Clicksearch

Clicksearch is a framework for writing CLI programs that filter a stream of data objects. Clicksearch lets you define a model of the objects your program should work with, and based on this model Clicksearch creates a CLI with options for filtering on the defined fields.

Clicksearch is based on the Click framework, which handles all of the heavy lifting CLI work.

The Basics

Let's start with a basic example on how to write a simple Clicksearch program.

The Model

At the heart of Clicksearch is the model. Every Clicksearch program needs to define a subclass of the ModelBase class, that describes the supported data:

class Person(ModelBase):
    name = Text()
    age = Number()

From this simple model you can launch your CLI program by calling the ModelBase.cli class method:

>>> Person.cli('--help')
Usage: ... [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

Options:
  -v, --verbose  Show more data.
  --brief        Show one line of data, regardless the level of verbose.
  --long         Show multiple lines of data, regardless the level of verbose.
  --show FIELD   Show given field only. Can be repeated to show multiple
                 fields in given order.
  --case         Use case sensitive filtering.
  --exact        Use exact match filtering.
  --regex        Use regular rexpressions when filtering.
  --or FIELD     Treat multiple tests for given field with logical
                 disjunction, i.e. OR-logic instead of AND-logic.
  --inclusive    Treat multiple tests for different fields with logical
                 disjunction, i.e. OR-logic instead of AND-logic.
  --sort FIELD   Sort results by given field.
  --desc         Sort results in descending order.
  --group FIELD  Group results by given field.
  --count FIELD  Print a breakdown of all values for given field.
  --version      Show the version and exit.
  --help         Show this message and exit.

Field filters:
  --name TEXT   Filter on matching name.
  --age NUMBER  Filter on matching age (number comparison).

Where:
  FIELD   One of: age, name.
  NUMBER  A number optionally prefixed by one of the supported
          comparison operators: ==, =, !=, !, <=, <, >=, >. Or a
          range of two numbers separated with the .. operator.
          With == being the default operator if none is given.
  TEXT    A text partially matching the field value. The --case, --regex and
          --exact options can be applied. If prefixed with ! the match is
          negated.

❗ The first argument to Person.cli is the command line arguments as a string. This is optional and generally not required when launching the program from a terminal, but here we need it since we are launching from the Python REPL.

We can see from the --help output that we have a bunch of basic options, that will be the same for all Clicksearch programs, and then we have a a few options called field filters, that are based on the fields defined on the model.

The Reader

The next thing Clicksearch needs is a data source, called a reader. In Python terms the reader should be a Callable[[Mapping], Iterable[Mapping]] object. That is: it should be a callable object that takes a single dict argument (the parsed Click parameters) and returns some sort of object that can be iterated over to generate the data objects that Clicksearch should work with.

In its simplest form this can be a function that returns, for instance, a list:

def people(options: dict):
    return [
        {'name': 'Alice Anderson', 'age': 42},
        {'name': 'Bob Balderson', 'age': 27},
    ]

Or perhaps be a Python generator:

def people(options: dict):
    yield {'name': 'Alice Anderson', 'age': 42}
    yield {'name': 'Bob Balderson', 'age': 27}

Provide the reader to Person.cli with the reader keyword argument. Now you are ready to start using the CLI program! Call the Person.cli method with the command line options as the first argument:

>>> Person.cli('', reader=people)
Alice Anderson: Age 42.
Bob Balderson: Age 27.

Total count: 2

>>> Person.cli('--age 27', reader=people)
Bob Balderson
Age: 27

Total count: 1

The Script

Your complete CLI program would then look something like this:

#!/usr/bin/env python3

from clicksearch import ModelBase, Text, Number

class Person(ModelBase):
    name = Text()
    age = Number()

def people(options: dict):
    yield {'name': 'Alice Anderson', 'age': 42}
    yield {'name': 'Bob Balderson', 'age': 27}

if __name__ == '__main__':
    Person.cli(reader=people)

Command Line Options

These are the basic command line options available in all Clicksearch programs.

