argz: CLI application helper for Zig

Supports:

• subcommands app sub1 sub2
• input options for primitive types string integer boolean
• Chained options for boolean types -abc is same as -a -b -c
• flags for on/off behavior types
• argument specification with rules eg. 1..3
• builtin and customizable help system
• hooks for attaching user functions to specified locations.

Options

You can specify number of options and attach those options to the command you want. Options are only valid in the scope of the attached command.

See examples/options.zig for example usage.

Arguments

Arguments are just strings and can be limited by using the nargs parameter.

// *    : zero or more arguments
// n    : exacly n arguments. n is an unsigned interger
// n..  : n or more arguments.
// ..n  : up to n arguments, inclusive
// n..m : between n and m arguments, inclusive. m is and unsigned integer
// null : (default) same as zero arguments

See examples/arguments.zig for example usage.

Subcommands

You can add as many subcommands as you like. It's a tree like structure so you can nest any number of subcommands.

//demo.zig

const std = @import("std");

const app = @import("argz");

const Command = app.Command;

pub fn mySubCommand(c: *Command) anyerror!void {
    std.debug.print("@{s}: running subcommand\n", .{c.name});
}

pub fn main() !void {
    var gpa = std.heap.GeneralPurposeAllocator(.{}){};
    defer {
        const check = gpa.deinit();
        if (check == .leak) @panic("memory leaked");
    }
    var allocator = gpa.allocator();

    var root = Command.init(allocator, "root");
    defer root.deinit();

    var sub = Command.init(allocator, "my-sub-command");
    sub.run = mySubCommand;

    try root.addCommand(sub);

    try root.parse();
    try root.start();
}

$ <appname> my-sub-command
# will print  @my-sub-command running subcommand

Help

To access help, add -h or --help option. This will print the attached help for the current command.

See examples/help.zig