argparse

argparse is a feature-rich command line parser for Lua inspired by argparse for Python.

argparse supports positional arguments, options, flags, optional arguments, subcommands and more. argparse automatically generates usage, help and error messages.

Quick glance:

-- script.lua
local argparse = require "argparse"
local parser = argparse()
   :description "An example."
parser:argument "input"
   :description "Input file."
parser:option "-o" "--output"
   :default "a.out"
   :description "Output file."
parser:option "-I" "--include"
   :count "*"
   :description "Include locations."
local args = parser:parse()
prettyprint(args)

$ lua script.lua foo

input: foo
output: a.out
include: {}

$ lua script.lua foo -I/usr/local/include -I/src -o bar

input: foo
output: bar
include: {/usr/local/include, /src}

$ lua script.lua foo bar

Usage: script.lua [-o <output>] [-I <include>] [-h] <input>

Error: too many arguments

$ lua script.lua --help

Usage: script.lua [-o <output>] [-I <include>] [-h] <input>

An example. 

Arguments: 
   input                 Input file.

Options: 
   -o <output>, --output <output>
                         Output file. (default: a.out)
   -I <include>, --include <include>
                         Include locations.
   -h, --help            Show this help message and exit.

$ lua script.lua foo --outptu=bar

Usage: script.lua [-o <output>] [-I <include>] [-h] <input>

Error: unknown option '--outptu'
Did you mean '--output'?

Contents

• Installation
• Tutorial
• Testing
• License

Installation

Using luarocks

Installing argparse using luarocks is simple.

$ luarocks install argparse

Problems with old luarocks versions

You may get an error like Parse error processing dependency '30log >= 0.9.1' if you use luarocks 2.1 or older. In this case, either upgrade to at least luarocks 2.1.1 or install 30log manually, then download the rockspec for argparse, remove the line "30log >= 0.9.1" and run

$ luarocks install /path/to/argparse/rockspec

Without luarocks

Download /src/argparse.lua file and put it into the directory for libraries or your working directory. Install 30log using luarocks or manually download 30log.lua file from 30log repo.

Tutorial

The tutorial is available online and in the doc directory. If argparse was installed using luarocks 2.1.2 or later, it can be viewed using luarocks doc argparse command.

Testing

argparse comes with a testing suite located in spec directory. busted is required for testing, it can be installed using luarocks. Run the tests using busted spec command from the argparse folder.

License

argparse is licensed under the same terms as Lua itself(MIT license).