Parse a config-file and add to command-line-arguments using argparse in Python

Question

I am trying to parse the command line arguments using argparse, and if the user specifies a yaml file for the config-file, add those arguments to the args from argparse

import argparse
import yaml
from pprint import pprint
class CLI(object):
 def execute(self):
 self.create_parser()
 self.options = self.parse_args()
 pprint(self.options)
 def create_parser(self):
 self.parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
 g = self.parser.add_argument_group('Device Targets')
 g.add_argument(
 '--config-file',
 dest='config_file',
 type=argparse.FileType(mode='r'))
 g.add_argument('--name', default=[], action='append')
 g.add_argument('--age', default=[], action='append')
 g.add_argument('--delay', type=int)
 g.add_argument('--stupid', dest='stupid', default=False, action='store_true')
 def parse_args(self):
 args = self.parser.parse_args()
 if args.config_file:
 data = yaml.load(args.config_file)
 delattr(args, 'config_file')
 for key, value in data.items():
 if isinstance(value, list):
 for v in value:
 getattr(args, key, []).append(v)
 else:
 setattr(args, key, value)
 return args
cli = CLI()
cli.execute()

If my config-file has the following data:

name: [Jill, Bob]
age: [21, 33]
delay: 30

And I run my code like this:

python test.py --conf args.txt --name 'Mark'

I get this for the output:

Namespace(age=[21, 33], delay=30, name=['Mark', 'Jill', 'Bob'], stupid=False)

So, it works, but is it good code?

• kamal: When i try to run your parser, with your data file, i get error: bitbucket.org/snippets/kamal2222ahmed/XeedLG

Answer 1

You don't need a class

In your current version of the code, it is hard to see what is stored in an instance and how the data flows around the different methods. If you do write a class, I find it clearer to have an init to define the different members but in your case, you could stop writing classes.

Removing the class, you get something like :

def execute():
 pprint(parse_args(create_parser()))
def create_parser():
 parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
 g = parser.add_argument_group('Device Targets')
 g.add_argument(
 '--config-file',
 dest='config_file',
 type=argparse.FileType(mode='r'))
 g.add_argument('--name', default=[], action='append')
 g.add_argument('--age', default=[], action='append')
 g.add_argument('--delay', type=int)
 g.add_argument('--stupid', dest='stupid', default=False, action='store_true')
 return parser
def parse_args(parser):
 args = parser.parse_args()
 if args.config_file:
 data = yaml.load(args.config_file)
 delattr(args, 'config_file')
 arg_dict = args.__dict__
 for key, value in data.items():
 if isinstance(value, list):
 for v in value:
 arg_dict[key].append(v)
 else:
 arg_dict[key] = value
 return args
execute()

The name execute probably needs to be improved for something more meaningful.

The right tool for the job

To add all the content from value to arg_dict[key], you shouldn't use àppend but extend.

 if isinstance(value, list):
 arg_dict[key].extend(value)
 else:
 arg_dict[key] = value

• Mark: As you were posting your answer, I edited the question. I am now doing getattr(args, key, []).append(v) and setattr(args, key, value). But, I will change to using extend, didn't think about that :) Is using setattr and getattr better than reaching into the args and pulling out the dict? The class and function are actually part of a bigger project, this code was to test if it works. Thanks for your help