Declare command line arguments for your program by defining a struct.
var args struct {
Foo string
Bar bool
}
arg.MustParse(&args)
fmt.Println(args.Foo, args.Bar)$ ./example --foo=hello --bar
hello truego get github.com/alexflint/go-argvar args struct {
ID int `arg:"required"`
Timeout time.Duration
}
arg.MustParse(&args)$ ./example
Usage: example --id ID [--timeout TIMEOUT]
error: --id is requiredvar args struct {
Input string `arg:"positional"`
Output []string `arg:"positional"`
}
arg.MustParse(&args)
fmt.Println("Input:", args.Input)
fmt.Println("Output:", args.Output)$ ./example src.txt x.out y.out z.out
Input: src.txt
Output: [x.out y.out z.out]
var args struct {
Workers int `arg:"env"`
}
arg.MustParse(&args)
fmt.Println("Workers:", args.Workers)$ WORKERS=4 ./example
Workers: 4
$ WORKERS=4 ./example --workers=6
Workers: 6
You can also override the name of the environment variable:
var args struct {
Workers int `arg:"env:NUM_WORKERS"`
}
arg.MustParse(&args)
fmt.Println("Workers:", args.Workers)$ NUM_WORKERS=4 ./example
Workers: 4
You can provide multiple values using the CSV (RFC 4180) format:
var args struct {
Workers []int `arg:"env"`
}
arg.MustParse(&args)
fmt.Println("Workers:", args.Workers)$ WORKERS='1,99' ./example
Workers: [1 99]
You can also have an environment variable that doesn't match the arg name:
var args struct {
Workers int `arg:"--count,env:NUM_WORKERS"`
}
arg.MustParse(&args)
fmt.Println("Workers:", args.Workers)$ NUM_WORKERS=6 ./example
Workers: 6
$ NUM_WORKERS=6 ./example --count 4
Workers: 4
var args struct {
Input string `arg:"positional"`
Output []string `arg:"positional"`
Verbose bool `arg:"-v,--verbose" help:"verbosity level"`
Dataset string `help:"dataset to use"`
Optimize int `arg:"-O" help:"optimization level"`
}
arg.MustParse(&args)$ ./example -h
Usage: [--verbose] [--dataset DATASET] [--optimize OPTIMIZE] [--help] INPUT [OUTPUT [OUTPUT ...]]
Positional arguments:
INPUT
OUTPUT
Options:
--verbose, -v verbosity level
--dataset DATASET dataset to use
--optimize OPTIMIZE, -O OPTIMIZE
optimization level
--help, -h print this help messagevar args struct {
Foo string `default:"abc"`
Bar bool
}
arg.MustParse(&args)var args struct {
Foo string
Bar bool
}
arg.Foo = "abc"
arg.MustParse(&args)You can combine command line arguments, environment variables, and default values. Command line arguments take precedence over environment variables, which take precedence over default values. This means that we check whether a certain option was provided on the command line, then if not, we check for an environment variable (only if an env tag was provided), then if none is found, we check for a default tag containing a default value.
var args struct {
Test string `arg:"-t,env:TEST" default:"something"`
}
arg.MustParse(&args)The values in an existing structure can be kept in-tact by ignoring environment variables and/or default values.
var args struct {
Test string `arg:"-t,env:TEST" default:"something"`
}
p, err := arg.NewParser(arg.Config{
IgnoreEnv: true,
IgnoreDefault: true,
}, &args)
err = p.Parse(os.Args)var args struct {
Database string
IDs []int64
}
arg.MustParse(&args)
fmt.Printf("Fetching the following IDs from %s: %q", args.Database, args.IDs)./example -database foo -ids 1 2 3
Fetching the following IDs from foo: [1 2 3]var args struct {
Commands []string `arg:"-c,separate"`
Files []string `arg:"-f,separate"`
Databases []string `arg:"positional"`
}
arg.MustParse(&args)./example -c cmd1 db1 -f file1 db2 -c cmd2 -f file2 -f file3 db3 -c cmd3
Commands: [cmd1 cmd2 cmd3]
Files [file1 file2 file3]
Databases [db1 db2 db3]var args struct {
UserIDs map[string]int
}
arg.MustParse(&args)
fmt.Println(args.UserIDs)./example --userids john=123 mary=456
map[john:123 mary:456]var args struct {
Foo string
Bar string
}
p := arg.MustParse(&args)
if args.Foo == "" && args.Bar == "" {
p.Fail("you must provide either --foo or --bar")
}./example
Usage: samples [--foo FOO] [--bar BAR]
error: you must provide either --foo or --bartype args struct {
...
