# Programmatic API

version 3.9.6, 2019-04-06

| For most applications the annotations API is a better fit than the programmatic API: the annotation syntax is more compact, easier to read, and easier to maintain. See this introductory article and for more details, the user manual.

Picocli 3.0 offers a programmatic API for creating command line applications, in addition to annotations. The programmatic API allows applications to dynamically create command line options on the fly, and also makes it possible to create idiomatic domain-specific languages for processing command line arguments, using picocli, in other JVM languages.

## 1. Example

    CommandSpec spec = CommandSpec.create();
    spec.mixinStandardHelpOptions(true); // usageHelp and versionHelp options
    spec.addOption(OptionSpec.builder("-c", "--count")
            .paramLabel("COUNT")
            .type(int.class)
            .description("number of times to execute").build());
    spec.addPositional(PositionalParamSpec.builder()
            .paramLabel("FILES")
            .type(List.class)
            .auxiliaryTypes(File.class) // List<File>
            .description("The files to process").build());
    CommandLine commandLine = new CommandLine(spec);

    // processing parse results can be done manually
    // or delegated to a handler
    class Handler extends AbstractParseResultHandler<Integer> {
        protected Handler self() { return this; }

        public Integer handle(ParseResult pr) {
            int count = pr.matchedOptionValue('c', 1);
            List<File> files = pr.matchedPositionalValue(0, Collections.<File>emptyList());
            for (File f : files) {
                for (int i = 0; i < count; i++) {
                    System.out.println(i + " " + f.getName());
                }
            }
            return files.size();
        }
    }

    // using a handler gives fine-grained control
    // over which streams to use and exit codes
    Integer processed = commandLine.parseWithHandlers(
            new Handler().useOut(System.out).andExit(123),
            new DefaultExceptionHandler<Integer>().andExit(567),
            args);

## 2. Configuration

The following classes are the main model classes used to configure the parser:

- `CommandSpec`

- `OptionSpec`

- `PositionalParamSpec`

### 2.1. `CommandSpec`

#### 2.1.1. Command Name and Version

`CommandSpec` models a command. It has a name and a version, both of which may be empty. For example:

    CommandSpec cmd = CommandSpec.create()
        .name("mycommand")
        .version("My Command v1.0");

It also has a `UsageMessageSpec` to configure aspects of the usage help message.

#### 2.1.2. Usage Help

    cmd.usageMessage()
            .headerHeading("Header heading%n")
            .header("header line 1", "header line 2")
            .descriptionHeading("Description heading%n")
            .description("description line 1", "description line 2")
            .optionListHeading("Options%n")
            .parameterListHeading("Positional Parameters%n");
            .footerHeading("Footer heading%n")
            .footer("footer line 1", "footer line 2");

The `ParserSpec` can be used to control the behaviour of the parser to some extent.

#### 2.1.3. Parser Options

    cmd.parser()
            .unmatchedArgumentsAllowed(true)
            .overwrittenOptionsAllowed(true);

#### 2.1.4. Mixins

`CommandSpec` has methods to add options (`OptionSpec` objects) and positional parameters (`PositionalParamSpec` objects). A `CommandSpec` can be mixed in with another `CommandSpec`, so its options, positional parameters and usage help attributes are merged into the other `CommandSpec`.

    CommandSpec standardHelpOptions = CommandSpec.create()
        .addOption(OptionSpec.builder("-h", "--help")
            .usageHelp(true)
            .description("Show this help message and exit.").build())
        .addOption(OptionSpec.builder("-V", "--version")
            .versionHelp(true)
            .description("Print version information and exit.").build());

    CommandSpec cmd = CommandSpec.create()
        .name("mycommand")
        .addMixin("standardHelpOptions", standardHelpOptions);

Actually, since these options are extremely common, `CommandSpec` provides a convenience method to quickly add these standard help options:

    CommandSpec spec = CommandSpec.create();
    spec.mixinStandardHelpOptions(true); // usageHelp and versionHelp options

#### 2.1.5. Subcommands

Finally, `CommandSpec` objects can be subcommands of other `CommandSpecs`. There is no limit to the depth of a hierarchy of command and subcommands. `CommandSpec` also allows registration of type converters that are used while parsing the command line arguments to convert a command line argument string to the strongly typed value of a `OptionSpec` or `PositionalParamSpec`

    CommandSpec helpSubcommand = CommandSpec.forAnnotatedObject(
            new picocli.CommandLine.HelpCommand());

    CommandSpec cmd = CommandSpec.create()
        .name("mycommand")
        .addSubcommand("help", helpSubcommand);

### 2.2. `OptionSpec`

`OptionSpec` models a command option. An `OptionSpec` must have at least one name, which is used during parsing to match command line arguments. Other attributes can be left empty and picocli will give them a reasonable default value. This defaulting is why `OptionSpec` objects are created with a builder: this allows you to specify only some attributes and let picocli initialise the other attributes. For example, if only the option’s name is specified, picocli assumes the option takes no parameters (arity = 0), and is of type `boolean`. Another example, if arity is larger than `1`, picocli sets the type to `List` and the `auxiliary type` to `String`.

