Don't show long options twice in print_help() from argparse

argparse, python

Solution

Another solution, using custom descriptions

if you set the `metavar=''`, the help line becomes:

-q , --queue          Show information for <queue>

Here I suppress the regular help lines, and replace them with the description lines for a group:

parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Postfix Queue Administration Tool',
        prog='pqa',
        usage='%(prog)s [-h] [-v,--version]',
        formatter_class=argparse.RawDescriptionHelpFormatter,
        )
parser.add_argument('-l', '--list', action='store_true',
        help='Shows full overview of all queues')
g = parser.add_argument_group(title='information options',
        description='''-q, --queue <queue>     Show information for <queue>
-d, --domain <domain>   Show information about a specific <domain>''')
g.add_argument('-q', '--queue', action='store', metavar='', dest='queue',
        help=argparse.SUPPRESS)
g.add_argument('-d', '--domain', action='store', metavar='<domain>', dest='domain',
        help=argparse.SUPPRESS)
parser.add_argument('-v', '--version', action='version', version='%(prog)s 0.1')
parser.print_help()

usage: pqa [-h] [-v,--version]

Postfix Queue Administration Tool

optional arguments:
  -h, --help     show this help message and exit
  -l, --list     Shows full overview of all queues
  -v, --version  show program's version number and exit

information options:
  -q, --queue <queue>     Show information for <queue>
  -d, --domain <domain>   Show information about a specific <domain>

Or you could put that information in the regular description. You already are using a custom usage line.

Problem

I have the following code: ``` parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Postfix Queue Administration Tool', prog='pqa', usage='%(prog)s [-h] [-v,--version]') parser.add_argument('-l', '--list', action='store_true', help='Shows full overview of all queues') parser.add_argument('-q', '--queue', action='store', metavar='<queue>', dest='queue', help='Show information for <queue>') parser.add_argument('-d', '--domain', action='store', metavar='<domain>', dest='domain', help='Show information about a specific <domain>') parser.add_argument('-v', '--version', action='version', version='%(prog)s 0.1') args = parser.parse_args() ``` Which gives me output like this: ``` %./pqa usage: pqa [-h] [-v,--version] Postfix Queue Administration Tool optional arguments: -h, --help show this help message and exit -l, --list Shows full overview of all queues -q <queue>, --queue <queue> Show information for <queue> -d <domain>, --domain <domain> Show information about a specific <domain> -v, --version show program's version number and exit ``` I would very much like to know how I can 'group' commands that have two versions (ie. long options) which each also show a metavar. This is mostly an aesthetic issue on my side, but I would still like to fix this. I have been reading manuals and texts on the internet, but either the information just isn't there or I am totally missing something here :)

Original source