To examplify the different use cases, the following model and reader will be used:

class Employee(ModelBase):
    name = Text()
    title = Text()
    gender = Choice(["Female", "Male", "Other"], autofilter=True)
    salary = Number(autofilter=True)


def employees(options: dict):
    yield {
        'name': 'Alice Anderson',
        'title': 'Sales Director',
        'salary': 4200,
        'gender': 'Female',
    }
    yield {
        'name': 'Bob Balderson',
        'title': 'Sales Representative',
        'salary': 2700,
        'gender': 'Male',
    }
    yield {
        'name': 'Charlotte Carlson',
        'title': 'Sales Representative',
        'salary': 2200,
        'gender': 'Female',
    }
    yield {
        'name': 'Totoro',
        'title': 'Company Mascot',
    }

-v, --verbose

The --verbose option is used to show more details of the resulting items. By default items are shown using the "brief" format, using a single line per item. Adding a level of verbose will switch to using the "long" format, using a single line per item field.

See also the verbosity field parameter for further use cases of the --verbose option.

>>> Employee.cli('--verbose', reader=employees)
Alice Anderson
Title: Sales Director
Gender: Female
Salary: 4200

Bob Balderson
Title: Sales Representative
Gender: Male
Salary: 2700

Charlotte Carlson
Title: Sales Representative
Gender: Female
Salary: 2200

Totoro
Title: Company Mascot

Total count: 4

--brief

The --brief option forces the use of the "brief" format, using a single line per item, regardless of the level of verbose. This is mainly useful to ensure that the brief format is used also when a single item is found.

>>> Employee.cli('--gender male --brief', reader=employees)
Bob Balderson: Sales Representative. Male. Salary 2700.

Total count: 1

--long

The --long option forces the use of the "long" format, using a single line per item field, regardless of the level of verbose.

>>> Employee.cli('--long', reader=employees)
Alice Anderson
Title: Sales Director
Gender: Female
Salary: 4200

Bob Balderson
Title: Sales Representative
Gender: Male
Salary: 2700

Charlotte Carlson
Title: Sales Representative
Gender: Female
Salary: 2200

Totoro
Title: Company Mascot

Total count: 4

--show

The --show option can be used to control what fields to display.

>>> Employee.cli('--show gender --show salary', reader=employees)
Alice Anderson: Female. Salary 4200.
Bob Balderson: Male. Salary 2700.
Charlotte Carlson: Female. Salary 2200.

Total count: 3

>>> Employee.cli('--show salary --show title --long', reader=employees)
Alice Anderson
Salary: 4200
Title: Sales Director

Bob Balderson
Salary: 2700
Title: Sales Representative

Charlotte Carlson
Salary: 2200
Title: Sales Representative

Total count: 3

--case

The --case option makes the Text field filter case sensitive.

>>> Employee.cli('--name "bob" --case', reader=employees)

Total count: 0

>>> Employee.cli('--name "Bob" --case', reader=employees)
Bob Balderson
Title: Sales Representative
Gender: Male
Salary: 2700

Total count: 1

--exact

The --exact option makes the Text field filter require a full match.

>>> Employee.cli('--name "bob" --exact', reader=employees)

Total count: 0

>>> Employee.cli('--name "bob balderson" --exact', reader=employees)
Bob Balderson
Title: Sales Representative
Gender: Male
Salary: 2700

Total count: 1

--regex

The --regex option makes the Text field filter operate as a regular expression.

>>> Employee.cli('--name "\\b[anderson]+\\b" --regex', reader=employees)
Alice Anderson
Title: Sales Director
Gender: Female
Salary: 4200

Total count: 1

>>> Employee.cli('--name "\\b[blanderson]+\\b" --regex', reader=employees)
Alice Anderson: Sales Director. Female. Salary 4200.
Bob Balderson: Sales Representative. Male. Salary 2700.

Total count: 2

>>> Employee.cli('--name "b]d r[g}x" --regex', reader=employees)
Usage: ...

Error: Invalid value for '--name': Invalid regular expression

--or

The --or option treats multiple uses of a given field filter as a logical disjunction (OR logic), rather than a logical conjunction (AND logic), which is the default unless the field is specifically configured as a inclusive field.

