Python argparse boolean issue

Question

I am having trouble setting a boolean value. My code is:

training_pages_list_file = ''
html_page_dir = ''
clf_file_str = ''
user_idf_param = False

if __name__ == "__main__":
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Classify some CraigsList Pages')
    parser.add_argument('csv_file', action='store')
    parser.add_argument('file_dir', action='store')
    parser.add_argument('clf_file', action='store')
    parser.add_argument('-i', action='store_true', help="include idf", dest=user_idf_param, default=False)
    args = parser.parse_args()

However, this raises:

hon3.4/argparse.py", line 1721, in parse_args
    args, argv = self.parse_known_args(args, namespace)
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/python3/3.4.2_1/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.4/lib/python3.4/argparse.py", line 1742, in parse_known_args
    if not hasattr(namespace, action.dest):
TypeError: hasattr(): attribute name must be string

How can I have it so if -i is included, it will set user_idf_param to True?

argparse does not set the values of global variables. It sets attributes of the args object that parse_args returns. — hpaulj
– hpaulj, Commented Mar 8, 2015 at 21:19
argparse4j.sourceforge.net/index.html is a Java library modeled on argparse. — hpaulj
– hpaulj, Commented Mar 8, 2015 at 21:34

Navith · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-08 18:43:26Z

2

Looks like user_idf_param is supposed to be a name for the attribute that tells you whether or not it was used.

import argparse

training_pages_list_file = ''
html_page_dir = ''
clf_file_str = ''
user_idf_param = "i_param_used"

if __name__ == "__main__":
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Classify some CraigsList Pages')
    parser.add_argument('csv_file', action='store')
    parser.add_argument('file_dir', action='store')
    parser.add_argument('clf_file', action='store')
    parser.add_argument('-i', action='store_true', help="include idf", dest=user_idf_param, default=False)

    args = parser.parse_args((...))

    if args.i_param_used:
        ...

answered Mar 8, 2015 at 18:43

Navith

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2 Comments

Adam_G Over a year ago

Thank you! That is not at all what I was expecting. The documentation is really bad for this module

hpaulj Over a year ago

The argparse authors probably assumed that users were already familiar with older parsers like optparse and get_opt, and glossed over issues that could confuse Python beginners.

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