Basic usage¶
This extension adds the “argparse” directive:
.. argparse::
:module: my.module
:func: my_func_that_returns_a_parser
:prog: fancytool
The module, func and prog options are required.
func is a function that returns an instance of the argparse.ArgumentParser class.
Alternatively, one can use :ref: like this:
.. argparse::
:ref: my.module.my_func_that_returns_a_parser
:prog: fancytool
In this case :ref: points directly to argument parser instance.
For this directive to work, you should point it to the function that will return a pre-filled ArgumentParser. Something like:
def my_func_that_return_parser():
parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
parser.add_argument('foo', default=False, help='foo help')
parser.add_argument('bar', default=False)
subparsers = parser.add_subparsers()
subparser = subparsers.add_parser('install', help='install help')
subparser.add_argument('ref', type=str, help='foo1 help')
subparser.add_argument('--upgrade', action='store_true', default=False, help='foo2 help')
return parser
Note
We will use this example as a reference for every example in this document.
To document a file that is not part of a module, use :filename:
.. argparse::
:filename: script.py
:func: my_func_that_returns_a_parser
:prog: script.py
The ‘filename’ option could be absolute path or a relative path under current working dir.
- :module:
Module name, where the function is located
- :func:
Function name
- :ref:
A combination of :module: and :func:
- :filename:
A file name, in cases where the file to be documented is not part of a module.
- :prog:
The name of your tool (or how it should appear in the documentation). For example, if you run your script as ./boo –some args then :prog: will be “boo”
That’s it. Directives will render positional arguments, options and sub-commands.
Sub-commands are limited to one level. But, you can always output help for subcommands separately:
.. argparse::
:module: my.module
:func: my_func_that_return_parser
:prog: fancytool
:path: install
This will render same doc for “install” subcommand.
Nesting level is unlimited:
.. argparse::
:module: my.module
:func: my_func_that_return_parser
:prog: fancytool
:path: install subcomand1 subcommand2 subcommand3
Other useful directives¶
- nodefault:
Do not show any default values.
- nodefaultconst:
Like nodefault:, except it applies only to arguments of types store_const, store_true and store_false.
- nosubcommands:
Do not show subcommands.
- noepilog:
Do not parse the epilogue, which can be useful if it contains text that could be incorrectly parse as reStructuredText.
- nodescription:
Do not parse the description, which can be useful if it contains text that could be incorrectly parse as reStructuredText.
- passparser:
This can be used if you don’t have a function that returns an argument parser, but rather adds commands to it (:func: is then that function).