Without --or, multiple uses of the same field filter give fewer results.

>>> Employee.cli('--name "C" --name "Anderson" --brief', reader=employees)
Alice Anderson: Sales Director. Female. Salary 4200.

Total count: 1

Compared to when --or is used:

>>> Employee.cli('--name "C" --name "Anderson" --or name --brief', reader=employees)
Alice Anderson: Sales Director. Female. Salary 4200.
Charlotte Carlson: Sales Representative. Female. Salary 2200.

Total count: 2

--inclusive

The --inclusive option treats multiple uses of different field filters as a logical disjunction (OR logic), rather than a logical conjunction (AND logic), which is the default.

Without --inclusive, multiple uses of different filters give fewer results:

>>> Employee.cli('--gender female --title "sales rep" --brief', reader=employees)
Charlotte Carlson: Sales Representative. Female. Salary 2200.

Total count: 1

Compared to when --inclusive is used:

>>> Employee.cli('--gender female --title "sales rep" --inclusive', reader=employees)
Alice Anderson: Sales Director. Female. Salary 4200.
Bob Balderson: Sales Representative. Male. Salary 2700.
Charlotte Carlson: Sales Representative. Female. Salary 2200.

Total count: 3

--sort

The --sort option controls the order in which resulting items are displayed.

>>> Employee.cli('--sort salary', reader=employees)
Charlotte Carlson: Sales Representative. Female. Salary 2200.
Bob Balderson: Sales Representative. Male. Salary 2700.
Alice Anderson: Sales Director. Female. Salary 4200.

Total count: 3

>>> Employee.cli('--sort gender', reader=employees)
Alice Anderson: Sales Director. Female. Salary 4200.
Charlotte Carlson: Sales Representative. Female. Salary 2200.
Bob Balderson: Sales Representative. Male. Salary 2700.

Total count: 3

--desc

The --desc option switches the --sort and --group options to use descending order.

>>> Employee.cli('--sort salary --desc', reader=employees)
Alice Anderson: Sales Director. Female. Salary 4200.
Bob Balderson: Sales Representative. Male. Salary 2700.
Charlotte Carlson: Sales Representative. Female. Salary 2200.

Total count: 3

--group

The --group option displays the resulting items in groups by the target field values.

>>> Employee.cli('--group title', reader=employees)
[ Company Mascot ]

Totoro: Company Mascot.

[ Sales Director ]

Alice Anderson: Sales Director. Female. Salary 4200.

[ Sales Representative ]

Bob Balderson: Sales Representative. Male. Salary 2700.
Charlotte Carlson: Sales Representative. Female. Salary 2200.

Total count: 4

--count

The --count options adds a breakdown of all values for a given field.

>>> Employee.cli('--count title', reader=employees)
[ Title counts ]

Sales Representative: 2
Sales Director:       1
Company Mascot:       1

Total count: 4

Fields

Fields are the objects used to compose your model. Clicksearch comes with a number of basic field types built-in, but you can of course also define your own field type by subclassing from the FieldBase class (or from any other built-in field type).

Text

Text fields support str values and implement a single filter option that matches any part of the field value.

For examples of this field in use see any of the previous sections, and especially those of the --case, --exact and --regex command line options.

Number

Number fields support numeric values and implement a single filter that allows basic comparisons with the field value. In the example below the option will be given the default name --age. The supported comparison operators are: == (the default), !=, <, <=, > and >=.

The examples below use the same Person model and reader from previous section.

>>> Person.cli('--age 42', reader=people)
Alice Anderson
Age: 42

Total count: 1

>>> Person.cli('--age "<50"', reader=people)
Alice Anderson: Age 42.
Bob Balderson: Age 27.

Total count: 2

>>> Person.cli('--age ">=42"', reader=people)
Alice Anderson
Age: 42

Total count: 1

>>> Person.cli('--age "25..50"', reader=people)
Alice Anderson: Age 42.
Bob Balderson: Age 27.

Total count: 2

>>> Person.cli('--age "X"', reader=people)
Usage: ...

