# picocli - a mighty tiny command line interface

version 3.9.6, 2019-04-06

> Every main method deserves picocli!

The user manual for the latest release is at http://picocli.info. For the busy and impatient: there is also a Quick Guide.

## 1. Introduction

Picocli is a one-file framework for creating Java command line applications with almost zero code. Supports a variety of command line syntax styles including POSIX, GNU, MS-DOS and more. Generates highly customizable usage help messages with ANSI colors and styles. Picocli-based applications can have command line TAB completion showing available options, option parameters and subcommands, for any level of nested subcommands.

A distinguishing feature of picocli is how it aims to let users run picocli-based applications without requiring picocli as an external dependency: all the source code lives in a single file, to encourage application authors to include it in source form.

How it works: annotate your class and picocli initializes it from the command line arguments, converting the input to strongly typed values in the fields of your class.

    import picocli.CommandLine.Option;
    import picocli.CommandLine.Parameters;
    import java.io.File;

    public class Example {
        @Option(names = { "-v", "--verbose" }, description = "Be verbose.")
        private boolean verbose = false;

        @Parameters(arity = "1..*", paramLabel = "FILE", description = "File(s) to process.")
        private File[] inputFiles;
        ...
    }

Then invoke `CommandLine.parse` or `CommandLine.populateCommand` with the command line parameters and an object you want to initialize.

    String[] args = { "-v", "inputFile1", "inputFile2" };
    Example app = CommandLine.populateCommand(new Example(), args);
    assert  app.verbose;
    assert  app.inputFiles != null && app.inputFiles.length == 2;

Here is a small example application that uses the `CommandLine.call` convenience method to do parsing and error handling in one line of code. The mixinStandardHelpOptions attribute is all that is needed to give your application usage help and version help.

    @Command(description = "Prints the checksum (MD5 by default) of a file to STDOUT.",
             name = "checksum", mixinStandardHelpOptions = true, version = "checksum 3.0")
    class CheckSum implements Callable<Void> {

        @Parameters(index = "0", description = "The file whose checksum to calculate.")
        private File file;

        @Option(names = {"-a", "--algorithm"}, description = "MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, ...")
        private String algorithm = "MD5";

        public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
            // CheckSum implements Callable, so parsing, error handling and handling user
            // requests for usage help or version help can be done with one line of code.
            CommandLine.call(new CheckSum(), args);
        }

        @Override
        public Void call() throws Exception {
            // your business logic goes here...
            byte[] fileContents = Files.readAllBytes(file.toPath());
            byte[] digest = MessageDigest.getInstance(algorithm).digest(fileContents);
            System.out.println(javax.xml.bind.DatatypeConverter.printHexBinary(digest));
            return null;
        }
    }

## 2. Options and Parameters

Command line arguments can be separated into options and positional parameters. Options have a name, positional parameters are usually the values that follow the options, but they may be mixed.

Picocli has separate annotations for options and positional parameters.

### 2.1. Options

An option must have one or more `names`. Picocli lets you use any option name you want.

| You may be interested in this list of common option names. Following these conventions may make your application more intuitive to use for experienced users.

The below example shows options with one or more names, options that take an option parameter, and a help option.

    class Tar {
        @Option(names = "-c", description = "create a new archive")
        boolean create;

        @Option(names = { "-f", "--file" }, paramLabel = "ARCHIVE", description = "the archive file")
        File archive;

        @Parameters(paramLabel = "FILE", description = "one or more files to archive")
        File[] files;

        @Option(names = { "-h", "--help" }, usageHelp = true, description = "display a help message")
        private boolean helpRequested = false;
    }

Picocli matches the option names to set the field values.

    String[] args = { "-c", "--file", "result.tar", "file1.txt", "file2.txt" };
    Tar tar = new Tar();
    new CommandLine(tar).parse(args);

    assert !tar.helpRequested;
    assert  tar.create;
    assert  tar.archive.equals(new File("result.tar"));
    assert  Arrays.equals(tar.files, new File[] {new File("file1.txt"), new File("file2.txt")});

### 2.2. Interactive (Password) Options

Picocli 3.5 introduced password support: for options and positional parameters marked as `interactive`, the user is prompted to enter a value on the console. When running on Java 6 or higher, picocli will use the `Console.readPassword` API so that user input is not echoed to the console.

#### 2.2.1. Example

The example below demonstrates how an interactive option can be used to specify a password. From picocli 3.9.6, interactive options can use type `char[]` instead of String, to allow applications to null out the array after use so that sensitive information is no longer resident in memory.

Example usage:

    class Login implements Callable<Object> {
        @Option(names = {"-u", "--user"}, description = "User name")
        String user;

        @Option(names = {"-p", "--password"}, description = "Passphrase", interactive = true)
        char[] password;

        public Object call() throws Exception {
            byte[] bytes = new byte[password.length];
            for (int i = 0; i < bytes.length; i++) { bytes[i] = (byte) password[i]; }

            MessageDigest md = MessageDigest.getInstance("SHA-256");
            md.update(bytes);

            System.out.printf("Hi %s, your password is hashed to %s.%n", user, base64(md.digest()));

            // null out the arrays when done
            Arrays.fill(bytes, (byte) 0);
            Arrays.fill(password, ' ');

            return null;
        }

        private String base64(byte[] arr) { /* ... */ }
    }

When this command is invoked like this:

    CommandLine.call(new Login(), "-u", "user123", "-p");

Then the user will be prompted to enter a value:

    Enter value for --password (Passphrase):

When running on Java 6 or higher, the user input is not echoed to the console. After the user enters a password value and presses enter, the `call()` method is invoked, which prints something like the following:

    Hi user123, your passphrase is hashed to 75K3eLr+dx6JJFuJ7LwIpEpOFmwGZZkRiB84PURz6U8=.

#### 2.2.2. Optionally Interactive

Interactive options by default cause the application to wait for input on stdin. For commands that need to be run interactively as well as in batch mode, it is useful if the option can optionally consume an argument from the command line.

The default arity for interactive options is zero, meaning that the option takes no parameters. From picocli 3.9.6, interactive options can also take a value from the command line if configured with `arity = "0..1"`.

For example, if an application has these options:

    @Option(names = "--user")
    String user;

    @Option(names = "--password", arity = "0..1", interactive = true)
    char[] password;

With the following input, the `password` field will be initialized to `"123"` without prompting the user for input:

    --password 123 --user Joe

However, if the password is not specified, the user will be prompted to enter a value. In the following example, the password option has no parameter, so the user will be prompted to type in a value on the console:

    --password --user Joe

| Providing Passwords to Batch Scripts Securely Note that specifying a password in plain text on the command line or in scripts is not secure. There are alternatives that are more secure. One idea is to add a separate different option (that could be named `--password:file`) that takes a `File` or `Path` parameter, where the application reads the password from the specified file. Another idea is to add a separate different option (that could be named `--password:env`) that takes an environment variable name parameter, where the application gets the password from the user’s environment variables. A command that combines either of these with an interactive `--password` option (with the default `arity = "0"`) allows end users to provide a password without specifying it in plain text on the command line. Such a command can be executed both interactively and in batch mode. The `picocli-examples` module has an example.

### 2.3. Short Options

Picocli supports POSIX clustered short options: one or more single-character options without option-arguments, followed by at most one option with an option-argument, can be grouped behind one '-' delimiter.

For example, given this annotated class:

    class ClusteredShortOptions {
        @Option(names = "-a") boolean aaa;
        @Option(names = "-b") boolean bbb;
        @Option(names = "-c") boolean ccc;
        @Option(names = "-f") String  file;
    }

The following command line arguments are all equivalent and parsing them will give the same result:

    <command> -abcfInputFile.txt
    <command> -abcf=InputFile.txt
    <command> -abc -f=InputFile.txt
    <command> -ab -cf=InputFile.txt
    <command> -a -b -c -fInputFile.txt
    <command> -a -b -c -f InputFile.txt
    <command> -a -b -c -f=InputFile.txt
    ...

### 2.4. Positional Parameters

Any command line arguments that are not subcommands or options (or option parameters) are interpreted as positional parameters. Positional parameters generally follow the options but from picocli v2.0, positional parameters can be mixed with options on the command line.

Use the (zero-based) `index` attribute to specify exactly which parameters to capture. Omitting the `index` attribute means the field captures all positional parameters. Array or collection fields can capture multiple values.

The `index` attribute accepts range values, so an annotation like `@Parameters(index="2..4")` captures the arguments at index 2, 3 and 4. Range values can be open-ended. For example, `@Parameters(index="3..*")` captures all arguments from index 3 and up.

For example:

    class PositionalParameters {
        @Parameters(hidden = true)  // "hidden": don't show this parameter in usage help message
        List<String> allParameters; // no "index" attribute: captures _all_ arguments (as Strings)

        @Parameters(index = "0")    InetAddress host;
        @Parameters(index = "1")    int port;
        @Parameters(index = "2..*") File[] files;
    }

Picocli initializes fields with the values at the specified index in the arguments array.

    String[] args = { "localhost", "12345", "file1.txt", "file2.txt" };
    PositionalParameters params = CommandLine.populateCommand(new PositionalParameters(), args);

    assert params.host.getHostName().equals("localhost");
    assert params.port == 12345;
    assert Arrays.equals(params.files, new File[] {new File("file1.txt"), new File("file2.txt")});
    assert params.allParameters.equals(Arrays.asList("localhost", "12345", "file1.txt", "file2.txt"));

See Strongly Typed Everything for which types are supported out of the box and how to add custom types.

### 2.5. Mixing Options and Positional Parameters

From picocli v2.0, positional parameters can be mixed with options on the command line.

For example:

    class Mixed {
        @Parameters
        List<String> positional;

        @Option(names = "-o")
        List<String> options;
    }

Any command line argument that is not an option or subcommand is interpreted as a positional parameter.

    String[] args = { "param0", "-o", "AAA", "param1", "param2", "-o", "BBB", "param3" };
    Mixed mixed = new Mixed();
    new CommandLine(mixed).parse(args);

    assert mixed.positional.equals(Arrays.asList("param0", "param1", "param2", "param3");
    assert mixed.options.equals   (Arrays.asList("AAA", "BBB"));

### 2.6. Double dash (`--`)

When one of the command line arguments is just two dashes without any characters attached (`--`), picocli interprets all following arguments as positional parameters, even arguments that match an option name.

    class DoubleDashDemo {
        @Option(names = "-v")     boolean verbose;
        @Option(names = "-files") List<String> files;
        @Parameters               List<String> params;
    }

The `--` end-of-options delimiter clarifies which of the arguments are positional parameters:

    String[] args = { "-v", "--", "-files", "file1", "file2" };
    DoubleDashDemo demo = new DoubleDashDemo();
    new CommandLine(demo).parse(args);

    assert demo.verbose;
    assert demo.files == null;
    assert demo.params.equals(Arrays.asList("-files", "file1", "file2"));

A custom delimiter can be configured with `CommandLine.setEndOfOptionsDelimiter(String)`.

### 2.7. @-files

#### 2.7.1. Argument Files for Long Command Lines

Users sometimes run into system limitations on the length of a command line when creating a command line with lots of options or with long arguments for options.

Starting from v2.1.0, picocli supports "argument files" or "@-files". Argument files are files that themselves contain arguments to the command. When picocli encounters an argument beginning with the character `@', it expands the contents of that file into the argument list.

An argument file can include options and positional parameters in any combination. The arguments within a file can be space-separated or newline-separated. If an argument contains embedded whitespace, put the whole argument in double or single quotes. Within quoted values, backslashes need to be escaped with another backslash.

For example, it is possible to have a path with a space, such as `c:\Program Files` that can be specified as either `"c:\\Program Files"` or, to avoid an escape, `c:\Program" "Files`.

Lines starting with `#` are comments and are ignored. The comment character can be configured with `CommandLine.setAtFileCommentChar(Character)`, and comments can be switched off by setting the comment character to `null`.

The file may itself contain additional @-file arguments; any such arguments will be processed recursively.

If the file does not exist, or cannot be read, then the argument will be treated literally, and not removed. Multiple @-files may be specified on the command line. The specified path may be relative (to the current directory) or absolute.

For example, suppose a file with arguments exists at `/home/foo/args`, with these contents:

    # This line is a comment and is ignored.
    ABC -option=123
    'X Y Z'

A command may be invoked with the @file argument, like this:

    java MyCommand @/home/foo/args

The above will be expanded to the contents of the file:

    java MyCommand ABC -option=123 "X Y Z"

@-file expansion can be switched off by calling `CommandLine::setExpandAtFiles` with `false`. If turned on, you can still pass a real parameter with an initial '@' character by escaping it with an additional '@' symbol, e.g. '@@somearg' will become '@somearg' and not be subject to expansion.

This feature is similar to the 'Command Line Argument File' processing supported by gcc, javadoc and javac. The documentation for these tools shows further examples.

#### 2.7.2. Simplified Format

From picocli 3.8.1, a simpler argument file format is also supported where every line (except empty lines and comment lines) is interpreted as a single argument. Arguments containing whitespace do not need to be quoted, but it is not possible to have arguments with embedded newlines or to have empty string arguments without quotes. From picocli 3.9, this simpler argument format is fully compatible with JCommander's `@-file` argument file format.

You can tell picocli to use the simplified argument file format programmatically with `CommandLine.setUseSimplifiedAtFiles(true)`, or by setting system property `picocli.useSimplifiedAtFiles` without a value or with value `"true"` (case-insensitive). The system property is useful to allow end users control over the format.

## 3. Strongly Typed Everything

When command line options and positional parameters are mapped to the annotated fields, the text value is converted to the type of the annotated field.

### 3.1. Built-in Types

Out of the box, picocli can convert command line argument strings to a number of common data types.

Most of the built-in types work with Java 5, but picocli also has some default converters for Java 7 types like `Path` and Java 8 types like `Duration`, etc. These converters are loaded using reflection and are only available when running on a Java version that supports them. See the below list for details.

- any Java primitive type or their wrapper

- any `enum`

- `String`, `StringBuilder`, `CharSequence`

- `java.math.BigDecimal`, `java.math.BigInteger`

- `java.nio.Charset`

- `java.io.File`

- `java.net.InetAddress`

- `java.util.regex.Pattern`

- `java.util.Date` (for values in `"yyyy-MM-dd"` format)

- `java.net.URL`, `java.net.URI`

- `java.util.UUID`

- `java.lang.Class` (from picocli 2.2, for the fully qualified class name)

- `java.nio.ByteOrder` (from picocli 2.2, for the Strings `"BIG_ENDIAN"` or `"LITTLE_ENDIAN"`)

- `java.util.Currency` (from picocli 2.2, for the ISO 4217 code of the currency)

- `java.net.NetworkInterface` (from picocli 2.2, for the InetAddress or name of the network interface)

- `java.util.TimeZoneConverter` (from picocli 2.2, for the ID for a TimeZone)

Converters loaded using reflection:

- `java.nio.file.Path` (from picocli 2.2, requires Java 7 or higher)

- `java.time` value objects: `Duration`, `Instant`, `LocalDate`, `LocalDateTime`, `LocalTime`, `MonthDay`, `OffsetDateTime`, `OffsetTime`, `Period`, `Year`, `YearMonth`, `ZonedDateTime`, `ZoneId`, `ZoneOffset` (from picocli 2.2, requires Java 8 or higher, invokes the `parse` method of these classes)

- `java.sql.Time` (for values in any of the `"HH:mm"`, `"HH:mm:ss"`, `"HH:mm:ss.SSS"`, or `"HH:mm:ss,SSS"` formats)

- `java.sql.Timestamp` (from picocli 2.2, for values in the `"yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss"` or `"yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.fffffffff"` formats)

- `java.sql.Connection` (from picocli 2.2, for a database url of the form `jdbc:subprotocol:subname`)

- `java.sql.Driver` (from picocli 2.2, for a database URL of the form `jdbc:subprotocol:subname`)

| Sometimes loading converters with reflection is not desirable. Use system property `picocli.converters.excludes` to specify a comma-separated list of fully qualified class names for which the converter should not be loaded. Regular expressions are supported. For example, invoking the program with `-Dpicocli.converters.excludes=java.sql.Ti.*` will not load type converters for `java.sql.Time` and `java.sql.Timestamp`.

