Clint: Python Command-line Application Tools

Clint is a module filled with a set of awesome tools for developing commandline applications.

C ommand L ine IN terface T ools .

Clint is awesome. Crazy awesome. It supports colors, but detects if the session is a TTY, so doesn't render the colors if you're piping stuff around. Automagically.

Awesome nestable indentation context manager. Example: (with indent(4): puts('indented text')). It supports custom email-style quotes. Of course, it supports color too, if and when needed.

It has an awesome Column printer with optional auto-expanding columns. It detects how wide your current console is and adjusts accordingly. It wraps your words properly to fit the column size. With or without colors mixed in. All with a single function call.

The world's easiest to use implicit argument system w/ chaining methods for filtering. Seriously.

Run the various executables in ./examples to get a good feel for what Clint offers.

You'll never want to not use it.

Features:

• Little Documentation (bear with me for now)
• CLI Colors and Indents
• Iterator-based Progress Bar
• Implicit Argument Handling
• Simple Support for Unix Pipes
• Application Directory management

Example

I want to indent my console text.

>>> from clint.textui import puts, indent

>>> puts('not indented text')
>>> with indent(4):
>>>     puts('indented text')
not indented text
    indented text

I want to quote my console text (like email).

>>> puts('not indented text')
>>> with indent(4, quote=' >'):
>>>     puts('quoted text')
>>>     puts('pretty cool, eh?')

not indented text
 >  indented text
 >  pretty cool, eh?

I want to color my console text.

>>> from clint.textui import colored

>>> puts(colored.red('red text'))
red text

# It's red in Windows, OSX, and Linux alike.

I want to get data piped to stdin.

>>> clint.piped_in()

# if no data was piped in, piped_in returns None

I want to get the first commandline argument passed in.

>>> clint.args.get(0)

# if no argument was passed, get returns None

I want to store a configuration file.

>>> from clint import resources

>>> resources.init('Company', 'AppName')
>>> resources.user.write('config.ini', file_contents)

# OSX: '/Users/appuser/Library/Application Support/AppName/config.ini'
# Windows: 'C:\\Users\\appuser\\AppData\\Local\\Company\\AppName\\config.ini'
# Linux: '/home/appuser/.config/appname/config.ini'

Installation

To install clint, simply:

$ pip install clint

Or, if you absolutely must:

$ easy_install clint

But, you really shouldn't do that.

License:

ISC License.

Copyright (c) 2011, Kenneth Reitz <me@kennethreitz.com>

Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software for any
purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN
ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

Contribute

If you'd like to contribute, simply fork the repository, commit your changes to the develop branch (or branch off of it), and send a pull request. Make sure you add yourself to AUTHORS.

Roadmap

• Unittests
• Sphinx Documentation
• Python 2.5, 3.1, 3.2 Support