optionator
Advanced tools
The optionator npm package is used for parsing command-line options. It allows developers to easily define and manage the options their command-line interface (CLI) tools accept. It provides a declarative way to specify the options, their types, default values, and help descriptions. It also automatically generates help text based on the option definitions.
Option Parsing
This code sample demonstrates how to define command-line options and parse them using optionator. It also shows how to display help text if the user passes the 'help' option.
{"const optionator = require('optionator')({ prepend: 'Usage: prog [options]', append: 'Version 1.0.0', options: [{ option: 'help', alias: 'h', type: 'Boolean', description: 'Displays help' },{ option: 'force', alias: 'f', type: 'Boolean', default: 'false', description: 'Force operation' },{ option: 'verbose', type: 'Boolean', default: 'false', description: 'Verbose output' }] }); const options = optionator.parse(process.argv); if (options.help) { console.log(optionator.generateHelp()); process.exit(); }}Help Text Generation
This code sample shows how to automatically generate and display help text for the defined command-line options.
{"const optionator = require('optionator')({ prepend: 'Usage: prog [options]', append: 'Version 1.0.0', options: [{ option: 'help', alias: 'h', type: 'Boolean', description: 'Displays help' }] }); console.log(optionator.generateHelp());}Commander is a widely-used npm package for building command-line interfaces. It provides a more object-oriented approach to defining commands and options, and it supports subcommands, which optionator does not. Commander is more feature-rich and has a larger community and ecosystem.
Yargs is another popular npm package for parsing command-line arguments. It offers a fluent interface for building complex CLI tools and supports features like command chaining, context-aware parsing, and automatic help generation. Yargs is more suitable for complex CLI applications compared to optionator.
Minimist is a minimalistic option parsing library. It is simpler and has fewer features than optionator, focusing only on parsing command-line arguments without any automatic help generation or advanced option definitions. It is a good choice for simple use cases where a lightweight solution is preferred.
Optionator is an option parsing and help generation library.
The problem with other option parsers, such as yargs or minimist, is they just accept all input, valid or not.
With Optionator, if you mistype an option, it will give you an error (with a suggestion for what you meant).
If you give the wrong type of argument for an option, it will give you an error rather than supplying the wrong input to your application.
$ cmd --halp
Invalid option '--halp' - perhaps you meant '--help'?
$ cmd --count str
Invalid value for option 'count' - expected type Int, received value: str.
Over helpful features include reformatting the help text based on the size of the console, so that it fits even if the console is narrow, and accepting not just an array (eg. process.argv), but a string or object as well, making things like testing much easier.
Optionator uses type-check and levn behind the scenes to cast and verify input according the specified types.
Optionator is used by Grasp, eslint, LiveScript, esmangle, escodegen, and more.
MIT license. Version 0.5.0
npm install optionator
For updates on Optionator, follow me on twitter.
require('optionator'); returns a function. It has one property, VERSION, the current version of the library as a string. This function is called with an object specifying your options and other information, see the settings format section. This in turn returns an object with three properties, parse, generateHelp, and generateHelpForOption, which are all functions.
var optionator = require('optionator')({
prepend: 'Usage: cmd [options]',
append: 'Version 1.0.0',
options: [{
option: 'help',
alias: 'h',
type: 'Boolean',
description: 'displays help'
}, {
option: 'count',
alias: 'c',
type: 'Int',
description: 'number of things',
example: 'cmd --count 2'
}]
});
parse processes the input according to your settings, and returns an object with the results.
[String] | Object | String - the input you wish to parse{slice: Int} - all options optional
slice specifies how much to slice away from the beginning if the input is an array or string - by default 0 for string, 2 for array (works with process.argv)Object - the parsed options, each key is a camelCase version of the option name (specified in dash-case), and each value is the processed value for that option. Positional values are in an array under the _ key.
parse(['node', 't.js', '--count', '2', 'positional']); // {count: 2, _: ['positional']}
parse('--count 2 positional'); // {count: 2, _: ['positional']}
parse({count: 2, _:['positional']}); // {count: 2, _: ['positional']}
generateHelp produces help text based on your settings.
{showHidden: Boolean, interpolate: Object} - all options optional
showHidden specifies whether to show options with hidden: true specified, by default it is falseinterpolate specify data to be interpolated in prepend and append text, {{key}} is the format - eg. generateHelp({interpolate:{version: '0.4.2'}}), will change this append text: Version {{version}} to Version 0.4.2String - the generated help text
generateHelp(); /*
"Usage: cmd [options] positional
-h, --help displays help
-c, --count Int number of things
Version 1.0.0
"*/
generateHelpForOption produces expanded help text for the specified with optionName option. If an example was specified for the option, it will be displayed, and if a longDescription was specified, it will display that instead of the description.
