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Available on crate feature unstable-doc only.
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Example: cargo subcommand (Builder API)

fn main() {
    let cmd = clap::Command::new("cargo")
        .bin_name("cargo")
        .subcommand_required(true)
        .subcommand(
            clap::command!("example").arg(
                clap::arg!(--"manifest-path" <PATH>)
                    .required(false)
                    .value_parser(clap::value_parser!(std::path::PathBuf)),
            ),
        );
    let matches = cmd.get_matches();
    let matches = match matches.subcommand() {
        Some(("example", matches)) => matches,
        _ => unreachable!("clap should ensure we don't get here"),
    };
    let manifest_path = matches.get_one::<std::path::PathBuf>("manifest-path");
    println!("{:?}", manifest_path);
}

For more on creating a custom subcommand, see the cargo book. The crate clap-cargo can help in mimicking cargo’s interface.

The help looks like:

$ cargo-example --help
cargo 

USAGE:
    cargo <SUBCOMMAND>

OPTIONS:
    -h, --help    Print help information

SUBCOMMANDS:
    example    A simple to use, efficient, and full-featured Command Line Argument Parser
    help       Print this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)

$ cargo-example example --help
cargo-example [..]
A simple to use, efficient, and full-featured Command Line Argument Parser

USAGE:
    cargo example [OPTIONS]

OPTIONS:
    -h, --help                    Print help information
        --manifest-path <PATH>    
    -V, --version                 Print version information

Then to directly invoke the command, run:

$ cargo-example example
None

$ cargo-example example --manifest-path Cargo.toml
Some("Cargo.toml")