### 3.2. Custom Type Converters

Register a custom type converter to handle data types other than the above built-in ones.

Custom converters need to implement the `picocli.CommandLine.ITypeConverter` interface:

    public interface ITypeConverter<K> {
        /**
         * Converts the specified command line argument value to some domain object.
         * @param value the command line argument String value
         * @return the resulting domain object
         * @throws Exception an exception detailing what went wrong during the conversion
         */
        K convert(String value) throws Exception;
    }

Custom type converters can be registered with the `CommandLine.registerConverter(Class<K> cls, ITypeConverter<K> converter)` method. All options and positional parameters with the specified type will be converted by the specified converter.

| Java 8 lambdas make it easy to register custom converters:

    CommandLine cl = new CommandLine(app)
    cl.registerConverter(Locale.class, s -> new Locale.Builder().setLanguageTag(s).build());
    cl.registerConverter(Cipher.class, s -> Cipher.getInstance(s));

After registering custom converters, call the `parse(String…​)` method on the `CommandLine` instance where the converters are registered. (The static `populateCommand` method cannot be used.) For example:

    class App {
        @Parameters java.util.Locale locale;
        @Option(names = "-a") javax.crypto.Cipher cipher;
    }

    App app = new App();
    CommandLine commandLine = new CommandLine(app)
        .registerConverter(Locale.class, s -> new Locale.Builder().setLanguageTag(s).build())
        .registerConverter(Cipher.class, s -> Cipher.getInstance(s));

    commandLine.parse("-a", "AES/CBC/NoPadding", "en-GB");
    assert app.locale.toLanguageTag().equals("en-GB");
    assert app.cipher.getAlgorithm().equals("AES/CBC/NoPadding"));

| Note on subcommands: the specified converter will be registered with the `CommandLine` object and all subcommands (and nested sub-subcommands) that were added before the converter was registered. Subcommands added later will not have the converter added automatically. To ensure a custom type converter is available to all subcommands, register the type converter last, after adding subcommands.

### 3.3. Option-specific Type Converters

Picocli 2.2 added a `converter` attribute to the `@Option` and `@Parameter` annotations. This allows a specific option or positional parameter to use a different converter than would be used by default based on the type of the field.

For example, for a specific field you may want to use a converter that maps the constant names defined in `java.sql.Types` to the `int` value of these constants, but any other `int` fields should not be affected by this and should continue to use the standard int converter that parses numeric values.

Example usage:

    class App {
        @Option(names = "--sqlType", converter = SqlTypeConverter.class)
        int sqlType;
    }

Example implementation:

    class SqlTypeConverter implements ITypeConverter<Integer> {
        public Integer convert(String value) throws Exception {
            switch (value) {
                case "ARRAY"  : return Types.ARRAY;
                case "BIGINT" : return Types.BIGINT;
                case "BINARY" : return Types.BINARY;
                case "BIT"    : return Types.BIT;
                case "BLOB"   : return Types.BLOB;
                ...
            }
        }
    }

This may also be useful for applications that need a custom type converter but want to use the static convenience methods (`populateCommand`, `run`, `call`, `invoke`). The `converter` annotation does not require a `CommandLine` instance so it can be used with the static convenience methods.

Type converters declared with the `converter` attribute need to have a public no-argument constructor to be instantiated, unless a Custom Factory is installed to instantiate classes.

### 3.4. Arrays, Collections, Maps

| Starting from picocli v2.0, the `type` attribute is no longer necessary for `Collection` and `Map` fields: picocli will infer the collection element type from the generic type. (The `type` attribute still works as before, it is just optional in most cases.)

#### 3.4.1. Arrays and Collections

Multiple parameters can be captured together in a single array or `Collection` field. The array or collection elements can be any type for which a converter is registered. For example:

    import java.util.regex.Pattern;
    import java.io.File;

    class Convert {
        @Option(names = "-patterns", description = "the regex patterns to use");
        Pattern[] patterns;

        @Parameters(/* type = File.class, */ description = "the files to convert")
        List<File> files; // picocli infers type from the generic type
    }

    String[] args = { "-patterns", "a*b", "-patterns", "[a-e][i-u]", "file1.txt", "file2.txt" };
    Convert convert = CommandLine.populateCommand(new Convert(), args);

    // convert.patterns now has two Pattern objects
    // convert.files now has two File objects

| If a collection is returned from a type converter, the contents of the collection are added to the field or method parameter, not the collection itself.

If the field or method parameter is `null`, picocli will instantiate it when the option or positional parameter is successfully matched. If the `Collection` type is not a concrete class, picocli will make a best effort to instantiate it based on the field type: `List → ArrayList`, `OrderedSet → TreeSet`, `Set → LinkedHashSet`, `Queue → LinkedList`, otherwise, `ArrayList`.

#### 3.4.2. Maps

Picocli v1.0 introduced support for `Map` fields similar to Java’s system properties `-Dkey=value` or Gradle’s project properties `-Pmyprop=myvalue`.

`Map` fields may have any type for their key and value as long as a converter is registered for both the key and the value type. Key and value types are inferred from the map’s generic type parameters. For example:

    import java.net.InetAddress;
    import java.net.Proxy.Type;
    import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

    class MapDemo {
        @Option(names = {"-p", "--proxyHost"});
        Map<Proxy.Type, InetAddress> proxies;

        @Option(names = {"-u", "--timeUnit"});
        Map<TimeUnit, Long> timeout;
    }

Map options may be specified multiple times with different key-value pairs. (See Multiple Values.)

    <command> -p HTTP=123.123.123.123 --proxyHost SOCKS=212.212.212.212
    <command> -uDAYS=3 -u HOURS=23 -u=MINUTES=59 --timeUnit=SECONDS=13

If the field is `null`, picocli will instantiate it when the option or positional parameter is matched. If the type is not a concrete class, picocli will instantiate a `LinkedHashMap` to preserve the input ordering.

| On the command line, the key and the value must be separated by a `=` character.

### 3.5. Abstract Field Types

The field’s type can be an interface or an abstract class. The `type` attribute can be used to control for each field what concrete class the string value should be converted to. For example:

    class App {
        @Option(names = "--big", type = BigDecimal.class) // concrete Number subclass
        Number[] big; // array type with abstract component class

        @Option(names = "--small", type = Short.class) // other Number subclass
        Number[] small;

        @Parameters(type = StringBuilder.class) // StringBuilder implements CharSequence
        CharSequence address; // interface type
    }

#### 3.5.1. Maps and Collections with Abstract Elements

For raw maps and collections, or when using generics with unbounded wildcards like `Map<?, ?>`, or when the type parameters are themselves abstract classes like `List<CharSequence>` or `Map<? extends Number, ? super Number>`, there is not enough information to convert to a stronger type. By default, the raw String values are added as is to such collections.

The `type` attribute can be specified to convert to a stronger type than String. For example:

    class TypeDemo {
        @Option(names = "-x"); // not enough information to convert
        Map<?, ?> weaklyTyped; // String keys and values are added as is

        @Option(names = "-y", type = {Short.class, BigDecimal.class});
        Map<? extends Number, ? super Number> stronglyTyped;

        @Option(names = "-s", type = CharBuffer.class);
        List<CharSequence> text;
    }

### 3.6. Enum Types

It is encouraged to use `enum` types for options or positional parameters with a limited set of valid values. Not only will picocli validate the input, it allows you to show all values in the usage help message with `@Option(description = "Valid values: ${COMPLETION-CANDIDATES}")`. It also allows command line completion to suggest completion candidates for the values of this option.

Enum value matching is case-sensitive by default, but from 3.4 this can be controlled with `CommandLine::setCaseInsensitiveEnumValuesAllowed` and `CommandSpec::caseInsensitiveEnumValuesAllowed`.

## 4. Default Values

It is possible to define a default value for an option or positional parameter, that is assigned when the user did not specify this option or positional parameter on the command line.

### 4.1. Field Values

For annotated fields, it is simplest to declare the field with a value:

    @Option(names = "-c", description = "The count (default: ${DEFAULT-VALUE})")
    int count = 123; // default value is 123

### 4.2. `defaultValue` Annotation

For @Option and @Parameters-annotated methods and @Command-annotated methods, use the `defaultValue` annotation attribute. For example, for an annotated interface:

    interface Spec {
        @Option(names = "-c", defaultValue = "123", description = "... ${DEFAULT-VALUE} ...")
        int count();
    }

Or similarly for an annotated concrete class:

    class Impl {
        int count;

        @Option(names = "-c", defaultValue = "123", description = "... ${DEFAULT-VALUE} ...")
        void setCount(int count) {
            this.count = count;
        }
    }

And finally for a command method:

    class CommandMethod {
        @Command(description = "Do something.")
        void doit(@Option(names = "-c", defaultValue = "123") int count) {
            // ...
        }
    }

Note that you can use the `${DEFAULT-VALUE}` variable in the `description` of the option or positional parameter and picocli will show the actual default value.

### 4.3. Default Provider

Finally, you can specify a default provider in the `@Command` annotation:

    @Command(defaultValueProvider = MyDefaultProvider.class)
    class MyCommand // ...

The default provider allows you to get default values from a configuration file or some other central place. Default providers need to implement the `picocli.CommandLine.IDefaultValueProvider` interface:

    public interface IDefaultValueProvider {

        /**
         * Returns the default value for an option or positional parameter or {@code null}.
         * The returned value is converted to the type of the option/positional parameter
         * via the same type converter used when populating this option/positional
         * parameter from a command line argument.
         *
         * @param argSpec the option or positional parameter, never {@code null}
         * @return the default value for the option or positional parameter, or {@code null} if
         *       this provider has no default value for the specified option or positional parameter
         * @throws Exception when there was a problem obtaining the default value
         */
        String defaultValue(ArgSpec argSpec) throws Exception;
    }

## 5. Multiple Values

Multi-valued options and positional parameters are annotated fields that can capture multiple values from the command line.

### 5.1. Multiple Occurrences

#### 5.1.1. Repeated Options

The simplest way to create a multi-valued option is to declare an annotated field whose type is an array, collection or a map.

    @Option(names = "-option")
    int[] values;

Users may specify the same option multiple times. For example:

    <command> -option 111 -option 222 -option 333

Each value is appended to the array or collection.

#### 5.1.2. Multiple Positional Parameters

Similarly for multi-valued positional parameters:

    @Parameters
    List<TimeUnit> units;

Users may specify multiple positional parameters. For example:

    <command> SECONDS HOURS DAYS

Again, each value is appended to the array or collection.

#### 5.1.3. Repeated Boolean Options

Boolean options with multiple values are supported from picocli v2.1.0.

    @Option(names = "-v", description = { "Specify multiple -v options to increase verbosity.",
                                          "For example, `-v -v -v` or `-vvv`"})
    boolean[] verbosity;

Users may specify multiple boolean flag options without parameters. For example:

    <command> -v -v -v -vvv

The above example results in six `true` values being added to the `verbosity` array.

### 5.2. Split Regex

Options and parameters may also specify a `split` regular expression used to split each option parameter into smaller substrings. Each of these substrings is converted to the type of the collection or array. See Arrays and Collections.

    @Option(names = "-option", split = ",")
    int[] values;

A single command line argument like the following will be split up and three `int` values are added to the array:

    -option 111,222,333

Similarly for Maps:

    @Option(names = "-fix", split = "\\|")
    Map<Integer, String> message;

With the above option, command line arguments like the following are interpreted as a set of key-value pairs instead of a single string:

    -fix 8=FIX.4.4|9=69|35=A|49=MBT|56=TargetCompID|34=9|52=20130625-04:05:32.682|98=0|108=30|10=052

See Quoted Values for details on handling more complex cases.

### 5.3. Arity

Sometimes you want to define an option that requires more than one option parameter for each option occurrence on the command line.

The `arity` attribute lets you control exactly how many parameters to consume for each option occurrence.

The `arity` attribute can specify an exact number of required parameters, or a range with a minimum and a maximum number of parameters. The maximum can be an exact upper bound, or it can be `"*"` to denote any number of parameters. For example:

    class ArityDemo {
        @Parameters(arity = "1..3", descriptions = "one to three Files")
        File[] files;

        @Option(names = "-f", arity = "2", description = "exactly two floating point numbers")
        double[] doubles;

        @Option(names = "-s", arity = "1..*", description = "at least one string")
        String[] strings;
    }

A `MissingParameterException` is thrown when fewer than the miminum number of parameters is specified on the command line.

Once the minimum number of parameters is consumed, picocli will check each subsequent command line argument to see whether it is an additional parameter, or a new option. For example:

    ArityDemo -s A B C -f 1.0 2.0 /file1 /file2

Option `-s` has arity `"1..*"` but instead of consuming all parameters, the `-f` argument is recognized as a separate option.

### 5.4. Default Arity

If no `arity` is specified, the number of parameters depends on the field’s type.

#### 5.4.1. Option Arity

Table 1. Default `arity` for `@Option` fields
@Option Field Type | Default Arity | Notes
--- | --- | ---
boolean | 0 | Boolean options by default don’t require an option parameter. The field is toggled to its logical negative when the option name is recognized. (This can be switched off.)
Single-valued type (e.g., `int`, `String`, `File`) | 1 | The option name must be followed by a value.
Multi-valued type (arrays, collections or maps) | 1 | The option name must be followed by a value.

| Prior to picocli v2.0, multi-valued options used to greedily consume as many arguments as possible until encountering another option or subcommand. If your application relies on the previous behaviour, you need to explicitly specify an option arity of `0..*` when migrating to picocli v2.0.

#### 5.4.2. Positional Parameter Arity

Table 2. Default `arity` for `@Parameters` fields
@Parameters Field Type | Default Arity | Notes
--- | --- | ---
boolean | 1 | Positional parameters of type `boolean` or `Boolean` require a value. Only `true` or `false` (case insensitive) are valid values.
Single-valued type (e.g., `int`, `String`, `File`) | 1 | One parameter required for each position.
Multi-valued type (arrays, collections or maps) | 0..1 | For multi-valued positional parameters (arrays, collections or maps), values are optional, not required.

`@Parameters` fields are applied to a command line argument if their index matches the argument’s position. The default index is `*`, meaning all positions. A `@Parameters` field with `index = "*"` is applied multiple times: once for each positional parameter on the command line.

When a `@Parameters` field is applied (because its index matches the index of the positional parameter), the field may consume zero, one or more arguments, depending on its arity.

