parent parser args are positional about argparse

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I don't think that allowing the main parser options interspersed with the 
subparser
options is right for all applications. For example, while 'svn --version' 
works, 'svn
co --version' doesn't. So at least SVN has decided that --version is not a 
global option.

Right now, the only real way to use global options is to store all your global
options in one parser, and then add those options to all your subparsers using 
the
parser= keyword argument to the ArgumentParser constructor. Something like this:

>>> global_options = argparse.ArgumentParser(add_help=False)
>>> global_options.add_argument('--bar', action='store_true')
>>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(parents=[global_options])
>>> subparsers = parser.add_subparsers()
>>> parser1 = subparsers.add_parser('1', parents=[global_options])
>>> parser.parse_args(['--bar', '1'])
Namespace(bar=True)
>>> parser.parse_args(['1', '--bar'])
Namespace(bar=True)

I'm open to patches which make it easier to specify global options if you have
specific ideas.

Original comment by [email protected] on 8 Sep 2009 at 1:11

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Original comment by [email protected] on 8 Sep 2009 at 1:11

• Changed state: Accepted
• Added labels: Type-Enhancement
• Removed labels: Type-Defect

[GoogleCodeExporter]

s/using the parser= keyword/using the parents= keyword/

Original comment by [email protected] on 10 Sep 2009 at 3:41

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Closing this as the parents keyword allows the desired behavior to be requested 
explicitly. If you'd like to propose an API for this, please either discuss on 
the argarse users list, or file a feature request on bugs.python.org.

Original comment by [email protected] on 23 Jul 2010 at 10:53

• Changed state: WontFix