minus-h

Add help generation to APIs created with Node's
util.parseArgs()
function.

Installation

``sh
npm install minus-h
`

$3

parseArgsWithHelp() is a function that wraps util.parseArgs(), adding
a "-h,--help" argument. It takes one or two arguments. The first argument is
an augmented version of the options passed to util.parseArgs(), with
descriptions provided for options as well as the command as a whole. The second
optional argument is options for
line wrapping. The wrapping width defaults to your terminal width (via
process.stdout.columns).

`js
import {parseArgsWithHelp} from 'minus-h'

parseArgsWithHelp({
description: 'A command that does something very interesting',
argumentName: 'files',
argumentDescription: 'the files to be processed',
allowPositionals: true,
options: {
encoding: {
type: 'string',
argumentName: 'encoding',
description: 'encoding for files read or written',
choices: ["utf8", "base64"]
},
},
}, { width: 80 })
`

node example.js --help outputs the following to stderr, before exiting with
exit code 64:

`
Usage: example [options] [files]

A command that does something very interesting

Arguments:
files the files to be processed

Options:
--encoding encoding for files read or written (choices: "utf8",
"base64") Default: "utf8"
-h,--help display help for command
`

The usage() function takes the same two parameters. It always writes
help information to output, then exits. It is useful if you've detected a
higher level error condition with your input parameters, and want to re-iterate
the usage information to users as if they had used --help.

Testing

Two more parameters may be added to the configuration parameter:

- outputStream: a writable stream to write the help text to. Defaults to
process.stderr. Only the write method is ever called.
- exit(): a function that takes a number that is called when output is
complete. Defaults to process.exit`.

These options are useful during testing so that you can catch the help text
that would have been written, and prevent your test harness from actually
exiting.

---