github.com/alecthomas/kong@v0.9.1-0.20240410131203-2ab5733f1179/README.md (about)

     1  <!-- markdownlint-disable MD013 MD033 -->
     2  <p align="center"><img width="90%" src="kong.png" /></p>
     3  
     4  # Kong is a command-line parser for Go
     5  
     6  [![](https://godoc.org/github.com/alecthomas/kong?status.svg)](http://godoc.org/github.com/alecthomas/kong) [![CircleCI](https://img.shields.io/circleci/project/github/alecthomas/kong.svg)](https://circleci.com/gh/alecthomas/kong) [![Go Report Card](https://goreportcard.com/badge/github.com/alecthomas/kong)](https://goreportcard.com/report/github.com/alecthomas/kong) [![Slack chat](https://img.shields.io/static/v1?logo=slack&style=flat&label=slack&color=green&message=gophers)](https://gophers.slack.com/messages/CN9DS8YF3)
     7  
     8  <!-- TOC depthfrom:2 depthto:3 -->
     9  
    10  - [Introduction](#introduction)
    11  - [Help](#help)
    12    - [Help as a user of a Kong application](#help-as-a-user-of-a-kong-application)
    13    - [Defining help in Kong](#defining-help-in-kong)
    14  - [Command handling](#command-handling)
    15    - [Switch on the command string](#switch-on-the-command-string)
    16    - [Attach a Run... error method to each command](#attach-a-run-error-method-to-each-command)
    17  - [Hooks: BeforeReset, BeforeResolve, BeforeApply, AfterApply and the Bind option](#hooks-beforereset-beforeresolve-beforeapply-afterapply-and-the-bind-option)
    18  - [Flags](#flags)
    19  - [Commands and sub-commands](#commands-and-sub-commands)
    20  - [Branching positional arguments](#branching-positional-arguments)
    21  - [Positional arguments](#positional-arguments)
    22  - [Slices](#slices)
    23  - [Maps](#maps)
    24  - [Pointers](#pointers)
    25  - [Nested data structure](#nested-data-structure)
    26  - [Custom named decoders](#custom-named-decoders)
    27  - [Supported field types](#supported-field-types)
    28  - [Custom decoders mappers](#custom-decoders-mappers)
    29  - [Supported tags](#supported-tags)
    30  - [Plugins](#plugins)
    31  - [Dynamic Commands](#dynamic-commands)
    32  - [Variable interpolation](#variable-interpolation)
    33  - [Validation](#validation)
    34  - [Modifying Kong's behaviour](#modifying-kongs-behaviour)
    35    - [Namehelp and Descriptionhelp - set the application name description](#namehelp-and-descriptionhelp---set-the-application-name-description)
    36    - [Configurationloader, paths... - load defaults from configuration files](#configurationloader-paths---load-defaults-from-configuration-files)
    37    - [Resolver... - support for default values from external sources](#resolver---support-for-default-values-from-external-sources)
    38    - [\*Mapper... - customising how the command-line is mapped to Go values](#mapper---customising-how-the-command-line-is-mapped-to-go-values)
    39    - [ConfigureHelpHelpOptions and HelpHelpFunc - customising help](#configurehelphelpoptions-and-helphelpfunc---customising-help)
    40    - [Bind... - bind values for callback hooks and Run methods](#bind---bind-values-for-callback-hooks-and-run-methods)
    41    - [Other options](#other-options)
    42  
    43  <!-- /TOC -->
    44  
    45  ## Introduction
    46  
    47  Kong aims to support arbitrarily complex command-line structures with as little developer effort as possible.
    48  
    49  To achieve that, command-lines are expressed as Go types, with the structure and tags directing how the command line is mapped onto the struct.
    50  
    51  For example, the following command-line:
    52  
    53      shell rm [-f] [-r] <paths> ...
    54      shell ls [<paths> ...]
