Question

I would like to implement gem-style console app, and when I say gem (or apt-get etc) style, I mean that it will have invocation syntax like:

program.rb verb [argument] [--options ...]

For example

greeter.rb say "Hello world" --bold

I have used optparse but I think it is not suitable for anything except --option style arguments. Am I wrong about it or there is more suitable library to achieve this?

Answer 1

I suggest not to parse from scratch; I suggest to use GLI by which you can provide (via its DSL) a git like interface to your users. Get started here to see how it works.

You might also be interested in looking at a real (humble) implementation in a project of mine. Check these files:

• https://github.com/empo/RuGPost/blob/master/bin/rugpost
• https://github.com/empo/RuGPost/blob/master/lib/rugpost/commands.rb
• https://github.com/empo/RuGPost/blob/master/lib/rugpost/commands/post_commands.rb
• https://github.com/empo/RuGPost/blob/master/lib/rugpost/commands/project_commands.rb