Struct clap::ArgMatches

pub struct ArgMatches { /* private fields */ }

Container for parse results.

Used to get information about the arguments that were supplied to the program at runtime by the user. New instances of this struct are obtained by using the Command::get_matches family of methods.

Examples

let matches = Command::new("MyApp")
    .arg(Arg::new("out")
        .long("output")
        .required(true)
        .takes_value(true)
        .default_value("-"))
    .arg(Arg::new("cfg")
        .short('c')
        .takes_value(true))
    .get_matches(); // builds the instance of ArgMatches

// to get information about the "cfg" argument we created, such as the value supplied we use
// various ArgMatches methods, such as [ArgMatches::get_one]
if let Some(c) = matches.get_one::<String>("cfg") {
    println!("Value for -c: {}", c);
}

// The ArgMatches::get_one method returns an Option because the user may not have supplied
// that argument at runtime. But if we specified that the argument was "required" as we did
// with the "out" argument, we can safely unwrap because `clap` verifies that was actually
// used at runtime.
println!("Value for --output: {}", matches.get_one::<String>("out").unwrap());

// You can check the presence of an argument's values
if matches.contains_id("out") {
    // However, if you want to know where the value came from
    if matches.value_source("out").expect("checked contains_id") == ValueSource::CommandLine {
        println!("`out` set by user");
    } else {
        println!("`out` is defaulted");
    }
}

Implementations

impl ArgMatches

Arguments

pub fn get_one<T: Any + Clone + Send + Sync + 'static>(
    &self,
    id: &str
) -> Option<&T>

Gets the value of a specific option or positional argument.

i.e. an argument that takes an additional value at runtime.

Returns an error if the wrong type was used.

Returns None if the option wasn’t present.

NOTE: This will always return Some(value) if default_value has been set. ArgMatches::value_source can be used to check if a value is present at runtime.

Panic

If the argument definition and access mismatch. To handle this case programmatically, see ArgMatches::try_get_one.

Examples

let m = Command::new("myapp")
    .arg(Arg::new("port")
        .value_parser(value_parser!(usize))
        .takes_value(true)
        .required(true))
    .get_matches_from(vec!["myapp", "2020"]);

let port: usize = *m
    .get_one("port")
    .expect("`port`is required");
assert_eq!(port, 2020);

pub fn get_count(&self, id: &str) -> u8

Gets the value of a specific ArgAction::Count flag

Panic

If the argument’s action is not ArgAction::Count

Examples

let cmd = Command::new("mycmd")
    .arg(
        Arg::new("flag")
            .long("flag")
            .action(clap::ArgAction::Count)
    );

let matches = cmd.clone().try_get_matches_from(["mycmd", "--flag", "--flag"]).unwrap();
assert_eq!(
    matches.get_count("flag"),
    2
);

pub fn get_flag(&self, id: &str) -> bool

Gets the value of a specific ArgAction::SetTrue or ArgAction::SetFalse flag

Panic

If the argument’s action is not ArgAction::SetTrue or ArgAction::SetFalse

Examples

let cmd = Command::new("mycmd")
    .arg(
        Arg::new("flag")
            .long("flag")
            .action(clap::ArgAction::SetTrue)
    );

let matches = cmd.clone().try_get_matches_from(["mycmd", "--flag", "--flag"]).unwrap();
assert!(matches.contains_id("flag"));
assert_eq!(
    matches.get_flag("flag"),
    true
);

pub fn get_many<T: Any + Clone + Send + Sync + 'static>(
    &self,
    id: &str
) -> Option<ValuesRef<'_, T>>

Iterate over values of a specific option or positional argument.

i.e. an argument that takes multiple values at runtime.

Returns an error if the wrong type was used.

Returns None if the option wasn’t present.

Panic

If the argument definition and access mismatch. To handle this case programmatically, see ArgMatches::try_get_many.

Examples

let m = Command::new("myprog")
    .arg(Arg::new("ports")
        .action(ArgAction::Append)
        .value_parser(value_parser!(usize))
        .short('p')
        .takes_value(true)
        .required(true))
    .get_matches_from(vec![
        "myprog", "-p", "22", "-p", "80", "-p", "2020"
    ]);
let vals: Vec<usize> = m.get_many("ports")
    .expect("`port`is required")
    .copied()
    .collect();
assert_eq!(vals, [22, 80, 2020]);

pub fn get_raw(&self, id: &str) -> Option<RawValues<'_>>

Iterate over the original argument values.

