subcommand

Create CLI tools with subcommands. A minimalist CLI router based on minimist and cliclopts.

basic usage

first, define your CLI API in JSON like this:

var commands = [
  {
    name: 'foo',
    options: [ // cliclopts options
      {
        name: 'loud',
        boolean: true,
        default: false,
        abbr: 'v',
        help: 'print out all output loudly'
      }
    ],
    command: function foo (args) {
      // called when `foo` is matched
    }
  },
  {
    name: 'bar',
    command: function bar (args) {
      // called when `bar` is matched
    }
  }
]

then pass them into subcommand:

var subcommand = require('subcommand')
var match = subcommand(config, opts)

subcommand returns a function (called match above) that you can use to match/route arguments to their subcommands

the return value will be true if a subcommand was matched, or false if no subcommand was matched

var matched = match(['foo'])
// matched will be true, and foo's `command` function will be called
 
var matched = match(['foo', 'baz', 'taco'])
// matched will be true, and foo's `command` function will be called with `['baz', 'taco']`
 
var matched = match(['bar'])
// matched will be true, and bar's `command` function will be called
 
var matched = match(['uhoh'])
// matched will be false

advanced usage

instead of an array, you can also pass an object that looks like this as the first argument to subcommand:

{
  root: // root command options and handler
  defaults: // default options
  all: // function that gets called always, regardless of match or no match
  none: // function that gets called only when there is no matched subcommand
  usage: // subcommand to use for printing usage
  commands: // the commands array from basic usage
}

see test.js for a concrete example

root

to pass options to the 'root' command (e.g. when no subcommand is passed in), set up your config like this:

var config = {
  root: {
    options: [ // cliclopts options
      {
        name: 'loud',
        boolean: true,
        default: false,
        abbr: 'v'
      }
    ],
    command: function (args) {
      // called when no subcommand is specified
    }
  },
  commands: yourSubCommandsArray
}

defaults

you can pass in a defaults options array, and all subcommands as well as the root command will inherit the default options

var config = {
  defaults: [
    {name: 'path', default: process.cwd()} // all commands (and root) will now always have a 'path' default option
  ],
  commands: yourSubCommandsArray
}

all

pass a function under the all key and it will get called with the parsed arguments 100% of the time

var config = {
  all: function all (args) { /** will be called always in addition to the command/root `command` handlers **/ },
  commands: yourSubCommandsArray
}

none

pass a function under the none key and it will get called when no subcommand is matched

var config = {
  none: function none (args) { /** will only be called when no subcommand is matched **/ },
  commands: yourSubCommandsArray
}

usage

The usage option makes it easy to print cliclops usage for the root command and subcommands.

Basic usage

By default, usage is printed with the --help or -h option. Set usage to true to print cliclops.usage() with --help:

var config = {
  usage: true
}

Use usage.help to print information above cliclops.usage(). Change the name of the usage option by specifying usage.option:

var config = {
  usage: {
    help: 'general usage info',
    option: {
      name: 'info',
      abbr: 'i'
    }
  }
}

This will print the usage with --info or -i instead of --help. The option is used for the root and subcommands.

Advanced Usage

You can also define custom usage functions for the root and subcommands. These are passed the help text and cliclops.usage().

var config = {
  usage: {
    help: 'general help message', // Message to print before cliclops.usage()
    option: {
      // minimist option to use for printing usage
      name: 'help',
      abbr: 'h'
    },
    command: function (args, help, usage) {
      // optional function to print usage. 
      console.log(help) // prints: "general help message"
      console.log(usage) // prints: cliclops.usage() 
    }
  },
  commands: [{
    name: 'foo',
    help: 'foo help message',
    options: [
      {
        name: 'loud',
        help: 'print out all output loudly'
      }
    ],
    usage: function (args, help, usage) {
      // called when `foo` is matched and --help option is used
      console.log(help) // prints: "foo help message"
      console.log(usage) // prints: cliclops.usage()
    },
    command: function foo (args) {
      // called when `foo` is matched
    }
  }]
}