String - the name of the option to displayString - the generated help text for the option
generateHelpForOption('count'); /*
"-c, --count Int
description: number of things
example: cmd --count 2
"*/
When your require('optionator'), you get a function that takes in a settings object. This object has the type:
{
prepend: Maybe String,
append: Maybe String,
options: [{heading: String} | {
option: String,
alias: Maybe [String] | String,
type: Maybe String,
enum: Maybe [String],
default: Maybe String,
restPositional: Maybe Boolean,
requried: Maybe Boolean,
overrideRequired: Maybe Bookean,
dependsOn: Maybe [String] | String,
description: Maybe String,
longDescription: Maybe String,
example: Maybe [String] | String
}],
helpStyle: Maybe {
aliasSeparator: Maybe String,
typeSeparator: Maybe String,
descriptionSeparator: Maybe String,
initialIndent: Maybe Int,
secondaryIndent: Maybe Int,
maxPadFactor: Maybe Number
},
mutuallyExclusive: Maybe [[String | [String]]],
concatRepeatedArrays: Maybe Boolean,
mergeRepeatedObjects: Maybe Boolean
}
prepend is an optional string to be placed before the options in the help textappend is an optional string to be placed after the options in the help textoptions is a required array specifying your options and headings, the options and headings will be displayed in the order specifiedhelpStyle is an optional object which enables you to change the default appearance of some aspects of the help textmutuallyExclusive is an optional array of arrays of either strings or arrays of strings. The top level array is a list of rules, each rule is a list of elements - each element can be either a string (the name of an option), or a list of strings (a group of option names) - there will be an error if more than one element is presentconcatRepeatedArrays is an optional boolean (defaults to false) - when set to true and an option contains an array value and is repeated, the subsequent values for the flag will be appended rather than overwriting the original value - eg. option g of type [String]: -g a -g b -g c,d will result in ['a','b','c','d']mergeRepeatedObjects is an optional boolean (defaults to false) - when set to true and an option contains an object value and is repeated, the subsequent values for the flag will be merged rather than overwriting the original value - eg. option g of type Object: -g a:1 -g b:2 -g c:3,d:4 will result in {a: 1, b: 2, c: 3, d: 4}heading a required string, the name of the headingoption the required name of the option - use dash-case, without the leading dashesalias is an optional string or array of strings which specify any aliases for the optiontype is a required string in the type check format, this will be used to cast the inputted value and validate itenum is an optional array of strings, each string will be parsed by levn - the argument value must be one of the resulting values - each potential value must validate against the specified typedefault is a optional string, which will be parsed by levn and used as the default value if none is set - the value must validate against the specified typerestPositional is an optional boolean - if set to true, everything after the option will be taken to be a positional argument, even if it looks like a named argumentrequired is an optional boolean - if set to true, the option parsing will fail if the option is not definedoverrideRequired is a optional boolean - if set to true and the option is used, and there is another option which is required but not set, it will override the need for the required option and there will be no error - this is useful if you have required options and want to use --help or --version flagsdependsOn is an optional string or array of strings - if simply a string (the name of another option), it will make sure that that other option is set, if an array of strings, depending on whether 'and' or 'or' is first, it will either check whether all (['and', 'option-a', 'option-b']), or at least one (['or', 'option-a', 'option-b']) other options are setdescription is an optional string, which will be displayed next to the option in the help textlongDescription is an optional string, it will be displayed instead of the description when generateHelpForOption is usedexample is an optional string or array of strings with example(s) for the option - these will be displayed when generateHelpForOption is usedaliasSeparator is an optional string, separates multiple names from each other - default: ' ,'typeSeparator is an optional string, separates the type from the names - default: ' 'descriptionSeparator is an optional string , separates the description from the padded name and type - default: ' 'initialIndent is an optional int - the amount of indent for options - default: 2secondaryIndent is an optional int - the amount of indent if wrapped fully (in addition to the initial indent) - default: 4maxPadFactor is an optional number - affects the default level of padding for the names/type, it is multiplied by the average of the length of the names/type - default: 1.5At the highest level there are two types of arguments: named, and positional.
Name arguments of any length are prefixed with -- (eg. --go), and those of one character may be prefixed with either -- or - (eg. -g).
There are two types of named arguments: boolean flags (eg. --problemo, -p) which take no value and result in a true if they are present, the falsey undefined if they are not present, or false if present and explicitly prefixed with no (eg. --no-problemo). Named arguments with values (eg. --tseries 800, -t 800) are the other type. If the option has a type Boolean it will automatically be made into a boolean flag. Any other type results in a named argument that takes a value.
For more information about how to properly set types to get the value you want, take a look at the type check and levn pages.
You can group single character arguments that use a single -, however all except the last must be boolean flags (which take no value). The last may be a boolean flag, or an argument which takes a value - eg. -ba 2 is equivalent to -b -a 2.
Positional arguments are all those values which do not fall under the above - they can be anywhere, not just at the end. For example, in cmd -b one -a 2 two where b is a boolean flag, and a has the type Number, there are two positional arguments, one and two.
Everything after an -- is positional, even if it looks like a named argument.
You may optionally use = to separate option names from values, for example: --count=2.
If you specify the option NUM, then any argument using a single - followed by a number will be valid and will set the value of NUM. Eg. -2 will be parsed into NUM: 2.
If duplicate named arguments are present, the last one will be taken.
optionator is written in LiveScript - a language that compiles to JavaScript. It uses levn to cast arguments to their specified type, and uses type-check to validate values. It also uses the prelude.ls library.
0.5.0
Boolean flags with default: 'true', and no short aliases, will by default show the --no version in helpFAQs
option parsing and help generation
The npm package optionator receives a total of 51,662,224 weekly downloads. As such, optionator popularity was classified as popular.
We found that optionator demonstrated a healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released less than a year ago. It has 1 open source maintainer collaborating on the project.
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