NArgs

Simple single-file argument parser for C#

Just copy NArgs.cs into your project and you're ready to go.

Usage

using NArgs;

class MyArguments : IArgumentCollection
{
    public IList<string> Values { get; set; }

    [CommandDefinition("r", "required", Description = "This is required", Required = true)]
    public string RequiredArg { get; set; }

    [CommandDefinition("collection", Description = "A collection of strings", Required = true)]
    public IList<string> StringCollection { get; set; }

    [CommandDefinition("h", "help", Description = "Prints help text")]
    public bool Help { get; set; }
}

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        MyArguments arguments = Arguments.Parse<MyArguments>(args);

        if (arguments.Values.Count == 0 || arguments.Help)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(Arguments.PrintLongHelp<MyArguments>(
                "MyApp v1.0.0, by me",
                "Usage: MyApp [options] <values>"));
            return;
        }
        
        ...
    }
}

PrintLongHelp in the example writes this to console:

MyApp v1.0.0, by me
Usage: MyApp [options] <values>


  -h, --help                                 Prints help text

  -r <value>, --required <value>             This is required

  --collection <value>                       A collection of strings

An argument class must inherit from IArgumentCollection. There are four property types supported:

• bool: Is true if the argument was provided, false if not. Required is not applicable to this argument type.
• string: Is set to the value of --stringArg <value>, otherwise null if not provided.
• IList<string>: Similar to the above, however collects multiple values into a single list. Does not split the value on comma or anything else, instead appends multiple usages (i.e. --listArg value1 --listArg value2) into a single list. List is empty if not provided.
• Any enum. Will parse a case-insensitive string value into an enum. Will throw if unable to parse the enum correctly.