}
func (args) Version() string {
return "someprogram 4.3.0"
}
func main() {
var args args
arg.MustParse(&args)
}$ ./example --version
someprogram 4.3.0Note If a
--versionflag is defined inargsor any subcommand, it overrides the built-in versioning.
var args struct {
Short string `arg:"-s"`
Long string `arg:"--custom-long-option"`
ShortAndLong string `arg:"-x,--my-option"`
OnlyShort string `arg:"-o,--"`
}
arg.MustParse(&args)$ ./example --help
Usage: example [-o ONLYSHORT] [--short SHORT] [--custom-long-option CUSTOM-LONG-OPTION] [--my-option MY-OPTION]
Options:
--short SHORT, -s SHORT
--custom-long-option CUSTOM-LONG-OPTION
--my-option MY-OPTION, -x MY-OPTION
-o ONLYSHORT
--help, -h display this help and exitThe fields of embedded structs are treated just like regular fields:
type DatabaseOptions struct {
Host string
Username string
Password string
}
type LogOptions struct {
LogFile string
Verbose bool
}
func main() {
var args struct {
DatabaseOptions
LogOptions
}
arg.MustParse(&args)
}As usual, any field tagged with arg:"-" is ignored.
The following types may be used as arguments:
- built-in integer types:
int, int8, int16, int32, int64, byte, rune - built-in floating point types:
float32, float64 - strings
- booleans
- URLs represented as
url.URL - time durations represented as
time.Duration - email addresses represented as
mail.Address - MAC addresses represented as
net.HardwareAddr - pointers to any of the above
- slices of any of the above
- maps using any of the above as keys and values
- any type that implements
encoding.TextUnmarshaler
Implement encoding.TextUnmarshaler to define your own parsing logic.
// Accepts command line arguments of the form "head.tail"
type NameDotName struct {
Head, Tail string
}
func (n *NameDotName) UnmarshalText(b []byte) error {
s := string(b)
pos := strings.Index(s, ".")
if pos == -1 {
return fmt.Errorf("missing period in %s", s)
}
n.Head = s[:pos]
n.Tail = s[pos+1:]
return nil
}
func main() {
var args struct {
Name NameDotName
}
arg.MustParse(&args)
fmt.Printf("%#v\n", args.Name)
}$ ./example --name=foo.bar
main.NameDotName{Head:"foo", Tail:"bar"}
$ ./example --name=oops
Usage: example [--name NAME]
error: error processing --name: missing period in "oops"Implement encoding.TextMarshaler to define your own default value strings:
// Accepts command line arguments of the form "head.tail"
type NameDotName struct {
Head, Tail string
}
func (n *NameDotName) UnmarshalText(b []byte) error {
// same as previous example
}
// this is only needed if you want to display a default value in the usage string
func (n *NameDotName) MarshalText() ([]byte, error) {
return []byte(fmt.Sprintf("%s.%s", n.Head, n.Tail)), nil
}
func main() {
var args struct {
Name NameDotName `default:"file.txt"`
}
arg.MustParse(&args)
fmt.Printf("%#v\n", args.Name)
}$ ./example --help
Usage: test [--name NAME]
Options:
--name NAME [default: file.txt]
--help, -h display this help and exit
$ ./example
main.NameDotName{Head:"file", Tail:"txt"}Introduced in version 1.3.0
Use the placeholder tag to control which placeholder text is used in the usage text.
var args struct {
Input string `arg:"positional" placeholder:"SRC"`
Output []string `arg:"positional" placeholder:"DST"`
Optimize int `arg:"-O" help:"optimization level" placeholder:"LEVEL"`
MaxJobs int `arg:"-j" help:"maximum number of simultaneous jobs" placeholder:"N"`
}
arg.MustParse(&args)$ ./example -h
Usage: example [--optimize LEVEL] [--maxjobs N] SRC [DST [DST ...]]
