To access command-line arguments in Python, you use the sys module, specifically the sys.argv list. Here’s a brief guide.
Import the sys module: First, import the sys module at the beginning of your script.Access sys.argv: This list contains the command-line arguments passed to the script. The first element (sys.argv[0]) is the name of the script, and the subsequent elements are the additional arguments.
Python how to access the command line argument.
The example program provided demonstrates how to access and utilize command-line arguments in Python, focusing on two methods: using the sys module for basic argument retrieval and the argparse module for advanced argument parsing.
Initially, the program employs the sys module to access command-line arguments. By importing sys and printing sys.argv, the script shows the number of arguments passed and lists them. For instance, running python script.py arg1 arg2 arg3 would output the script name and the three arguments, indicating the flexibility and simplicity of sys.argv for basic needs.
For more complex scenarios, the program uses the argparse module. argparse facilitates robust command-line argument parsing, enabling the definition of positional and optional arguments with detailed descriptions, default values, and type specifications. In the provided example, the argparse parser is configured to handle a list of integers and an optional –sum flag. The integers are added using parser.add_argument(‘integers’, …).
while –sum is defined with parser.add_argument(‘–sum’, …) to either sum the integers or find the maximum based on its presence.
while --sum is defined with parser.add_argument('--sum', ...) to either sum the integers or find the maximum based on its presence.
import sys
# Print the number of arguments passed
print(f"Number of arguments: {len(sys.argv)}")
# Print the arguments themselves
print(f"Arguments: {sys.argv}")
Output :5