An OsStr on Unix-like systems is any series of bytes, regardless of whether or not they contain valid UTF-8. Since Strings in Rust are guaranteed to be valid UTF-8, a valid filename on a Unix system as an argument value may contain invalid UTF-8.

Returns None if the option wasn’t present.

Panic

If the argument definition and access mismatch. To handle this case programmatically, see ArgMatches::try_get_raw.

Examples

use std::path::PathBuf;

let m = Command::new("utf8")
   .arg(arg!(<arg> ... "some arg").value_parser(value_parser!(PathBuf)))
   .get_matches_from(vec![OsString::from("myprog"),
                               // "Hi"
                               OsString::from_vec(vec![b'H', b'i']),
                               // "{0xe9}!"
                               OsString::from_vec(vec![0xe9, b'!'])]);

let mut itr = m.get_raw("arg")
   .expect("`port`is required")
   .into_iter();
assert_eq!(itr.next(), Some(OsStr::new("Hi")));
assert_eq!(itr.next(), Some(OsStr::from_bytes(&[0xe9, b'!'])));
assert_eq!(itr.next(), None);

pub fn remove_one<T: Any + Clone + Send + Sync + 'static>(
    &mut self,
    id: &str
) -> Option<T>

Returns the value of a specific option or positional argument.

i.e. an argument that takes an additional value at runtime.

Returns an error if the wrong type was used. No item will have been removed.

Returns None if the option wasn’t present.

NOTE: This will always return Some(value) if default_value has been set. ArgMatches::value_source can be used to check if a value is present at runtime.

Panic

If the argument definition and access mismatch. To handle this case programmatically, see ArgMatches::try_remove_one.

Examples

let mut m = Command::new("myprog")
    .arg(Arg::new("file")
        .required(true)
        .takes_value(true))
    .get_matches_from(vec![
        "myprog", "file.txt",
    ]);
let vals: String = m.remove_one("file")
    .expect("`file`is required");
assert_eq!(vals, "file.txt");

pub fn remove_many<T: Any + Clone + Send + Sync + 'static>(
    &mut self,
    id: &str
) -> Option<Values2<T>>

Return values of a specific option or positional argument.

i.e. an argument that takes multiple values at runtime.

Returns an error if the wrong type was used. No item will have been removed.

Returns None if the option wasn’t present.

Panic

If the argument definition and access mismatch. To handle this case programmatically, see ArgMatches::try_remove_many.

Examples

let mut m = Command::new("myprog")
    .arg(Arg::new("file")
        .action(ArgAction::Append)
        .multiple_values(true)
        .required(true)
        .takes_value(true))
    .get_matches_from(vec![
        "myprog", "file1.txt", "file2.txt", "file3.txt", "file4.txt",
    ]);
let vals: Vec<String> = m.remove_many("file")
    .expect("`file`is required")
    .collect();
assert_eq!(vals, ["file1.txt", "file2.txt", "file3.txt", "file4.txt"]);

pub fn contains_id(&self, id: &str) -> bool

Check if values are present for the argument or group id

NOTE: This will always return true if default_value has been set. ArgMatches::value_source can be used to check if a value is present at runtime.

Panics

If id is is not a valid argument or group name. To handle this case programmatically, see ArgMatches::try_contains_id.

Examples

let m = Command::new("myprog")
    .arg(Arg::new("debug")
        .short('d'))
    .get_matches_from(vec![
        "myprog", "-d"
    ]);

assert!(m.contains_id("debug"));

pub fn args_present(&self) -> bool

Check if any args were present on the command line

Examples

let mut cmd = Command::new("myapp")
    .arg(Arg::new("output")
        .takes_value(true));

let m = cmd
    .try_get_matches_from_mut(vec!["myapp", "something"])
    .unwrap();
assert!(m.args_present());

let m = cmd
    .try_get_matches_from_mut(vec!["myapp"])
    .unwrap();
assert!(! m.args_present());

pub fn value_of<T: Key>(&self, id: T) -> Option<&str>

Deprecated, replaced with ArgMatches::get_one()