Error: Invalid value for '--age': X

specials

Number fields can also be configured to accept non-numeric values with the specials parameter. Such special values only support direct equality comparison.

class Gift(ModelBase):
    name = Text()
    price = Number(specials=['X'])

def gifts(options: dict):
    yield {'name': 'Socks', 'price': 7}
    yield {'name': 'Voucher', 'price': 'X'}

>>> Gift.cli('', reader=gifts)
Socks: Price 7.
Voucher: Price X.

Total count: 2

>>> Gift.cli('--price X', reader=gifts)
Voucher
Price: X

Total count: 1

>>> Gift.cli('--price ">0"', reader=gifts)
Socks
Price: 7

Total count: 1

Count

Count behave like Number fields but switch the label and value around in the brief format. If the name of the field is one that can have a count before it, then it is probably a Count rather than a Number.

class Inventory(ModelBase):
    name = Text()
    price = Number()
    in_stock = Count()

def products(options: dict):
    yield {'name': 'Milk', 'price': 7, 'in_stock': 29}
    yield {'name': 'Yoghurt', 'price': 11, 'in_stock': 15}

>>> Inventory.cli('', reader=products)
Milk: Price 7. 29 In Stock.
Yoghurt: Price 11. 15 In Stock.

Total count: 2

DelimitedText

DelimitedText fields behave like a list of Text fields, where each part is separated by a given str delimiter. Each part is then matched individually.

class Recipe(ModelBase):
    name = Text()
    ingredients = DelimitedText(delimiter=",", optname="ingredient")

def recipes(options: dict):
    yield {"name": "Sandwich", "ingredients": "bread,cheese"}
    yield {"name": "Hamburger", "ingredients": "bread,meat,dressing"}
    yield {"name": "Beef Wellington", "ingredients": "meat,ham,mushrooms,pastry"}

>>> Recipe.cli('--exact --ingredient bread', reader=recipes)
Sandwich: bread,cheese.
Hamburger: bread,meat,dressing.

Total count: 2

>>> Recipe.cli('--exact --ingredient mushrooms', reader=recipes)
Beef Wellington
Ingredients: meat,ham,mushrooms,pastry

Total count: 1

This also works with negated text matching:

>>> Recipe.cli('--exact --ingredient "!cheese" --ingredient "!pastry"', reader=recipes)
Hamburger
Ingredients: bread,meat,dressing

Total count: 1

Choice

Choice fields behave like Text fields but have a defined set of valid values. Prefix arguments are automatically completed to the valid choice.

class Person(ModelBase):
    name = Text()
    gender = Choice(["Female", "Male", "Other"])

def people(options: dict):
    yield {"name": "Alice Anderson", "gender": "Female"}
    yield {"name": "Bob Balderson", "gender": "Male"}

>>> Person.cli('', reader=people)
Alice Anderson: Female.
Bob Balderson: Male.

Total count: 2

>>> Person.cli('--gender male', reader=people)
Bob Balderson
Gender: Male

Total count: 1

>>> Person.cli('--gender f', reader=people)
Alice Anderson
Gender: Female

Total count: 1

>>> Person.cli('--gender foo', reader=people)
Usage: ...

Error: Invalid value for '--gender': Valid choices are: female, male, other

Flag

Flag fields represent boolean "Yes" or "No" values. A value of 1, "1" or True are treated as "Yes", otherwise it's a "No". Flag fields implement two filters, one to test for "Yes" values and one for "No" values, the latter prefixed with "non-".

class Person(ModelBase):
    name = Text()
    alive = Flag()

def people(options: dict):
    yield {"name": "Bob Balderson", "alive": 1}
    yield {"name": "Alice Anderson", "alive": 0}

>>> Person.cli('', reader=people)
Bob Balderson: Alive.
Alice Anderson: Non-Alive.

Total count: 2

>>> Person.cli('--alive', reader=people)
Bob Balderson
Alive: Yes

Total count: 1

>>> Person.cli('--non-alive', reader=people)
Alice Anderson
Alive: No

Total count: 1

truename and falsename

The truename and falsename options can be used to configure what is displayed when the Flag value is true or false, respectively.

class Person(ModelBase):
    name = Text()
    alive = Flag(truename="Alive and kickin'", falsename="Dead as a dojo")

>>> Person.cli('', reader=people)
Bob Balderson: Alive and kickin'.
Alice Anderson: Dead as a dojo.

