optparse -- anyway to find if the user entered an option?

[Karthik Gurusamy]

Hi,

I see that I can provide a default value for an option. But I couldn't
find out any way if the user really entered the option or the option
took that value because of default. A simple check for value with
default may not always work as the user might have manually
entered the same default value.

Let's assume I want to take in the ip-address using -i <ip-addr>.
If user didn't give it explicitly, I am going to use socket interface
to figure out this host's IP address.

ip_addr_default = '100.100.100.10 0'

parser.add_opti on("-i", "--ip-address", dest="ip",
default=ip_addr _default,
metavar="IP-ADDRESS", help="IP address. default:" +
ip_addr_default + "e.g. --i=1.1.1.1"
)

(options, args) = parser.parse_ar gs()

Now if options.ip == ip_addr_default , I still can't be 100% sure that
the user did not type -i 100.100.100.100 .
Any way to figure out from options that the user typed it or not?

(The reason I want to know this is if user did not mention -i, I can
compute IP later
using socket module)

I could think of a hack of using None as default and since no user can
ever
enter a None value, I can be sure that the user didn't provide -i.
I'm wondering if there is a cleaner approach -- something like
parser.opt_seen ("-i")

Thanks,
Karthik

[James Stroud]

Karthik Gurusamy wrote:

Hi,

I see that I can provide a default value for an option. But I couldn't
find out any way if the user really entered the option or the option
took that value because of default. A simple check for value with
default may not always work as the user might have manually
entered the same default value.

Let's assume I want to take in the ip-address using -i <ip-addr>.
If user didn't give it explicitly, I am going to use socket interface
to figure out this host's IP address.

ip_addr_default = '100.100.100.10 0'

parser.add_opti on("-i", "--ip-address", dest="ip",
default=ip_addr _default,
metavar="IP-ADDRESS", help="IP address. default:" +
ip_addr_default + "e.g. --i=1.1.1.1"
)

(options, args) = parser.parse_ar gs()

Now if options.ip == ip_addr_default , I still can't be 100% sure that
the user did not type -i 100.100.100.100 .
Any way to figure out from options that the user typed it or not?

(The reason I want to know this is if user did not mention -i, I can
compute IP later
using socket module)

I could think of a hack of using None as default and since no user can
ever
enter a None value, I can be sure that the user didn't provide -i.
I'm wondering if there is a cleaner approach -- something like
parser.opt_seen ("-i")

Thanks,
Karthik

Using None wouldn't be a hack, it would rather be a common and
straightforward python idiom.

Compare:

if parser.opt_seen ("-i"):
do_whatever()

to

if options.ip is None:
do_whatever()

Looks like the second even saves a little typing. After using the former
a while, I would venture to guess that you might realize how the latter
is actually cleaner.

James

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Sat, 14 Apr 2007 16:49:22 -0700, Karthik Gurusamy wrote:

I'm wondering if there is a cleaner approach -- something like
parser.opt_seen ("-i")

What do dir(parser) and help(parser) say?

--
Steven.

[Karthik Gurusamy]

On Apr 14, 7:54 pm, Steven D'Aprano
<[e-mail] IS.cybersource. com.auwrote:

On Sat, 14 Apr 2007 16:49:22 -0700, Karthik Gurusamy wrote:

I'm wondering if there is a cleaner approach -- something like
parser.opt_seen ("-i")

What do dir(parser) and help(parser) say?

They don't seem to convey existence of a routine like the
one I'm looking for. I did check the lib reference - I guess
such a support is not available. Most likely the 'None'
solution will work for me. I will go ahead with it.

Karthik

>>dir(parser)

['__doc__', '__init__', '__module__', '_add_help_opti on',
'_add_version_o ption', '_check_conflic t', '_create_option _list',
'_create_option _mappings', '_get_all_optio ns', '_get_args',
'_get_encoding' , '_init_parsing_ state', '_long_opt',
'_match_long_op t', '_populate_opti on_list', '_process_args' ,
'_process_long_ opt', '_process_short _opts', '_share_option_ mappings',
'_short_opt', 'add_option', 'add_option_gro up', 'add_options',
'allow_interspe rsed_args', 'check_values', 'conflict_handl er',
'defaults', 'description', 'destroy', 'disable_inters persed_args',
'enable_intersp ersed_args', 'epilog', 'error', 'exit',
'expand_prog_na me', 'format_descrip tion', 'format_epilog' ,
'format_help', 'format_option_ help', 'formatter',
'get_default_va lues', 'get_descriptio n', 'get_option',
'get_option_gro up', 'get_prog_name' , 'get_usage', 'get_version',
'has_option', 'largs', 'option_class', 'option_groups' , 'option_list',
'parse_args', 'print_help', 'print_usage', 'print_version' ,
'process_defaul t_values', 'prog', 'rargs', 'remove_option' ,
'set_conflict_h andler', 'set_default', 'set_defaults',
'set_descriptio n', 'set_process_de fault_values', 'set_usage',
'standard_optio n_list', 'usage', 'values', 'version']

>>>
print sys.version

2.5 (r25:51908, Sep 29 2006, 12:35:59)
[GCC 3.2.3 20030502 (Red Hat Linux 3.2.3-54)]

help(parser) just gives info on a generic instance.

>
--
Steven.

[Michael Hoffman]

James Stroud wrote:

Karthik Gurusamy wrote:

>Hi,

I see that I can provide a default value for an option. But I couldn't
find out any way if the user really entered the option or the option
took that value because of default. A simple check for value with
default may not always work as the user might have manually
entered the same default value.

Let's assume I want to take in the ip-address using -i <ip-addr>.
If user didn't give it explicitly, I am going to use socket interface
to figure out this host's IP address.

ip_addr_defaul t = '100.100.100.10 0'

parser.add_opt ion("-i", "--ip-address", dest="ip",
default=ip_add r_default,
metavar="IP-ADDRESS", help="IP address. default:" +
ip_addr_default + "e.g. --i=1.1.1.1"
)

(options, args) = parser.parse_ar gs()

Now if options.ip == ip_addr_default , I still can't be 100% sure that
the user did not type -i 100.100.100.100 .
Any way to figure out from options that the user typed it or not?

(The reason I want to know this is if user did not mention -i, I can
compute IP later
using socket module)

I could think of a hack of using None as default and since no user can
ever
enter a None value, I can be sure that the user didn't provide -i.
I'm wondering if there is a cleaner approach -- something like
parser.opt_see n("-i")

Thanks,
Karthik

Using None wouldn't be a hack, it would rather be a common and
straightforward python idiom.

I agree. Also, remember that in optparse the default default (if you
will) is None.
--
Michael Hoffman