Replace m.value_of(...) with m.get_one::<String>(...).map(|s| s.as_str())

pub fn value_of_lossy<T: Key>(&self, id: T) -> Option<Cow<'_, str>>

Deprecated, replaced with ArgMatches::get_one()

Replace m.value_of(...) with m.get_one::<String>(...).map(|s| s.as_str())

pub fn value_of_os<T: Key>(&self, id: T) -> Option<&OsStr>

Deprecated, replaced with ArgMatches::get_one()

Replace m.value_of(...) with m.get_one::<OsString>(...).map(|s| s.as_os_str())

pub fn values_of<T: Key>(&self, id: T) -> Option<Values<'_>>

Deprecated, replaced with ArgMatches::get_many()

pub fn values_of_lossy<T: Key>(&self, id: T) -> Option<Vec<String>>

Deprecated, replaced with ArgMatches::get_many()

pub fn values_of_os<T: Key>(&self, id: T) -> Option<OsValues<'_>>

Deprecated, replaced with ArgMatches::get_many()

pub fn value_of_t<R>(&self, name: &str) -> Result<R, Error>where
    R: FromStr,
    <R as FromStr>::Err: Display,

Deprecated, replaced with ArgMatches::get_one()

pub fn value_of_t_or_exit<R>(&self, name: &str) -> Rwhere
    R: FromStr,
    <R as FromStr>::Err: Display,

Deprecated, replaced with ArgMatches::get_one()

pub fn values_of_t<R>(&self, name: &str) -> Result<Vec<R>, Error>where
    R: FromStr,
    <R as FromStr>::Err: Display,

Deprecated, replaced with ArgMatches::get_many()

pub fn values_of_t_or_exit<R>(&self, name: &str) -> Vec<R>where
    R: FromStr,
    <R as FromStr>::Err: Display,

Deprecated, replaced with ArgMatches::get_many()

pub fn is_present<T: Key>(&self, id: T) -> bool

Deprecated, replaced with ArgAction::SetTrue or ArgMatches::contains_id.

With ArgAction::SetTrue becoming the new flag default in clap v4, flags will always be present. To make the migration easier, we’ve renamed this function so people can identify when they actually care about an arg being present or if they need to update to the new way to check a flag’s presence.

For flags, call arg.action(ArgAction::SetTrue) and lookup the value with matches.get_flag(...)

For presence, replace matches.is_present(...) with matches.contains_id(...)

pub fn value_source<T: Key>(&self, id: T) -> Option<ValueSource>

Report where argument value came from

Panics

If id is is not a valid argument or group id.

Examples

let m = Command::new("myprog")
    .arg(Arg::new("debug")
        .short('d'))
    .get_matches_from(vec![
        "myprog", "-d"
    ]);

assert_eq!(m.value_source("debug"), Some(ValueSource::CommandLine));

pub fn occurrences_of<T: Key>(&self, id: T) -> u64

Deprecated, replaced with ArgAction::Count, ArgMatches::get_many.len(), or ArgMatches::value_source.

occurrences_ofs meaning was overloaded and we are replacing it with more direct approaches.

For counting flags, call arg.action(ArgAction::Count) and lookup the value with matches.get_count(...)

To check if a user explicitly passed in a value, check the source with matches.value_source(...)

To see how many values there are, call matches.get_many::<T>(...).map(|v| v.len())

pub fn index_of<T: Key>(&self, id: T) -> Option<usize>

The first index of that an argument showed up.

Indices are similar to argv indices, but are not exactly 1:1.

For flags (i.e. those arguments which don’t have an associated value), indices refer to occurrence of the switch, such as -f, or --flag. However, for options the indices refer to the values -o val would therefore not represent two distinct indices, only the index for val would be recorded. This is by design.

Besides the flag/option discrepancy, the primary difference between an argv index and clap index, is that clap continues counting once all arguments have properly separated, whereas an argv index does not.

The examples should clear this up.

NOTE: If an argument is allowed multiple times, this method will only give the first index. See ArgMatches::indices_of.

Panics

If id is is not a valid argument or group id.