Total count: 2

MarkupText

MarkupText fields represent text fields that have HTML-like markup that should be parsed. HTML-like tags in the values will be replaced with ASCII styles before displayed.

class WebPage(ModelBase):
    url = Text(realname="URL")
    body = MarkupText()

def pages(options: dict):
    yield {"url": "https://thecompany.com", "body": "<h1>The Company</h1>\nWelcome to our <b>company</b>!"}

>>> WebPage.cli('', reader=pages)
https://thecompany.com
Body: The Company
Welcome to our company!

Total count: 1

>>> WebPage.cli('--body "our company"', reader=pages)
https://thecompany.com
Body: The Company
Welcome to our company!

Total count: 1

>>> WebPage.cli('--body "<b>"', reader=pages)

Total count: 0

FieldBase

FieldBase is the base class of all other fields, and not generally intended for direct use in models. The parameters available on FieldBase -- and therefore all other fields -- are listed below.

default

Define a default value used for fields where the value is missing.

class Person(ModelBase):
    name = Text()
    gender = Choice(["Female", "Male", "Other"], default="Other")

def people(options: dict):
    yield {"name": "Totoro"}

>>> Person.cli('', reader=people)
Totoro
Gender: Other

Total count: 1

inclusive

Treat multiple uses of this field's filters as a logical disjunction (OR logic), rather than a logical conjunction (AND logic), which is the default.

Using the example of Employee from above with a slightly updated model:

class Employee(ModelBase):
    name = Text()
    title = Text(inclusive=True)
    gender = Choice(["Female", "Male", "Other"], inclusive=True, default="Other")
    salary = Number()

Multiple use of --name gives fewer results:

>>> Employee.cli('--name erson', reader=employees)
Alice Anderson: Sales Director. Female. Salary 4200.
Bob Balderson: Sales Representative. Male. Salary 2700.

Total count: 2

>>> Employee.cli('--name erson --name and --brief', reader=employees)
Alice Anderson: Sales Director. Female. Salary 4200.

Total count: 1

But multiple uses of --gender gives more results, since it has inclusive=True:

>>> Employee.cli('--gender other --gender male', reader=employees)
Bob Balderson: Sales Representative. Male. Salary 2700.
Totoro: Company Mascot. Other.

Total count: 2

Same with multiple use of --title:

>>> Employee.cli('--title rep --title dir', reader=employees)
Alice Anderson: Sales Director. Female. Salary 4200.
Bob Balderson: Sales Representative. Male. Salary 2700.
Charlotte Carlson: Sales Representative. Female. Salary 2200.

Total count: 3

However, mixed use of --gender and --title are not mutually inclusive.

>>> Employee.cli('--title rep --title dir --gender female', reader=employees)
Alice Anderson: Sales Director. Female. Salary 4200.
Charlotte Carlson: Sales Representative. Female. Salary 2200.

Total count: 2

skip_filters

Don't add the given filter option for this field.

class Person(ModelBase):
    name = Text()
    age = Number()
    height = Number(skip_filters=[Number.filter_number])

>>> Person.cli('--help')
Usage: ...

Options: ...

Field filters:
  --name TEXT   Filter on matching name.
  --age NUMBER  Filter on matching age (number comparison).
...

keyname

The item key for getting this field's value. Defaults to the the field property name if not set.

class Event(ModelBase):
    name = Text()
    date = Text(keyname="ISO-8601")

def events(options: dict):
    yield {'name': 'Battle of Hastings', 'ISO-8601': '1066-10-14T13:07:53+0000'}
    yield {'name': '9/11', 'ISO-8601': '2001-09-11T08:46:00-0500'}

>>> Event.cli('--help', reader=events)
Usage: ...

Options: ...

Field filters:
  --name TEXT  Filter on matching name.
  --date TEXT  Filter on matching date.
...

