sys.argv is munging my command line options

[Chris Allen]

The command line syntax for my program is as follows:

action key=value key=value...

Where action is a required string (ie. 'backup', 'init', 'restore',
etc) and the program can accept one or more key value pairs. I know
this syntax isn't standard, but I think it works great for my program
as each key can override an identically named field in a configuration
file, that way the user doesn't have to have two different syntaxes to
do the same thing. I could do this with --key value, but key=value is
cleaner IMHO because it matches the config file syntax.

But I'm running into a problem with this which is that sys.argv splits
my key=value options. I need to know the option associations, and
there's no way to know this by inspecting sys.argv. Can I get access
to the command line string as python saw it before it split it into
sys.argv or is there another way? Thanks.

 

[Ant]

But I'm running into a problem with this which is that sys.argv splits
my key=value options. I need to know the option associations, and
there's no way to know this by inspecting sys.argv. Can I get access
to the command line string as python saw it before it split it into
sys.argv or is there another way? Thanks.

Could you show us some example code that demonstrates this? The
following works as expected for me on win32:

# test.py
import sys

for arg in sys.argv[1:]:
print arg

From the command prompt:

C:\0>test.py action key=value key=value
action
key=value
key=value

 

[Chris Allen]

Thanks for the reply. Oops... I forget that I was calling the program
from a shell script, the shell script was responsible for goofing up
my command line options. Solved. Thanks again.

But I'm running into a problem with this which is that sys.argv splits
my key=value options. I need to know the option associations, and
there's no way to know this by inspecting sys.argv. Can I get access
to the command line string as python saw it before it split it into
sys.argv or is there another way? Thanks.

Could you show us some example code that demonstrates this? The
following works as expected for me on win32:

# test.py
import sys

for arg in sys.argv[1:]:
print arg

From the command prompt:

C:\0>test.py action key=value key=value
action
key=value
key=value

 

[Arnau Sanchez]

Chris Allen escribió:

action key=value key=value...

Where action is a required string (ie. 'backup', 'init', 'restore',
etc) and the program can accept one or more key value pairs. I know
this syntax isn't standard, but I think it works great for my program
as each key can override an identically named field in a configuration
file, that way the user doesn't have to have two different syntaxes to
do the same thing. I could do this with --key value

It's ok for a personal script, but if you expect other people to use it,
you should consider the "Rule of Least Surprise" and follow the standard.

Anyway, using getopt or optparse, it would be "--key=value", or perhaps
"-o key=value / --option=key=value"

But I'm running into a problem with this which is that sys.argv splits
my key=value options. I need to know the option associations, and
there's no way to know this by inspecting sys.argv. Can I get access
to the command line string as python saw it before it split it into
sys.argv or is there another way?

I can't see the problem, sys.argv[1:] gives you the list of ordered
key/value pairs... give an example of what you want and what you get.