### 5.5. Optional Values

If an option is defined with `arity = "0..1"`, it may or not have a parameter value. If such an option is specified without a value on the command line, it is assigned an empty String (starting from picocli 2.3). If the option is not specified, it keeps its default value. For example:

    class OptionalValueDemo implements Runnable {
        @Option(names = "-x", arity = "0..1", description = "optional parameter")
        String x;

        public void run() { System.out.printf("x = '%s'%n", x); }

        public static void main(String... args) {
           CommandLine.run(new OptionalValueDemo(), args);
        }
    }

Gives the following results:

    java OptionalValueDemo -x value
    x = 'value'

    java OptionalValueDemo -x
    x = ''

    java OptionalValueDemo
    x = 'null'

From picocli 3.0, options with non-String types can specify a type converter to convert the empty String to a strongly typed value when the option is specified without a value.

## 6. Required Arguments

### 6.1. Required Options

Options can be marked `required` to make it mandatory for the user to specify them on the command line. When a required option is not specified, a `MissingParameterException` is thrown from the `parse` method. For example:

    class MandatoryOption {
        @Option(names = "-n", required = true, description = "mandatory number")
        int number;

        @Parameters
        File[] files;
    }

The following command line arguments would result in an exception complaining that `number` is missing:

    // invalid: missing option -n
    <command> file1 file2 file3

The following command line arguments would be accepted:

    // valid: required option -n has a value
    <command> -n 123 file1 file2 file3

### 6.2. Required Parameters

Use the `arity` attribute to make `@Parameters` mandatory:

    class BothOptionAndParametersMandatory {
        @Parameters(arity = "1..*", descriptions = "at least one File")
        File[] files;

        @Option(names = "-n", required = true, description = "mandatory number")
        int number;
    }

The following command line arguments would result in an exception complaining that `files` are missing:

    // invalid: missing file parameters
    <command> -n 123

The following command line arguments would be accepted:

    // valid: both required fields have a value
    <command> -n 123 file1

## 7. Parser Configuration

### 7.1. Overwriting Single Options

When a single-value option is specified multiple times on the command line, the default parser behaviour is to throw an `OverwrittenOptionException`. For example:

    @Option(name = "-p") int port;

The following input results in an `OverwrittenOptionException`:

    <command> -p 80 -p 8080

Applications can change this by calling `CommandLine.setOverwrittenOptionsAllowed(true)` before parsing the input. When overwritten options are allowed, the last specified value takes effect (the above input will set the `port` field to `8080`) and a WARN level message is printed to the console. (See Tracing for how to switch off the warnings.)

### 7.2. Stop At Positional

By default, positional parameters can be mixed with options on the command line, but this is not always desirable. From picocli 2.3, applications can call `CommandLine.setStopAtPositional(true)` to force the parser to treat all values following the first positional parameter as positional parameters.

When this flag is set, the first positional parameter effectively serves as an "end of options" marker.

### 7.3. Unmatched Input

By default, an `UnmatchedArgumentException` is thrown when a command line argument cannot be assigned to an option or positional parameter. For example:

    class OnlyThree {
        @Parameters(arity = "3") String[] values;
    }

The command has only one annotated field, `values`, and it expects exactly three arguments, so the following input results in an `UnmatchedArgumentException`:

    java OnlyThree 1 2 3 4 5

Applications can change this by calling `CommandLine.setUnmatchedArgumentsAllowed(true)` before parsing the input. When unmatched arguments are allowed, the above input will be accepted and a WARN level message is printed to the console. (See Tracing for how to switch off the warnings.)

The unmatched argument values can be obtained with the `CommandLine.getUnmatchedArguments()` method.

### 7.4. `@Unmatched` annotation

From picocli 3.0, fields annotated with `@Unmatched` will be populated with the unmatched arguments. The field must be of type `String[]` or `List<String>`.

If picocli finds a field annotated with `@Unmatched`, it automatically sets `unmatchedArgumentsAllowed` to `true` so no `UnmatchedArgumentException` is thrown when a command line argument cannot be assigned to an option or positional parameter. If no unmatched arguments are found, the value of the field annotated with `@Unmatched` is unchanged.

### 7.5. Unknown Options

A special case of unmatched input are arguments that resemble options but don’t match any of the defined options. For example:

    @Option(names = "-a") String alpha;
    @Option(names = "-b") String beta;
    @Parameters String[] remainder;

The above defines options `-a` and `-b`, but what should the parser do with input like this?

    <command> -x -a AAA

The `-x` argument "looks like" an option but there is no `-x` option defined…​

One possibility is to silently accept such values as positional parameters but this is often not desirable. From version 1.0, picocli determines if the unmatched argument "resembles an option" by comparing its leading characters to the prefix characters of the known options.

When the unmatched value is similar to the known options, picocli throws an `UnmatchedArgumentException` rather than treating it as a positional parameter.

As usual, `CommandLine.setUnmatchedArgumentsAllowed(true)` will accept unmatched input and display a WARN-level message on the console.

Arguments that are not considered similar to the known options are interpreted as positional parameters:

    <command> x -a AAA

The above input is treated by the parser as one positional parameter (`x`) followed by the `-a` option and its value.

Picocli 3.0 introduced a `CommandLine.setUnmatchedOptionsArePositionalParams(boolean)` method that can be used to force the parser to treat arguments resembling an option as positional parameters. For example:

    <command> -x -a AAA

When `unmatchedOptionsArePositionalParams` is set to `true`, the unknown option `-x` is treated as a positional parameter. The next argument `-a` is recognized and processed as a known option like you would expect.

### 7.6. Stop At Unmatched

From picocli 2.3, applications can call `CommandLine.setStopAtUnmatched(true)` to force the parser to stop interpreting options and positional parameters as soon as it encounters an unmatched argument.

When this flag is set, the first unmatched argument and all subsequent command line arguments are added to the unmatched arguments list returned by `CommandLine.getUnmatchedArguments()`.

### 7.7. Toggle Boolean Flags

By default, boolean flag options without a parameter are "toggled" when the option is matched on the command line: if the previous value was `true` it is set to `false`, and when the value was `false` it is set to `true`. From picocli 3.0, applications can call `CommandLine.setToggleBooleanFlags(false)` to switch this behaviour off. If toggling is off, flags are simply set to `true` when the option is matched on the command line.

### 7.8. POSIX Clustered Short Options

By default, the picocli parser allows POSIX clustered short options, so short options like `-x -v -f SomeFile` can be clustered together like `-xvfSomeFile`. From picocli 3.0, applications can call `CommandLine.setPosixClusteredShortOptionsAllowed(false)` to enforce that options must be separated with whitespace on the command line. (This also means that option parameters must be separated from the option name by whitespace or the `=` separator character, so `-D key=value` and `-D=key=value` will be recognized but `-Dkey=value` will not.)

### 7.9. Lenient Mode (Incubating)

From picocli 3.2, the parser can be configured to continue parsing invalid input to the end. When `collectErrors` is set to `true`, and a problem occurs during parsing, an `Exception` is added to the `ParseResult.errors()` list and parsing continues. The default behaviour (when `collectErrors` is `false`) is to abort parsing by throwing the `Exception`.

This is useful when generating completion candidates on partial input, and is also useful when using picocli in languages like Clojure where idiomatic error handling does not involve throwing and catching exceptions.

When using this feature, applications are responsible for actively verifying that no errors occurred before executing the business logic. Use with care!

### 7.10. Quoted Values

From picocli 3.7, quotes around command line parameters are preserved by default (previously they were removed). This can be configured with `CommandLine::setTrimQuotes`.

Also, when splitting parameters, quoted strings are no longer split. This can be configured with `CommandLine::setSplitQuotedStrings`.

Example:

    @Option(names = "-x", split = ",")
    String[] parts;

Given input like below:

    <command> -x "-Dvalues=a,b,c","-Dother=1,2"

This results in the `parts` array having the following values:

    "-Dvalues=a,b,c"
    "-Dother=1,2"

Given input like below:

    <command> -x a,b,"c,d,e",f,"xxx,yyy"

This results in the `parts` array having the following values:

    a
    b
    "c,d,e"
    f
    "xxx,yyy"

When the `splitQuotedStrings` parser attribute is set to `true` the `split` regex is applied to the parameter value regardless of quotes. This can be useful when using a regular expression that is designed to handle quotes.

## 8. Help

### 8.1. Help Options

Applications can define help options by setting attribute `versionHelp = true`, `usageHelp = true` or `help = true`. If one of the arguments specified on the command line is a "help" option, picocli will not throw a `MissingParameterException` when required options are missing.

For example:

    @Option(names = {"-V", "--version"}, versionHelp = true, description = "display version info")
    boolean versionInfoRequested;

    @Option(names = {"-h", "--help"}, usageHelp = true, description = "display this help message")
    boolean usageHelpRequested;

Use these attributes for options that request the usage help message or version information to be shown on the console.

    App app = CommandLine.populateCommand(new App(), args);
    if (app.usageHelpRequested) {
       CommandLine.usage(new App(), System.out);
       return;
    }

The `CommandLine` class offers two methods that allow external components to detect whether usage help or version information was requested (without inspecting the annotated domain object):

- `CommandLine.isUsageHelpRequested()` returns `true` if the parser matched an option annotated with `usageHelp=true`

- `CommandLine.isVersionHelpRequested()` returns `true` if the parser matched an option annotated with `versionHelp=true`

    CommandLine commandLine = new CommandLine(new App());
    commandLine.parse(args);
    if (commandLine.isUsageHelpRequested()) {
       commandLine.usage(System.out);
       return;
    } else if (commandLine.isVersionHelpRequested()) {
       commandLine.printVersionHelp(System.out);
       return;
    }
    // ... run App's business logic

See also Printing Help Automatically.

### 8.2. Mixin Standard Help Options

Picocli 3.0 introduced the `mixinStandardHelpOptions` command attribute. When this attribute is set to `true`, picocli adds a mixin to the command that adds `usageHelp` and `versionHelp` options to the command. For example:

    @Command(mixinStandardHelpOptions = true, version = "auto help demo - picocli 3.0")
    class AutoHelpDemo implements Runnable {

        @Option(names = "--option", description = "Some option.")
        String option;

        @Override public void run() { ... }
    }

Commands with `mixinStandardHelpOptions` do not need to explicitly declare fields annotated with `@Option(usageHelp = true)` and `@Option(versionHelp = true)` any more. The usage help message for the above example looks like this:

    Usage: <main class> [-hV] [--option=<option>]
          --option=<option>   Some option.
      -h, --help              Show this help message and exit.
      -V, --version           Print version information and exit.

### 8.3. Built-in Help Subcommand

From 3.0, picocli provides a `help` subcommand (`picocli.CommandLine.HelpCommand`) that can be installed as a subcommand on any application command. It prints usage help for the parent command or sibling subcommands. For example:

    import picocli.CommandLine.HelpCommand;

    @Command(name = "myapp", subcommands = {HelpCommand.class, Subcommand.class})
    class MyCommand implements Runnable {
        // ...
    }

For example, the following command prints usage help for a subcommand:

    myapp help subcommand

To print usage help for the main command:

    myapp help

### 8.4. Custom Help Subcommands

Custom help subcommands should mark themselves as a help command to tell picocli not to throw a `MissingParameterException` when required options are missing.

    @Command(helpCommand = true)

Picocli 3.0 introduced a new interface `picocli.CommandLine.IHelpCommandInitializable` that provides custom help commands with access to the parent command and sibling commands, whether to use Ansi colors or not, and the streams to print the usage help message to.

    public interface IHelpCommandInitializable {
        /**
         * Initializes this object with the information needed to implement a help command that
         * provides usage help for other commands.
         *
         * @param helpCommandLine provides access to this command's parent and sibling commands
         * @param ansi whether to use Ansi colors or not
         * @param out the stream to print the usage help message to
         * @param err the error stream to print any error messages to
         */
        void init(CommandLine helpCommandLine, Help.Ansi ansi, PrintStream out, PrintStream err);
    }

### 8.5. Printing Help Automatically

From picocli v2.0, the convenience methods will automatically print usage help and version information when a help option was specified on the command line (options annotated with the `versionHelp` or `usageHelp` attribute - but not the `help` attribute).

The same holds for the `mixinStandardHelpOptions` attribute, the built-in `HelpCommand` and any custom help subcommands marked as a help command.

The following convenience methods automatically print help:

- `CommandLine::call`

- `CommandLine::run`

- `CommandLine::invoke`

- `CommandLine::parseWithHandler` (with the built-in `Run…​` handlers)

- `CommandLine::parseWithHandlers` (with the built-in `Run…​` handlers)

The following methods do not automatically print help:

- `CommandLine::parse`

- `CommandLine::parseArgs`

- `CommandLine::populateCommand`

When using the last three methods, applications need to query the parse result to detect whether usage help or version help was requested, and invoke `CommandLine::usage` or `CommandLine::printVersionHelp` to actually print the requested help message.

## 9. Version Help

### 9.1. Static Version Information

Since v0.9.8, applications can specify version information in the `version` attribute of the `@Command` annotation.

    @Command(version = "1.0")
    class VersionedCommand {
        @Option(names = { "-V", "--version" }, versionHelp = true,
                description = "print version information and exit")
        boolean versionRequested;
        ...

The `CommandLine.printVersionHelp(PrintStream)` method extracts the version information from this annotation and prints it to the specified `PrintStream`.

    CommandLine commandLine = new CommandLine(new VersionedCommand());
    commandLine.parse(args);
    if (commandLine.isVersionHelpRequested()) {
        commandLine.printVersionHelp(System.out);
        return;
    }

The `version` may specify multiple Strings. Each will be printed on a separate line.

    @Command(version = { "Versioned Command 1.0", "Build 12345", "(c) 2017" })
    class VersionedCommand { ... }

The `CommandLine.printVersionHelp(PrintStream)` method will print the above as:

    Versioned Command 1.0
    Build 12345
    (c) 2017

The version strings may contain markup to show ANSI styles and colors. For example:

    @Command(version = {
            "@|yellow Versioned Command 1.0|@",
            "@|blue Build 12345|@",
            "@|red,bg(white) (c) 2017|@" })
    class VersionedCommand { ... }

The markup will be rendered as ANSI escape codes on supported systems.

From picocli v1.0, the `version` may contain format specifiers:

    @Command(version = {
        "Versioned Command 1.0",
        "Build %1$s",
        "(c) 2017, licensed to %2$s" })
    class VersionedCommand { ... }

Format argument values can be passed to the `printVersionHelp` method:

    String[] args = {"1234", System.getProperty("user.name")};
    new CommandLine(new VersionedCommand())
        .printVersionHelp(System.out, Help.Ansi.AUTO, args);

### 9.2. Dynamic Version Information

From picocli 2.2, the `@Command` annotation supports a `versionProvider` attribute. Applications may specify a `IVersionProvider` implementation in this attribute, and picocli will instantiate this class and invoke it to collect version information.

    @Command(versionProvider = com.my.custom.ManifestVersionProvider.class)
    class App { ... }

This is useful when the version of an application should be detected dynamically at runtime. For example, an implementation may return version information obtained from the JAR manifest, a properties file or some other source.

Custom version providers need to implement the `picocli.CommandLine.IVersionProvider` interface:

    public interface IVersionProvider {
        /**
         * Returns version information for a command.
         * @return version information (each string in the array is displayed on a separate line)
         * @throws Exception an exception detailing what went wrong when obtaining version information
         */
        String[] getVersion() throws Exception;
    }

Version providers declared with the `versionProvider` attribute need to have a public no-argument constructor to be instantiated, unless a Custom Factory is installed to instantiate classes.