>>> Event.cli('-v', reader=events)
Battle of Hastings
Date: 1066-10-14T13:07:53+0000

9/11
Date: 2001-09-11T08:46:00-0500

Total count: 2

realname

The name used to reference the field in command output. Defaults to a title-case version of the field property name with _ replaced with .

class Event(ModelBase):
    name = Text()
    ISO_8601 = Text(realname="Date")

def events(options: dict):
    yield {'name': 'Battle of Hastings', 'ISO_8601': '1066-10-14T13:07:53+0000'}
    yield {'name': '9/11', 'ISO_8601': '2001-09-11T08:46:00-0500'}

>>> Event.cli('--help', reader=events)
Usage: ...

Options: ...

Field filters:
  --name TEXT  Filter on matching name.
  --date TEXT  Filter on matching date.
...

>>> Event.cli('-v', reader=events)
Battle of Hastings
Date: 1066-10-14T13:07:53+0000

9/11
Date: 2001-09-11T08:46:00-0500

Total count: 2

helpname

The name used to substitute the {helpname} variable in field filter help texts. Defaults to a lower case version of realname.

class Event(ModelBase):
    name = Text()
    ISO_8601 = Text(helpname="date")

>>> Event.cli('--help', reader=events)
Usage: ...

Options: ...

Field filters:
  --name     TEXT  Filter on matching name.
  --iso-8601 TEXT  Filter on matching date.
...

>>> Event.cli('-v', reader=events)
Battle of Hastings
Iso 8601: 1066-10-14T13:07:53+0000

9/11
Iso 8601: 2001-09-11T08:46:00-0500

Total count: 2

optname

The name used to substitute the {optname} variable in field filter arguments. Defaults to a lower case version of realname with replaced with -.

class Event(ModelBase):
    name = Text()
    ISO_8601 = Text(optname="date")

>>> Event.cli('--help', reader=events)
Usage: ...

Options: ...

Field filters:
  --name TEXT  Filter on matching name.
  --date TEXT  Filter on matching iso 8601.
...

>>> Event.cli('-v', reader=events)
Battle of Hastings
Iso 8601: 1066-10-14T13:07:53+0000

9/11
Iso 8601: 2001-09-11T08:46:00-0500

Total count: 2

optalias

An alternative option name to use, typically when a short version is required.

class Employee(ModelBase):
    name = Text()
    title = Text(inclusive=True)
    gender = Choice(["Female", "Male", "Other"], inclusive=True, default="Other", optalias="-g")
    salary = Number()

>>> Employee.cli('--help', reader=employees)
Usage: ...

Options: ...

Field filters:
  --name TEXT           Filter on matching name.
  --title TEXT          Filter on matching title.
  -g, --gender GENDER   Filter on matching gender.
  --gender-isnt GENDER  Filter on non-matching gender.
  --salary NUMBER       Filter on matching salary (number comparison).
...

>>> Employee.cli('-g Other', reader=employees)
Totoro
Title: Company Mascot
Gender: Other

Total count: 1

typename

The name used in the help text for the argument type of this field. Defaults to the name property of the field class.

class Event(ModelBase):
    name = Text()
    ISO_8601 = Text(typename="DATE")

>>> Event.cli('--help', reader=events)
Usage: ...

Options: ...

Field filters:
  --name     TEXT  Filter on matching name.
  --iso-8601 DATE  Filter on matching iso 8601.
...

>>> Event.cli('-v', reader=events)
Battle of Hastings
Iso 8601: 1066-10-14T13:07:53+0000

9/11
Iso 8601: 2001-09-11T08:46:00-0500

Total count: 2

verbosity

The level of verbose required for this field to be included in the output.

class Book(ModelBase):
    title = Text()
    author = Text()
    author_sorted = Text(verbosity=2)
    pages = Count(verbosity=1)

def books(options: dict):
    yield {'title': 'Moby Dick', 'author': 'Herman Melville', 'author_sorted': 'Melville, Herman', 'pages': 720}
    yield {'title': 'Pride and Prejudice', 'author': 'Jane Austen', 'author_sorted': 'Austen, Jane', 'pages': 416}

The fields pages and author_sorted are not shown with default level of verbose:

>>> Book.cli('', reader=books)
Moby Dick: Herman Melville.
Pride and Prejudice: Jane Austen.

