# Macro clap::arg

source · [−]

    macro_rules! arg {
        ( $name:ident: $($tail:tt)+ ) => { ... };
        ( $($tail:tt)+ ) => { ... };
    }

Expand description

Create an `Arg` from a usage string.

Allows creation of basic settings for the `Arg`.

NOTE: Not all settings may be set using the usage string method. Some properties are only available via the builder pattern.

## Syntax

Usage strings typically following the form:

    [explicit name] [short] [long] [value names] [...] [help string]

#### Explicit Name

The name may be either a bare-word or a string, followed by a `:`, like `name:` or `"name":`.

Note: This is an optional field, if it’s omitted the argument will use one of the additional fields as the name using the following priority order:

1. Explicit Name
2. Long
3. Value Name

See `Arg::id`.

#### Short

A short flag is a `-` followed by either a bare-character or quoted character, like `-f` or `-'f'`.

See `Arg::short`.

#### Long

A long flag is a `--` followed by either a bare-word or a string, like `--foo` or `--"foo"`.

NOTE: Dashes in the long name (e.g. `--foo-bar`) is not supported and quoting is required (e.g. `--"foo-bar"`).

See `Arg::long`.

#### Values (Value Notation)

This is set by placing bare-word between:

- `[]` like `[FOO]`
  - Positional argument: optional
  - Named argument: optional value
- `<>` like `<FOO>`: required

See `Arg::value_name`.

#### `...`

`...` (three consecutive dots/periods) specifies that this argument may occur multiple times (not to be confused with multiple values per occurrence).

See `ArgAction::Count` and `ArgAction::Append`.

#### Help String

The help string is denoted between a pair of double quotes `""` and may contain any characters.

## Examples

    let cmd = Command::new("prog")
        .args(&[
            arg!(--config <FILE> "a required file for the configuration and no short"),
            arg!(-d --debug ... "turns on debugging information and allows multiples"),
            arg!([input] "an optional input file to use")
        ]);

    let m = cmd.try_get_matches_from(["prog", "--config", "file.toml"]).unwrap();
    assert_eq!(m.get_one::<String>("config").unwrap(), "file.toml");
    assert_eq!(*m.get_one::<u8>("debug").unwrap(), 0);
    assert_eq!(m.get_one::<String>("input"), None);