Python Optparse from Argument String

Question

Typically one may simply call optparse's method parse_args without any arguments. If, however, one needs to supply a different argument set than that of sys.argv, if may be passed to parse_args.

But what does one do if one needs to pass a string, not a list to parse_args?

I really need a function that does this:

>>> argument_string = "-a arga -b \"argument b\" arg1 arg2"
>>> parse_arguments(argument_string)"
['-a', 'arga', '-b', 'argument b', 'arg1', 'arg2']

Because

>>> argument_string.split(" ")
['-a', 'arga', '-b', '"argument', 'b"', 'arg1', 'arg2']

doesn't cut it. Any thoughts?

bgporter · Accepted Answer · 2010-12-21 21:28:05Z

5

This is what the shlex module is for (well, it's one thing that it's for...):

>>> import shlex
>>> argument_string = "-a arga -b \"argument b\" arg1 arg2"
>>> l = shlex.split(argument_string)
>>> l
['-a', 'arga', '-b', 'argument b', 'arg1', 'arg2']

answered Dec 21, 2010 at 21:28

bgporter

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Andrew Clark · Accepted Answer · 2010-12-21 21:28:12Z

4

Use the shlex module for this:

>>> import shlex
>>> shlex.split("-a arga -b \"argument b\" arg1 arg2")
['-a', 'arga', '-b', 'argument b', 'arg1', 'arg2']

answered Dec 21, 2010 at 21:28

Andrew Clark

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