Total count: 2

With 1 level of verbose we see that pages is shown:

>>> Book.cli('-v', reader=books)
Moby Dick
Author: Herman Melville
Pages: 720

Pride and Prejudice
Author: Jane Austen
Pages: 416

Total count: 2

With 2 levels of verbose we see all the fields:

>>> Book.cli('-vv', reader=books)
Moby Dick
Author: Herman Melville
Author Sorted: Melville, Herman
Pages: 720

Pride and Prejudice
Author: Jane Austen
Author Sorted: Austen, Jane
Pages: 416

Total count: 2

Note that if a single item is found, the verbose level is automatically increased by 1:

>>> Book.cli('--author Melville', reader=books)
Moby Dick
Author: Herman Melville
Pages: 720

Total count: 1

unlabeled

Set to True to use the values for this field as-is, without its realname label.

By default this is set to True for the first field defined on a model, otherwise False.

class Philosopher(ModelBase):
    name = Text(unlabeled=False)
    quote = Text(unlabeled=True)

def philosophers(options: dict):
    yield {'name': 'Aristotle', 'quote': '"Quality is not an act, it is a habit."'}
    yield {'name': 'Pascal', 'quote': '"You always admire what you don\'t understand."'}

>>> Philosopher.cli('-v', reader=philosophers)
Name: Aristotle
"Quality is not an act, it is a habit."

Name: Pascal
"You always admire what you don't understand."

Total count: 2

redirect_args

Set to True to redirect all positional arguments to the first filter option for this field.

class Employee(ModelBase):
    name = Text(redirect_args=True)
    title = Text(inclusive=True)
    gender = Choice(["Female", "Male", "Other"], inclusive=True, default="Other")
    salary = Number()

>>> Employee.cli('Bob', reader=employees)
Bob Balderson
Title: Sales Representative
Gender: Male
Salary: 2700

Total count: 1

autofilter

Set to True to automatically exclude all items where this field is missing, when this field is referenced by any option (e.g. --sort, --count, --show).

class Species(ModelBase):
    name = Text()
    animal_type = Choice(
        ['Mammal', 'Fish', 'Bird', 'Reptile', 'Amphibian'],
        keyname="type",
        optname="type",
        realname="Type",
        inclusive=True,
    )
    gestation_period = Number(optname="gp", autofilter=True)

def species(options: dict):
    yield {'name': 'Human', 'type': 'Mammal', 'gestation_period': 280}
    yield {'name': 'Cat', 'type': 'Mammal', 'gestation_period': 65}
    yield {'name': 'Eagle', 'type': 'Bird', 'gestation_period': None}
    yield {'name': 'Toad', 'type': 'Amphibian'}

The "Eagle" and the "Toad" are excluded from the output because the they do not provide a value for the gestation_period field:

>>> Species.cli('--gp "<100"', reader=species)
Cat
Type: Mammal
Gestation Period: 65

Total count: 1

>>> Species.cli('--sort "gestation period"', reader=species)
Cat: Mammal. Gestation Period 65.
Human: Mammal. Gestation Period 280.

Total count: 2

>>> Species.cli('--group "gestation period"', reader=species)
[ Gestation Period 65 ]
Cat: Mammal. Gestation Period 65.

[ Gestation Period 280 ]
Human: Mammal. Gestation Period 280.

Total count: 2

>>> Species.cli('--show "gestation period"', reader=species)
Human: Gestation Period 280.
Cat: Gestation Period 65.

Total count: 2

>>> Species.cli('--count "gestation period"', reader=species)

[ Gestation Period counts ]

Gestation Period 280: 1
Gestation Period 65:  1

Total count: 2

>>> Species.cli('--type-isnt Mammal', reader=species)
Eagle: Bird.
Toad: Amphibian.

Total count: 2

>>> Species.cli('--sort "gestation period" --type-isnt Mammal', reader=species)

Total count: 0

styles

Set the styles with which to display values of this field, as passed on to click.style.