Django Management Command Argument

Question

I need to pass in an integer argument to a base command in Django. For instance, if my code is:

from django.core.management import BaseCommand

class Command(BaseCommand):
    def handle(self, *args, **options, number_argument):
        square = number_argument ** 2
        print(square)

I want to run:

python manage.py square_command 4

so, it will return 16.

Is there a way I can pass an argument through the terminal to the command I want to run?

score 88 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 21 '16 at 01:47

88

Add this method to your Command class:

def add_arguments(self, parser):
    parser.add_argument('my_int_argument', type=int)

You can then use your option in the code, like this:

def handle(self, *args, **options):
    my_int_argument = options['my_int_argument']

The benefit of doing it this way is that the help output is automatically generated for manage.py my_command --help

edited Dec 21 '16 at 01:47

Rob Bednark

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answered Jan 25 '16 at 12:29

acidjunk

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Docs here: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/howto/custom-management-commands/ – User Apr 23 '17 at 06:45
1

As of Django 2.8, this is the way to do it. – eric Jan 02 '18 at 15:12
How can you add default value? – EralpB Nov 26 '18 at 12:02
1

@EralpB just add a `defatult= – Chris Jul 19 '19 at 08:14
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what is the purpose of *args then? – Priyank Chheda Oct 07 '21 at 12:35
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it's a standard pattern in Python to add *args and **kwargs: it ensures that when people inherit from this class you still can add extra keyword args in the function you override. – acidjunk Oct 08 '21 at 13:25

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 29 '18 at 16:10

3

Yes. The mechanism for doing so is described here, but basically, you can get the argument from args[0].

edited Jun 29 '18 at 16:10

SukiCZ

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answered Dec 22 '14 at 22:38

mipadi

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Found a more complete answer here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10568864/two-arguments-in-django-admin-custom-command?rq=1 – Peter Graham Dec 22 '14 at 22:49
1

@PeterGraham now you should use the `add_arguments` method, which was added in version 1.8, so I wouldn't recommend that more complete answer anymore. – eric Jan 02 '18 at 15:11

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 25 '20 at 23:52

This is pretty simple by implementing the add_arguments method. Then, you can get the value of this argument in the handle method as follows:

class Command(BaseCommand):
    help = 'Help for command'

    def add_arguments(self, parser):
        parser.add_argument('n', type=int, help='help for n')

    def handle(self, *args, **options):
        n = options['n']
        square = n ** 2
        print(square)

The parameter parser is an instance of argparse.ArgumentParser (see the docs). Now you can add as many arguments as you want by calling parser's add_argument method. In the code above, you are expecting a parameter n of type int which is gotten in the handle method from options.

If you want to see the help displayed, run the following:

python manage.py square_command --help

That will produce an output similar to the following one:

usage: manage.py create_documents [-h] [--version] [-v {0,1,2,3}] [--settings SETTINGS] [--pythonpath PYTHONPATH] [--traceback] [--no-color] [--force-color]
                                  [--skip-checks]
                                  n

Help for command

positional arguments:
  n                     help for n

Django Management Command Argument

3 Answers3