argparse should have an option to require un-abbreviated option names

[MichaelEdwards]

BPO	16614
Nosy	@bitdancer, @cjerdonek
Superseder	bpo-14910: argparse: disable abbreviation
Files	test.py

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = <Date 2012-12-08.05:32:22.882>
created_at = <Date 2012-12-05.13:28:07.468>
labels = ['easy', 'type-feature', 'library']
title = 'argparse should have an option to require un-abbreviated option names'
updated_at = <Date 2012-12-08.05:32:22.881>
user = 'https://bugs.python.org/MichaelEdwards'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2012-12-08.05:32:22.881>
actor = 'terry.reedy'
assignee = 'none'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2012-12-08.05:32:22.882>
closer = 'terry.reedy'
components = ['Library (Lib)']
creation = <Date 2012-12-05.13:28:07.468>
creator = 'Michael.Edwards'
dependencies = []
files = ['28209']
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 16614
keywords = ['easy']
message_count = 4.0
messages = ['176981', '176986', '176995', '176997']
nosy_count = 4.0
nosy_names = ['bethard', 'r.david.murray', 'chris.jerdonek', 'Michael.Edwards']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'low'
resolution = 'duplicate'
stage = 'resolved'
status = 'closed'
superseder = '14910'
type = 'enhancement'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue16614'
versions = ['Python 3.4']

[MichaelEdwards]

When running parse_args, ArgumentParser is liberal in accepting parameters. Partial matches will be accepted as arguments

(in the included example, --test bob, --tester bob, --testers bob all set the testers argument)

Perhaps this is documented, but it was super unexpected for me.

[bitdancer]

It is both documented (http://docs.python.org/dev/library/argparse.html#argument-abbreviations) and an important feature.

I thought there was an enhancement request in this tracker for making the behavior optional, but I couldn't find it when I looked, so I'm turning this into one. If someone finds that there is already another issue this one can be closed as a dup.

I'm marking it low priority, though, because I think most people want the ability to abbreviate the option names.

[cjerdonek]

David, is bpo-14910 the one you were thinking of?

[bitdancer]

It is indeed. And it even has a patch. Don't know how I missed it.