    55  
    56  Can be represented by the following command-line structure:
    57  
    58  ```go
    59  package main
    60  
    61  import "github.com/alecthomas/kong"
    62  
    63  var CLI struct {
    64    Rm struct {
    65      Force     bool `help:"Force removal."`
    66      Recursive bool `help:"Recursively remove files."`
    67  
    68      Paths []string `arg:"" name:"path" help:"Paths to remove." type:"path"`
    69    } `cmd:"" help:"Remove files."`
    70  
    71    Ls struct {
    72      Paths []string `arg:"" optional:"" name:"path" help:"Paths to list." type:"path"`
    73    } `cmd:"" help:"List paths."`
    74  }
    75  
    76  func main() {
    77    ctx := kong.Parse(&CLI)
    78    switch ctx.Command() {
    79    case "rm <path>":
    80    case "ls":
    81    default:
    82      panic(ctx.Command())
    83    }
    84  }
    85  ```
    86  
    87  ## Help
    88  
    89  ### Help as a user of a Kong application
    90  
    91  Every Kong application includes a `--help` flag that will display auto-generated help.
    92  
    93  eg.
    94  
    95      $ shell --help
    96      usage: shell <command>
    97  
    98      A shell-like example app.
    99  
   100      Flags:
   101        --help   Show context-sensitive help.
   102        --debug  Debug mode.
   103  
   104      Commands:
   105        rm <path> ...
   106          Remove files.
   107  
   108        ls [<path> ...]
   109          List paths.
   110  
   111  If a command is provided, the help will show full detail on the command including all available flags.
   112  
   113  eg.
   114  
   115      $ shell --help rm
   116      usage: shell rm <paths> ...
   117  
   118      Remove files.
   119  
   120      Arguments:
   121        <paths> ...  Paths to remove.
   122  
   123      Flags:
   124            --debug        Debug mode.
   125  
   126        -f, --force        Force removal.
   127        -r, --recursive    Recursively remove files.
   128  
   129  ### Defining help in Kong
   130  
   131  Help is automatically generated from the command-line structure itself,
   132  including `help:""` and other tags. [Variables](#variable-interpolation) will
   133  also be interpolated into the help string.
   134  
   135  Finally, any command, or argument type implementing the interface
   136  `Help() string` will have this function called to retrieve more detail to
   137  augment the help tag. This allows for much more descriptive text than can
   138  fit in Go tags. [See \_examples/shell/help](./_examples/shell/help)
   139  
   140  #### Showing the _command_'s detailed help
   141  
   142  A command's additional help text is _not_ shown from top-level help, but can be displayed within contextual help:
   143  
   144  **Top level help**
   145  
   146  ```bash
   147   $ go run ./_examples/shell/help --help
   148  Usage: help <command>
   149  
   150  An app demonstrating HelpProviders
   151  
   152  Flags:
   153    -h, --help    Show context-sensitive help.
   154        --flag    Regular flag help
   155  
   156  Commands:
   157    echo    Regular command help
   158  ```
   159  
   160  **Contextual**
   161  
   162  ```bash
   163   $ go run ./_examples/shell/help echo --help
   164  Usage: help echo <msg>
   165  
   166  Regular command help
   167  
   168  🚀 additional command help
   169  
   170  Arguments:
   171    <msg>    Regular argument help
   172  
   173  Flags:
   174    -h, --help    Show context-sensitive help.
   175        --flag    Regular flag help
   176  ```
   177  
   178  #### Showing an _argument_'s detailed help
   179  
   180  Custom help will only be shown for _positional arguments with named fields_ ([see the README section on positional arguments for more details on what that means](../../../README.md#branching-positional-arguments))
   181  
   182  **Contextual argument help**
   183  
   184  ```bash
   185   $ go run ./_examples/shell/help msg --help
   186  Usage: help echo <msg>
   187  
   188  Regular argument help
   189  
   190  📣 additional argument help
   191  
   192  Flags:
   193    -h, --help    Show context-sensitive help.