Positional arguments:
SRC
DST
Options:
--optimize LEVEL, -O LEVEL
optimization level
--maxjobs N, -j N maximum number of simultaneous jobs
--help, -h display this help and exitA descriptive message can be added at the top of the help text by implementing
a Description function that returns a string.
type args struct {
Foo string
}
func (args) Description() string {
return "this program does this and that"
}
func main() {
var args args
arg.MustParse(&args)
}$ ./example -h
this program does this and that
Usage: example [--foo FOO]
Options:
--foo FOO
--help, -h display this help and exitSimilarly an epilogue can be added at the end of the help text by implementing
the Epilogue function.
type args struct {
Foo string
}
func (args) Epilogue() string {
return "For more information visit github.com/alexflint/go-arg"
}
func main() {
var args args
arg.MustParse(&args)
}$ ./example -h
Usage: example [--foo FOO]
Options:
--foo FOO
--help, -h display this help and exit
For more information visit github.com/alexflint/go-argIntroduced in version 1.1.0
Subcommands are commonly used in tools that wish to group multiple functions into a single program. An example is the git tool:
$ git checkout [arguments specific to checking out code]
$ git commit [arguments specific to committing]
$ git push [arguments specific to pushing]The strings "checkout", "commit", and "push" are different from simple positional arguments because the options available to the user change depending on which subcommand they choose.
This can be implemented with go-arg as follows:
type CheckoutCmd struct {
Branch string `arg:"positional"`
Track bool `arg:"-t"`
}
type CommitCmd struct {
All bool `arg:"-a"`
Message string `arg:"-m"`
}
type PushCmd struct {
Remote string `arg:"positional"`
Branch string `arg:"positional"`
SetUpstream bool `arg:"-u"`
}
var args struct {
Checkout *CheckoutCmd `arg:"subcommand:checkout"`
Commit *CommitCmd `arg:"subcommand:commit"`
Push *PushCmd `arg:"subcommand:push"`
Quiet bool `arg:"-q"` // this flag is global to all subcommands
}
arg.MustParse(&args)
switch {
case args.Checkout != nil:
fmt.Printf("checkout requested for branch %s\n", args.Checkout.Branch)
case args.Commit != nil:
fmt.Printf("commit requested with message \"%s\"\n", args.Commit.Message)
case args.Push != nil:
fmt.Printf("push requested from %s to %s\n", args.Push.Branch, args.Push.Remote)
}Some additional rules apply when working with subcommands:
- The
subcommandtag can only be used with fields that are pointers to structs - Any struct that contains a subcommand must not contain any positionals
This package allows to have a program that accepts subcommands, but also does something else when no subcommands are specified. If on the other hand you want the program to terminate when no subcommands are specified, the recommended way is:
p := arg.MustParse(&args)
if p.Subcommand() == nil {
p.Fail("missing subcommand")
}https://godoc.org/github.com/alexflint/go-arg
There are many command line argument parsing libraries for Go, including one in the standard library, so why build another?
The flag library that ships in the standard library seems awkward to me. Positional arguments must precede options, so ./prog x --foo=1 does what you expect but ./prog --foo=1 x does not. It also does not allow arguments to have both long (--foo) and short (-f) forms.
Many third-party argument parsing libraries are great for writing sophisticated command line interfaces, but feel to me like overkill for a simple script with a few flags.
The idea behind go-arg is that Go already has an excellent way to describe data structures using structs, so there is no need to develop additional levels of abstraction. Instead of one API to specify which arguments your program accepts, and then another API to get the values of those arguments, go-arg replaces both with a single struct.
Earlier versions of this library required the help text to be part of the arg tag. This is still supported but is now deprecated. Instead, you should use a separate help tag, described above, which removes most of the limits on the text you can write. In particular, you will need to use the new help tag if your help text includes any commas.
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