Command Help
The same as before, you can add help for the commands in the docstrings and the CLI options.
And the typer.Typer()
application receives a parameter help
that you can pass with the main help text for your CLI program:
import typer
app = typer.Typer(help="Awesome CLI user manager.")
@app.command()
def create(username: str):
"""
Create a new user with USERNAME.
"""
typer.echo(f"Creating user: {username}")
@app.command()
def delete(
username: str,
force: bool = typer.Option(
...,
prompt="Are you sure you want to delete the user?",
help="Force deletion without confirmation.",
),
):
"""
Delete a user with USERNAME.
If --force is not used, will ask for confirmation.
"""
if force:
typer.echo(f"Deleting user: {username}")
else:
typer.echo("Operation cancelled")
@app.command()
def delete_all(
force: bool = typer.Option(
...,
prompt="Are you sure you want to delete ALL users?",
help="Force deletion without confirmation.",
)
):
"""
Delete ALL users in the database.
If --force is not used, will ask for confirmation.
"""
if force:
typer.echo("Deleting all users")
else:
typer.echo("Operation cancelled")
@app.command()
def init():
"""
Initialize the users database.
"""
typer.echo("Initializing user database")
if __name__ == "__main__":
app()
Check it:
// Check the new help
$ python main.py --help
Usage: main.py [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...
Awesome CLI user manager.
Options:
--install-completion Install completion for the current shell.
--show-completion Show completion for the current shell, to copy it or customize the installation.
--help Show this message and exit.
Commands:
create Create a new user with USERNAME.
delete Delete a user with USERNAME.
delete-all Delete ALL users in the database.
init Initialize the users database.
// Now the commands have inline help 🎉
// Check the help for create
$ python main.py create --help
Usage: main.py create [OPTIONS] USERNAME
Create a new user with USERNAME.
Options:
--help Show this message and exit.
// Check the help for delete
$ python main.py delete --help
Usage: main.py delete [OPTIONS] USERNAME
Delete a user with USERNAME.
If --force is not used, will ask for confirmation.
Options:
--force / --no-force Force deletion without confirmation. [required]
--help Show this message and exit.
// Check the help for delete-all
$ python main.py delete-all --help
Usage: main.py delete-all [OPTIONS]
Delete ALL users in the database.
If --force is not used, will ask for confirmation.
Options:
--force / --no-force Force deletion without confirmation. [required]
--help Show this message and exit.
// Check the help for init
$ python main.py init --help
Usage: main.py init [OPTIONS]
Initialize the users database.
Options:
--help Show this message and exit.
Tip
typer.Typer()
receives several other parameters for other things, we'll see that later.
You will also see how to use "Callbacks" later, and those include a way to add this same help message in a function docstring.
Overwrite command help¶
You will probably be better adding the help text as a docstring to your functions, but if for some reason you wanted to overwrite it, you can use the help
function argument passed to @app.command()
:
import typer
app = typer.Typer()
@app.command(help="Create a new user with USERNAME.")
def create(username: str):
"""
Some internal utility function to create.
"""
typer.echo(f"Creating user: {username}")
@app.command(help="Delete a user with USERNAME.")
def delete(username: str):
"""
Some internal utility function to delete.
"""
typer.echo(f"Deleting user: {username}")
if __name__ == "__main__":
app()
Check it:
// Check the help
$ python main.py --help
// Notice it uses the help passed to @app.command()
Usage: main.py [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...
Options:
--install-completion Install completion for the current shell.
--show-completion Show completion for the current shell, to copy
it or customize the installation.
--help Show this message and exit.
Commands:
create Create a new user with USERNAME.
delete Delete a user with USERNAME.
// It uses "Create a new user with USERNAME." instead of "Some internal utility function to create."