The GitHub project has a manifest file-based example and a build-generated version properties file-based example version provider implementation.

## 10. Usage Help

### 10.1. Compact Example

A default picocli usage help message looks like this:

    Usage: cat [-AbeEnstTuv] [--help] [--version] [FILE...]
    Concatenate FILE(s), or standard input, to standard output.
          FILE                 Files whose contents to display
      -A, --show-all           equivalent to -vET
      -b, --number-nonblank    number nonempty output lines, overrides -n
      -e                       equivalent to -vET
      -E, --show-ends          display $ at end of each line
      -n, --number             number all output lines
      -s, --squeeze-blank      suppress repeated empty output lines
      -t                       equivalent to -vT
      -T, --show-tabs          display TAB characters as ^I
      -u                       (ignored)
      -v, --show-nonprinting   use ^ and M- notation, except for LDF and TAB
          --help               display this help and exit
          --version            output version information and exit
    Copyright(c) 2017

The usage help message is generated from annotation attributes, like below:

    @Command(name = "cat", footer = "Copyright(c) 2017",
             description = "Concatenate FILE(s), or standard input, to standard output.")
    class Cat {

      @Parameters(paramLabel = "FILE", description = "Files whose contents to display")
      List<File> files;

      @Option(names = "--help", usageHelp = true, description = "display this help and exit")
      boolean help;

      @Option(names = "-t",                 description = "equivalent to -vT")  boolean t;
      @Option(names = "-e",                 description = "equivalent to -vET") boolean e;
      @Option(names = {"-A", "--show-all"}, description = "equivalent to -vET") boolean all;

      // ...
    }

### 10.2. Command Name

In the above example, the program name is taken from the `name` attribute of the `Command` annotation:

    @Command(name = "cat")

Without a `name` attribute, picocli will show a generic `<main class>` in the synopsis:

    Usage: <main class> [-AbeEnstTuv] [--help] [--version] [FILE...]

### 10.3. Parameter Labels

Non-boolean options require a value. The usage help should explain this, and picocli shows the option parameter in the synopsis and in the option list. By default, the field name is shown in `<` and `>` fish brackets. Use the `paramLabel` attribute to display a different name. For example:

    Usage: <main class> [-f=FILE] [-n=<number>] NUM <host>
          NUM        number param
          host       the host parameter
      -f= FILE       a file
      -n= <number>   a number option

Some annotated fields in the below example class have a `paramLabel` attribute and others don’t:

    @Command()
    class ParamLabels {
        @Option(names = "-f",    description = "a file",       paramLabel = "FILE") File f;
        @Option(names = "-n",    description = "a number option")                   int number;
        @Parameters(index = "0", description = "number param", paramLabel = "NUM")  int n;
        @Parameters(index = "1", description = "the host parameter")                InetAddress host;
    }

| For demonstration purposes the above example mixes the all-uppercase (e.g., `NUM`) style label and the fish bracket (e.g., `<number>`) style labels. For real applications, mixing these label styles should be avoided. An application should consistently use only one style.

### 10.4. Unsorted Option List

By default the options list displays options in alphabetical order. Use the `sortOptions = false` attribute to display options in the order they are declared in your class.

    @Command(sortOptions = false)

### 10.5. Reordering Options

When mixing `@Option` methods and `@Option` fields, options do not reliably appear in declaration order.

The `@Option(order = <int>)` attribute can be used to explicitly control the position in the usage help message at which the option should be shown. Options with a lower number are shown before options with a higher number.

### 10.6. Abbreviated Synopsis

If a command is very complex and has many options, it is sometimes desirable to suppress details from the synopsis with the `abbreviateSynopsis` attribute. For example:

    Usage: <main class> [OPTIONS] [<files>...]

Note that the positional parameters are not abbreviated.

    @Command(abbreviateSynopsis = true)
    class App {
        @Parameters File[] files;
        @Option(names = {"--count", "-c"}) int count;
        ....
    }

### 10.7. Custom Synopsis

For even more control of the synopsis, use the `customSynopsis` attribute to specify one or more synopsis lines. For example:

    Usage: ln [OPTION]... [-T] TARGET LINK_NAME   (1st form)
      or:  ln [OPTION]... TARGET                  (2nd form)
      or:  ln [OPTION]... TARGET... DIRECTORY     (3rd form)
      or:  ln [OPTION]... -t DIRECTORY TARGET...  (4th form)

To produce a synopsis like the above, specify the literal text in the `customSynopsis` attribute:

    @Command(synopsisHeading = "", customSynopsis = {
            "Usage: ln [OPTION]... [-T] TARGET LINK_NAME   (1st form)",
            "  or:  ln [OPTION]... TARGET                  (2nd form)",
            "  or:  ln [OPTION]... TARGET... DIRECTORY     (3rd form)",
            "  or:  ln [OPTION]... -t DIRECTORY TARGET...  (4th form)",
    })
    class Ln { ... }

### 10.8. Header and Footer

The `header` will be shown at the top of the usage help message (before the synopsis). The first header line is also the line shown in the subcommand list if your command has subcommands (see Usage Help for Subcommands).

Use the `footer` attribute to specify one or more lines to show below the generated usage help message.

Each element of the attribute String array is displayed on a separate line.

### 10.9. Format Specifiers

All usage help message elements can have embedded line separator (`%n`) format specifiers. These are converted to the platform-specific line separator when the usage help message is printed.

Version help may have format specifiers that format additional arguments passed to the `printVersionHelp` method.

See the java.util.Formatter javadoc for details.

| Note that to show percent `'%'` characters in the usage help message, they need to be escaped with another `%`. For example: `@Parameters(description = "%%-age of the total")` is rendered as `%-age of the total`.

An alternative way to control the layout of the usage help message is that some sections (`header`, `footer`, and `description`) can be specified as an array of Strings, where each element of the array is displayed on a separate line in the usage help message.

### 10.10. Section Headings

Section headers can be used to make usage message layout appear more spacious. The example below demonstrates the use of embedded line separator (`%n`) format specifiers:

    @Command(name = "commit",
            sortOptions = false,
            headerHeading = "Usage:%n%n",
            synopsisHeading = "%n",
            descriptionHeading = "%nDescription:%n%n",
            parameterListHeading = "%nParameters:%n",
            optionListHeading = "%nOptions:%n",
            header = "Record changes to the repository.",
            description = "Stores the current contents of the index in a new commit " +
                    "along with a log message from the user describing the changes.")
    class GitCommit { ... }

The usage help message generated from this class is shown below in Expanded Example.

### 10.11. Expanded Example

The below example demonstrates what a customized usage message can look like. Note how section headings with line separators can create a more spacious usage message, and also that options are listed in declaration order (instead of in alphabetic order).

    Usage:

    Record changes to the repository.

    git commit [-ap] [--fixup=<commit>] [--squash=<commit>] [-c=<commit>]
               [-C=<commit>] [-F=<file>] [-m[=<msg>...]] [<files>...]

    Description:

    Stores the current contents of the index in a new commit along with a log
    message from the user describing the changes.

    Parameters:
          <files>                 the files to commit

    Options:
      -a, --all                   Tell the command to automatically stage files
                                    that have been modified and deleted, but new
                                    files you have not told Git about are not
                                    affected.
      -p, --patch                 Use the interactive patch selection interface to
                                    chose which changes to commit
      -C, --reuse-message=<commit>
                                  Take an existing commit object, and reuse the log
                                    message and the authorship information
                                    (including the timestamp) when creating the
                                    commit.
      -c, --reedit-message=<commit>
                                  Like -C, but with -c the editor is invoked, so
                                    that the user canfurther edit the commit
                                    message.
          --fixup=<commit>        Construct a commit message for use with rebase
                                    --autosquash.
          --squash=<commit>        Construct a commit message for use with rebase
                                    --autosquash. The commitmessage subject line is
                                    taken from the specified commit with a prefix
                                    of "squash! ". Can be used with additional
                                    commit message options (-m/-c/-C/-F).
      -F, --file=<file>           Take the commit message from the given file. Use
                                    - to read the message from the standard input.
      -m, --message[=<msg>...]     Use the given <msg> as the commit message. If
                                    multiple -m options are given, their values are
                                    concatenated as separate paragraphs.

The annotated class that this usage help message is generated from is shown in Section Headings.

### 10.12. Option-Parameter Separators

The separator displayed between options and option parameters (`=` by default) in the synopsis and the option list can be configured with the `separator` attribute.

    @Command(separator = " ")

| the `@Command(separator = " ")` annotation also affects how picocli parses the command line. See also Custom Separators.

### 10.13. Hidden Options and Parameters

Options and Parameters with the `hidden` attribute set to `true` will not be shown in the usage help message. This is useful for example when a parameter at some index is captured into multiple fields: by default each of these fields would be shown in the usage message, which would be confusing for users.

For example, the `all` field below is annotated as `hidden = true`:

    @Command()
    class App {
        @Parameters(index = "0",    description = "destination host")  InetAddress host;
        @Parameters(index = "1",    description = "destination port")  int port;
        @Parameters(index = "2..*", description = "files to transfer") String[] files;

        @Parameters(hidden = true) String[] all;
    }

The above will generate the following usage help message, where the `all` field is not shown:

    Usage: <main class> <host> <port> [<files>...]
          host    destination host
          port    destination port
          files   files to transfer

### 10.14. Show Default Values

#### 10.14.1. `${DEFAULT-VALUE}` Variable

From picocli 3.2, it is possible to embed the default values in the description for an option or positional parameter by specifying the variable `${DEFAULT-VALUE}` in the description text. Picocli uses reflection to get the default values from the annotated fields.

The variable is replaced with the default value regardless of the `@Command(showDefaultValues)` attribute and regardless of the `@Option(showDefaultValues)` or `@Parameters(showDefaultValues)` attribute.

    class DefaultValues {
        @Option(names = {"-f", "--file"},
                description = "the file to use (default: ${DEFAULT-VALUE})")
        File file = new File("config.xml");
    }

    CommandLine.usage(new DefaultValues(), System.out);

This produces the following usage help:

    Usage: <main class> -f=<file>
      -f, --file=<file>   the file to use (default: config.xml)

#### 10.14.2. `${COMPLETION-CANDIDATES}` Variable

Similarly, it is possible to embed the completion candidates in the description for an option or positional parameter by specifying the variable `${COMPLETION-CANDIDATES}` in the description text.

This works for java `enum` classes and for options or positional parameters of non-enum types for which completion candidates are specified.

    enum Lang { java, groovy, kotlin, javascript, frege, clojure }

    static class MyAbcCandidates extends ArrayList<String> {
        MyAbcCandidates() { super(Arrays.asList("A", "B", "C")); }
    }

    class ValidValuesDemo {
        @Option(names = "-l", description = "Enum values: ${COMPLETION-CANDIDATES}")
        Lang lang = null;

        @Option(names = "-o", completionCandidates = MyAbcCandidates.class,
                description = "Candidates: ${COMPLETION-CANDIDATES}")
        String option;
    }

    CommandLine.usage(new ValidValuesDemo(), System.out);

This produces the following usage help:

    Usage: <main class> -l=<lang> -o=<option>
      -l=<lang>     Enum values: java, groovy, kotlin, javascript, frege, clojure
      -o=<option>   Candidates: A, B, C

#### 10.14.3. Legacy Configuration for Displaying Default Values

Prior to picocli 3.2, you need to use the `@Command(showDefaultValues = true)` attribute to append the default value of all non-`null` options and positional parameters to the description column.

Additionally, picocli 3.0 introduced a `showDefaultValue` attribute to the `@Option` and `@Parameters` annotation. This allows you to specify for each individual option and positional parameter whether its default value should be shown in the usage help. This attribute accepts three values:

- `ALWAYS` - always display the default value of this option or positional parameter, even `null` values, regardless what value of `showDefaultValues` was specified on the command

- `NEVER` - don’t show the default value for this option or positional parameter, regardless what value of `showDefaultValues` was specified on the command

- `ON_DEMAND` - (this is the default) only show the default value for this option or positional parameter if `showDefaultValues` was specified on the command

These legacy mechanisms still work but for maximum flexibility use the variables explained above.

### 10.15. Required-Option Marker

Required options can be marked in the option list by the character specified with the `requiredOptionMarker` attribute. By default options are not marked because the synopsis shows users which options are required and which are optional. This feature may be useful in combination with `abbreviatedSynopsis`. For example:

    @Command(requiredOptionMarker = '*', abbreviateSynopsis = true)
    class Example {
        @Option(names = {"-a", "--alpha"}, description = "optional alpha") String alpha;
        @Option(names = {"-b", "--beta"}, required = true, description = "mandatory beta") String beta;
    }

Produces the following usage help message:

    Usage: <main class> [OPTIONS]
      -a, --alpha=<alpha>   optional alpha
    * -b, --beta=<beta>     mandatory beta

### 10.16. Usage Width

The default width of the usage help message is 80 characters. System property `picocli.usage.width` can be used to specify a custom width. The minimum width that can be configured is 55 characters.

Picocli 3.0 also introduced programmatic API for this via the `CommandLine::setUsageHelpWidth` and `UsageMessageSpec::width` methods.

## 11. ANSI Colors and Styles

### 11.1. Colorized Example

Below shows the same usage help message as shown in Expanded Example, with ANSI escape codes enabled.

### 11.2. Usage Help with Styles and Colors

You can use colors and styles in the descriptions, header and footer of the usage help message.

Picocli supports a custom markup notation for mixing colors and styles in text, following a convention introduced by Jansi, where `@|` starts a styled section, and `|@` ends it. Immediately following the `@|` is a comma-separated list of colors and styles, so `@|STYLE1[,STYLE2]…​ text|@`. For example:

    @Command(description = "Custom @|bold,underline styles|@ and @|fg(red) colors|@.")

Table 3. Pre-defined styles and colors that can be used in descriptions and headers using the `@|STYLE1[,STYLE2]…​ text|@` notation
Pre-defined Styles | Pre-defined Colors
--- | ---
bold | black
faint | red
underline | green
italic | yellow
blink | blue
reverse | magenta
reset | cyan
| white

Colors are applied as foreground colors by default. You can set background colors by specifying `bg(<color>)`. For example, `@|bg(red) text with red background|@`. Similarly, `fg(<color>)` explicitly sets the foreground color.

The example below shows how this markup can be used to add colors and styles to the headings and descriptions of a usage help message:

    @Command(name = "commit",
            sortOptions = false,
            headerHeading = "@|bold,underline Usage|@:%n%n",
            synopsisHeading = "%n",
            descriptionHeading = "%n@|bold,underline Description|@:%n%n",
            parameterListHeading = "%n@|bold,underline Parameters|@:%n",
            optionListHeading = "%n@|bold,underline Options|@:%n",
            header = "Record changes to the repository.",
            description = "Stores the current contents of the index in a new commit " +
                    "along with a log message from the user describing the changes.")
    class GitCommit { ... }

| Markup styles cannot be nested, for example: `@|bold this @|underline that|@|@` will not work. You can achieve the same by combining styles, for example: `@|bold this|@ @|bold,underline that|@` will work fine.

