paul j3 added the comment:
I might accept a patch that tweaks the ArgumentDefaultsHelpFormatter class, but
adding a parameter that must propagate through all the Action classes in just
plain wrong.
Users are confused by the many Action parameters as it is. And based on
StackOverFlow questions, I'd say there are lots of custom Action classes. We
cannot make a change that might break those!
One possibility is to tweak the `%(default)s` test to something like:
if '(default` not in action.help:
Then the user who is not happy with the '%(default)s` display could just write
a help like:
help = 'my help text (default: mycustomvalue)'
In other words, embed the bypass mechanism entirely in the 'help' string and
the Formatter class. The mechanism would have to be something that is simple
to explain, and be unlikely to interfere with existing uses of this Formatter.
And to play it safe, I'd suggest field testing a SmarterDefaultsHelpFormatter
class first - one that implements a change like this, without touching the
existing class.
Keep in mind that ArgumentDefaultsHelpFormatter is never essential. The
argparse developer can always add the '%(default)s` strings to selected 'help'
lines. He can even do this in utility functions that know more about the
underlying program semantics. I don't think this proposed enhancement gives
the end user any added control.
If you want to make a stronger case for this enhancement, find other cases
where it would be useful. So far you are just arguing that '(default= True)'
for a 'store_false' Action may convey the wrong sense to users. As
r.david.murray argued, this problem can be minimized with a proper phrasing of
the help string.
Another thought - 'store_false' is just a subclass of 'store_const'. You could
use that class instead with a different set of 'const' and 'default' values.
e.g. ('Yes','No', or 'not-False', 'not-True').
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nosy: +paul.j3
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