C is for command line interfaces - Python A to Z

Python A-Z is a blog series about Python. Each day, I share insights, ideas and examples for different parts of Python development that match with the letter of the day. Blaugust is an annual blogging festival in August where the goal is to write a blog post every day of the month. Python is a great language for writing scripts that are executed from the command line. I’m a big fan of command line interfaces and love building them for all sorts of needs both personally and when I’m part of a team. Command Line Interface Guidelines An integral part of command line software is dealing with arguments and options. In this post, I’ll focus on the technical part within the Python code but I highly recommend reading Command Line Interface Guidelines. It’s an open source guide to “help you write better command-line programs, taking traditional UNIX principles and updating them for the modern day”. I keep it at hand and always refer to it when I’m designing my interfaces. Simple arguments…