cli — Command-Line Interface Builder¶

Define, parse, and validate command-line flags and arguments.

Import¶

import cli

API Reference¶

Basic Arguments¶

Function	Description
`cli.count() -> int`	Number of arguments (excluding program name)
`cli.program() -> str`	Program name (argv[0])
`cli.get(index) -> str`	Get argument at index (0-based)

Flags¶

Function	Description
`cli.has_flag(name) -> bool`	Check if a flag was passed
`cli.get_flag(name, default) -> str`	Get flag value as string
`cli.get_flag_int(name, default) -> int`	Get flag value as integer
`cli.get_flag_bool(name) -> bool`	Check if boolean flag is set

Flag Definitions & Validation¶

Function	Description
`cli.set_description(desc) -> int`	Set program description
`cli.define(long, short, desc, default) -> int`	Define a flag with default
`cli.define_bool(long, short, desc) -> int`	Define a boolean flag
`cli.require(flag_name) -> int`	Mark a flag as required
`cli.print_help() -> int`	Print auto-generated help
`cli.check_help() -> bool`	True if `--help` was passed
`cli.validate() -> str`	Validate flags, return error or empty string

Subcommands¶

Function	Description
`cli.subcommand() -> str`	Get the subcommand name (first positional arg)

Flag Formats¶

Both --name value and --name=value are supported:

./myapp --host localhost --port=8080 --verbose

Examples¶

Simple Flag Parsing¶

import cli

def main() -> int:
    let name = cli.get_flag("--name", "World")
    let port = cli.get_flag_int("--port", 8080)
    let verbose = cli.get_flag_bool("--verbose")

    print(f"Hello, {name}!")
    print(f"Port: {str(port)}")
    if verbose:
        print("Verbose mode enabled")
    0

Full CLI App with Validation¶

import cli

def main() -> int:
    cli.set_description("A sample Desi application")
    cli.define("--host", "-h", "Server hostname", "localhost")
    cli.define("--port", "-p", "Server port", "8080")
    cli.define_bool("--verbose", "-v", "Enable verbose output")
    cli.require("--host")

    # Auto-handle --help
    if cli.check_help():
        cli.print_help()
        return 0

    # Validate required flags
    let err = cli.validate()
    if err != "":
        print(f"Error: {err}")
        cli.print_help()
        return 1

    let host = cli.get_flag("--host", "localhost")
    let port = cli.get_flag_int("--port", 8080)
    print(f"Starting server on {host}:{str(port)}")
    0

Subcommands¶

import cli

def main() -> int:
    let cmd = cli.subcommand()

    if cmd == "serve":
        print("Starting server...")
    elif cmd == "build":
        print("Building project...")
    else:
        print(f"Unknown command: {cmd}")
    0