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cmd2
====

A python package for building powerful command-line interpreter (CLI)
programs.  Extends the Python Standard Library's cmd_ package.

.. _cmd: https://docs.python.org/3/library/cmd.html
.. _`cmd2 project page`: https://github.com/python-cmd2/cmd2
.. _`project bug tracker`: https://github.com/python-cmd2/cmd2/issues


The basic use of ``cmd2`` is identical to that of cmd_.

.. highlight:: python

1. Create a subclass of ``cmd2.Cmd``.  Define attributes and
   ``do_*`` methods to control its behavior.  Throughout this documentation,
   we will assume that you are naming your subclass ``App``::

     from cmd2 import Cmd
     class App(Cmd):
         # customized attributes and methods here

2. Instantiate ``App`` and start the command loop::

     app = App()
     app.cmdloop()

.. note::

   The tab-completion feature provided by cmd_ relies on underlying capability provided by GNU readline or an
   equivalent library.  Linux distros will almost always come with the required library installed.
   For macOS, we recommend using the `Homebrew <https://brew.sh>`_ package manager to install the ``readline`` package;
   alternatively for macOS the ``conda`` package manager that comes with the Anaconda Python distro can be used to
   install ``readline`` (preferably from conda-forge).
   For Windows, we recommend installing the `pyreadline <https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pyreadline>`_ Python module.

Resources
---------

* cmd_
* `cmd2 project page`_
* `project bug tracker`_
* `PyCon 2010 presentation <https://github.com/python-cmd2/cmd2/blob/master/docs/pycon2010/pycon2010.rst>`_,
  *Easy Command-Line Applications with cmd and cmd2*:
  :doc:`slides <pycon2010/pycon2010>`,
  `video <http://pyvideo.org/pycon-us-2010/pycon-2010--easy-command-line-applications-with-c.html>`_

These docs will refer to ``App`` as your ``cmd2.Cmd``
subclass, and ``app`` as an instance of ``App``.  Of
course, in your program, you may name them whatever
you want.

Contents:

.. toctree::
   :maxdepth: 2

   install
   overview
   freefeatures
   settingchanges
   unfreefeatures
   transcript
   argument_parsing
   integrating
   hooks
   alternatives

Compatibility
=============

Tested and working with Python 2.7 and 3.3+.

Indices and tables
==================

* :ref:`genindex`
* :ref:`modindex`
* :ref:`search`