# Clips
A simple parser for building graceful command-line interfaces, with chained commands and colorful usage messages. Clips uses [getopt](https://docs.python.org/3/library/getopt.html) for parsing command arguments and options (scanning mode is GNU-flavoured).
Colors are implemented through ANSI codes and they are not expected to work on Windows. More generally, please note that Clips is not tested for Windows environment.
# Quick start
Install with *pip*:
`pip install clips`
# Usage example
A console with a chained command:
```
from clips import ArgParser
# init console
console = ArgParser(
'myconsole', # prog. name
description=description, # prog. description
banner=banner # usage banner
)
# add a console-level argument
console.add_argument('-v', '--version', help='Show version')
# add a console command
cmd = console.add_command('command', help='A command')
# add a subcommand
subcmd = cmd.add_command('subcommand', help='A subcommand')
# add an argument to subcommand
subcmd.add_argument('arg', help='Argument for this subcommand')
```
Parsing method returns a dictionary of user context,
```
# parse arguments
args = console.parse_args(['command', 'subcommand', 'this'])
print(args)
```
so that output is:
```
{
'-h': False,
'--help': False,
'-v': False,
'--version': False,
'command': True,
'subcommand': True,
'arg': 'this'
}
```
Argument can have default values:
```
console.add_argument('-o', '--opt', valued=True, default=10)
```
To display usage help:
```
# console-level usage
print(console.usage_help())
# command-level usage
print(console.usage_help(['command']))
print(console.usage_help(['command', 'subcommand']))
```
To disable internal management of help option:
```
# init console
console = ArgParser(
'myconsole', # prog. name
add_help=False # no help hook
)
```
Use colors for title and text:
```
# init console
console = ArgParser(
'myconsole', # prog. name
title_fg='orange', # title foreground color
title_bg='green', # title background color
text_fg='green', # text foreground color
text_bg='orange' # text background color
)
```
Group commands by sections (this affects only usage help):
```
# create section with commands
console.add_section('First section')
cmd1 = console.add_command('cmd1')
cmd2 = console.add_command('cmd2')
# another section
console.add_section('Second section')
cmd3 = console.add_command('cmd3')
cmd4 = console.add_command('cmd4')
```
Available colors for titles and text parts:
- foreground: *black*, *red*, *green*, *orange*, *blue*, *cyan*, *lightgrey*, *darkgrey*, *lightred*, *lightgreen*, *yellow*, *lightblue*, *pink*, *lightcyan*
- background: *black*, *red*, *green*, *orange*, *blue*, *purple*, *cyan*, *lightgrey*