   194        --flag    Regular flag help
   195  ```
   196  
   197  ## Command handling
   198  
   199  There are two ways to handle commands in Kong.
   200  
   201  ### Switch on the command string
   202  
   203  When you call `kong.Parse()` it will return a unique string representation of the command. Each command branch in the hierarchy will be a bare word and each branching argument or required positional argument will be the name surrounded by angle brackets. Here's an example:
   204  
   205  There's an example of this pattern [here](https://github.com/alecthomas/kong/blob/master/_examples/shell/commandstring/main.go).
   206  
   207  eg.
   208  
   209  ```go
   210  package main
   211  
   212  import "github.com/alecthomas/kong"
   213  
   214  var CLI struct {
   215    Rm struct {
   216      Force     bool `help:"Force removal."`
   217      Recursive bool `help:"Recursively remove files."`
   218  
   219      Paths []string `arg:"" name:"path" help:"Paths to remove." type:"path"`
   220    } `cmd:"" help:"Remove files."`
   221  
   222    Ls struct {
   223      Paths []string `arg:"" optional:"" name:"path" help:"Paths to list." type:"path"`
   224    } `cmd:"" help:"List paths."`
   225  }
   226  
   227  func main() {
   228    ctx := kong.Parse(&CLI)
   229    switch ctx.Command() {
   230    case "rm <path>":
   231    case "ls":
   232    default:
   233      panic(ctx.Command())
   234    }
   235  }
   236  ```
   237  
   238  This has the advantage that it is convenient, but the downside that if you modify your CLI structure, the strings may change. This can be fragile.
   239  
   240  ### Attach a `Run(...) error` method to each command
   241  
   242  A more robust approach is to break each command out into their own structs:
   243  
   244  1. Break leaf commands out into separate structs.
   245  2. Attach a `Run(...) error` method to all leaf commands.
   246  3. Call `kong.Kong.Parse()` to obtain a `kong.Context`.
   247  4. Call `kong.Context.Run(bindings...)` to call the selected parsed command.
   248  
   249  Once a command node is selected by Kong it will search from that node back to the root. Each
   250  encountered command node with a `Run(...) error` will be called in reverse order. This allows
   251  sub-trees to be re-used fairly conveniently.
   252  
   253  In addition to values bound with the `kong.Bind(...)` option, any values
   254  passed through to `kong.Context.Run(...)` are also bindable to the target's
   255  `Run()` arguments.
   256  
   257  Finally, hooks can also contribute bindings via `kong.Context.Bind()` and `kong.Context.BindTo()`.
   258  
   259  There's a full example emulating part of the Docker CLI [here](https://github.com/alecthomas/kong/tree/master/_examples/docker).
   260  
   261  eg.
   262  
   263  ```go
   264  type Context struct {
   265    Debug bool
   266  }
   267  
   268  type RmCmd struct {
   269    Force     bool `help:"Force removal."`
   270    Recursive bool `help:"Recursively remove files."`
   271  
   272    Paths []string `arg:"" name:"path" help:"Paths to remove." type:"path"`
   273  }
   274  
   275  func (r *RmCmd) Run(ctx *Context) error {
   276    fmt.Println("rm", r.Paths)
   277    return nil
   278  }
   279  
   280  type LsCmd struct {
   281    Paths []string `arg:"" optional:"" name:"path" help:"Paths to list." type:"path"`
   282  }
   283  
   284  func (l *LsCmd) Run(ctx *Context) error {
   285    fmt.Println("ls", l.Paths)
   286    return nil
   287  }
   288  
   289  var cli struct {
   290    Debug bool `help:"Enable debug mode."`
   291  
   292    Rm RmCmd `cmd:"" help:"Remove files."`
   293    Ls LsCmd `cmd:"" help:"List paths."`
   294  }
   295  
   296  func main() {
   297    ctx := kong.Parse(&cli)
   298    // Call the Run() method of the selected parsed command.