Examples

The argv indices are listed in the comments below. See how they correspond to the clap indices. Note that if it’s not listed in a clap index, this is because it’s not saved in in an ArgMatches struct for querying.

let m = Command::new("myapp")
    .arg(Arg::new("flag")
        .short('f'))
    .arg(Arg::new("option")
        .short('o')
        .takes_value(true))
    .get_matches_from(vec!["myapp", "-f", "-o", "val"]);
           // ARGV indices: ^0       ^1    ^2    ^3
           // clap indices:          ^1          ^3

assert_eq!(m.index_of("flag"), Some(1));
assert_eq!(m.index_of("option"), Some(3));

Now notice, if we use one of the other styles of options:

let m = Command::new("myapp")
    .arg(Arg::new("flag")
        .short('f'))
    .arg(Arg::new("option")
        .short('o')
        .takes_value(true))
    .get_matches_from(vec!["myapp", "-f", "-o=val"]);
           // ARGV indices: ^0       ^1    ^2
           // clap indices:          ^1       ^3

assert_eq!(m.index_of("flag"), Some(1));
assert_eq!(m.index_of("option"), Some(3));

Things become much more complicated, or clear if we look at a more complex combination of flags. Let’s also throw in the final option style for good measure.

let m = Command::new("myapp")
    .arg(Arg::new("flag")
        .short('f'))
    .arg(Arg::new("flag2")
        .short('F'))
    .arg(Arg::new("flag3")
        .short('z'))
    .arg(Arg::new("option")
        .short('o')
        .takes_value(true))
    .get_matches_from(vec!["myapp", "-fzF", "-oval"]);
           // ARGV indices: ^0      ^1       ^2
           // clap indices:         ^1,2,3    ^5
           //
           // clap sees the above as 'myapp -f -z -F -o val'
           //                         ^0    ^1 ^2 ^3 ^4 ^5
assert_eq!(m.index_of("flag"), Some(1));
assert_eq!(m.index_of("flag2"), Some(3));
assert_eq!(m.index_of("flag3"), Some(2));
assert_eq!(m.index_of("option"), Some(5));

One final combination of flags/options to see how they combine:

let m = Command::new("myapp")
    .arg(Arg::new("flag")
        .short('f'))
    .arg(Arg::new("flag2")
        .short('F'))
    .arg(Arg::new("flag3")
        .short('z'))
    .arg(Arg::new("option")
        .short('o')
        .takes_value(true))
    .get_matches_from(vec!["myapp", "-fzFoval"]);
           // ARGV indices: ^0       ^1
           // clap indices:          ^1,2,3^5
           //
           // clap sees the above as 'myapp -f -z -F -o val'
           //                         ^0    ^1 ^2 ^3 ^4 ^5
assert_eq!(m.index_of("flag"), Some(1));
assert_eq!(m.index_of("flag2"), Some(3));
assert_eq!(m.index_of("flag3"), Some(2));
assert_eq!(m.index_of("option"), Some(5));

The last part to mention is when values are sent in multiple groups with a delimiter.

let m = Command::new("myapp")
    .arg(Arg::new("option")
        .short('o')
        .use_value_delimiter(true)
        .multiple_values(true))
    .get_matches_from(vec!["myapp", "-o=val1,val2,val3"]);
           // ARGV indices: ^0       ^1
           // clap indices:             ^2   ^3   ^4
           //
           // clap sees the above as 'myapp -o val1 val2 val3'
           //                         ^0    ^1 ^2   ^3   ^4
assert_eq!(m.index_of("option"), Some(2));
assert_eq!(m.indices_of("option").unwrap().collect::<Vec<_>>(), &[2, 3, 4]);

pub fn indices_of<T: Key>(&self, id: T) -> Option<Indices<'_>>

All indices an argument appeared at when parsing.

Indices are similar to argv indices, but are not exactly 1:1.

For flags (i.e. those arguments which don’t have an associated value), indices refer to occurrence of the switch, such as -f, or --flag. However, for options the indices refer to the values -o val would therefore not represent two distinct indices, only the index for val would be recorded. This is by design.

NOTE: For more information about how clap indices compared to argv indices, see ArgMatches::index_of

Panics

If id is is not a valid argument or group id.

