netargparse

netargparse

A Python library that imbues the standard ArgumentParser with an API for the Python script.

This library is intended as a replacement for the ArgumentParser of the standard argparse library, providing an additional TCP based API for handling the arguments of the script.

A minimal example minimal.py with the ArgumentParser could be

from argparse import ArgumentParser

def add_one(args):
    new_number = args.x + 1
    print(new_number)
    return new_number

parser = ArgumentParser()
parser.add_argument("-x", type=int, required=True)
args = parser.parse_args()
add_one(args)

and running the script results in

$ python minimal.py -x 5
6

Replacing the ArgumentParser with the NetArgumentParser from this library:

from netargparse import NetArgumentParser

def add_one(args):
    new_number = args.x + 1
    print(new_number)
    return {"new_number": new_number}

parser = NetArgumentParser()
parser.add_argument("-x", type=int, required=True)
parser(add_one)

The script can now be run in two modes:

• main - standalone, same behaviour as above
• nap - enable the API

Main

All arguments must be passed from the CLI after the main argument.

$ python minimal.py main -x 5
6

Nap

nap makes the script listen on a port and wait for the arguments.

$ python minimal.py nap --port 7000 --http

It is then possible to run the main function of the script by sending an HTTP get request with url parameters as arguments.

For example visit http://localhost:7000/?-x=5 with a browser and receive the script's return as json.

{"response": {"new_number": 6}, "exception": "", "finished": 1}

Installation

pip install netargparse

No additional libraries will be installed. All libraries used are part of The Python Standard Library.

Documentation

More documentation can be found in docs.