   299    err := ctx.Run(&Context{Debug: cli.Debug})
   300    ctx.FatalIfErrorf(err)
   301  }
   302  
   303  ```
   304  
   305  ## Hooks: BeforeReset(), BeforeResolve(), BeforeApply(), AfterApply() and the Bind() option
   306  
   307  If a node in the grammar has a `BeforeReset(...)`, `BeforeResolve
   308  (...)`, `BeforeApply(...) error` and/or `AfterApply(...) error` method, those
   309  methods will be called before values are reset, before validation/assignment,
   310  and after validation/assignment, respectively.
   311  
   312  The `--help` flag is implemented with a `BeforeReset` hook.
   313  
   314  Arguments to hooks are provided via the `Run(...)` method or `Bind(...)` option. `*Kong`, `*Context` and `*Path` are also bound and finally, hooks can also contribute bindings via `kong.Context.Bind()` and `kong.Context.BindTo()`.
   315  
   316  eg.
   317  
   318  ```go
   319  // A flag with a hook that, if triggered, will set the debug loggers output to stdout.
   320  type debugFlag bool
   321  
   322  func (d debugFlag) BeforeApply(logger *log.Logger) error {
   323    logger.SetOutput(os.Stdout)
   324    return nil
   325  }
   326  
   327  var cli struct {
   328    Debug debugFlag `help:"Enable debug logging."`
   329  }
   330  
   331  func main() {
   332    // Debug logger going to discard.
   333    logger := log.New(io.Discard, "", log.LstdFlags)
   334  
   335    ctx := kong.Parse(&cli, kong.Bind(logger))
   336  
   337    // ...
   338  }
   339  ```
   340  
   341  Another example of using hooks is load the env-file:
   342  
   343  ```go
   344  package main
   345  
   346  import (
   347    "fmt"
   348    "github.com/alecthomas/kong"
   349    "github.com/joho/godotenv"
   350  )
   351  
   352  type EnvFlag string
   353  
   354  // BeforeResolve loads env file.
   355  func (c EnvFlag) BeforeReset(ctx *kong.Context, trace *kong.Path) error {
   356    path := string(ctx.FlagValue(trace.Flag).(EnvFlag)) // nolint
   357    path = kong.ExpandPath(path)
   358    if err := godotenv.Load(path); err != nil {
   359      return err
   360    }
   361    return nil
   362  }
   363  
   364  var CLI struct {
   365    EnvFile EnvFlag
   366    Flag `env:"FLAG"`
   367  }
   368  
   369  func main() {
   370    _ = kong.Parse(&CLI)
   371    fmt.Println(CLI.Flag)
   372  }
   373  ```
   374  
   375  ## Flags
   376  
   377  Any [mapped](#mapper---customising-how-the-command-line-is-mapped-to-go-values) field in the command structure _not_ tagged with `cmd` or `arg` will be a flag. Flags are optional by default.
   378  
   379  eg. The command-line `app [--flag="foo"]` can be represented by the following.
   380  
   381  ```go
   382  type CLI struct {
   383    Flag string
   384  }
   385  ```
   386  
   387  ## Commands and sub-commands
   388  
   389  Sub-commands are specified by tagging a struct field with `cmd`. Kong supports arbitrarily nested commands.
   390  
   391  eg. The following struct represents the CLI structure `command [--flag="str"] sub-command`.
   392  
   393  ```go
   394  type CLI struct {
   395    Command struct {
   396      Flag string
   397  
   398      SubCommand struct {
   399      } `cmd`
   400    } `cmd`
   401  }
   402  ```
   403  
   404  If a sub-command is tagged with `default:"1"` it will be selected if there are no further arguments. If a sub-command is tagged with `default:"withargs"` it will be selected even if there are further arguments or flags and those arguments or flags are valid for the sub-command. This allows the user to omit the sub-command name on the CLI if its arguments/flags are not ambiguous with the sibling commands or flags.
