CommandLiner.jl -- Julia Command Line UX

Julia is well-suited for interactive, REPL-like applications, as well as a viable replacement for many bash scripting workflows. This package aims to streamline and help customize the end user experience (UX) of such Julia command line applications.

Scripting UX:

• Maximally-local and flexible option parsing.

• Custom file extension groups like (as in :jpeg == "jpg" or "JPG" or "Jpeg")

• Terse and deferred color output

• Interrupt and SIGPIPE handling.

• Tweaks to specific error message formats aimed not at developers but at application end users.

REPL UX:

• Aliases for commonly used REPL pipe workflows.

• Reverse assignment in pipes (experimental).

• Shortcut shell commands in the Julia REPL mode (in progress).

"Local" Option Parsing

Good option parsers for Julia exist, see ArgParse.jl or ArgMacros.jl or Getopt.jl. CommandLiner's getopt/getargs use a C/GNU/getopt-inspired approach. It

• supports in-order processing/parsing -- one can always randomly permute the option input later after all;
• is maximally local -- options are defined where the are being if-ed upon;
• checks and converts int/float types, and a string like -8 is treated as an argument instead of an option.

In a script, you alternately call getopt to get an option like -x, and getargs to get its arguments:

function main()  # your main function
    while length(ARGS) > 0
        opt = getopt()
        if opt == "-x"
            args = getargs()
            ..
        elseif opt === nothing  # "naked" arguments without preceding option
            args = getargs()
            ..
        else
            error("unknown option")
        end
    end
end

• getopt() pops and returns the next option from ARGS; if no option is found (i.e., string not starting with "--" or "-"), returns nothing (the arguments that would possibly follow are "naked").
• getargs() returns all arguments up to the next option; must find at least 1.
• getargs0() returns all arguments up to the next option (0 or more).
• getarg() returns one argument (not as vector).
• getargs("sfii") returns a vector of 4 arguments, a string, a float and two integers. Fails if more or fewer arguments are encountered, or if types do not match.
• getargs("si*") return a vector with a string argument and 0+ ints.

if stopatopt is false, all command line strings are treated as arguments (default distinguishes between options and arguments).

if mustexhaust is false, you can read n arguments, and leave additional, "naked arguments" for later parsing (default fails if there are valid arguments left, i.e., if the next string in ARGS is not an option).

File Extension Groups

hasext(path, "jpeg") and hasext(path, :jpeg) check for file extensions. The first (with a string) checks for identity; the latter checks whether a file extension belongs to a group like {"jpg", "jpeg", "jpe"}. You can define your own groups.

It supports piping (and thus filter(hasext(..))):

julia> "mypic.jpg" |> hasext(:jpeg)
true

[in progress]

Terse and Deferred Color Output

Wrapper type with custom print (calling printstyled) that lets you defer coloring outputs. Terse syntax to make coloring less intrusive.

julia> x = Cbx("Hello", "r!")
Cbx("Hello", Base.Pairs{Symbol, Any, Tuple{Symbol, Symbol}, NamedTuple{(:color, :reverse), Tuple{Symbol, Bool}}}(:color => :light_red, :reverse => true))

julia> print(x)  # no printstyled needed!

..will output in red & inverted.

Erroruser and @main Guard

EnduserError is an exception type meant to signal that the end user would not benefit from a full backtrace, e.g., with errors such as "file not found". Thrown with erroruser(msg).

The function hushexit(f::Function) calls f, and suppresses SIGPIPE exceptions gracefully, handles <Ctrl+C>..

The macro @main is a shortcut for the file guard in a script; it calls your main function via hushexit(main).

Curry Hack

julia> import CommandLiner.Iter.Hack: map, filter

julia> [1,2,3] |> map(sqrt)
...
julia> [1,2,3] |> filter(isodd)
...

[Thanks to @mkitti on Discourse for this idea!]

CommandLiner also exports the names filter_, map_ etc. as synonyms for the Base.Iterators variants; the underscore should resemble to-be-continued dots ...

Reverse-Assign Hack

julia> x
ERROR: UndefVarError: `x` not defined

julia> ReverseAssign.enable()

julia> 1.0 |> sin |> cos |> sin |> :x
0.6181340709529279

julia> x
0.6181340709529279

It works by overwriting the function call operator for Symbol. We put our worries if this is safe into the laps of the gods.

Version History

• 0.3 Colors; extensions
• 0.2 Initial version: command line options; enduser error; curry and reverse-assign hacks; tests