### 11.3. More Colors

Most terminals support a 256 color indexed palette:

    0x00-0x07:  standard colors (the named colors)
    0x08-0x0F:  high intensity colors (often similar to named colors + bold style)
    0x10-0xE7:  6 × 6 × 6 cube (216 colors): 16 + 36 × r + 6 × g + b (0 ≤ r, g, b ≤ 5)
    0xE8-0xFF:  grayscale from black to white in 24 steps

Colors from the 256 color palette can be specified by their index values or by their RGB components. RGB components must be separated by a semicolon `;` and each component must be between `0` and `5`, inclusive.

For example, `@|bg(0;5;0) text with red=0, green=5, blue=0 background|@`, or `@|fg(46) the same color by index, as foreground color|@`.

### 11.4. Configuring Fixed Elements

#### 11.4.1. Color Scheme

Picocli uses a default color scheme for options, parameters and commands. There are no annotations to modify this color scheme, but it can be changed programmatically.

The below code snippet shows how a custom color scheme can be specified to configure the usage help message style:

    // see also CommandLine.Help.defaultColorScheme()
    ColorScheme colorScheme = new ColorScheme()
            .commands    (Style.bold, Style.underline)    // combine multiple styles
            .options     (Style.fg_yellow)                // yellow foreground color
            .parameters  (Style.fg_yellow)
            .optionParams(Style.italic);

    CommandLine.usage(annotatedObject, System.out, colorScheme);
    ...

#### 11.4.2. Color Scheme Overrides

The following system properties override the color scheme styles. This allows end users to adjust for their individual terminal color setup.

System Properties to Override the Color Scheme

    picocli.color.commands
    picocli.color.options
    picocli.color.parameters
    picocli.color.optionParams

For example:

    java -Dpicocli.color.options=blink,blue -Dpicocli.color.parameters=reverse com.app.Main

System property values may specify multiple comma separated styles.

### 11.5. Supported Platforms

Picocli will only emit ANSI escape codes on supported platforms.

#### 11.5.1. Unix and Linux

Most Unix and Linux platforms support ANSI colors natively. On Windows, when picocli detects it is running under a Unix variant like Cygwin or MSYS(2) on Windows it will display ANSI colors and styles, otherwise it will not emit ANSI codes.

#### 11.5.2. Windows

Starting from Windows 10 the Windows console supports ANSI escape sequences, but it’s not enabled by default. Unless the specific software you’re using (e.g. java) enables ANSI processing by calling the SetConsoleMode API with the `ENABLE_VIRTUAL_TERMINAL_PROCESSING` (`0x0400`) flag (java doesn’t), you won’t see colors or get ANSI processing for that application. Note that there is a registry setting to change the global default from opt in to opt out.

For Windows version below 10, the Windows command console doesn’t support output coloring by default. One option is to install either Cmder, ConEmu, ANSICON or Mintty (used by default in GitBash and Cygwin) to add coloring support to their Windows command console.

Another option is to use Jansi in your application. For example:

    import org.fusesource.jansi.AnsiConsole;
    ...
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        AnsiConsole.systemInstall(); // Jansi magic
        CommandLine.run(new WindowsJansiDemo(), System.err, Ansi.ON, args);
        AnsiConsole.systemUninstall();
    }

| None of the above is mandatory. If not supported, picocli will simply not emit ANSI escape codes, and everything will work without colors.

### 11.6. Forcing ANSI On/Off

You can force picocli to either always use ANSI codes or never use ANSI codes regardless of the platform:

- Setting system property `picocli.ansi` to `true` forces picocli to use ANSI codes; setting `picocli.ansi` to `false` forces picocli to not use ANSI codes. This may be a useful facility for users of your command line application.

- You can decide to force disable or force enable ANSI escape codes programmatically by specifying `Ansi.ON` or `Ansi.OFF` when invoking `CommandLine.usage`. This overrides the value of system property `picocli.ansi`. For example:

    import picocli.CommandLine.Help.Ansi;

    // print usage help message to STDOUT without ANSI escape codes
    CommandLine.usage(new App(), System.out, Ansi.OFF);

### 11.7. Heuristics for Enabling ANSI

Below is the exact sequence of steps picocli uses to determine whether or not to emit ANSI escape codes.

1. If `Ansi.ON` or `Ansi.OFF` is explicitly specified, either via system property `picocli.ansi` or programmatically, this value is used.

2. ANSI is disabled when environment variable `NO_COLOR` is defined (regardless of its value).

3. ANSI is enabled when environment variable `CLICOLOR_FORCE` is defined and has any value other than `0` (zero).

4. ANSI is enabled when system property `os.name` starts with `"Windows"` and JAnsi Console is installed.

5. ANSI is disabled when environment variable `CLICOLOR == 0`.

6. ANSI is disabled when environment variable `ConEmuANSI == OFF`.

7. ANSI is disabled when Picocli guesses the program’s output stream is not connected to a terminal: when `System.console()` returns `null`. This check is omitted if picocli guesses the program is running in a Windows Cygwin or MSYS environment: when system property `os.name` starts with `"Windows"` and either environment variable `TERM` starts with `xterm` or environment variable `OSTYPE` is defined.

8. ANSI is enabled when environment variable `ANSICON` is defined.

9. ANSI is enabled when environment variable `CLICOLOR == 1`.

10. ANSI is enabled when environment variable `ConEmuANSI == ON`.

11. ANSI is enabled when picocli detects the program is running in a non-Windows OS (system property `os.name` does not start with `"Windows"`).

12. ANSI is enabled when picocli guesses the program is running in a Cygwin or MSYS environment (either environment variable `TERM` starts with `xterm` or environment variable `OSTYPE` is defined).

ANSI escape codes are not emitted if none of the above apply.

## 12. Usage Help API

For further customization of the usage help message, picocli has a Help API. The `Help` class provides a number of high-level operations, and a set of components like `Layout`, `TextTable`, `IOptionRenderer`, etc., that can be used to build custom help messages. Details of the Help API are out of scope for this document, but the following sections give some idea of what is possible.

### 12.1. Reordering Sections

One thing you may want to do is reorder sections of the usage message or add custom sections.

Picocli 3.9 introduces new API to facilitate customizing the usage help message: `IHelpFactory` allows applications to plug in `Help` subclasses, and `IHelpSectionRenderer` allows applications to add custom sections to the usage help message, or redefine existing sections.

The usage help message is no longer hard-coded, but is now constructed from the section renderers defined in `CommandLine::getHelpSectionMap` (or `UsageMessageSpec::sectionMap` for a single `CommandSpec`). By default this map contains the predefined section renderers:

    // The default section renderers delegate to methods in Help for their implementation
    // (using Java 8 lambda notation for brevity):
    Map<String, IHelpSectionRenderer> map = new HashMap<>();
    map.put(SECTION_KEY_HEADER_HEADING,         help -> help.headerHeading());
    map.put(SECTION_KEY_HEADER,                 help -> help.header());

    //e.g. Usage:
    map.put(SECTION_KEY_SYNOPSIS_HEADING,       help -> help.synopsisHeading());

    //e.g. <cmd> [OPTIONS] <subcmd> [COMMAND-OPTIONS] [ARGUMENTS]
    map.put(SECTION_KEY_SYNOPSIS,               help -> help.synopsis(help.synopsisHeadingLength()));

    //e.g. %nDescription:%n%n
    map.put(SECTION_KEY_DESCRIPTION_HEADING,    help -> help.descriptionHeading());

    //e.g. {"Converts foos to bars.", "Use options to control conversion mode."}
    map.put(SECTION_KEY_DESCRIPTION,            help -> help.description());

    //e.g. %nPositional parameters:%n%n
    map.put(SECTION_KEY_PARAMETER_LIST_HEADING, help -> help.parameterListHeading());

    //e.g. [FILE...] the files to convert
    map.put(SECTION_KEY_PARAMETER_LIST,         help -> help.parameterList());

    //e.g. %nOptions:%n%n
    map.put(SECTION_KEY_OPTION_LIST_HEADING,    help -> help.optionListHeading());

    //e.g. -h, --help   displays this help and exits
    map.put(SECTION_KEY_OPTION_LIST,            help -> help.optionList());

    //e.g. %nCommands:%n%n
    map.put(SECTION_KEY_COMMAND_LIST_HEADING,   help -> help.commandListHeading());

    //e.g.    add       adds the frup to the frooble
    map.put(SECTION_KEY_COMMAND_LIST,           help -> help.commandList());
    map.put(SECTION_KEY_FOOTER_HEADING,         help -> help.footerHeading());
    map.put(SECTION_KEY_FOOTER,                 help -> help.footer());

Applications can add, remove or replace sections in this map. The `CommandLine::getHelpSectionKeys` method (or `UsageMessageSpec::sectionKeys` for a single `CommandSpec`) returns the section keys in the order that the usage help message should render the sections. The default keys are (in order):

0. SECTION_KEY_HEADER_HEADING

1. SECTION_KEY_HEADER

2. SECTION_KEY_SYNOPSIS_HEADING

3. SECTION_KEY_SYNOPSIS

4. SECTION_KEY_DESCRIPTION_HEADING

5. SECTION_KEY_DESCRIPTION

6. SECTION_KEY_PARAMETER_LIST_HEADING

7. SECTION_KEY_PARAMETER_LIST

8. SECTION_KEY_OPTION_LIST_HEADING

9. SECTION_KEY_OPTION_LIST

10. SECTION_KEY_COMMAND_LIST_HEADING

11. SECTION_KEY_COMMAND_LIST

12. SECTION_KEY_FOOTER_HEADING

13. SECTION_KEY_FOOTER

This ordering may be modified with the `CommandLine::setHelpSectionKeys` setter method (or `UsageMessageSpec::sectionKeys(List)` for a single `CommandSpec`).

### 12.2. Custom Layout

Picocli also supports unconventional option list layouts. An example of an unconventional layout is the `zip` application, which shows multiple options per row:

    CommandLine.usage(new ZipHelpDemo(), System.out);

    Copyright (c) 1990-2008 Info-ZIP - Type 'zip "-L"' for software license.
    Zip 3.0 (July 5th 2008). Command:
    zip [-options] [-b path] [-t mmddyyyy] [-n suffixes] [zipfile list] [-xi list]
      The default action is to add or replace zipfile entries from list, which
      can include the special name - to compress standard input.
      If zipfile and list are omitted, zip compresses stdin to stdout.
      -f   freshen: only changed files  -u   update: only changed or new files
      -d   delete entries in zipfile    -m   move into zipfile (delete OS files)
      -r   recurse into directories     -j   junk (don't record) directory names
      -0   store only                   -l   convert LF to CR LF (-ll CR LF to LF)
      -1   compress faster              -9   compress better
      -q   quiet operation              -v   verbose operation/print version info
      -c   add one-line comments        -z   add zipfile comment
      -@   read names from stdin        -o   make zipfile as old as latest entry
      -x   exclude the following names  -i   include only the following names
      -F   fix zipfile (-FF try harder) -D   do not add directory entries
      -A   adjust self-extracting exe   -J   junk zipfile prefix (unzipsfx)
      -T   test zipfile integrity       -X   eXclude eXtra file attributes
      -y   store symbolic links as the link instead of the referenced file
      -e   encrypt                      -n   don't compress these suffixes
      -h2  show more help

This can be achieved in picocli by subclassing the Help.Layout class. See the picocli tests for how to achieve this.

## 13. Subcommands

### 13.1. Registering Subcommands Programmatically

Subcommands can be registered with the `CommandLine.addSubcommand` method. You pass in the name of the command and the annotated object to populate with the subcommand options. The specified name is used by the parser to recognize subcommands in the command line arguments.

    CommandLine commandLine = new CommandLine(new Git())
            .addSubcommand("status",   new GitStatus())
            .addSubcommand("commit",   new GitCommit())
            .addSubcommand("add",      new GitAdd())
            .addSubcommand("branch",   new GitBranch())
            .addSubcommand("checkout", new GitCheckout())
            .addSubcommand("clone",    new GitClone())
            .addSubcommand("diff",     new GitDiff())
            .addSubcommand("merge",    new GitMerge())
            .addSubcommand("push",     new GitPush())
            .addSubcommand("rebase",   new GitRebase())
            .addSubcommand("tag",      new GitTag());

It is strongly recommended that subcommands have a `@Command` annotation with `name` and `description` attributes.

From picocli 3.1, the usage help synopsis of the subcommand shows not only the subcommand name but also the parent command name. For example, if the `git` command has a `commit` subcommand, the usage help for the `commit` subcommand shows `Usage: git commit <options>`.

| Note on custom type converters: custom type converters are registered only with the subcommands and nested sub-subcommands that were added before the custom type was registered. To ensure a custom type converter is available to all subcommands, register the type converter last, after adding subcommands.

### 13.2. Registering Subcommands Declaratively

From v0.9.8, picocli supports registering subcommands declaratively with the `@Command` annotation’s `subcommands` attribute.

    @Command(subcommands = {
        GitStatus.class,
        GitCommit.class,
        GitAdd.class,
        GitBranch.class,
        GitCheckout.class,
        GitClone.class,
        GitDiff.class,
        GitMerge.class,
        GitPush.class,
        GitRebase.class,
        GitTag.class
    })
    public class Git { ... }

The declared subcommands are automatically instantiated and added when the `new CommandLine(new Git())` instance is constructed. The result is the same as if subcommands were added programmatically.

Subcommands referenced in a `subcommands` attribute must have a `@Command` annotation with a `name` attribute, or an exception is thrown from the `CommandLine` constructor. This name will be used both for generating usage help and for recognizing subcommands when parsing the command line.

Custom type converters registered on a `CommandLine` instance will apply to all subcommands that were declared on the main command with the `subcommands` annotation.

Subcommands referenced in a `subcommands` attribute need to have a public no-argument constructor to be instantiated, unless a Custom Factory is installed to instantiate classes.

### 13.3. Subcommand Aliases

Commands may optionally define an `aliases` attribute to provide alternate names that will be recognized by the parser. Aliases are displayed in the default help output. For example:

    @Command(name = "status", aliases = {"st"}, description = "Show the working tree status.")
    class GitStatus { ... }

Would result in this help fragment:

    status, st    Show the working tree status.

### 13.4. Subcommands as Methods

From picocli 3.6 it is possible to register subcommands in a very compact manner by having a `@Command` class with `@Command`-annotated methods. The methods are automatically registered as subcommands of the `@Command` class.

### 13.5. Parsing Subcommands

For this example, we assume we created an alias `git` that invokes our Java application. This could also be a script or a function that calls our Java program:

    alias git='java picocli.Demo$Git'

Next, we call our command with some arguments like this:

    git --git-dir=/home/rpopma/picocli status -sb -uno

Where `git` (actually `java picocli.Demo$Git`) is the top-level command, followed by a global option and a subcommand `status` with its own options.

Setting up the parser and parsing the command line could look like this:

    public static void main(String... args) {
        // Set up the parser
        CommandLine commandLine = new CommandLine(new Git());

        // add subcommands programmatically (not necessary if the parent command
        // declaratively registers the subcommands via annotation)
        commandLine.addSubcommand("status",   new GitStatus())
                   .addSubcommand("commit",   new GitCommit())
                    ...

        // Invoke the parse method to parse the arguments
        List<CommandLine> parsed = commandLine.parse(args);
        handleParseResult(parsed);
    }

The `CommandLine.parse` method returns a List with the recognized commands. The top-level command (the Java class invoked by `git` in this example) is always the first element in the returned list.

