python optparse, how to include additional info in usage output?

user_226030 0
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Using python's optparse module I would like to add extra example lines below the regular usage output. My current help_print() output looks like this:

usage: check_dell.py [options]

options:
-h, --help     show this help message and exit
-s, --storage  checks virtual and physical disks
-c, --chassis  checks specified chassis components

I would like it to include usage examples for the less *nix literate users at my work. Something like this:

usage: check_dell.py [options]

options:
-h, --help     show this help message and exit
-s, --storage  checks virtual and physical disks
-c, --chassis  checks specified chassis components

Examples:

check_dell -c all
check_dell -c fans memory voltage
check_dell -s

How would I accomplish this? What optparse options allow for such? Current code:

import optparse

def main():
    parser = optparse.OptionParser()
    parser.add_option('-s', '--storage', action='store_true', default=False, help='checks virtual and physical disks')
    parser.add_option('-c', '--chassis', action='store_true', default=False, help='checks specified chassis components')

(opts, args) = parser.parse_args()
optparse python
6 Answers

Elaborating on the winning answer (which helped me solve the same problem in my own code), one quick-and-dirty option is to directly override the class's method with an identity method:

optparse.OptionParser.format_epilog = lambda self, formatter: self.epilog
optparser = optparse.OptionParser(epilog=helptext)

to get helptext printed as a verbatim epilog.

I think this overrides the epilog formatting for all uses of the OptionParser class in your program, however, so all such epilogs must be passed in verbatim where you use OptionParser elsewhere in your program.

user_1175290
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