the value received.
```js
const optionDefinitions = [
{ name: 'verbose', alias: 'v', type: Boolean },
{ name: 'src', type: String, multiple: true, defaultOption: true },
{ name: 'timeout', alias: 't', type: Number }
]
```
Next, parse the options using [commandLineArgs()](https://github.com/75lb/command-line-args/blob/master/doc/API.md#commandlineargsoptiondefinitions-options--object-):
```js
import commandLineArgs from 'command-line-args'
const options = commandLineArgs(optionDefinitions)
```
`options` now looks like this:
```js
{
src: [
'one.js',
'two.js'
],
verbose: true,
timeout: 1000
}
```
### Advanced usage
Beside the above typical usage, you can configure command-line-args to accept more advanced syntax forms.
* [Command-based syntax](https://github.com/75lb/command-line-args/wiki/Implement-command-parsing-(git-style)) (git style) in the form:
```
$ executable [options]
```
For example.
```
$ git commit --squash -m "This is my commit message"
```
* [Command and sub-command syntax](https://github.com/75lb/command-line-args/wiki/Implement-multiple-command-parsing-(docker-style)) (docker style) in the form:
```
$ executable [options] [options]
```
For example.
```
$ docker run --detached --image centos bash -c yum install -y httpd
```
## Usage guide generation
A usage guide (typically printed when `--help` is set) can be generated using [command-line-usage](https://github.com/75lb/command-line-usage). See the examples below and [read the documentation](https://github.com/75lb/command-line-usage) for instructions how to create them.
A typical usage guide example.
The [polymer-cli](https://github.com/Polymer/polymer-cli/) usage guide is a good real-life example.
## Further Reading
There is plenty more to learn, please see [the wiki](https://github.com/75lb/command-line-args/wiki) for examples and documentation.
## Install
```sh
$ npm install command-line-args --save
```
* * *
© 2014-24 [Lloyd Brookes](https://github.com/75lb) \.
Documented by [jsdoc-to-markdown](https://github.com/jsdoc2md/jsdoc-to-markdown).