   405  
   406  ## Branching positional arguments
   407  
   408  In addition to sub-commands, structs can also be configured as branching positional arguments.
   409  
   410  This is achieved by tagging an [unmapped](#mapper---customising-how-the-command-line-is-mapped-to-go-values) nested struct field with `arg`, then including a positional argument field inside that struct _with the same name_. For example, the following command structure:
   411  
   412      app rename <name> to <name>
   413  
   414  Can be represented with the following:
   415  
   416  ```go
   417  var CLI struct {
   418    Rename struct {
   419      Name struct {
   420        Name string `arg` // <-- NOTE: identical name to enclosing struct field.
   421        To struct {
   422          Name struct {
   423            Name string `arg`
   424          } `arg`
   425        } `cmd`
   426      } `arg`
   427    } `cmd`
   428  }
   429  ```
   430  
   431  This looks a little verbose in this contrived example, but typically this will not be the case.
   432  
   433  ## Positional arguments
   434  
   435  If a field is tagged with `arg:""` it will be treated as the final positional
   436  value to be parsed on the command line. By default positional arguments are
   437  required, but specifying `optional:""` will alter this.
   438  
   439  If a positional argument is a slice, all remaining arguments will be appended
   440  to that slice.
   441  
   442  ## Slices
   443  
   444  Slice values are treated specially. First the input is split on the `sep:"<rune>"` tag (defaults to `,`), then each element is parsed by the slice element type and appended to the slice. If the same value is encountered multiple times, elements continue to be appended.
   445  
   446  To represent the following command-line:
   447  
   448      cmd ls <file> <file> ...
   449  
   450  You would use the following:
   451  
   452  ```go
   453  var CLI struct {
   454    Ls struct {
   455      Files []string `arg:"" type:"existingfile"`
   456    } `cmd`
   457  }
   458  ```
   459  
   460  ## Maps
   461  
   462  Maps are similar to slices except that only one key/value pair can be assigned per value, and the `sep` tag denotes the assignment character and defaults to `=`.
   463  
   464  To represent the following command-line:
   465  
   466      cmd config set <key>=<value> <key>=<value> ...
   467  
   468  You would use the following:
   469  
   470  ```go
   471  var CLI struct {
   472    Config struct {
   473      Set struct {
   474        Config map[string]float64 `arg:"" type:"file:"`
   475      } `cmd`
   476    } `cmd`
   477  }
   478  ```
   479  
   480  For flags, multiple key+value pairs should be separated by `mapsep:"rune"` tag (defaults to `;`) eg. `--set="key1=value1;key2=value2"`.
   481  
   482  ## Pointers
   483  
   484  Pointers work like the underlying type, except that you can differentiate between the presence of the zero value and no value being supplied.
   485  
   486  For example:
   487  
   488  ```go
   489  var CLI struct {
   490  	Foo *int
   491  }
   492  ```
   493  
   494  Would produce a nil value for `Foo` if no `--foo` argument is supplied, but would have a pointer to the value 0 if the argument `--foo=0` was supplied.
   495  
   496  ## Nested data structure
   497  
   498  Kong support a nested data structure as well with `embed:""`. You can combine `embed:""` with `prefix:""`:
   499  
   500  ```go
   501  var CLI struct {
   502    Logging struct {
   503      Level string `enum:"debug,info,warn,error" default:"info"`
   504      Type string `enum:"json,console" default:"console"`
   505    } `embed:"" prefix:"logging."`
   506  }
   507  ```
   508  
   509  This configures Kong to accept flags `--logging.level` and `--logging.type`.
   510  
   511  ## Custom named decoders
   512  
   513  Kong includes a number of builtin custom type mappers. These can be used by
   514  specifying the tag `type:"<type>"`. They are registered with the option
   515  function `NamedMapper(name, mapper)`.
