Python argparse – Add argument to multiple subparsers

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This can be achieved by defining a parent parser containing the common option(s):

import argparse

parent_parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="The parent parser")
parent_parser.add_argument("-p", type=int, required=True,
                           help="set db parameter")
subparsers = parent_parser.add_subparsers(title="actions")
parser_create = subparsers.add_parser("create", parents=[parent_parser],
                                      add_help=False,
                                      description="The create parser",
                                      help="create the orbix environment")
parser_create.add_argument("--name", help="name of the environment")
parser_update = subparsers.add_parser("update", parents=[parent_parser],
                                      add_help=False,
                                      description="The update parser",
                                      help="update the orbix environment")

This produces help messages of the format:

parent_parser.print_help()

Output:

usage: main.py [-h] -p P {create,update} ...
The parent parser
optional arguments:
  -h, --help       show this help message and exit
  -p P             set db parameter
actions:
  {create,update}
    create         create the orbix environment
    update         update the orbix environment

parser_create.print_help()

Output:

usage: main.py create [-h] -p P [--name NAME] {create,update} ...
The create parser
optional arguments:
  -h, --help       show this help message and exit
  -p P             set db parameter
  --name NAME      name of the environment
actions:
  {create,update}
    create         create the orbix environment
    update         update the orbix environment

However, if you run your program, you will not encounter an error if you do not specify an action (i.e. create or update). If you desire this behavior, modify your code as follows.

<...>
subparsers = parent_parser.add_subparsers(title="actions")
subparsers.required = True
subparsers.dest="command"
<...>

This fix was brought up in this SO question which refers to an issue tracking a pull request.

update by @hpaulj

Due to changes in handling subparsers since 2011, it is a bad idea to use the main parser as a parent. More generally, don’t try to define the same argument (same dest) in both main and sub parsers. The subparser values will overwrite anything set by the main (even the subparser default does this). Create separate parser(s) to use as parents. And as shown in the documentation, parents should use add_help=False.

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