The returned List also contains all matched subcommands. Your application needs to inspect this list to see what subcommand was invoked and take appropriate action. For example:

    private void handleParseResult(List<CommandLine> parsed) {
        assert parsed.size() == 2 : "1 command and 1 subcommand found"

        assert parsed.get(0).getCommand().getClass() == Git.class       : "main command"
        assert parsed.get(1).getCommand().getClass() == GitStatus.class : "subcommand"

        Git git = (Git) parsed.get(0).getCommand();
        assert git.gitDir.equals(new File("/home/rpopma/picocli"));

        GitStatus gitstatus = (GitStatus) parsed.get(1).getCommand();
        assert  gitstatus.shortFormat              : "git status -s"
        assert  gitstatus.branchInfo               : "git status -b"
        assert !gitstatus.showIgnored              : "git status --showIgnored not specified"
        assert  gitstatus.mode == GitStatusMode.no : "git status -u=no"
    }

You may be interested in the convenience methods for subcommands to reduce error handling and other boilerplate code in your application.

### 13.6. `@ParentCommand` Annotation

In command line applications with subcommands, options of the top level command are often intended as "global" options that apply to all the subcommands. Prior to picocli 2.2, subcommands had no easy way to access their parent command options unless the parent command made these values available in a global variable.

The `@ParentCommand` annotation introduced in picocli 2.2 makes it easy for subcommands to access their parent command options: subcommand fields annotated with `@ParentCommand` are initialized with a reference to the parent command. For example:

    @Command(name = "fileutils", subcommands = List.class)
    class FileUtils {

        @Option(names = {"-d", "--directory"},
                description = "this option applies to all subcommands")
        File baseDirectory;
    }

The above top-level command has a `--directory` option that applies to its subcommands. The `List` subcommand can use the `@ParentCommand` annotation to get a reference to the parent command, so it can easily access the parent command options.

    @Command(name = "list")
    class List implements Runnable {

        @ParentCommand
        private FileUtils parent; // picocli injects reference to parent command

        @Option(names = {"-r", "--recursive"},
                description = "Recursively list subdirectories")
        private boolean recursive;

        @Override
        public void run() {
            list(new File(parent.baseDirectory, "."));
        }

        private void list(File dir) {
            System.out.println(dir.getAbsolutePath());
            if (dir.isDirectory()) {
                for (File f : dir.listFiles()) {
                    if (f.isDirectory() && recursive) {
                        list(f);
                    } else {
                        System.out.println(f.getAbsolutePath());
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }

### 13.7. Usage Help for Subcommands

After registering subcommands, calling the `commandLine.usage` method will show a usage help message that includes all registered subcommands. For example:

    CommandLine commandLine = new CommandLine(new Git());

    // add subcommands programmatically (not necessary if the parent command
    // declaratively registers the subcommands via annotation)
    commandLine.addSubcommand("status",   new GitStatus());
    commandLine.addSubcommand("commit",   new GitCommit());
    ...
    commandLine.usage(System.out);

The usage help message shows the commands in the order they were registered:

    Usage: git [-hV] [--git-dir=<gitDir>]
    Git is a fast, scalable, distributed revision control system with an unusually
    rich command set that provides both high-level operations and full access to
    internals.
          --git-dir=<gitDir>   Set the path to the repository.
      -h, --help               Show this help message and exit.
      -V, --version            Print version information and exit.

    Commands:

    The most commonly used git commands are:
      help      Displays help information about the specified command
      status    Show the working tree status.
      commit    Record changes to the repository.
      add       Add file contents to the index.
      branch    List, create, or delete branches.
      checkout  Checkout a branch or paths to the working tree.
      clone     Clone a repository into a new directory.
      diff      Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc.
      merge     Join two or more development histories together.
      push      Update remote refs along with associated objects.
      rebase    Forward-port local commits to the updated upstream head.
      tag       Create, list, delete or verify a tag object signed with GPG.

The description of each subcommand in the command list is taken from the subcommand’s first `header` line, or the first `description` line if it does not have a `header` defined.

The above usage help message is produced from the annotations on the class below:

    @Command(name = "git", mixinStandardHelpOptions = true,
            version = "subcommand demo - picocli 3.0",
            subcommands = HelpCommand.class,
            description = "Git is a fast, scalable, distributed revision control " +
                          "system with an unusually rich command set that provides both " +
                          "high-level operations and full access to internals.",
            commandListHeading = "%nCommands:%n%nThe most commonly used git commands are:%n")
    class Git {

      @Option(names = "--git-dir", description = "Set the path to the repository.")
      private File gitDir;
    }

The above example uses the mixinStandardHelpOptions attribute to mix in `usageHelp` and `versionHelp` options and registers the `help` subcommand.

| Use the `@Spec` annotation for subcommands that need to show the usage help message explicitly.

From picocli 3.1, the usage help synopsis of the subcommand shows not only the subcommand name but also the parent command name. For example, if the `git` command has a `commit` subcommand, the usage help for the `commit` subcommand shows `Usage: git commit <options>`.

If a subcommand explicitly wants to show the usage help message, the `@Spec` annotation may be useful. The injected `CommandSpec` has its parent command initialized correctly, so the usage help can show the fully qualified name of the subcommand.

    @Command(name = "commit", description = "...")
    class Commit implements Runnable {
        @Spec CommandSpec spec;

        public void run() {
            if (shouldShowHelp()) {
                spec.commandLine().usage(System.out);
            }
        }
    }

For example, see Section Headings for an example subcommand (`git commit`), which produces the help message shown in Expanded Example.

### 13.8. Hidden Subcommands

Commands with the `hidden` attribute set to `true` will not be shown in the usage help message of their parent command.

For example, the `bar` subcommand below is annotated as `hidden = true`:

    @Command(name = "foo", description = "This is a visible subcommand")
    class Foo { }

    @Command(name = "bar", description = "This is a hidden subcommand", hidden = true)
    class Bar { }

    @Command(name = "app", subcommands = {Foo.class, Bar.class})
    class App { }

The usage help message for `App` looks like the below. Note that the `bar` subcommand is not shown:

    Usage: app
    Commands:
      foo  This is a visible subcommand

### 13.9. Help Subcommands

Commands with the `helpCommand` attribute set to `true` are treated as help commands. When picocli encounters a help command on the command line, required options and required positional parameters of the parent command are not validated (similar to help options).

See Custom Help Subcommands for more details on creating help subcommands.

    @Command(helpCommand = true)

### 13.10. Nested sub-Subcommands

The specified object can be an annotated object or a `CommandLine` instance with its own nested subcommands. For example:

    CommandLine commandLine = new CommandLine(new MainCommand())
        .addSubcommand("cmd1",                 new ChildCommand1())
        .addSubcommand("cmd2",                 new ChildCommand2())
        .addSubcommand("cmd3", new CommandLine(new ChildCommand3())
            .addSubcommand("cmd3sub1",                 new GrandChild3Command1())
            .addSubcommand("cmd3sub2",                 new GrandChild3Command2())
            .addSubcommand("cmd3sub3", new CommandLine(new GrandChild3Command3())
                .addSubcommand("cmd3sub3sub1", new GreatGrandChild3Command3_1())
                .addSubcommand("cmd3sub3sub2", new GreatGrandChild3Command3_2())
            )
        );

Declaratively, subcommands can be nested by specifying the `subcommands` attribute on subcommand classes:

    @Command(name = "main", subcommands = {
        ChildCommand1.class,
        ChildCommand2.class,
        ChildCommand3.class })
    class MainCommand { }

    @Command(name = "cmd3", subcommands = {
        GrandChild3Command1.class,
        GrandChild3Command2.class,
        GrandChild3Command3.class })
    class ChildCommand3 { }

    @Command(name = "cmd3sub3", subcommands = {
        GreatGrandChild3Command3_1.class,
        GreatGrandChild3Command3_2.class })
    class GrandChild3Command3 { }
    ...

By default, the usage help message only shows the subcommands of the specified command, and not the nested sub-subcommands. This can be customized by specifying your own `IHelpSectionRenderer` for the command list section. The `picocli-examples` module has an example that shows how to accomplish this.

## 14. Reuse

You may find yourself defining the same options, parameters or command attributes in many command line applications. To reduce duplication, picocli supports both subclassing and mixins as ways to reuse such options and attributes.

For both mechanisms, the first step is to extract these options, parameters and command attributes into a separate class. Below is an example class, `ReusableOptions`, that we will use in example scenarios in this chapter:

    @Command(synopsisHeading      = "%nUsage:%n%n",
             descriptionHeading   = "%nDescription:%n%n",
             parameterListHeading = "%nParameters:%n%n",
             optionListHeading    = "%nOptions:%n%n",
             commandListHeading   = "%nCommands:%n%n")
    public class ReusableOptions {

        @Option(names = { "-v", "--verbose" }, description = {
            "Specify multiple -v options to increase verbosity.",
            "For example, `-v -v -v` or `-vvv`" })
        protected boolean[] verbosity = new boolean[0];
    }

This defines some usage help attributes that give a spacious layout, and a `verbosity` option that makes the operation more talkative.

### 14.1. Subclassing

One way to reuse the above option and attributes is to extend the class. Picocli will walk the class hierarchy to check for annotations, so `@Options`, `@Parameters` and `@Command` attributes declared on a superclass are available in all subclasses.

For example, all commands that extend the above sample `ReusableOptions` class will inherit the `--verbose` option, and generate a usage help message in the same spacious style. Example code:

    @Command(name = "zip", description = "Example reuse by subclassing")
    public class MyCommand extends ReusableOptions { ... }

### 14.2. Mixins

Picocli 3.0 introduces the concept of "mixins". Mixins are a convenient alternative to subclassing: picocli annotations from any class can be added to ("mixed in" with) another command. This includes options, positional parameters, subcommands and command attributes. Picocli mixinStandardHelpOptions internally uses a mixin.

A mixin is a separate class with options, positional parameters, subcommands and command attributes that you want to reuse in other commands. Mixins can be installed by calling the `CommandLine.addMixin` method with an object of this class, or annotating a field in your command with `@Mixin`.

#### 14.2.1. Adding Mixins Programmatically

The below example shows how a mixin can be added programmatically with the `CommandLine.addMixin` method. We use the sample `ReusableOptions` class defined above as the mixin:

    CommandLine commandLine = new CommandLine(new MyCommand());

    ReusableOptions mixin = new ReusableOptions();
    commandline.addMixin("myMixin", mixin);

Programmatically added mixins can be accessed via the map returned by `CommandLine.getMixins`. Continuing from the previous example:

    commandLine.parse("-vvv");

    // the options defined in ReusableOptions have been added to the zip command
    assert mixin == commandLine.getMixins().get("myMixin");
    assert mixin.verbosity.length == 3;

#### 14.2.2. `@Mixin` Annotation

A command can also include a mixin by annotating a field with `@Mixin`. All picocli annotations found in the mixin class are added to the command that has a field annotated with `@Mixin`. For example, again using the sample `ReusableOptions` class defined above:

    @Command(name = "zip", description = "Example reuse with @Mixin annotation.")
    public class MyCommand {

        // adds the options defined in ReusableOptions to this command
        @Mixin
        private ReusableOptions myMixin;
        ...
    }

In addition to adding the options, subcommands and command attributes of the mixed-in object to the command, the mixed-in object is also injected into the field annotated with `@Mixin`, making it trival for the command to reference the mixed-in object if necessary.

    MyCommand zip = new MyCommand();
    CommandLine commandLine = new CommandLine(zip);
    commandLine.parse("-vvv");

    // the options defined in ReusableOptions have been added to the zip command
    assert zip.myMixin.verbosity.length == 3;

Mixins added with the `@Mixin` annotation can also be accessed via the map returned by `CommandLine.getMixins`.

### 14.3. Reuse Combinations

The above mechanisms can be combined in any way. Mixins can be nested, and there is no limitation to how deeply mixins can be nested. A mixin may also inherit options, positional parameters and command attributes from a super class.

An option with the same name should not be defined multiple times or a `DuplicateOptionAnnotationsException` is thrown during initialization. Positional parameters for the same position may be defined multiple times, they can co-exist.

Command attributes may be defined multiple times, but only one value is preserved. In case a command attribute is defined multiple times, the definition earlier in the following list takes priority over later in the list:

1. @Command attributes of the command itself

2. Attributes on the @Mixin commands

3. Attributes on a @Mixin nested in a @Mixin of the command

4. Attributes on superclass of nested @Mixin

5. Attributes on superclass of @Mixin

6. Attributes on superclass of the command

7. Attributes on programmatically added mixins

## 15. Internationalization

From version 3.6, usage help message sections and the description for options and positional parameters can be specified in a resource bundle. A resource bundle can be set via annotations and programmatically.

### 15.1. Configuration

Annotation example:

    @Command(name = "i18n-demo", resourceBundle = "my.org.I18nDemo_Messages")
    class I18nDemo {}

Programmatic example:

    @Command class I18nDemo2 {}

    CommandLine cmd = new CommandLine(new I18nDemo2());
    cmd.setResourceBundle(ResourceBundle.getBundle("my.org.I18nDemo2_Messages"));

### 15.2. Example Resource Bundle

Example properties resource bundle:

    # Usage Help Message Sections
    # ---------------------------
    # Numbered resource keys can be used to create multi-line sections.
    usage.headerHeading = This is my app. It does stuff. Good stuff.%n
    usage.header   = header first line
    usage.header.0 = header second line
    usage.descriptionHeading = Description:%n
    usage.description.0 = first line
    usage.description.1 = second line
    usage.description.2 = third line
    usage.synopsisHeading = Usage:\u0020

    # Leading whitespace is removed by default.
    # Start with \u0020 to keep the leading whitespace.
    usage.customSynopsis.0 =      Usage: ln [OPTION]... [-T] TARGET LINK_NAME   (1st form)
    usage.customSynopsis.1 = \u0020 or:  ln [OPTION]... TARGET                  (2nd form)
    usage.customSynopsis.2 = \u0020 or:  ln [OPTION]... TARGET... DIRECTORY     (3rd form)

    # Headings can contain the %n character to create multi-line values.
    usage.parameterListHeading = %nPositional parameters:%n
    usage.optionListHeading = %nOptions:%n
    usage.commandListHeading = %nCommands:%n
    usage.footerHeading = Powered by picocli%n
    usage.footer = footer

    # Option Descriptions
    # -------------------
    # Use numbered keys to create multi-line descriptions.
    help = Show this help message and exit.
    version = Print version information and exit.

For options and positional parameters, the `descriptionKey` can be used to localize the description.

When the `descriptionKey` is omitted, the fallback for options is any option name without the leading dashes, for example:

    # For @Option(names = {"-v", "--verbose) boolean[] verbose;
    verbose = Show more detail during execution. \
              May be specified multiple times for increasing verbosity.

For positional parameters the fallback key is the `paramLabel + [ index ]`, for example:

    # For @Parameters(paramLabel="FILES") File[];
    FILES[0..*] = The files to process.

### 15.3. Shared Resource Bundles

Resources for multiple commands can be specified in a single ResourceBundle. Keys and their value can be shared by multiple commands (so you don’t need to repeat them for every command), but alternatively, keys can be prefixed with `command name + "."` to specify different values for different commands. The most specific key wins. For example:

    jfrog.rt.usage.header = Artifactory commands
    jfrog.rt.config.usage.header = Configure Artifactory details.
    jfrog.rt.upload.usage.header = Upload files.