   516  
   517  | Name           | Description                                                                                                            |
   518  | -------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
   519  | `path`         | A path. ~ expansion is applied. `-` is accepted for stdout, and will be passed unaltered.                              |
   520  | `existingfile` | An existing file. ~ expansion is applied. `-` is accepted for stdin, and will be passed unaltered.                     |
   521  | `existingdir`  | An existing directory. ~ expansion is applied.                                                                         |
   522  | `counter`      | Increment a numeric field. Useful for `-vvv`. Can accept `-s`, `--long` or `--long=N`.                                 |
   523  | `filecontent`  | Read the file at path into the field. ~ expansion is applied. `-` is accepted for stdin, and will be passed unaltered. |
   524  
   525  Slices and maps treat type tags specially. For slices, the `type:""` tag
   526  specifies the element type. For maps, the tag has the format
   527  `tag:"[<key>]:[<value>]"` where either may be omitted.
   528  
   529  ## Supported field types
   530  
   531  ## Custom decoders (mappers)
   532  
   533  Any field implementing `encoding.TextUnmarshaler` or `json.Unmarshaler` will use those interfaces
   534  for decoding values. Kong also includes builtin support for many common Go types:
   535  
   536  | Type            | Description                                                                                                 |
   537  | --------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
   538  | `time.Duration` | Populated using `time.ParseDuration()`.                                                                     |
   539  | `time.Time`     | Populated using `time.Parse()`. Format defaults to RFC3339 but can be overridden with the `format:"X"` tag. |
   540  | `*os.File`      | Path to a file that will be opened, or `-` for `os.Stdin`. File must be closed by the user.                 |
   541  | `*url.URL`      | Populated with `url.Parse()`.                                                                               |
   542  
   543  For more fine-grained control, if a field implements the
   544  [MapperValue](https://godoc.org/github.com/alecthomas/kong#MapperValue)
   545  interface it will be used to decode arguments into the field.
   546  
   547  ## Supported tags
   548  
   549  Tags can be in two forms:
   550  
   551  1. Standard Go syntax, eg. `kong:"required,name='foo'"`.
   552  2. Bare tags, eg. `required:"" name:"foo"`
   553  
   554  Both can coexist with standard Tag parsing.
   555  
   556  | Tag                  | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
   557  | -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
   558  | `cmd:""`             | If present, struct is a command.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |
   559  | `arg:""`             | If present, field is an argument. Required by default.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
   560  | `env:"X,Y,..."`      | Specify envars to use for default value. The envs are resolved in the declared order. The first value found is used.                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
   561  | `name:"X"`           | Long name, for overriding field name.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
   562  | `help:"X"`           | Help text.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
   563  | `type:"X"`           | Specify [named types](#custom-named-decoders) to use.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
   564  | `placeholder:"X"`    | Placeholder text.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
   565  | `default:"X"`        | Default value.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
   566  | `default:"1"`        | On a command, make it the default.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
   567  | `default:"withargs"` | On a command, make it the default and allow args/flags from that command                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
   568  | `short:"X"`          | Short name, if flag.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
   569  | `aliases:"X,Y"`      | One or more aliases (for cmd or flag).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
   570  | `required:""`        | If present, flag/arg is required.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
   571  | `optional:""`        | If present, flag/arg is optional.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
   572  | `hidden:""`          | If present, command or flag is hidden.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
   573  | `negatable:""`       | If present on a `bool` field, supports prefixing a flag with `--no-` to invert the default value                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |
   574  | `format:"X"`         | Format for parsing input, if supported.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
   575  | `sep:"X"`            | Separator for sequences (defaults to ","). May be `none` to disable splitting.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
   576  | `mapsep:"X"`         | Separator for maps (defaults to ";"). May be `none` to disable splitting.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
