@kogs/argv ·

@kogs/argv is a Node.js package that provides a simple and opinionated API for parsing command line arguments.

• Simple and easy-to-use API.
• Full TypeScript definitions.
• Lightweight.

Installation

npm install @kogs/argv

Usage

// node index.js test --foo bar --baz -c -d fun
import { parse } from '@kogs/argv';
const argv = parse();

// argv.arguments[0] === 'test'
// argv.options.foo === 'bar'
// argv.options.baz === true
// argv.options.c === true
// argv.options.d === 'fun'

Documentation

• Parse - Parse command line arguments.
• Type Conversions - Retrieve arguments and options as specific types.
• Version - Helper function for --version.
• Help - Helper function for --help.

Parse

The simplest way to use @kogs/argv is to use the parse function. This function will parse the command line arguments and return an object containing the parsed arguments and options.

// node index.js test --foo bar --baz -c -d fun
import { parse } from '@kogs/argv';
const argv = parse();

// argv.arguments[0] === 'test'
// argv.options.foo === 'bar'
// argv.options.baz === true
// argv.options.c === true
// argv.options.d === 'fun'

By default, parse will parse the process.argv array (skipping the first two elements, which are the Node.js executable and the script path). You can also pass an array of arguments to parse instead.

Note: Only the primitive types string, number and boolean are supported. Any other types in the array will throw an error.

const argv = parse(['--example', '--foo=bar', '--baz' 'test']);
// argv.options.example === true
// argv.options.foo === 'bar'
// argv.options.baz === true

Notes on Parsing Long Options

• Arguments that begin with -- are treated as long options.
• Long options can have a value separated by an = or a space.
• Long options without a value are treated as true.
• Long options can only contain alphabetical (a-zA-Z) characters and -.
• - characters in long options are treated as word separators and will be converted to camelCase (e.g. --foo-bar becomes fooBar).
• All long options are converted to lowercase (with the exception of camelCase from the previous point).
• Invalid characters are ignored in long options. If the key contains no valid characters, it will be ignored.

Notes on Parsing Short Options

• Arguments that begin with - are treated as short options.
• Short options can have a value separated by a space only. Separating a short option and its value with an = is not supported.
• Short options without a value are treated as true.
• Short option groups (e.g. -abc) are not supported.
• Short options can only be a single character (a-z A-Z).
• Invalid short options are ignored.

Notes on Parsing

• If an option is ignored because it is invalid, a preceding value will still be consumed to prevent it from being parsed as an argument.
• Any arguments not consumed by options are added to the .arguments array.

Type Conversions

Everything parsed from the command line is returned as a string by default, but often it's useful to retrieve them as numbers or booleans.

Both the .options and .arguments properties have three helper functions that can be used to retrieve the values as specific types.

// --foo=5 --bar=false --baz=1.5 --qux=hello 50

// argv.options.foo === '5'
// argv.options.asNumber('foo') === 5
// argv.options.asBoolean('bar') === false
// argv.options.asNumber('baz') === 1.5

// Works on the .arguments array too.
// argv.arguments[0] === '50'
// argv.arguments.asNumber(0) === 50

asNumber

Retrieve the value of an option or argument as a number. This uses the native Number() function to parse the value and returns NaN if the value cannot be parsed.

• Missing keys are always returned as undefined.
• Boolean values are converted to 1 for true and 0 for false.
• Empty strings are converted to 0.
• Whitespace at the start and end of strings are trimmed.
• Strings that cannot be parsed are converted to NaN.
• Strings containing a decimal point are converted to floating point numbers.
• Strings starting with 0x are treated as hexadecimal numbers.
• Strings starting with 0o are treated as octal numbers.
• Strings starting with 0b are treated as binary numbers.
• Signed numbers (+ or -) are parsed as numbers with their signage.
• Infinity and -Infinity are parsed as their respective values.
• Numeric separators (_) will result in NaN.

For more information, see the MDN Number documentation.

asBoolean

Retrieve the value of an option or argument as a boolean. This does not use the native Boolean() function, but instead uses the following rules.

• Missing keys are always returned as undefined.
• Boolean values are returned as-is.
• Numbers are converted to true for non-zero values and false for zero.
• NaN is converted to false.
• Empty strings are converted to false.
• Strings literally containing 0 or false (case-insensitive, trimmed) are converted to false.
• All other strings are converted to true.

asString

Retrieve the value of an option or argument as a string. This is only useful if you have a boolean option that you want to retrieve as a string, or if you're parsing a custom array of arguments with mixed primitive types.

The value is parsed using the native String function.

• Missing keys are always returned as undefined.
• Boolean values are converted to true or false.
• Numbers are converted directly to strings.
• Strings (empty or otherwise) are returned as-is.

For more information, see the MDN String documentation.

asArray

Retrieve the value of an option or argument as an array. This will first retrieve the value as a string (using the asString function) and then split it into an array.

// --foo=1,2,3,4,5
// argv.options.asArray('foo') === ['1', '2', '3', '4', '5']

By default the array is split on , characters and whitespace is trimmed from the start and end of each element. Both of these can be controlled.

// --foo=1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
// argv.options.asArray('foo', '|') === ['1', '2', '3', '4', '5']
// argv.options.asArray('foo', '|', false) === ['1 ', ' 2 ', ' 3 ', ' 4 ', ' 5']

Version

The .version() helper function can be to print the version of your application if the --version or -v options are passed.

const argv = parse();
argv.version({
  name: 'My Application',
  version: '1.0.0'
});

$ node my-app.js --version
My Application v1.0.0

By default, the application will exit after printing the version. This can be disabled by setting the exit option to false.

argv.version({
  name: 'My Application',
  version: '1.0.0'
  exit: false
});

Additionally, the alwaysPrint option can be set to true to always print the version, even if the --version or -v options are not passed.

argv.version({
  name: 'My Application',
  version: '1.0.0'
  alwaysPrint: true
});

$ node my-app.js
My Application v1.0.0

Help

The .help() helper function can be used to print a help message if the --help or -h options are passed.

const argv = parse();
argv.help({
	entries: [
		{ name: '--foo <{bar}>', description: 'This is a description.' },
		{ name: '--baz', description: 'This is another description.' }
	]
});

$ node my-app.js --help
Options:
  --foo <{bar}>  This is a description.
  --baz          This is another description.

Two additional options, usage and url can be passed in to further customize the help message.

argv.help({
	usage: 'Usage: $ my-app.js [options]',
	url: 'https://www.google.co.uk/',
	entries: [
		{ name: '--foo <{bar}>', description: 'This is a description.' },
		{ name: '--baz', description: 'This is another description.' }
	]
});

$ node my-app.js --help
Usage: $ my-app.js [options]

Options:
  --foo <{bar}>  This is a description.
  --baz          This is another description.

For more information, see https://www.google.co.uk/

What is @kogs?

@kogs is a collection of packages that I've written to consolidate the code I often reuse across my projects with the following goals in mind:

• Consistent API.
• Minimal dependencies.
• Full TypeScript definitions.
• Avoid feature creep.
• ES6+ syntax.

All of the packages in the @kogs collection can be found on npm under the @kogs scope.

Contributing / Feedback / Issues

Feedback, bug reports and contributions are welcome. Please use the GitHub issue tracker and follow the guidelines found in the CONTRIBUTING file.

License

The code in this repository is licensed under the ISC license. See the LICENSE file for more information.