Ruiqi Dong created CLI-342:
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Summary: Parser fails to throw MissingArgumentException for empty
required arguments when parsing via Properties
Key: CLI-342
URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/CLI-342
Project: Commons CLI
Issue Type: Bug
Components: Parser
Affects Versions: 1.10.0
Reporter: Ruiqi Dong
Fix For: 1.10.0
Attachments: Parser.java, ParserTest.java
The {{Parser}} class silently ignores invalid/empty argument values when
parsing options through Properties, while the same scenario correctly throws
{{MissingArgumentException}} when parsing via command line arguments. This
inconsistent behavior is caused by a catch block that swallows
{{RuntimeException}} in the {{processProperties}} method.
Description:
When parsing options that require arguments through Properties, if an empty or
invalid value is provided, the parser does not throw a
{{MissingArgumentException}} as expected. Instead, the exception is silently
swallowed due to a catch block in the {{processProperties}} method. This
creates inconsistent behavior between command-line parsing and Properties-based
parsing.
Steps to Reproduce:
1. Create an Option that requires an argument:
Options options = new Options();
Option option = new Option("f", "file", true, "Input file");
options.addOption(option);
2. Parse via Properties with empty value:
Properties properties = new Properties();
properties.setProperty("file", "");
Parser parser = new PosixParser();
CommandLine cmd = parser.parse(options, new String[0], properties);
3. No exception is thrown, but the option has no valid value
Expected Behavior: The parser should throw a {{MissingArgumentException}} when
a required argument is missing or empty, consistent with command-line parsing
behavior.
Actual Behavior: No exception is thrown. The RuntimeException is caught and
silently ignored in the {{processProperties}} method.
Unit Test Case:
@Test
void testEmptyArgumentViaPropertiesShouldThrowException() {
Options options = new Options();
Option option = new Option("f", "file", true, "Input file");
options.addOption(option);
Properties properties = new Properties();
properties.setProperty("file", "");
Parser parser = new PosixParser();
// This should throw ParseException but doesn't
assertThrows(ParseException.class, () -> {
parser.parse(options, new String[0], properties);
});
}
Root Cause Analysis:
In {{{}Parser.java{}}}, the {{processProperties}} method contains:
if (opt.hasArg()) {
if (Util.isEmpty(opt.getValues())) {
try {
opt.processValue(value);
} catch (final RuntimeException exp) { // NOPMD
// if we cannot add the value don't worry about it
}
}
}
The catch block silently swallows any {{RuntimeException}} thrown by
{{{}processValue(){}}}, including cases where the value is invalid or empty.
When parsing via command line, the {{processArgs}} method correctly handles
this:
if (opt.getValues() == null && !opt.hasOptionalArg()) {
throw new MissingArgumentException(opt);
}
Suggested Fix:
Remove or modify the exception handling in {{processProperties}} to maintain
consistency with command-line parsing:
if (opt.hasArg()) {
if (Util.isEmpty(opt.getValues())) {
opt.processValue(value);
// Check if value was successfully set
if (opt.getValues() == null && !opt.hasOptionalArg()) {
throw new MissingArgumentException(opt);
}
}
}
Alternatively, catch and re-throw as ParseException:
if (opt.hasArg()) {
if (Util.isEmpty(opt.getValues())) {
try {
opt.processValue(value);
} catch (final RuntimeException exp) {
throw new ParseException("Invalid value for option: " + option + "
- " + exp.getMessage());
}
// Validate the value was set
if (opt.getValues() == null && !opt.hasOptionalArg()) {
throw new MissingArgumentException(opt);
}
}
}
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