Examples

let m = Command::new("myapp")
    .arg(Arg::new("option")
        .short('o')
        .use_value_delimiter(true)
        .multiple_values(true))
    .get_matches_from(vec!["myapp", "-o=val1,val2,val3"]);
           // ARGV indices: ^0       ^1
           // clap indices:             ^2   ^3   ^4
           //
           // clap sees the above as 'myapp -o val1 val2 val3'
           //                         ^0    ^1 ^2   ^3   ^4
assert_eq!(m.indices_of("option").unwrap().collect::<Vec<_>>(), &[2, 3, 4]);

Another quick example is when flags and options are used together

let m = Command::new("myapp")
    .arg(Arg::new("option")
        .short('o')
        .takes_value(true)
        .action(ArgAction::Append))
    .arg(Arg::new("flag")
        .short('f')
        .action(ArgAction::Count))
    .get_matches_from(vec!["myapp", "-o", "val1", "-f", "-o", "val2", "-f"]);
           // ARGV indices: ^0       ^1    ^2      ^3    ^4    ^5      ^6
           // clap indices:                ^2      ^3          ^5      ^6

assert_eq!(m.indices_of("option").unwrap().collect::<Vec<_>>(), &[2, 5]);
assert_eq!(m.indices_of("flag").unwrap().collect::<Vec<_>>(), &[6]);

One final example, which is an odd case; if we don’t use value delimiter as we did with the first example above instead of val1, val2 and val3 all being distinc values, they would all be a single value of val1,val2,val3, in which case they’d only receive a single index.

let m = Command::new("myapp")
    .arg(Arg::new("option")
        .short('o')
        .takes_value(true)
        .multiple_values(true))
    .get_matches_from(vec!["myapp", "-o=val1,val2,val3"]);
           // ARGV indices: ^0       ^1
           // clap indices:             ^2
           //
           // clap sees the above as 'myapp -o "val1,val2,val3"'
           //                         ^0    ^1  ^2
assert_eq!(m.indices_of("option").unwrap().collect::<Vec<_>>(), &[2]);

impl ArgMatches

Subcommands

pub fn subcommand(&self) -> Option<(&str, &ArgMatches)>

The name and ArgMatches of the current subcommand.

Subcommand values are put in a child ArgMatches

Returns None if the subcommand wasn’t present at runtime,

Examples

 let app_m = Command::new("git")
     .subcommand(Command::new("clone"))
     .subcommand(Command::new("push"))
     .subcommand(Command::new("commit"))
     .get_matches();

match app_m.subcommand() {
    Some(("clone",  sub_m)) => {}, // clone was used
    Some(("push",   sub_m)) => {}, // push was used
    Some(("commit", sub_m)) => {}, // commit was used
    _                       => {}, // Either no subcommand or one not tested for...
}

Another useful scenario is when you want to support third party, or external, subcommands. In these cases you can’t know the subcommand name ahead of time, so use a variable instead with pattern matching!

// Assume there is an external subcommand named "subcmd"
let app_m = Command::new("myprog")
    .allow_external_subcommands(true)
    .get_matches_from(vec![
        "myprog", "subcmd", "--option", "value", "-fff", "--flag"
    ]);

// All trailing arguments will be stored under the subcommand's sub-matches using an empty
// string argument name
match app_m.subcommand() {
    Some((external, sub_m)) => {
         let ext_args: Vec<&str> = sub_m.get_many::<String>("")
            .unwrap().map(|s| s.as_str()).collect();
         assert_eq!(external, "subcmd");
         assert_eq!(ext_args, ["--option", "value", "-fff", "--flag"]);
    },
    _ => {},
}

pub fn remove_subcommand(&mut self) -> Option<(String, ArgMatches)>

Return the name and ArgMatches of the current subcommand.

Subcommand values are put in a child ArgMatches

Returns None if the subcommand wasn’t present at runtime,

Examples

 let mut app_m = Command::new("git")
     .subcommand(Command::new("clone"))
     .subcommand(Command::new("push"))
     .subcommand(Command::new("commit"))
     .subcommand_required(true)
     .get_matches();

let (name, sub_m) = app_m.remove_subcommand().expect("required");
match (name.as_str(), sub_m) {
    ("clone",  sub_m) => {}, // clone was used
    ("push",   sub_m) => {}, // push was used
    ("commit", sub_m) => {}, // commit was used
    (name, _)         => unimplemented!("{}", name),
}

Another useful scenario is when you want to support third party, or external, subcommands. In these cases you can’t know the subcommand name ahead of time, so use a variable instead with pattern matching!