   577  | `enum:"X,Y,..."`     | Set of valid values allowed for this flag. An enum field must be `required` or have a valid `default`.                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
   578  | `group:"X"`          | Logical group for a flag or command.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
   579  | `xor:"X,Y,..."`      | Exclusive OR groups for flags. Only one flag in the group can be used which is restricted within the same command. When combined with `required`, at least one of the `xor` group will be required.                                                                                                                            |
   580  | `prefix:"X"`         | Prefix for all sub-flags.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
   581  | `envprefix:"X"`      | Envar prefix for all sub-flags.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
   582  | `set:"K=V"`          | Set a variable for expansion by child elements. Multiples can occur.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
   583  | `embed:""`           | If present, this field's children will be embedded in the parent. Useful for composition.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
   584  | `passthrough:""`     | If present on a positional argument, it stops flag parsing when encountered, as if `--` was processed before. Useful for external command wrappers, like `exec`. On a command it requires that the command contains only one argument of type `[]string` which is then filled with everything following the command, unparsed. |
   585  | `-`                  | Ignore the field. Useful for adding non-CLI fields to a configuration struct. e.g `` `kong:"-"` ``                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
   586  
   587  ## Plugins
   588  
   589  Kong CLI's can be extended by embedding the `kong.Plugin` type and populating it with pointers to Kong annotated structs. For example:
   590  
   591  ```go
   592  var pluginOne struct {
   593    PluginOneFlag string
   594  }
   595  var pluginTwo struct {
   596    PluginTwoFlag string
   597  }
   598  var cli struct {
   599    BaseFlag string
   600    kong.Plugins
   601  }
   602  cli.Plugins = kong.Plugins{&pluginOne, &pluginTwo}
   603  ```
   604  
   605  Additionally if an interface type is embedded, it can also be populated with a Kong annotated struct.
   606  
   607  ## Dynamic Commands
   608  
   609  While plugins give complete control over extending command-line interfaces, Kong
   610  also supports dynamically adding commands via `kong.DynamicCommand()`.
   611  
   612  ## Variable interpolation
   613  
   614  Kong supports limited variable interpolation into help strings, enum lists and
   615  default values.
   616  
   617  Variables are in the form:
   618  
   619      ${<name>}
   620      ${<name>=<default>}
   621  
   622  Variables are set with the `Vars{"key": "value", ...}` option. Undefined
   623  variable references in the grammar without a default will result in an error at
   624  construction time.
   625  
   626  Variables can also be set via the `set:"K=V"` tag. In this case, those variables will be available for that
   627  node and all children. This is useful for composition by allowing the same struct to be reused.
   628  
   629  When interpolating into flag or argument help strings, some extra variables
   630  are defined from the value itself:
   631  
   632      ${default}
   633      ${enum}
   634  
   635  For flags with associated environment variables, the variable `${env}` can be
   636  interpolated into the help string. In the absence of this variable in the
   637  help string, Kong will append `($$${env})` to the help string.
   638  
   639  eg.
   640  
   641  ```go
   642  type cli struct {
   643    Config string `type:"path" default:"${config_file}"`
   644  }
   645  
   646  func main() {
   647    kong.Parse(&cli,
   648      kong.Vars{
   649        "config_file": "~/.app.conf",
   650      })
   651  }
   652  ```
   653  
   654  ## Validation
   655  
   656  Kong does validation on the structure of a command-line, but also supports
   657  extensible validation. Any node in the tree may implement the following
   658  interface:
   659  
   660  ```go
   661  type Validatable interface {
   662      Validate() error
   663   }
   664  ```
   665  
   666  If one of these nodes is in the active command-line it will be called during
   667  normal validation.
   668  
   669  ## Modifying Kong's behaviour
   670  
   671  Each Kong parser can be configured via functional options passed to `New(cli interface{}, options...Option)`.
   672  
   673  The full set of options can be found [here](https://godoc.org/github.com/alecthomas/kong#Option).
   674  
   675  ### `Name(help)` and `Description(help)` - set the application name description
   676  
   677  Set the application name and/or description.
   678  
   679  The name of the application will default to the binary name, but can be overridden with `Name(name)`.
   680  
   681  As with all help in Kong, text will be wrapped to the terminal.
   682  
   683  ### `Configuration(loader, paths...)` - load defaults from configuration files
   684  
   685  This option provides Kong with support for loading defaults from a set of configuration files. Each file is opened, if possible, and the loader called to create a resolver for that file.
