python_doc_md/Beginner/howto/argparse-optparse.md

::: currentmodule
argparse
:::

# Migrating `optparse` code to `argparse`[]{#upgrading-optparse-code} {#migrating-optparse-code}

The `argparse`{.interpreted-text role="mod"} module offers several higher level features not natively provided by the `optparse`{.interpreted-text role="mod"} module, including:

- Handling positional arguments.
- Supporting subcommands.
- Allowing alternative option prefixes like `+` and `/`.
- Handling zero-or-more and one-or-more style arguments.
- Producing more informative usage messages.
- Providing a much simpler interface for custom `type` and `action`.

Originally, the `argparse`{.interpreted-text role="mod"} module attempted to maintain compatibility with `optparse`{.interpreted-text role="mod"}. However, the fundamental design differences between supporting declarative command line option processing (while leaving positional argument processing to application code), and supporting both named options and positional arguments in the declarative interface mean that the API has diverged from that of `optparse` over time.

As described in `choosing-an-argument-parser`{.interpreted-text role="ref"}, applications that are currently using `optparse`{.interpreted-text role="mod"} and are happy with the way it works can just continue to use `optparse`.

Application developers that are considering migrating should also review the list of intrinsic behavioural differences described in that section before deciding whether or not migration is desirable.

For applications that do choose to migrate from `optparse`{.interpreted-text role="mod"} to `argparse`{.interpreted-text role="mod"}, the following suggestions should be helpful:

- Replace all `optparse.OptionParser.add_option`{.interpreted-text role="meth"} calls with `ArgumentParser.add_argument`{.interpreted-text role="meth"} calls.
- Replace `(options, args) = parser.parse_args()` with `args = parser.parse_args()` and add additional `ArgumentParser.add_argument`{.interpreted-text role="meth"} calls for the positional arguments. Keep in mind that what was previously called `options`, now in the `argparse`{.interpreted-text role="mod"} context is called `args`.
- Replace `optparse.OptionParser.disable_interspersed_args`{.interpreted-text role="meth"} by using `~ArgumentParser.parse_intermixed_args`{.interpreted-text role="meth"} instead of `~ArgumentParser.parse_args`{.interpreted-text role="meth"}.
- Replace callback actions and the `callback_*` keyword arguments with `type` or `action` arguments.
- Replace string names for `type` keyword arguments with the corresponding type objects (e.g. int, float, complex, etc).
- Replace `optparse.Values`{.interpreted-text role="class"} with `Namespace`{.interpreted-text role="class"} and `optparse.OptionError`{.interpreted-text role="exc"} and `optparse.OptionValueError`{.interpreted-text role="exc"} with `ArgumentError`{.interpreted-text role="exc"}.
- Replace strings with implicit arguments such as `%default` or `%prog` with the standard Python syntax to use dictionaries to format strings, that is, `%(default)s` and `%(prog)s`.
- Replace the OptionParser constructor `version` argument with a call to `parser.add_argument('--version', action='version', version='<the version>')`.