Opterator is an option parsing script for Python that takes the boilerplate out
of option parsing. It currently wraps optparse.OptionParser, and thus behaves
similarly, but in the future, it may take care of the parsing on its own to
allow more freedom in specifying options.

Opterator is based on an idea that a main() function for a script can be
decorated to allow command-line arguments to be translated into method
parameters. This allows it to be self-documenting, and reduces errors in
creating and assigning options.

For example, an optparse program for renaming a file might look like this:


>>> from optparse import OptionParser
>>> def main():
...     '''main entrypoint for renaming files. Accept two options, backup
...     and interactive'''
...     parser = OptionParser(usage="A script for renaming files")
...     parser.add_option('-b', '--backup', action=store_true,
...         help='backup the file')
...     parser.add_option('-i', '--interactive', action=store_true,
...         help='interactively move files')
...     # Move the file
...     
>>> if __name__ == '__main__':
...     main()


The equivalent code using opterator looks like this:


>>> from opterator import opterate
>>> @opterate
... def main(source, dest, backup=False, interactive=False):
...     '''A script for renaming files
...     @param backup -b --backup backup the file
...     @param interactive -i --interactive interatively
...     move files...     '''
...     # Move the file
...  
>>> if __name__ == '__main__':
...     main()

Opterator automatically generates help messages from the docstring. If your
main function looks like this:


@opterate
def main(filename1, filename2, recursive=False, backup=False,
        suffix='~', *other_filenames):
    '''An example copy script with some example parameters that might
    be used in a copy command.
    
    @param recursive -r --recursive copy directories
        recursively
    @param backup -b --backup backup any files you copy over
    @param suffix -S --suffix override the usual backup
        suffix '''
    pass



Your help text will look like this:


dusty:opterator $ python copy.py -h
Usage: copy.py [options] filename1 filename2 [other_filenames]

An example copy script with some example parameters that might
    be used in a copy command.
    
Options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -r, --recursive       copy directories recursively
  -b, --backup          backup any files you copy over
  -S SUFFIX, --suffix=SUFFIX
                        override the usual backup suffix

That's about it... let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.

<dusty@linux.ca>