   686  
   687  eg.
   688  
   689  ```go
   690  kong.Parse(&cli, kong.Configuration(kong.JSON, "/etc/myapp.json", "~/.myapp.json"))
   691  ```
   692  
   693  [See the tests](https://github.com/alecthomas/kong/blob/master/resolver_test.go#L206) for an example of how the JSON file is structured.
   694  
   695  #### List of Configuration Loaders
   696  
   697  - [YAML](https://github.com/alecthomas/kong-yaml)
   698  - [HCL](https://github.com/alecthomas/kong-hcl)
   699  - [TOML](https://github.com/alecthomas/kong-toml)
   700  - [JSON](https://github.com/alecthomas/kong)
   701  
   702  ### `Resolver(...)` - support for default values from external sources
   703  
   704  Resolvers are Kong's extension point for providing default values from external sources. As an example, support for environment variables via the `env` tag is provided by a resolver. There's also a builtin resolver for JSON configuration files.
   705  
   706  Example resolvers can be found in [resolver.go](https://github.com/alecthomas/kong/blob/master/resolver.go).
   707  
   708  ### `*Mapper(...)` - customising how the command-line is mapped to Go values
   709  
   710  Command-line arguments are mapped to Go values via the Mapper interface:
   711  
   712  ```go
   713  // A Mapper represents how a field is mapped from command-line values to Go.
   714  //
   715  // Mappers can be associated with concrete fields via pointer, reflect.Type, reflect.Kind, or via a "type" tag.
   716  //
   717  // Additionally, if a type implements the MapperValue interface, it will be used.
   718  type Mapper interface {
   719  	// Decode ctx.Value with ctx.Scanner into target.
   720  	Decode(ctx *DecodeContext, target reflect.Value) error
   721  }
   722  ```
   723  
   724  All builtin Go types (as well as a bunch of useful stdlib types like `time.Time`) have mappers registered by default. Mappers for custom types can be added using `kong.??Mapper(...)` options. Mappers are applied to fields in four ways:
   725  
   726  1. `NamedMapper(string, Mapper)` and using the tag key `type:"<name>"`.
   727  2. `KindMapper(reflect.Kind, Mapper)`.
   728  3. `TypeMapper(reflect.Type, Mapper)`.
   729  4. `ValueMapper(interface{}, Mapper)`, passing in a pointer to a field of the grammar.
   730  
   731  ### `ConfigureHelp(HelpOptions)` and `Help(HelpFunc)` - customising help
   732  
   733  The default help output is usually sufficient, but if not there are two solutions.
   734  
   735  1. Use `ConfigureHelp(HelpOptions)` to configure how help is formatted (see [HelpOptions](https://godoc.org/github.com/alecthomas/kong#HelpOptions) for details).
   736  2. Custom help can be wired into Kong via the `Help(HelpFunc)` option. The `HelpFunc` is passed a `Context`, which contains the parsed context for the current command-line. See the implementation of `PrintHelp` for an example.
   737  3. Use `ValueFormatter(HelpValueFormatter)` if you want to just customize the help text that is accompanied by flags and arguments.
   738  4. Use `Groups([]Group)` if you want to customize group titles or add a header.
   739  
   740  ### `Bind(...)` - bind values for callback hooks and Run() methods
   741  
   742  See the [section on hooks](#hooks-beforeresolve-beforeapply-afterapply-and-the-bind-option) for details.
   743  
   744  ### Other options
   745  
   746  The full set of options can be found [here](https://godoc.org/github.com/alecthomas/kong#Option).