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Q&A For scripting what are the pros and cons of command line arguments versus capturing input at the start?

Pros of CLI arguments/flags include: Easier to leverage the tool in another script or via other automation so that user interaction is not required If certain arguments are optional and/or have...

posted 4y ago by qohelet‭  ·  edited 4y ago by qohelet‭

Answer
#4: Post edited by user avatar qohelet‭ · 2020-10-26T15:58:01Z (about 4 years ago)
added consideration based on comment
  • **Pros** of CLI arguments/flags include:
  • * Easier to leverage the tool in another script or via other automation so that user interaction is not required
  • * If certain arguments are optional and/or have default values, the user is not burdened with these choices when they are unimportant
  • * Once someone has used the tool a few times, it is often faster for them to memorize their preferred parameters or save/alias them than to have to manually input them each time
  • **Cons** may include:
  • * If the targeted users are not comfortable using a CLI, they may struggle to use the application. Receiving parameters via interactive input may be more user-friendly (especially if interactive error handling/validation is employed to give the user immediate feedback and assistance with invalid options)
  • * If the parameters are complex and certain options have conditional relationships upon others, gathering this information at runtime may be more user-friendly
  • Other considerations:
  • * Consider accepting _either_ CLI parameters _or_ gathering parameters at runtime via stdin if no arguments are provided
  • * Consider a configuration file if options will rarely change or are private, such as passwords/keys
  • **Pros** of CLI arguments/flags include:
  • * Easier to leverage the tool in another script or via other automation so that user interaction is not required
  • * If certain arguments are optional and/or have default values, the user is not burdened with these choices when they are unimportant
  • * Once someone has used the tool a few times, it is often faster for them to memorize their preferred parameters or save/alias them than to have to manually input them each time
  • **Cons** may include:
  • * If the targeted users are not comfortable using a CLI, they may struggle to use the application. Receiving parameters via interactive input may be more user-friendly (especially if interactive error handling/validation is employed to give the user immediate feedback and assistance with invalid options)
  • * If the parameters are complex and certain options have conditional relationships upon others, gathering this information at runtime may be more user-friendly
  • Other considerations:
  • * Consider accepting _either_ CLI parameters _or_ gathering parameters at runtime if no arguments are provided
  • * Consider a configuration file if options will rarely change or are private, such as passwords/keys
  • * If the script operates on a file, also consider receiving input via stdin along with various parameters, which enables data to be piped to the application from multiple sources (i.e., not just from a file, or from a file after being filtered through another tool)
#3: Post edited by user avatar qohelet‭ · 2020-10-26T03:03:42Z (about 4 years ago)
  • **Pros** of CLI arguments/flags include:
  • * Easier to leverage the tool in a script or via other automation so that user interaction is not required
  • * If certain arguments are optional and/or have default values, the user is not burdened with these choices when they are unimportant
  • * Once someone has used the tool a few times, it is often faster for them to memorize their preferred parameters or save/alias them than to have to manually input them each time
  • **Cons** may include:
  • * If the targeted users are not comfortable using a CLI, they may struggle to use the application. Receiving parameters via interactive input may be more user-friendly (especially if interactive error handling/validation is employed to give the user immediate feedback and assistance with invalid options)
  • * If the parameters are complex and certain options have conditional relationships upon others, gathering this information at runtime may be more user-friendly
  • Other considerations:
  • * Consider accepting _either_ CLI parameters _or_ gathering parameters at runtime via stdin if no arguments are provided
  • * Consider a configuration file if options will rarely change or are private, such as passwords/keys
  • **Pros** of CLI arguments/flags include:
  • * Easier to leverage the tool in another script or via other automation so that user interaction is not required
  • * If certain arguments are optional and/or have default values, the user is not burdened with these choices when they are unimportant
  • * Once someone has used the tool a few times, it is often faster for them to memorize their preferred parameters or save/alias them than to have to manually input them each time
  • **Cons** may include:
  • * If the targeted users are not comfortable using a CLI, they may struggle to use the application. Receiving parameters via interactive input may be more user-friendly (especially if interactive error handling/validation is employed to give the user immediate feedback and assistance with invalid options)
  • * If the parameters are complex and certain options have conditional relationships upon others, gathering this information at runtime may be more user-friendly
  • Other considerations:
  • * Consider accepting _either_ CLI parameters _or_ gathering parameters at runtime via stdin if no arguments are provided
  • * Consider a configuration file if options will rarely change or are private, such as passwords/keys
#2: Post edited by user avatar qohelet‭ · 2020-10-26T02:57:47Z (about 4 years ago)
Other considerations
  • **Pros** of CLI arguments/flags include:
  • * Easier to leverage the tool in a script or via other automation so that user interaction is not required
  • * If certain arguments are optional and/or have default values, the user is not burdened with these choices when they are unimportant
  • * Once someone has used the tool a few times, it is often faster for them to memorize their preferred parameters or save/alias them than to have to manually input them each time
  • **Cons** may include:
  • * If the targeted users are not comfortable using a CLI, they may struggle to use the application. Receiving parameters via interactive input may be more user-friendly (especially if interactive error handling/validation is employed to give the user immediate feedback and assistance with invalid options)
  • * If the parameters are complex and certain options have conditional relationships upon others, gathering this information at runtime may be more user-friendly
  • **Pros** of CLI arguments/flags include:
  • * Easier to leverage the tool in a script or via other automation so that user interaction is not required
  • * If certain arguments are optional and/or have default values, the user is not burdened with these choices when they are unimportant
  • * Once someone has used the tool a few times, it is often faster for them to memorize their preferred parameters or save/alias them than to have to manually input them each time
  • **Cons** may include:
  • * If the targeted users are not comfortable using a CLI, they may struggle to use the application. Receiving parameters via interactive input may be more user-friendly (especially if interactive error handling/validation is employed to give the user immediate feedback and assistance with invalid options)
  • * If the parameters are complex and certain options have conditional relationships upon others, gathering this information at runtime may be more user-friendly
  • Other considerations:
  • * Consider accepting _either_ CLI parameters _or_ gathering parameters at runtime via stdin if no arguments are provided
  • * Consider a configuration file if options will rarely change or are private, such as passwords/keys
#1: Initial revision by user avatar qohelet‭ · 2020-10-26T02:54:55Z (about 4 years ago)
**Pros** of CLI arguments/flags include:

 * Easier to leverage the tool in a script or via other automation so that user interaction is not required
 
 * If certain arguments are optional and/or have default values, the user is not burdened with these choices when they are unimportant

 * Once someone has used the tool a few times, it is often faster for them to memorize their preferred parameters or save/alias them than to have to manually input them each time

**Cons** may include:

 * If the targeted users are not comfortable using a CLI, they may struggle to use the application. Receiving parameters via interactive input may be more user-friendly (especially if interactive error handling/validation is employed to give the user immediate feedback and assistance with invalid options)

 * If the parameters are complex and certain options have conditional relationships upon others, gathering this information at runtime may be more user-friendly