flagvar

A collection of CLI argument types for the flag package.

import "github.com/sgreben/flagvar"

Or just copy & paste what you need. It's public domain.

• Example
• Conventions
• Types
• Goals / design principles

Example

package main

import (
	"flag"
	"fmt"
	"github.com/sgreben/flagvar"
)

var (
	fruit    = flagvar.Enum{Choices: []string{"apple", "banana"}}
	urls     flagvar.URLs
	settings flagvar.Assignments
)

func main() {
	flag.Var(&fruit, "fruit", fmt.Sprintf("set a fruit (%s)", fruit.Help()))
	flag.Var(&urls, "url", "add a URL")
	flag.Var(&settings, "set", fmt.Sprintf("specify a setting (%s)", settings.Help()))
	flag.Parse()
}

$ go run main.go -set abc=xyz -url https://github.com
# no error

$ go run main.go -set abc=xyz -url ://github.com
invalid value "://github.com" for flag -url: parse ://github.com: missing protocol scheme

$ go run main.go -fruit kiwi
invalid value "kiwi" for flag -fruit: "kiwi" must be one of [apple banana]

$ go run main.go -h
Usage:
  -fruit value
        set a fruit (one of [apple banana])
  -set value
        specify a setting (a key/value pair KEY=VALUE)
  -url value
        add a URL

Conventions

• Pluralized argument types (e.g. Strings, Assignments) can be specified repeatedly, the values are collected in a slice.
• The resulting value is stored in .Value for singular types and in .Values for plural types
• The original argument string is stored in .Text for singular types and in .Texts for plural types
• -Set types (EnumSet, StringSet) de-duplicate provided values.
• -CSV types (IntsCSV, EnumsCSV) accept comma-separated values and accumulate values across flag instances if their .Accumulate field is set to true.
• Most types implement interface{ Help() string }, which produces a string suitable for inclusion in a help message.

Types

Here's a compact overview:

Goals / design principles

• Help avoid dependencies
  • Self-contained > DRY
  • Explicitly support copy & paste workflow
  • Copyable units should be easy to determine
  • Anonymous structs > shared types
• "Code-you-own" feeling, even when imported as a package
  • No private fields / methods
  • No magic
  • Simple built-in types used wherever possible
  • Avoid introducing new concepts
• Support "blind" usage
  • Zero values should be useful
  • Avoid introducing failure cases, handle any combination of parameters gracefully.
  • All "obvious things to try" should work.