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This part of the code always returns None

import argparse
from pathlib import Path


parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
parser.add_argument('-f', "--file_path", type=Path)

p = parser.parse_args()
print(p.file_path)

I need to understand why this is happening. How could I solve it and how to correctly type a path in the cmd window?

hc_dev
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zeyad khalil
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1 Answers1

1

Works as expected

I saved your given script as SO_argparse_Path.py and run it with python3 and the argument -f Downloads/. See how it prints Downloads as expected folder:

$ python3 SO_argparse_Path.py -f Downloads/

which should print:

Downloads

On Windows you could run the script similarly in CMD.exe, e.g. with C:\:

python SO_argparse_Path.py -f C:\

which should print:

C:\

Paths with spaces inside should be wrapped inside doouble-quotes, see Handle spaces in argparse input

About argument types

From the docs of argparse on parameter type:

The argument to type can be any callable that accepts a single string. If the function raises ArgumentTypeError, TypeError, or ValueError, the exception is caught and a nicely formatted error message is displayed. No other exception types are handled.

(emphasis mine), also see the examples for built-in types there like: parser.add_argument('datapath', type=pathlib.Path)

For a custom argument-handler see: path to a directory as argparse argument

hc_dev
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