optparse variable parsing?

[David Goodger]

CJ Kucera wrote:
 > I'm wondering if it's possible to have an option with optparse
 > function as either a true/false option,

Often called a "switch".

 > or optionally use a supplied value when it's provided.

An "option argument".  The answer is no, optparse doesn't support
optional option arguments.  The main reason is that it makes a command
like "cmd -abc" impossible to parse reliably: is it equivalent to
"cmd -a bc" or to "cmd -a -b -c"?  In the Python tradition, optparse
chooses not to guess.

 > For example, let's say that I'm writing a util to add a user to some
 > system.  By default, the program would assign a random password:
 >
 > > $ adduser.py
 > > Assigned password: <blah>
 >
 > If the user specifies "-p", the program would prompt for a password
 > instead:
 >
 > > $ adduser.py -p
 > > Pass:
 > > Confirm:
 >
 > And then it'd be great to be able to pass in a hashed value and have
 > the program use that instead:
 >
 > > $ adduser.py -p\$1\$KgM/m2Ys\$.o0sbvwHddeKMCKJdfcMJ0

I would suggest that you should have two different options here, a
simple switch and an option which expects/requires an argument.
That's easier to document as well.

-- David Goodger