mini-cli

Simple cli command to action mapper.

Yes there is a huge amount of those already but why do they all have to be so complicated... I just need a way to call a function when a certain string is in the arguments, with just a tad of fluff.

Usage

var MiniCli = require('mini-cli');
var cli = new MiniCli();

cli.command('cmd');
cli.option('c', 'x');
cli.action(function (context, args, options) {
    // execute 'cmd' command
    return '"cmd" command result';
});

cli.command('read');
cli.action(function (ctx, args, options) {
    return 'contents at ' + args[0];
});

let result = cli.parse(process.argv.slice(2));
console.log(result);

Api

MiniCli.constructor

Create new cli programme.

MiniCli.command(string: name)

Start new command map. All following method calls would relate to this command instance.

MiniCli.description(string: description)

Set human readable description.

MiniCli.alias(string: name)

Makes an association to the current command map by the different name.

MiniCli.args(...string)

List of arguments(s) expected by this command. Last argument can be a function(ctx, value) which will be called for each encountered argument. Any return value which evaluates to true will break execution and cause MiniCli.parse to return it at that moment (no other arguments will be processed);

Argument definition format: <argument name>[=default]

Defining arguments will cause MiniCli.action function to receive arguments hash { _:[], {string:string} } pairs instead of string[].

Note: "_: []" - contain arguments not matched by args() function;

E.g.

var a = cli.command('a').action(function (ctx, args) {
  console.log(args instanceof Array); // true
});

var b = cli.command('b').args('first').action(function (ctx, args) {
  console.log(args); {_: {}, first: 'foo'}
})

MiniCli.option(...string)

List of string option(s) expected by this command. Last argument can be a function(ctx, value) which will be called for each encountered argument. Any return value which evaluates to true will break execution and cause MiniCli.parse to return it at that moment (no other arguments will be processed);

Option argument format: [!]<option name>[=default]

• ! - specifies that the option is required. MiniCli.parse would return an error object ignoring before invoking MiniCli.action callback.
• <option name> - name of the option argument
• =default - default value

E.g.

cli.option('c', '!mustHave', 'x=foo' function () {
    // 'c', 'x' or 'mustHave' are present in the
    //arguments to the programme
});

MiniCli.action(function: callback)

• function(object: context, array: args, object: options);

Register a callback function for the command.

• context - created new and destroyed for each request. use it for whatever
• args - list of arguments
• options - object with option values

MiniCli.parse(array: args[, object: context])

Invoked an callback for the respective MiniCli.action callback. It's return value is whatever action callback returns.

It is possible to provide custom context object command action callbacks using second argument.

[static] MiniCli.parse(array: args, function: callback)

Helper function to create and parse arguments array in a single step.

MiniCli.commands()

Returns Iterator.<id, name, description> over defined commands.

• id - Command string match. Value given to a command trigger via command or alias methods.
• name - Command name, this would match to the value of command method.
• description - Value matching command description.