    # shared between all commands
    usage.footerHeading = Environment Variables:
    usage.footer.0 = footer line 0
    usage.footer.1 = footer line 1

### 15.4. Localizing the Built-In Help

The built-in `picocli.CommandLine.HelpCommand` can be localized as follows:

- `help.usage.header` controls the help command summary in the subcommand list

- `helpCommand.help` is the resource bundle key for the `--help` option of the help subcommand

- `helpCommand.command` is the resource bundle key for the `COMMAND` positional parameter of the help subcommand

    # for a specific subcommand, e.g., `parent help`
    parent.help.usage.header=This is the `help` subcommand of the `parent` command
    parent.help.helpCommand.help = Specialized description of --help option of help subcommand for parent command
    parent.help.helpCommand.command = Specialized description of COMMAND parameter of help subcommand for parent command

    # or have one global entry for the `help` subcommand (for any and all commands)
    help.usage.header=This is the `help` subcommand
    helpCommand.help = Shared description of --help option of built-in help subcommand
    helpCommand.command = Shared description of COMMAND parameter of built-in help subcommand

### 15.5. Localizing Default Values

Options with a default value can use the `${DEFAULT-VALUE}` variable in the localized option description in the resource bundle:

    userName=Specify the user name. The default is ${DEFAULT-VALUE}.

## 16. Tips & Tricks

### 16.1. `@Option` and `@Parameters` Methods

From version 3.2, `@Option` and `@Parameters` annotations can be added to methods as well as fields of a class.

For concrete classes, annotate "setter" methods (methods that accept a parameter) and when the option is specified on the command line, picocli will invoke the method with the value specified on the command line, converted to the type of the method parameter.

Alternatively, you may annotate "getter-like" methods (methods that return a value) on an interface, and picocli will create an instance of the interface that returns the values specified on the command line, converted to the method return type.

#### 16.1.1. Annotating Methods of an Interface

The `@Option` and `@Parameters` annotations can be used on methods of an interface that return a value. For example:

    interface Counter {
        @Option(names = "--count")
        int getCount();
    }

You use it by specifying the class of the interface:

    CommandLine cmd = new CommandLine(Counter.class); // specify a class
    String[] args = new String[] {"--count", "3"};
    cmd.parse(args);
    Counter counter = cmd.getCommand(); // picocli created an instance
    assert counter.getCount() == 3; // method returns command line value

#### 16.1.2. Annotating Methods of a Concrete Class

The `@Option` and `@Parameters` annotations can be used on methods of a class that accept a parameter. For example:

    class Counter {
        int count;

        @Option(names = "--count")
        void setCount(int count) {
            this.count = count;
        }
    }

You use it by passing an instance of the class:

    Counter counter = new Counter(); // the instance to populate
    CommandLine cmd = new CommandLine(counter);
    String[] args = new String[] {"--count", "3"};
    cmd.parse(args);
    assert counter.count == 3; // method was invoked with command line value

Methods annotated with `@Option` and `@Parameters` can do simple input validation by throwing a `ParameterException` when invalid values are specified on the command line.

    class ValidationExample {
        private Map<String, String> properties = new LinkedHashMap<>();

        @Spec private CommandSpec spec; // injected by picocli

        @Option(names = {"-D", "--property"}, paramLabel = "KEY=VALUE")
        public void setProperty(Map<String, String> map) {
            for (String key : map.keySet()) {
                String newValue = map.get(key);
                validateUnique(key, newValue);
                properties.put(key, newValue);
            }
        }

        private void validateUnique(String key, String newValue) {
            String existing = properties.get(key);
            if (existing != null && !existing.equals(newValue)) {
                throw new ParameterException(spec.commandLine(),
                        String.format("Duplicate key '%s' for values '%s' and '%s'.",
                        key, existing, newValue));
            }
        }
        // ...
    }

### 16.2. `@Command` Methods

From picocli 3.6, methods can be annotated with `@Command`. The method parameters provide the command options and parameters. For example:

    class Cat {
        public static void main(String[] args) {
            CommandLine.invoke("cat", Cat.class, args);
        }

        @Command(description = "Concatenate FILE(s) to standard output.",
                 mixinStandardHelpOptions = true, version = "3.6.0")
        void cat(@Option(names = {"-E", "--show-ends"}) boolean showEnds,
                 @Option(names = {"-n", "--number"}) boolean number,
                 @Option(names = {"-T", "--show-tabs"}) boolean showTabs,
                 @Option(names = {"-v", "--show-nonprinting"}) boolean showNonPrinting,
                 @Parameters(paramLabel = "FILE") File[] files) {
            // process files
        }
    }

The usage help of the above command looks like this:

    Usage: cat [-EhnTvV] [FILE...]
    Concatenate FILE(s) to standard output.
          [FILE...]
      -E, --show-ends
      -h, --help               Show this help message and exit.
      -n, --number
      -T, --show-tabs
      -v, --show-nonprinting
      -V, --version            Print version information and exit.

See below for an example that uses a resource bundle to define usage help descriptions outside the code.

For positional parameters, the `@Parameters` annotation may be omitted on method parameters.

| If compiled with the `-parameters` flag on Java 8 or higher, the `paramLabel` of positional parameters is obtained from the method parameter name using reflection instead of the generic arg0, arg1, etc.

#### 16.2.1. Subcommand Methods

If the enclosing class is annotated with `@Command`, method commands are automatically added as subcommands to the class command, unless the class command has attribute `@Command(addMethodSubcommands = false)`. For example:

    @Command(name = "git", mixinStandardHelpOptions = true,
             resourceBundle = "Git_Messages", version = "picocli-3.6.0")
    class Git {
        @Option(names = "--git-dir", descriptionKey = "GITDIR")
        Path path;

        @Command
        void commit(@Option(names = {"-m", "--message"}) String commitMessage,
                    @Option(names = "--squash", paramLabel = "<commit>") String squash,
                    @Parameters(paramLabel = "<file>") File[] files) {
            // ... implement business logic
        }
    }

Use `@Command(addMethodSubcommands = false)` on the class `@Command` annotation if the `@Command`-annotated methods in this class should not be added as subcommands.

#### 16.2.2. Description Text in ResourceBundle

The usage help of the above `git commit` example command is very minimal:

    Usage: git commit [--squash=<commit>] [-m=<arg0>] [<file>...]
          [<file>...]
          --squash=<commit>
      -m, --message=<arg0>

You can use a resource bundle to move the descriptions out of the code:

    # shared between all commands
    help = Show this help message and exit.
    version = Print version information and exit.

    # command-specific strings
    git.usage.description = Version control system
    git.GITDIR = Set the path to the repository

    git.commit.usage.description = Record changes to the repository
    git.commit.message = Use the given <msg> as the commit message.
    git.commit.squash = Construct a commit message for use with rebase --autosquash.
    git.commit.<file>[0..*] = The files to commit.

With this resource bundle, the usage help for the `git commit` command looks like this:

    Usage: git commit [--squash=<commit>] [-m=<arg0>] [<file>...]
    Record changes to the repository
          [<file>...]         The files to commit.
          --squash=<commit>   Construct a commit message for use with rebase
                                --autosquash.
      -m, --message=<arg0>    Use the given <msg> as the commit message.

#### 16.2.3. Mixin Support in `@Command` Methods

From picocli 3.8, `@Command` methods accept `@Mixin` parameters. All options and positional parameters defined in the mixin class are added to the command.

Example:

    class CommonParams {
        @Option(names = "-x") int x;
        @Option(names = "-y") int y;
    }

    class App {
        @Command
        public void doit(@Mixin CommonParams params, @Option(names = "-z") int z) {}
    }

In the above example, the `-x` and `-y` options are added to the other options of the `doit` command.

### 16.3. Less Boilerplate

You can omit some of the boilerplate code from your application when the annotated object implements `Runnable` or `Callable`:

Before

    Callable<Object> callable = new MyCallable();
    CommandLine cmd = new CommandLine(callable);
    try {
        cmd.parse(args);
        if (cmd.isUsageHelpRequested()) {
            cmd.usage(System.out);
            return null;
        } else if (cmd.isVersionHelpRequested()) {
            cmd.printVersionHelp(System.out);
            return null;
        }
        return callable.call();
    } catch (ParameterException ex) {
        System.err.println(ex.getMessage());
        if (!UnmatchedArgumentException.printSuggestions(ex, System.err)) {
            ex.getCommandLine().usage(System.err);
        }
        return null;
    } catch (Exception ex) {
        throw new ExecutionException(cmd, "Error while calling " + callable, ex);
    }

After

    Object result = CommandLine.call(new MyCallable(), args);

The `CommandLine.call` method returns the result of the `Callable`, or `null` if the command line options were invalid. An error message and a usage help message are printed when the command line options were invalid. Exceptions thrown from the `Callable.call` method are caught, wrapped in an `ExecutionException` and rethrown.

When the annotated object implements `Runnable`, use the `run` method. For example:

    CommandLine.run(new MyRunnable(), args);

If the command class has subcommands, the `CommandLine::call` and `CommandLine::run` convenience methods will execute the most specific subcommand on the command line. For example:

    <command> -g global_option subcommand -x -y -z subsubcommand param1 param2

In the above example, the `subsubcommand` is the most specific subcommand, and only the `Runnable` or `Callable` associated with that subcommand will be executed by the `CommandLine::call` and `CommandLine::run` convenience methods.

### 16.4. Convenience Methods for Subcommands

Picocli v2.0 introduced the `CommandLine::parseWithHandler` and `CommandLine::parseWithHandlers` convenience methods. These methods are intended to offer the same ease of use as the `run` and `call` methods, but with more flexibility and better support for nested subcommands.

For example:

    CommandLine cmd = new CommandLine(MyTopLevelCommand())
            .addSubcommand("status",   new GitStatus())
            .addSubcommand("commit",   new GitCommit())
            .addSubcommand("add",      new GitAdd());
    List<Object> result = cmd.parseWithHandler(new RunAll(), args);

The `CommandLine::parseWithHandler` method will take care of the following:

- parse the specified command line arguments

- if the input was invalid, delegate to `DefaultExceptionHandler`, which will print the error message followed by the usage help message

- otherwise, if the command line arguments were parsed successfully, let the specified `IParseResultHandler2` handle the parse result

Picocli provides some default `IParseResultHandler2` implementations for common tasks:

- the `RunLast` handler prints help if requested, and otherwise gets the last specified command or subcommand and tries to execute it as a `Runnable` or `Callable`

- the `RunFirst` handler prints help if requested, and otherwise executes the top-level command as a `Runnable` or `Callable`

- the `RunAll` handler prints help if requested, and otherwise executes all commands and subcommands that the user specified on the command line as `Runnable` or `Callable` tasks

### 16.5. Stdout or Stderr

From picocli v3.0, the `run`, `call` and `invoke` convenience methods follow unix conventions: print to stdout when the user requested help, and print to stderr when the input was invalid or an unexpected error occurred.

Custom handlers can extend `AbstractHandler` to facilitate following this convention. `AbstractHandler` also provides `useOut` and `useErr` methods to allow customizing the target output streams, and `useAnsi` to customize the Ansi style to use:

    @Command class CustomizeTargetStreamsDemo implements Runnable {
        public void run() { ... }

        public static void main(String... args) {
            CommandLine cmd = new CommandLine(new CustomizeTargetStreamsDemo());

            PrintStream myOut = getOutputPrintStream(); // custom stream to send command output to
            PrintStream myErr = getErrorPrintStream();  // custom stream for error messages

            cmd.parseWithHandlers(
                    new RunLast().useOut(myOut).useAnsi(Help.Ansi.ON),
                    CommandLine.defaultExceptionHandler().useErr(myErr).useAnsi(Help.Ansi.OFF),
                    args);
        }
    }

### 16.6. Exit Code

From picocli v3.0, the built-in parse result handlers (`RunFirst`, `RunLast` and `RunAll`) and exception handler (`DefaultExceptionHandler`) can specify an exit code. If an exit code was specified, the handler terminates the JVM with the specified status code when finished.

    @Command class ExitCodeDemo implements Runnable {
        public void run() { throw new ParameterException(new CommandLine(this), "exit code demo"); }

        public static void main(String... args) {
            CommandLine cmd = new CommandLine(new ExitCodeDemo());
            cmd.parseWithHandlers(
                    new RunLast().andExit(123),
                    CommandLine.defaultExceptionHandler().andExit(456),
                    args);
        }
    }

Running this command prints the following to stderr and exits the JVM with status code `456`.

    exit code demo
    Usage: <main class>

Custom handlers can extend `AbstractHandler` to inherit this behaviour.

### 16.7. `@Spec` Annotation

Picocli 3.2 introduces a `@Spec` annotation for injecting the `CommandSpec` model of the command into a command field.

This is useful when a command needs to use the picocli API, for example to walk the command hierarchy and iterate over its sibling commands. This complements the `@ParentCommand` annotation; the `@ParentCommand` annotation injects a user-defined command object, whereas this annotation injects a picocli class.

    class InjectSpecExample implements Runnable {
       @Spec CommandSpec commandSpec;

       //...

       public void run() {
           // do something with the injected spec
       }
    }

### 16.8. Custom Factory

Declaratively registered subcommands, type converters and version providers must be instantiated somehow. From picocli 2.2, a custom factory can be specified when constructing a `CommandLine` instance. This allows full control over object creation and opens possibilities for Inversion of Control and Dependency Injection (see next section). For example:

    IFactory myFactory = getCustomFactory();
    CommandLine cmdLine = new CommandLine(new Git(), myFactory);

Custom factories need to implement the `picocli.CommandLine.IFactory` interface:

    public interface IFactory {
        /**
         * Creates and returns an instance of the specified class.
         * @param clazz the class to instantiate
         * @param <K> the type to instantiate
         * @return the new instance
         * @throws Exception an exception detailing what went wrong when creating the instance
         */
        <K> K create(Class<K> clazz) throws Exception;
    }

If no factory is specified, a default factory is used. The default factory requires that the classes to instantiate have a public no-argument constructor: it instantiates the class by calling first calling `clazz.newInstance()`, and if that fails, `clazz.getDeclaredConstructor().newInstance()`.

### 16.9. Boolean Options with Parameters

By default the value of a boolean field is toggled to its logical negative when the field’s option is specified on the command line.

It is possible to let end users explicitly specify "true" or "false" as a parameter for a boolean option by defining an explicit Arity attribute. A boolean option with `arity = "0..1"` accepts zero to one parameters, `arity = "1"` means the option must have one parameter. For example:

    class BooleanOptionWithParameters {
        @Option(names = "-x", arity = "1", description = "1 mandatory parameter")
        boolean x;

        @Option(names = "-y", arity = "0..1", description = "min 0 and max 1 parameter")
        boolean y;
    }

The following ways to invoke the program will be accepted (values are not case sensitive):

    <command> -x true
    <command> -x FALSE
    <command> -x TRUE -y
    <command> -x True -y False

But trying to specify the `-x` option without a parameter, or with a value other than "true" or "false" (case insensitive) will result in a `ParameterException`.

