command-line-usage

What is command-line-usage?

The command-line-usage npm package is used to generate usage guides for command-line applications. It helps in creating structured and styled help text that can be displayed when users need assistance with the command-line interface (CLI) of your application.

What are command-line-usage's main functionalities?

Defining Sections

This feature allows you to define different sections of the usage guide, such as headers and options. The code sample demonstrates how to create a usage guide with a description and options.

const commandLineUsage = require('command-line-usage');

const sections = [
  {
    header: 'My App',
    content: 'This is a description of my app.'
  },
  {
    header: 'Options',
    optionList: [
      {
        name: 'help',
        typeLabel: '{underline boolean}',
        description: 'Display this usage guide.'
      },
      {
        name: 'src',
        typeLabel: '{underline file}',
        description: 'The input file to process.'
      }
    ]
  }
];

const usage = commandLineUsage(sections);
console.log(usage);

Customizing Option Descriptions

This feature allows you to customize the descriptions of the options in your CLI application. The code sample shows how to define options with aliases and types, along with their descriptions.

const commandLineUsage = require('command-line-usage');

const sections = [
  {
    header: 'Options',
    optionList: [
      {
        name: 'verbose',
        alias: 'v',
        type: Boolean,
        description: 'Enable verbose mode.'
      },
      {
        name: 'timeout',
        alias: 't',
        type: Number,
        description: 'Set the timeout value in ms.'
      }
    ]
  }
];

const usage = commandLineUsage(sections);
console.log(usage);

Adding Examples

This feature allows you to add examples to your usage guide, making it easier for users to understand how to use your CLI application. The code sample demonstrates how to add concise and detailed examples.

const commandLineUsage = require('command-line-usage');

const sections = [
  {
    header: 'Examples',
    content: [
      {
        desc: '1. A concise example.',
        example: '$ app -v'
      },
      {
        desc: '2. A long example.',
        example: '$ app --timeout 1000'
      }
    ]
  }
];

const usage = commandLineUsage(sections);
console.log(usage);

Other packages similar to command-line-usage

yargs

Yargs is a popular library for building command-line interfaces. It provides extensive functionality for parsing arguments, generating usage information, and handling commands. Compared to command-line-usage, yargs offers more comprehensive features for argument parsing and command handling.

commander

Commander is another widely-used library for building command-line interfaces. It allows you to define commands, options, and usage information. While it provides similar functionality to command-line-usage, it is more focused on command and option parsing rather than generating usage guides.

oclif

Oclif is a framework for building command-line tools. It provides a robust set of features for creating complex CLI applications, including argument parsing, command handling, and generating help text. Oclif is more comprehensive and suited for larger CLI projects compared to command-line-usage.

README

command-line-usage

Generates column-layout usage information for a command-line parser (e.g. command-line-args).

Synopsis

Where example/dmd.js looks like this

module.exports = {
    options: {
        title: "dmd",
        header: "Generate markdown API documentation",
        forms: [
            "$ cat jsdoc-parse-output.json | dmd [<options>]"
        ],
        footer: "Project home: https://github.com/jsdoc2md/dmd"
    },
    data: [
        { name: "template", alias: "t", type: String,
          description: "A custom handlebars template file to insert documentation into. The default template is `{{>main}}`."
        },
        { name: "heading-depth", type: Number, alias: "d",
          description: "root heading depth, defaults to 2 (`##`)."
        },
        { name: "plugin", type: Array,
          description: "Use an installed package containing helper and/or partial overrides"
        },
        { name: "helper", type: Array,
          description: "handlebars helper files to override or extend the default set"
        },
        { name: "partial", type: Array,
          description: "handlebars partial files to override or extend the default set"
        },
        { name: "example-lang", type: String, alias: "l",
          description: "Specifies the default language used in @example blocks (for syntax-highlighting purposes). In gfm mode, each @example is wrapped in a fenced-code block. Example usage: `--example-lang js`. Use the special value `none` for no specific language. While using this option, you can override the supplied language for any @example by specifying the `@lang` subtag, e.g `@example @lang hbs`. Specifying `@example @lang off` will disable code blocks for that example."
        },
        { name: "name-format", type: Boolean,
          description: "Format identifier names as code"
        },
        { name: "no-gfm", type: Boolean,
          description: "By default, dmd generates github-flavoured markdown. Not all markdown parsers render gfm correctly. If your generated docs look incorrect on sites other than Github (e.g. npmjs.org) try enabling this option to disable Github-specific syntax. "
        },
        { name: "separators", type: Boolean,
          description: "Put <hr> breaks between identifiers. Improves readability on bulky docs. "
        },
        { name: "module-index-format", type: String, alias: "m",
          description: "none, grouped, table, dl"
        },
        { name: "global-index-format", type: String, alias: "g",
          description: "none, grouped, table, dl"
        },
        { name: "param-list-format", type: String, alias: "p",
          description: "Two options to render parameter lists: 'list' or 'table' (default). Table format works well in most cases but switch to list if things begin to look crowded / squashed. "
        },
        { name: "property-list-format", type: String, alias: "r",
          description: "list, table"
        },
        { name: "member-index-format", type: String, alias: "c",
          description: "grouped, list"
        },
        { name: "group-by", type: Array,
          description: "a list of fields to group member indexes by"
        }
    ]
};

This command:

$ command-line-usage example/dmd.js

Outputs this:

  dmd
  Generate markdown API documentation

  Usage
  $ cat jsdoc-parse-output.json | dmd [<options>]

  -t, --template <string>               A custom handlebars template file to insert documentation into. The default template is `{{>main}}`.
  -d, --heading-depth <number>          root heading depth, defaults to 2 (`##`).
  --plugin <array>                      Use an installed package containing helper and/or partial overrides
  --helper <array>                      handlebars helper files to override or extend the default set
  --partial <array>                     handlebars partial files to override or extend the default set
  -l, --example-lang <string>           Specifies the default language used in @example blocks (for syntax-highlighting purposes). In gfm
                                        mode, each @example is wrapped in a fenced-code block. Example usage: `--example-lang js`. Use the
                                        special value `none` for no specific language. While using this option, you can override the supplied
                                        language for any @example by specifying the `@lang` subtag, e.g `@example @lang hbs`. Specifying
                                        `@example @lang off` will disable code blocks for that example.
  --name-format                         Format identifier names as code
  --no-gfm                              By default, dmd generates github-flavoured markdown. Not all markdown parsers render gfm correctly. If
                                        your generated docs look incorrect on sites other than Github (e.g. npmjs.org) try enabling this
                                        option to disable Github-specific syntax.
  --separators                          Put <hr> breaks between identifiers. Improves readability on bulky docs.
  -m, --module-index-format <string>    none, grouped, table, dl
  -g, --global-index-format <string>    none, grouped, table, dl
  -p, --param-list-format <string>      Two options to render parameter lists: 'list' or 'table' (default). Table format works well in most
                                        cases but switch to list if things begin to look crowded / squashed.
  -r, --property-list-format <string>   list, table
  -c, --member-index-format <string>    grouped, list
  --group-by <array>                    a list of fields to group member indexes by

  Project home: https://github.com/jsdoc2md/dmd
  

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© 2015 Lloyd Brookes <[e-mail]>.