Once an `OptionSpec` is constructed, its configuration becomes immutable, but its `value` can still be modified. Usually the value is set during command line parsing when a command line argument matches one of the option names.

The value is set via the getter and setter bindings. We’ll come back to bindings later in this document.

Similar to the annotation API, `OptionSpec` objects have `help`, `usageHelp` and `versionHelp` attributes. When the parser matches an option that was marked with any of these attributes, it will no longer validate that all required arguments exist. See the section below on the `parseWithHandler(s)` methods that automatically print help when requested.

### 2.3. `PositionalParamSpec`

`PositionalParamSpec` objects don’t have names, but have an index range instead. A single `PositionalParamSpec` object can capture multiple positional parameters. The default index range is set to `0..*` (all indices). A command may have multiple `PositionalParamSpec` objects to capture positional parameters at different index ranges. This can be useful if positional parameters at different index ranges have different data types.

Similar to `OptionSpec` objects, Once a `PositionalParamSpec` is constructed, its configuration becomes immutable, but its `value` can still be modified. Usually the value is set during command line parsing when a non-option command line argument is encountered at a position in its index range.

The value is set via getter and setter bindings. We’ll look at bindings next.

### 2.4. Bindings

Bindings decouple the option and positional parameter specification from the place where their value is held.

Option specifications and positional parameter specifications created from annotated objects have a `FieldBinding` (and in the near future they can have a `MethodBinding`), so when the value is set on an option specification, the field’s value is set (or the setter method is invoked).

Option specifications and positional parameter specifications created programmatically without annotated object by default have an `ObjectBinding` that simply stores the value in a field of the `ObjectBinding`.

You may create a custom binding that delegates to some other data structure to retrieve and store the value.

A binding is either a getter or a setter:

    public static interface IGetter {
        /** Returns the current value of the binding. For multi-value options and positional
         * parameters, this method returns an array, collection or map to add values to.
         * @throws PicocliException if a problem occurred while obtaining the current value
         * @throws Exception internally, picocli call sites will catch any exceptions
         *         thrown from here and rethrow them wrapped in a PicocliException */
        <T> T get() throws Exception;
    }

    public static interface ISetter {
        /** Sets the new value of the option or positional parameter.
         *
         * @param value the new value of the option or positional parameter
         * @param <T> type of the value
         * @return the previous value of the binding (if supported by this binding)
         * @throws PicocliException if a problem occurred while setting the new value
         * @throws Exception internally, picocli call sites will catch any exceptions
         *         thrown from here and rethrow them wrapped in a PicocliException */
        <T> T set(T value) throws Exception;
    }

For single-value options, picocli will simply invoke the setter when an option or positional parameter is matched on the command line.

For multi-value options or positional parameters, picocli will call the getter to get the current value, add the newly matched value, and call the setter with the result. For arrays, this means the existing elements are copied into a new array that is one element larger, and this new array is then set. For collections and maps, the new value is added to the collection returned by the getter. If the getter returns `null`, a new array, collection, or map is created.

## 3. Parse Result

For the below examples, we use the following parser configuration:

    CommandSpec spec = CommandSpec.create();
    spec.addOption(OptionSpec.builder("-V", "--verbose").build());
    spec.addOption(OptionSpec.builder("-f", "--file")
            .paramLabel("FILES")
            .type(List.class)
            .auxiliaryTypes(File.class) // this option is of type List<File>
            .description("The files to process").build());
    spec.addOption(OptionSpec.builder("-n", "--num")
            .paramLabel("COUNT")
            .type(int[].class)
            .splitRegex(",")
            .description("Comma-separated list of integers").build());
    CommandLine commandLine = new CommandLine(spec);

### 3.1. Querying for Options

The `CommandLine::parseArgs` method returns a `ParseResult` object that allows client code to query which options and positional parameters were matched for a given command.

    String[] args = { "--verbose", "-f", "file1", "--file=file2", "-n1,2,3" };
    ParseResult pr = commandLine.parseArgs(args);

    List<String> originalArgs = pr.originalArgs(); // lists all command line args
    assert Arrays.asList(args).equals(originalArgs);

    assert pr.hasMatchedOption("--verbose"); // as specified on command line
    assert pr.hasMatchedOption("-V");        // other aliases work also
    assert pr.hasMatchedOption('V');         // single-character alias works too
    assert pr.hasMatchedOption("verbose");   // and, command name without hyphens

### 3.2. Matched Option Values

The `matchedOptionValue` method returns the command line value or values, converted to the option’s type. This method requires a default value, which will be returned in case the option was not matched on the command line. In the above example, we defined the `--file` option to be of type `List<File>`, so we pass in an empty list as the default value:

    ParseResult pr = commandLine.parseArgs("-f", "file1", "--file=file2", "-n1,2,3");

    List<File> defaultValue = Collections.emptyList();
    List<File> expected     = Arrays.asList(new File("file1"), new File("file2"));

    assert expected.equals(pr.matchedOptionValue('f', defaultValue));
    assert expected.equals(pr.matchedOptionValue("--file", defaultValue));

    assert Arrays.equals(new int[]{1,2,3}, pr.matchedOptionValue('n', new int[0]));

### 3.3. Original Option Values

Use the `OptionSpec.stringValues()` or `OptionSpec.originalStringValues()` method to get a list of all values specified on the command line for an option. The `stringValues()` method returns the arguments after splitting but before type conversion, while the `originalStringValues()` method returns the matched arguments as specified on the command line (before splitting).

    ParseResult pr = commandLine.parseArgs("-f", "file1", "--file=file2", "-n1,2,3");

    // Command line arguments after splitting but before type conversion
    assert "1".equals(pr.matchedOption('n').stringValues().get(0));
    assert "2".equals(pr.matchedOption('n').stringValues().get(1));
    assert "3".equals(pr.matchedOption('n').stringValues().get(2));

    // Command line arguments as found on the command line
    assert "1,2,3".equals(pr.matchedOption("--num").originalStringValues().get(0));

### 3.4. Subcommands

Use the `hasSubcommand` method to determine whether the command line contained subcommands. The `subcommand` method returns a different `ParseResult` object that can be used to query which options and positional parameters were matched for the subcommand.

    class App {
        @Option(names = "-x") String x;
    }
    class Sub {
        @Parameters String[] all;
    }
    CommandLine cmd = new CommandLine(new App());
    cmd.addSubcommand("sub", new Sub());
    ParseResult parseResult = cmd.parseArgs("-x", "xval", "sub", "1", "2", "3");

    assert parseResult.hasMatchedOption("-x");
    assert "xval".equals(parseResult.matchedOptionValue("-x", "default"));

    assert parseResult.hasSubcommand();
    ParseResult subResult = parseResult.subcommand();

    assert  subResult.hasMatchedPositional(0);
    assert  subResult.hasMatchedPositional(1);
    assert  subResult.hasMatchedPositional(2);
    assert !subResult.hasMatchedPositional(3);

## 4. Parsing and Result Processing

### 4.1. Basic Processing

The most basic way to parse the command line is to call the `CommandLine::parseArgs` method and inspect the resulting `ParseResult` object.

For example:

    CommandSpec spec = CommandSpec.create();
    // add options and positional parameters

    CommandLine commandLine = new CommandLine(spec);
    try {
        ParseResult pr = commandLine.parseArgs(args);
        if (CommandLine.printHelpIfRequested(pr)) {
            return;
        }
        int count = pr.matchedOptionValue('c', 1);
        List<File> files = pr.matchedPositionalValue(0, Collections.<File>emptyList());
        for (File f : files) {
            for (int i = 0; i < count; i++) {
                System.out.printf("%d: %s%n", i, f);
            }
        }
    } catch (ParseException invalidInput) {
        System.err.println(invalidInput.getMessage());
        invalidInput.getCommandLine().usage(System.err);
    }

### 4.2. Convenience Methods

There are a number of `parseWithHandler` convenience methods to reduce some boilerplate when processing the `ParseResult` programmatically. The convenience methods take care of printing help when requested by the user, and handle invalid input.

#### 4.2.1. Handlers

It is possible for the parse result processing logic to return a result. To accomplish this, call the `CommandLine::parseWithHandler` method with a class that extends `AbstractParseResultHandler`.

Example:

    CommandSpec spec = CommandSpec.create();
    // add options and positional parameters

    CommandLine commandLine = new CommandLine(spec);

    class Handler extends AbstractParseResultHandler<Integer> {
        protected Handler self() { return this; }

        public Integer handle(ParseResult pr) {
            int count = pr.matchedOptionValue('c', 1);
            List<File> files = pr.matchedPositionalValue(0, Collections.<File>emptyList());
            for (File f : files) {
                for (int i = 0; i < count; i++) {
                    System.out.println(i + " " + f.getName());
                }
            }
            return files.size();
        }
    }

    int processed = commandLine.parseWithHandler(new Handler(), args);
    // do something with result...

This method also has a variation, `parseWithHandlers`, which additionally takes an `IExceptionHandler2` to customize how invalid input should be handled and optionally set an exit code.

Example:

    CommandSpec spec = CommandSpec.create();
    // add options and positional parameters

    CommandLine commandLine = new CommandLine(spec);
    Integer result = commandLine.parseWithHandlers(
            new MyHandler().useOut(System.out).andExit(123),
            new DefaultExceptionHandler<Integer>().andExit(567),
            args);
    // do something with result...