# Argc
[](https://github.com/sigoden/argc/actions/workflows/ci.yaml)
[](https://crates.io/crates/argc)
An elegant command-line options, arguments and sub-commands parser for bash.
## Install
### With cargo
```
cargo install argc
```
### Binaries on macOS, Linux, Windows
Download from [Github Releases](https://github.com/sigoden/argc/releases), unzip and add argc to your $PATH.
### GitHub Actions
[extractions/setup-crate](https://github.com/marketplace/actions/setup-crate) can be used to install just in a GitHub Actions workflow.
```yaml
- uses: extractions/setup-crate@v1
with:
owner: sigoden
name: argc
```
## Usage
To write a command-line program with argc, we only need to do two things:
1. Describe options, flags, positional parameters and subcommands in comments.
2. Insert `eval "$(argc --argc-eval "$0" "$@")"` into script to let argc to parse command line arguments.
Write `example.sh`
```sh
# @flag --foo A flag
# @option --bar A option
# @option --baz* A option with multiple values
eval "$(argc --argc-eval "$0" "$@")"
echo foo: $argc_foo
echo bar: $argc_bar
echo baz: ${argc_baz[@]}
```
Run `./example.sh --foo --bar=value --baz a b c`, you can see argc successfully parses arguments and generate variables with `argc_` prefix.
```
foo: 1
bar: value
baz: a b c
```
Run `./example.sh -h`, argc wll print help information for you.
```
USAGE: example.sh [OPTIONS]
OPTIONS:
--foo A flag
--bar <BAR> A option
--baz [<BAZ>...] A option with multiple values
-h, --help Print help information
```
## Comment Tags
`argc` parses cli definition from comment tags.
### @cmd
```
@cmd [string]
```
Define a subcommand
```sh
# @cmd Upload a file
upload() {
echo Run upload
}
# @cmd Download a file
download() {
echo Run download
}
```
```
USAGE: test.sh <COMMAND>
COMMANDS:
upload Upload a file
download Download a file
```
### @arg
```
@arg <name>[modifier|default|modifer+choices] [zero-or-one value notation] [help-string]
```
Define a positional argument.
```sh
# @arg va
# @arg vb! requird
# @arg vc* multiple
# @arg vd+ required + multiple
# @arg vna <PATH> value notation
# @arg vda=a default
# @arg vdb=`_default_fn` default from fn
# @arg vca[a|b] choice
# @arg vcb[=a|b] choice + default
# @arg vcc*[a|b] multiple + choice
# @arg vcd+[a|b] required + multiple + choice
# @arg vfa[`_choice_fn`] choice from fn
# @arg vfb[?`_choice_fn`] choice from fn + no validation
# @arg vfc*[`_choice_fn`] multiple + choice from fn
```
### @option
```
@option [short] <long>[modifier|default|modifier+choices] [value-notation]... [help-string]
```
Define a option.
```sh
# @option --oa
# @option -b --ob short
# @option -c short only
# @option --oc! required
# @option --od* multiple
# @option --oe+ required + multiple
# @option --ona <PATH> value notation
# @option --onb <FILE> <FILE> multiple value notations
# @option --oda=a default
# @option --odb=`_default_fn` default from fn
# @option --oca[a|b] choice
# @option --ocb[=a|b] choice + default
# @option --occ*[a|b] multiple + choice
# @option --ocd*[+a|b] required + multiple + choice
# @option --ofa[`_choice_fn`] choice from fn
# @option --ofb[?`_choice_fn`] choice from fn + no validation
# @option --ofc*[`_choice_fn`] multiple + choice from fn
```
### @flag
```
@flag [short] <long>[*] [help string]
```
Define a flag. A flag is an option of boolean type, and is always false by default (e.g. --verbose, --quiet, --all, --long, etc).
```sh
# @flag --fa
# @flag -b --fb shoft
# @flag -c shoft only
# @flag --fd* multiple
# @flag -e --fe* short + multiple
```
### @alias
```
@alias <name...>
```
Add aliases for subcommand.
```sh
test() {
echo Run test
}
```
```
USAGE: test.sh <COMMAND>
COMMANDS:
test Run tests [aliases: t, tst]
```
### Meta
- @describe: Sets the cli’s description.
- @version: Sets cli's version.
- @author: Sets cli's author.
```sh
test() {
echo Run test
}
```
```
test.sh 2.17.1
nobody <nobody@example.com>
A demo cli
USAGE: test.sh <COMMAND>
COMMANDS:
test Run test
```
### Value Notation
Value notation is used to describe value type of options and positional parameters.
```
# @option --target <FILE>
# @arg target <FILE>
```
Here are some value notation that will affect the shell completion.
- `<FILE>`: complete files in current directory
- `<DIR>`: complete directories in current directory
- `<PATH>`: complete files and directories in current directory
## Nested Subcommands
```sh
cmd() { :; }
cmd::foo() { :; }
cmd::bar() { :; }
cmd::bar::baz() { :; }
cmd::bar::qux() { :; }
```
## Shell Completion
Ensure `argc` is added to [$PATH](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PATH_(variable)). Then register the completion
```
# bash (~/.bashrc)
source <(argc --argc-completions bash mycmd1 mycmd2)
# fish (~/.config/fish/config.fish)
argc --argc-completions fish mycmd1 mycmd2 | source
# powershell ($env:USERPROFILE\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1)
argc --argc-completions powershell mycmd1 mycmd2 | Out-String | Invoke-Expression
# zsh (~/.zshrc)
source <(argc --argc-completions zsh mycmd1 mycmd2)
```
**Replace `mycmd1 mycmd2` with your argc script names**.
Argc can be used as multiple shell completion engine. see [argc-compteltions](https://github.com/sigoden/argc-completions)
## Argcscript
We can create a script called `Argcscript.sh`. If argc is run without the `--argc-*` options, argc will locate the file and run it.
what is the benefit?
- Can enjoy a handy shell completion.
- Can be invoked in arbitrarily subdirectory, no need to locate script file each time.
- As a centralized entrypoint for executing the project's bash scripts.
- serves as a script for a task runner similar to how Makefile acts as make.
You can use `argc --argc-create` to quickly create boilerplate Argcscripts.
## Migrate
To migrate from v0 to v1, the only thing you need to do is:
Replace `eval "$(argc "$0" "$@")"` with `eval "$(argc --argc-eval "$0" "$@")"` in your script.
Otherwise you may encounter an error message like this when running the script:
```
Not found argcscript, try `argc --argc-help` to get help.
```
## Windows Only
Argc requires bash to run scripts. [git](https://git-scm.com/)'s built-in bash is good enough for argc.
If you want to use another bash, please specify it via `ARGC_SHELL` environment variable.
If you want to run the bash script directly, you can add the following configuration to Windows Registry.
```
New-ItemProperty -LiteralPath 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Classes\sh_auto_file\shell\open\command' `
-Name '(default)' -Value '"C:\Program Files\Git\bin\bash.exe" "%1" %*' -PropertyType String -Force
```
## License
argc is made available under the terms of either the MIT License or the Apache License 2.0, at your option.
See the LICENSE-APACHE and LICENSE-MIT files for license details.