### 16.10. Hexadecimal Values

Numeric values are interpreted as decimal numbers by default. If you want picocli to be more flexible, you can register a custom type converter that delegates to the decode method to convert strings to numbers.

| The `decode` method looks at the prefix to determine the radix, so numbers starting with `0x`, `0X` or `#` are interpreted as hexadecimal numbers, numbers starting with `0` are interpreted as octal numbers, and otherwise the number is interpreted as a decimal number.

Java 8-style lambdas:

    new CommandLine(obj)
            .registerConverter(Byte.class,    s -> Byte::decode)
            .registerConverter(Byte.TYPE,     s -> Byte::decode)
            .registerConverter(Short.class,   s -> Short::decode)
            .registerConverter(Short.TYPE,    s -> Short::decode)
            .registerConverter(Integer.class, s -> Integer::decode)
            .registerConverter(Integer.TYPE,  s -> Integer::decode)
            .registerConverter(Long.class,    s -> Long::decode)
            .registerConverter(Long.TYPE,     s -> Long::decode);

In Java 5:

    ITypeConverter<Integer> intConverter = new ITypeConverter<Integer>() {
        public Integer convert(String s) {
            return Integer.decode(s);
        }
    };
    commandLine.registerConverter(Integer.class, intConverter);
    commandLine.registerConverter(Integer.TYPE,  intConverter);
    ...

### 16.11. Option-Parameter Separators

#### 16.11.1. Default Separators

Options may take an option parameter (also called option-argument). For POSIX-style short options (like `-f` or `-c`), the option parameter may be attached to the option, or it may be separated by a space or the separator string (`=` by default). That is, all of the below are equivalent:

    <command> -foutput.txt
    <command> -f output.txt
    <command> -f=output.txt

Long option names (like `--file`) must be separated from their option parameter by a space or the separator string (`=` by default). That is, the first two below examples are valid but the last example is invalid:

    // valid (separator between --file and its parameter)
    <command> --file output.txt
    <command> --file=output.txt

    // invalid (picocli will not recognize the --file option when attached to its parameter)
    <command> --fileoutput.txt

#### 16.11.2. Custom Separators

The separator string can be customized programmatically or declaratively.

Use the `separator` attribute of the `@Command` annotation to declaratively set a separator string:

    @Command(separator = ":")  // declaratively set a separator
    class OptionArg {
        @Option(names = { "-f", "--file" }) String file;
    }

    OptionArg optionArg = CommandLine.populateCommand(new OptionArg(), "-f:output.txt");
    assert optionArg.file.equals("output.txt");

Alternatively, the separator string can be changed programmatically with the `CommandLine.setSeparator(String separator)` method. For example:

    OptionArg optionArg     = new OptionArg();
    CommandLine commandLine = new CommandLine(optionArg);

    commandLine.setSeparator(":"); // programmatically set a separator
    commandLine.parse("-f:output.txt");
    assert optionArg.file.equals("output.txt");

### 16.12. Best Practices for Command Line Interfaces

When designing your command line application, the GNU recommendations for command line interfaces and POSIX Utility Guidelines may be useful.

Generally, many applications use options for optional values and parameters for mandatory values. However, picocli lets you make options required if you want to, see Required Arguments.

## 17. Dependency Injection

### 17.1. Guice Example

The below example shows how to create a custom `IFactory` implementation with a Guice `Injector`:

    import com.google.inject.*;
    import picocli.CommandLine.IFactory;

    public class GuiceFactory implements IFactory {
        private final Injector injector = Guice.createInjector(new DemoModule());

        @Override
        public <K> K create(Class<K> aClass) throws Exception {
            return injector.getInstance(aClass);
        }

        static class DemoModule extends AbstractModule {
            @Override
            protected void configure() {
                bind(java.util.List.class).to(java.util.LinkedList.class);
                bind(Runnable.class).to(InjectionDemo.class);
            }
        }
    }

Use the custom factory when creating a `CommandLine` instance, or when invoking the `run` or `call` convenience methods:

    import javax.inject.Inject;

    @Command(name = "di-demo")
    public class InjectionDemo implements Runnable {
        @Inject java.util.List list;

        @Option(names = "-x") int x;

        public static void main(String[] args) {
            CommandLine.run(Runnable.class, new GuiceFactory(), args);
        }

        @Override
        public void run() {
            assert list instanceof java.util.LinkedList;
        }
    }

### 17.2. Spring Boot Example

A custom factory is not always necessary. The below example shows how to use picocli with Spring Boot:

    import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
    import org.springframework.boot.CommandLineRunner;
    import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
    import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication;
    import picocli.CommandLine;

    @SpringBootApplication
    public class MySpringBootApp implements CommandLineRunner {

        @Autowired
        private MyCommand myCommand;

        public static void main(String[] args) {
            // let Spring instantiate and inject dependencies
            SpringApplication.run(MySpringBootApp.class, args);
        }

        @Override
        public void run(String... args) {
            // let picocli parse command line args and run the business logic
            CommandLine.call(myCommand, args);
        }
    }

| It may be a good idea to define an option `--spring.config.location` in your command. Spring Boot allows end users to specify the `spring.config.location` Spring environment property as a command line option to specify an alternative location for the `application.properties` file. Defining this option prevents picocli from throwing an `UnmatchedArgumentException` ("Unknown option") when it sees an option it cannot match. You can make it a `hidden` option so it is not shown in the usage help message, or add a description that explains its meaning. Alternatively, you can define an unmatched field to capture all unknown options (and positional parameters):
    @Unmatched List<String> unmatched;

When your command is annotated with `@org.springframework.stereotype.Component` Spring can autodetect it for dependency injection. The business logic of your command looks like any other picocli command with options and parameters.

    import org.springframework.stereotype.Component;
    import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
    import picocli.CommandLine.Command;
    import picocli.CommandLine.Option;
    import java.util.concurrent.Callable;

    @Component
    @Command(name = "myCommand")
    public class MyCommand implements Callable<Void> {

        @Autowired
        private SomeService someService;

        // Prevent "Unknown option" error when users use
        // the Spring Boot parameter 'spring.config.location' to specify
        // an alternative location for the application.properties file.
        @Option(names = "--spring.config.location", hidden = true)
        private String springConfigLocation;

        @Option(names = { "-x", "--option" }, description = "example option")
        private boolean flag;

        public Void call() throws Exception {
            // business logic here
            return null;
        }
    }

### 17.3. Micronaut Example

The Micronaut microservices framework provides built-in support for picocli with its `PicocliRunner` class.

    import io.micronaut.configuration.picocli.PicocliRunner;
    import io.micronaut.http.annotation.*;
    import io.micronaut.http.client.*;
    import javax.inject.Inject;

    import picocli.CommandLine.Command;
    import picocli.CommandLine.Option;

    @Command(name = "myMicronautApp")
    public class MyMicronautApp implements Runnable {

        @Client("https://api.github.com")
        @Inject RxHttpClient client;

        @Option(names = {"-x", "--option"}, description = "example option")
        boolean flag;

        public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
            // let Micronaut instantiate and inject services
            PicocliRunner.run(MyMicronautApp.class, args);
        }

        public void run() {
            // business logic here
        }
    }

## 18. Tracing

Picocli v1.0 introduced support for parser tracing to facilitate troubleshooting.

System property `picocli.trace` controls the trace level. Supported levels are `OFF`, `WARN`, `INFO`, and `DEBUG`. The default trace level is `WARN`.

Specifying system property `-Dpicocli.trace` without a value will set the trace level to `INFO`.

- DEBUG: Shows details of the decisions made by the parser during command line parsing.

- INFO: Shows a high-level overview of what happens during command line parsing.

- WARN: The default. Shows warnings instead of errors when lenient parsing is enabled: when single-value options were specified multiple times (and `CommandLine.overwrittenOptionsAllowed` is `true`), or when command line arguments could not be matched as an option or positional parameter (and `CommandLine.unmatchedArgumentsAllowed` is `true`).

- OFF: Suppresses all tracing including warnings.

Example:

    # create a custom 'git' command that invokes picocli.Demo$Git with tracing switched on
    alias git='java -Dpicocli.trace -cp picocli-all.jar picocli.Demo$Git'

    # invoke our command with some parameters
    git --git-dir=/home/rpopma/picocli commit -m "Fixed typos" -- src1.java src2.java src3.java

    # remove our 'git' pseudonym from the current shell environment
    unalias git

Output:

    [picocli INFO] Parsing 8 command line args [--git-dir=/home/rpopma/picocli, commit, -m, "Fixed typos", --, src1.java, src2.java, src3.java]
    [picocli INFO] Setting File field 'Git.gitDir' to '\home\rpopma\picocli' for option --git-dir
    [picocli INFO] Adding [Fixed typos] to List<String> field 'GitCommit.message' for option -m
    [picocli INFO] Found end-of-options delimiter '--'. Treating remainder as positional parameters.
    [picocli INFO] Adding [src1.java] to List<String> field 'GitCommit.files' for args[0..*]
    [picocli INFO] Adding [src2.java] to List<String> field 'GitCommit.files' for args[0..*]
    [picocli INFO] Adding [src3.java] to List<String> field 'GitCommit.files' for args[0..*]

## 19. TAB Autocomplete

Picocli-based applications can now have command line completion in Bash or Zsh Unix shells. See the Autocomplete for Java Command Line Applications manual for how to generate an autocompletion script tailored to your application.

## 20. Picocli in Other Languages

Picocli may be used in other JVM languages that support annotations.

### 20.1. Groovy

In Groovy, use `[` and `]` to surround array values, instead of the `{` and `}` used in Java.

    @Command(name = "MyApp", version = "Groovy picocli v3.0 demo",
             mixinStandardHelpOptions = true, // add --help and --version options
             description = "@|bold Groovy|@ @|underline picocli|@ example")
    class MyApp implements Runnable {

        @Option(names = ["-c", "--count"], description = "number of repetitions")
        int count = 1

        void run() {
            count.times {
                println("hello world $it...")
            }
        }
        static void main(String[] args) {
            CommandLine.run(new MayApp(), args)
        }
    }

Picocli 2.0 introduced special support for Groovy scripts.

Scripts annotated with `@picocli.groovy.PicocliScript` are automatically transformed to use `picocli.groovy.PicocliBaseScript` as their base class and can also use the `@Command` annotation to customize parts of the usage message like command name, description, headers, footers etc.

Before the script body is executed, the `PicocliBaseScript` base class parses the command line and initializes `@Field` variables annotated with `@Option` or `@Parameters`. The script body is executed if the user input was valid and did not request usage help or version information.

    @Grab('info.picocli:picocli:3.9.6')
    @Command(name = "myScript",
            mixinStandardHelpOptions = true, // add --help and --version options
            description = "@|bold Groovy script|@ @|underline picocli|@ example")
    @picocli.groovy.PicocliScript
    import groovy.transform.Field
    import static picocli.CommandLine.*

    @Option(names = ["-c", "--count"], description = "number of repetitions")
    @Field int count = 1;

    // PicocliBaseScript prints usage help or version if requested by the user

    count.times {
       println "hi"
    }
    // the CommandLine that parsed the args is available as a property
    assert this.commandLine.commandName == "myScript"

| When using a Groovy version older than 2.4.7, use this workaround for the Grape bug that causes this error: `java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: # Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more`.

    @Grab('info.picocli:picocli:3.9.6')
    @GrabExclude('org.codehaus.groovy:groovy-all') // work around GROOVY-7613
    ...

### 20.2. Kotlin

Kotlin 1.2 (released Nov 28, 2017) officially supports array literals in annotations, allowing a more compact notation:

    @Command(name = "MyApp", version = ["Kotlin picocli v3.0 demo"],
            mixinStandardHelpOptions = true, // add --help and --version options
            description = ["@|bold Kotlin|@ @|underline picocli|@ example"])
    class MyApp : Runnable {

        @Option(names = ["-c", "--count"], description = ["number of repetitions"])
        private var count: Int = 1

        override fun run() {
            for (i in 0 until count) {
                println("hello world $i...")
            }
        }
    }
    fun main(args: Array<String>) = CommandLine.run(MyApp(), *args)

When specify a class as an argument of an annotation, use a Kotlin class (KClass). The Kotlin compiler will automatically convert it to a Java class, so that the Java code will be able to see the annotations and arguments normally.

    @Command(name = "top", // ...
            subcommands = [SubCmd::class, picocli.CommandLine.HelpCommand::class])
    class TopCmd { // ...
    }

    @Command(name = "sub", /* ... */)
    class SubCmd { // ...
    }

Kotlin versions prior to 1.2 did not allow the array literal syntax in annotations, so with older versions of Kotlin you will have to write `arrayOf(…​)` for the `names`, `description` and `type` attributes.

    @Command(name = "MyApp", version = arrayOf("picocli demo for Kotlin v1.0 and Kotlin v1.1"),
            mixinStandardHelpOptions = true, // add --help and --version options
            description = arrayOf("@|bold Kotlin|@ @|underline picocli|@ example"))
    class MyApp : Runnable {

        @Option(names = arrayOf("-c", "--count"),
                description = arrayOf("number of repetitions"))
        private var count: Int = 1

        override fun run() {
            for (i in 0 until count) {
                println("hello world $i...")
            }
        }
    }
    fun main(args: Array<String>) = CommandLine.run(MyApp(), *args)

### 20.3. Scala

Scala does not allow specifying array annotation attribute as a single value, so be aware that you will have to write `Array(…​)` for the `names`, `description` and `type` attributes.

    @Command(name = "MyApp", version = Array("Scala picocli v3.0 demo"),
        mixinStandardHelpOptions = true, // add --help and --version options
        description = Array("@|bold Scala|@ @|underline picocli|@ example"))
    class MyApp extends Runnable {

        @Option(names = Array("-c", "--count"),
                description = Array("number of repetitions"))
        private var count: Int = 1

        def run() : Unit = {
            for (i <- 0 until count) {
                println(s"hello world $i...")
            }
        }
    }
    object MyApp {
        def main(args: Array[String]) {
            CommandLine.run(new MyApp(), args: _*)
        }
    }

## 21. API Javadoc

Picocli API Javadoc can be found here.

See also: latest version, picocli 2.x javadoc.

## 22. GitHub Project

The GitHub project has the source code, tests, build scripts, etc.

Star and/or fork this project on GitHub if you like it!

## 23. Issue Tracker

The GitHub Issue Tracker can be used to report bugs or request features. There is also a Mailing List, and for questions where the user community may know the answer, StackOverflow is both a good resource and a great way to build an online knowledge base.

## 24. Mailing List

Join the picocli Google group if you are interested in discussing anything picocli-related and receiving announcements on new releases.

## 25. License

Picocli is licensed under the Apache License 2.0.

## 26. Releases

Previous versions are available from the GitHub project Releases.

## 27. Download

You can add picocli as an external dependency to your project, or you can include it as source. See the source code below. Copy and paste it into a file called `CommandLine.java`, add it to your project, and enjoy!

### 27.1. Gradle

    compile 'info.picocli:picocli:3.9.6'

### 27.2. Maven

    <dependency>
      <groupId>info.picocli</groupId>
      <artifactId>picocli</artifactId>
      <version>3.9.6</version>
    </dependency>

### 27.3. Scala SBT

    libraryDependencies += "info.picocli" % "picocli" % "3.9.6"

### 27.4. Ivy

    <dependency org="info.picocli" name="picocli" rev="3.9.6" />

### 27.5. Source

Picocli has only one source file: CommandLine.java. This facilitates including it in your project in source form to avoid having an external dependency on picocli.