annotate docs/freefeatures.rst @ 357:ce4448ca4088

leave office for pycon...
author catherine@dellzilla
date Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:18:26 -0500
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1 ===================================
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2 Features requiring no modifications
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3 ===================================
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4
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5 These features are provided "for free" to a cmd_-based application
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6 simply by replacing ``import cmd`` with ``import cmd2 as cmd``.
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7
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8 Script files
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9 ============
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10
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11 Text files can serve as scripts for your ``cmd2``-based
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12 application, with the ``load``, ``save``, and ``edit``
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13 commands.
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14
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15 .. automethod:: cmd2.Cmd.do_load
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16
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17 .. automethod:: cmd2.Cmd.do_save
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18
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19 .. automethod:: cmd2.Cmd.do_edit
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20
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21 Comments
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22 ========
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23
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24 Comments are omitted from the argument list
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25 before it is passed to a ``do_`` method. By
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26 default, both Python-style and C-style comments
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27 are recognized; you may change this by overriding
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28 ``app.commentGrammars`` with a different pyparsing_
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29 grammar.
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30
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31 Comments can be useful in :ref:`script`s. Used
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32 in an interactive session, they may indicate
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33 mental imbalance.
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34
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35 ::
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36
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37 def do_speak(self, arg):
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38 self.stdout.write(arg + '\n')
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39
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40 ::
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41
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42 (Cmd) speak it was /* not */ delicious! # Yuck!
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43 it was delicious!
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44
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45 Commands at invocation
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46 ======================
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47
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48 You can send commands to your app as you invoke it by
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49 including them as extra arguments to the program.
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50 ``cmd2`` interprets each argument as a separate
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51 command, so you should enclose each command in
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52 quotation marks if it is more than a one-word command.
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53
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54 ::
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55
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56 cat@eee:~/proj/cmd2/example$ python example.py "say hello" "say Gracie" quit
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57 hello
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58 Gracie
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59 cat@eee:~/proj/cmd2/example$
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60
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61
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62 Output redirection
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63 ==================
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64
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65 As in a Unix shell, output of a command can be redirected:
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66
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67 - sent to a file with ``>``, as in ``mycommand args > filename.txt``
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68 - piped (``|``) as input to operating-system commands, as in
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69 ``mycommand args | wc``
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70 - sent to the paste buffer, ready for the next Copy operation, by
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71 ending with a bare ``>``, as in ``mycommand args >``.. Redirecting
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72 to paste buffer requires software to be installed on the operating
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73 system, pywin32_ on Windows or xclip_ on *nix.
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74
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75 .. _pywin32:: http://sourceforge.net/projects/pywin32/
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76 .. _xclip:: http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/xclip-linux-insert-files-command-output-intoclipboard/
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77
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78 Python
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79 ======
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80
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81 ::
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82
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83 The ``py`` command will run its arguments as a Python
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84 command. Entered without arguments, it enters an
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85 interactive Python session. That session can call
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86 "back" to your application with ``cmd("")``. Through
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87 ``self``, it also has access to your application
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88 instance itself. (If that thought terrifies you,
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89 you can set the ``locals_in_py`` parameter to ``False``.
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90 See see :ref:`parameters`)
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91
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92 ::
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93
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94 (Cmd) py print("-".join("spelling"))
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95 s-p-e-l-l-i-n-g
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96 (Cmd) py
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97 Python 2.6.4 (r264:75706, Dec 7 2009, 18:45:15)
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98 [GCC 4.4.1] on linux2
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99 Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
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100 (CmdLineApp)
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101
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102 py <command>: Executes a Python command.
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103 py: Enters interactive Python mode.
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104 End with `Ctrl-D` (Unix) / `Ctrl-Z` (Windows), `quit()`, 'exit()`.
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105 Non-python commands can be issued with `cmd("your command")`.
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106
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107 >>> import os
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108 >>> os.uname()
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109 ('Linux', 'eee', '2.6.31-19-generic', '#56-Ubuntu SMP Thu Jan 28 01:26:53 UTC 2010', 'i686')
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110 >>> cmd("say --piglatin {os}".format(os=os.uname()[0]))
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111 inuxLay
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112 >>> self.prompt
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113 '(Cmd) '
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114 >>> self.prompt = 'Python was here > '
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115 >>> quit()
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116 Python was here >
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117
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118 Searchable command history
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119 ==========================
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120
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121 All cmd_-based applications have access to previous commands with
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122 the up- and down- cursor keys.
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123
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124 All cmd_-based applications on systems with the ``readline`` module
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125 also provide `bash-like history list editing`_.
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126
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127 .. _`bash-like history list editing`: http://www.talug.org/events/20030709/cmdline_history.html
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128
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129 ``cmd2`` makes a third type of history access available, consisting of these commands:
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130
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131 .. automethod:: cmd2.Cmd.do_history
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132
329
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133 .. automethod:: cmd2.Cmd.do_list
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134
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135 .. automethod:: cmd2.Cmd.do_run
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136
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137 Quitting the application
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138 ========================
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139
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140 ``cmd2`` pre-defines a ``quit`` command for you (with
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141 synonyms ``exit`` and simply ``q``).
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142 It's trivial, but it's one less thing for you to remember.
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143
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144
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145 Abbreviated commands
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146 ====================
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147
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148 ``cmd2`` apps will accept shortened command names
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149 so long as there is no ambiguity. Thus, if
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150 ``do_divide`` is defined, then ``divid``, ``div``,
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151 or even ``d`` will suffice, so long as there are
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152 no other commands defined beginning with *divid*,
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153 *div*, or *d*.
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154
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155 This behavior can be turned off with ``app.abbrev`` (see :ref:`parameters`)
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156
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157 Misc. pre-defined commands
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158 ==========================
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159
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160 Several generically useful commands are defined
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161 with automatically included ``do_`` methods.
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162
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163 .. automethod:: cmd2.Cmd.do_quit
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164
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165 .. automethod:: cmd2.Cmd.do_pause
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166
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167 .. automethod:: cmd2.Cmd.do_shell
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168
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169 ( ``!`` is a shortcut for ``shell``; thus ``!ls``
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170 is equivalent to ``shell ls``.)
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171
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172
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173 Transcript-based testing
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174 ========================
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175
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176 If the entire transcript (input and output) of a successful session of
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177 a ``cmd2``-based app is copied from the screen and pasted into a text
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178 file, ``transcript.txt``, then a transcript test can be run against it::
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179
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180 python app.py --test transcript.txt
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181
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182 Any deviations between the output prescribed in ``transcript.txt`` and
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183 the actual output from a fresh run of the application will be reported
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184 as a unit test failure.