// Assume there is an external subcommand named "subcmd"
let mut app_m = Command::new("myprog")
    .allow_external_subcommands(true)
    .get_matches_from(vec![
        "myprog", "subcmd", "--option", "value", "-fff", "--flag"
    ]);

// All trailing arguments will be stored under the subcommand's sub-matches using an empty
// string argument name
match app_m.remove_subcommand() {
    Some((external, mut sub_m)) => {
         let ext_args: Vec<String> = sub_m.remove_many("")
            .expect("`file`is required")
            .collect();
         assert_eq!(external, "subcmd");
         assert_eq!(ext_args, ["--option", "value", "-fff", "--flag"]);
    },
    _ => {},
}

pub fn subcommand_matches<T: Key>(&self, id: T) -> Option<&ArgMatches>

The ArgMatches for the current subcommand.

Subcommand values are put in a child ArgMatches

Returns None if the subcommand wasn’t present at runtime,

Panics

If id is is not a valid subcommand.

Examples

let app_m = Command::new("myprog")
    .arg(Arg::new("debug")
        .short('d')
        .action(ArgAction::SetTrue)
    )
    .subcommand(Command::new("test")
        .arg(Arg::new("opt")
            .long("option")
            .takes_value(true)))
    .get_matches_from(vec![
        "myprog", "-d", "test", "--option", "val"
    ]);

// Both parent commands, and child subcommands can have arguments present at the same times
assert!(*app_m.get_one::<bool>("debug").expect("defaulted by clap"));

// Get the subcommand's ArgMatches instance
if let Some(sub_m) = app_m.subcommand_matches("test") {
    // Use the struct like normal
    assert_eq!(sub_m.get_one::<String>("opt").map(|s| s.as_str()), Some("val"));
}

pub fn subcommand_name(&self) -> Option<&str>

The name of the current subcommand.

Returns None if the subcommand wasn’t present at runtime,

Examples

 let app_m = Command::new("git")
     .subcommand(Command::new("clone"))
     .subcommand(Command::new("push"))
     .subcommand(Command::new("commit"))
     .get_matches();

match app_m.subcommand_name() {
    Some("clone")  => {}, // clone was used
    Some("push")   => {}, // push was used
    Some("commit") => {}, // commit was used
    _              => {}, // Either no subcommand or one not tested for...
}

impl ArgMatches

Advanced

pub fn try_get_one<T: Any + Clone + Send + Sync + 'static>(
    &self,
    id: &str
) -> Result<Option<&T>, MatchesError>

Non-panicking version of ArgMatches::get_one

pub fn try_get_many<T: Any + Clone + Send + Sync + 'static>(
    &self,
    id: &str
) -> Result<Option<ValuesRef<'_, T>>, MatchesError>

Non-panicking version of ArgMatches::get_many

pub fn try_get_raw(
    &self,
    id: &str
) -> Result<Option<RawValues<'_>>, MatchesError>

Non-panicking version of ArgMatches::get_raw

pub fn try_remove_one<T: Any + Clone + Send + Sync + 'static>(
    &mut self,
    id: &str
) -> Result<Option<T>, MatchesError>

Non-panicking version of ArgMatches::remove_one

pub fn try_remove_many<T: Any + Clone + Send + Sync + 'static>(
    &mut self,
    id: &str
) -> Result<Option<Values2<T>>, MatchesError>

Non-panicking version of ArgMatches::remove_many

pub fn try_contains_id(&self, id: &str) -> Result<bool, MatchesError>

Non-panicking version of ArgMatches::contains_id

Trait Implementations

impl Clone for ArgMatches

fn clone(&self) -> ArgMatches

Returns a copy of the value.

fn clone_from(&mut self, source: &Self)

Performs copy-assignment from source.

impl Debug for ArgMatches

fn fmt(&self, f: &mut Formatter<'_>) -> Result

Formats the value using the given formatter.

impl Default for ArgMatches

fn default() -> ArgMatches

Returns the “default value” for a type.

impl PartialEq<ArgMatches> for ArgMatches

fn eq(&self, other: &ArgMatches) -> bool

This method tests for self and other values to be equal, and is used by ==.

fn ne(&self, other: &Rhs) -> bool

This method tests for !=. The default implementation is almost always sufficient, and should not be overridden without very good reason.

impl Eq for ArgMatches

impl StructuralEq for ArgMatches

impl StructuralPartialEq for ArgMatches