[Console] Option with optional argument always returning null whether specified or not #11572

EdwardIII · 2014-08-05T17:24:08Z

From the docs (http://symfony.com/doc/current/components/console/introduction.html#using-command-options):

It is also possible to make an option optionally accept a value (so that --yell
or --yell=loud work). Options can also be configured to accept an array of values.

In practice it doesn't seem to work this way. When creating a Command like this:

    <?php
                ->addOption(
                    'createfile',
                    null,
                    InputOption::VALUE_OPTIONAL,
                    'Do not delete the file, specify argument to choose an alternative filename'
                )


    ...

                $createfile = $input->getOption('createfile');
                var_dump($createfile); // returns NULL

And calling it like this:

php app/console my:command --createfile

The value of $createfile is null, even though the switch is present.

I can't find any way to identify that the command is present unless it has a value.
i.e. php app/console my:command --createfile='/tmp/somefile.txt' does what you'd expect and returns the string "/tmp/somefile.txt".

I can see no other way of identifying whether this option is present?

There seems to be some code supporting the idea that you get a different return value if the option is provided but with no optional value present:

https://github.com/symfony/symfony/blob/2.5/src/Symfony/Component/Console/Input/ArgvInput.php#L234

This looks like it should provide you with an empty string if this parameter is provided but has no value, however in my tests count($this->parsed) was 0, which meant that this inner block could never get executed.

I checked out the unit tests for ArgvInput but couldn't find a test that seemed to be based on this particular use case:

https://github.com/symfony/symfony/blob/2.5/src/Symfony/Component/Console/Tests/Input/ArgvInputTest.php

Symfony version 2.5.2 - app/dev/debug

The text was updated successfully, but these errors were encountered:

xabbuh · 2014-08-07T15:37:41Z

You can pass the default value as the fifth argument (nullbeing the default).

EdwardIII · 2014-08-08T13:45:41Z

I did give that a try, but then the default always seems to be present, even if the switch isn't provided.

To illustrate:

    <?php
                ->addOption(
                    'createfile',
                    null,
                    InputOption::VALUE_OPTIONAL,
                    'Do not delete the file, specify argument to choose an alternative filename',
                    true // so we can check $retval === true to differentiate between it being present with no value, or just not present
                )

php app/console my:command --createfile # results in a getOption retval of true
php app/console my:command # also results in a getOption retval of true

So I gave that a spin but still couldn't use it to tell the difference between the option being present with no value or not being present at all.

stof · 2014-08-08T14:44:20Z

there is indeed currently no different between the option being not passed, being passed with no value or being passed with the same value than the default (in case the default is a string as only strings can be passed)
Note that the same is true for values with required value (except there is 2 cases only rather than 3)

Changing getOption() is not possible as it would be a BC break (and would make many valid use cases harder to implement).
However, we could add a new method to check whether the option is present or no (still difficult in term of BC though as we cannot change the InputInterface itself for BC reasons)

EdwardIII · 2014-08-08T14:47:13Z

@stof Thanks for the feedback!

Does that make this a documentation bug, or am I misunderstanding?

http://symfony.com/doc/current/components/console/introduction.html#using-command-options

"It is also possible to make an option optionally accept a value (so that --yell or --yell=loud work). Options can also be configured to accept an array of values."

It seems that this feature (optional args for switches) actually serves no purpose if you can't differentiate? Sorry if I'm missing the point!

xabbuh · 2014-08-08T15:32:06Z

@EdwardIII I agree, it doesn't seem to be possible as intended by the documentation. If we can't find a backward compatible way to fix this, we should at least be more clear in the documentation. Do you like to open an issue over there?

< 8000 /div>

ocke · 2014-09-08T04:55:36Z

Hey Guys,

I ran into this exact same problem.

So I forked symfony's/console, and tried to build a solution. Would you guys like to have a look at my tiny try of making console more awesome? It is a proof of concept, I'm not saying this should be made into a PR yet. I just want to share my thoughts and possible implementation of how we could get this to work. Yes the current name of the constant is a silly pun...

A couple of notes:

I assume you guys agree that it's not a good idea to break current functionality. Therefor VALUE_OPTIONAL will stay how it is and I added a new constant: VALUE_OPTIONULL.
VALUE_OPTIONULL will result in:
- Not setting the longoption will make the default set to false, just like a standard longoption.
- Setting the longoption without a value will set it to it's default
- Setting the longoption with a value will set it to that value.

Let's say --dev

php tool.php
array(1) {
  'dev' =>
  bool(false)
}
php tool.php --dev
array(1) {
  'dev' =>
  'the default value'
}
php tool.php --dev=test
array(1) {
  'dev' =>
  'test'
}

I like lists so i summerize
All the tests still work!
We need to come up with a better name for the config option
I'll need to write new test for the new config option (VALUE_OPTIONULL)

And finally the code:
https://github.com/ocke/symfony/compare/optional_with_false_2

stof · 2014-09-08T20:50:52Z

@ocke Please open a PR. It is much easier to review the code

ocke · 2014-09-08T23:35:16Z

@stof ok done :-)

#11883

c33s · 2016-03-17T15:20:09Z

workaround

command definition:

$this
    ->setName('demo:greet')
    ->setDescription('Greet someone')
    ->addOption('yell', null, InputOption::VALUE_OPTIONAL, 'If set, the task will yell in uppercase letters')
;

in the execute method

$result1 = $input->hasParameterOption('--yell');
$result2 = $input->getOption('yell');

console

php ./bin/console demo:greet
// $result1 == false
// $result2 == null

php ./bin/console demo:greet --yell
// $result1 == true
// $result2 == null

php ./bin/console demo:greet --yell=foo
// $result1 == true
// $result2 == foo

code example:

//only set build if option was set. if set with no value, set it to empty (default value)
if ($input->hasParameterOption('--build')) {
    $build = $input->getOption('build');
    if (!is_array($build)) {
        $build = explode('.', $build);
    }
    $builder->setBuild($build);
}

andkirby · 2016-07-29T09:35:00Z

Yeah, this is really overhead to check such options...

    /**
     * Check if empty password option passed
     *
     * @param \Symfony\Component\Console\Input\InputInterface $input
     * @return bool
     */
    protected function hasEmptyPasswordOption(InputInterface $input)
    {
        return null === $input->getOption('password') 
            && ($input->hasParameterOption('-p') || $input->hasParameterOption('--password'));
    }

Is there any simpler way?..

dguhl · 2016-08-22T10:33:49Z

@andkirby You might want to use an array for the call.

    /**
     * Check if empty password option passed
     *
     * @param \Symfony\Component\Console\Input\InputInterface $input
     * @return bool
     */
    protected function hasEmptyPasswordOption(InputInterface $input)
    {
        return null === $input->getOption('password') 
            && ($input->hasParameterOption(['-p', '--password']));
    }

(Edit)
I would completely omit the second condition in this method.

andkirby · 2016-08-23T13:04:06Z

@dguh 8000 l, yeah, I didn't know the method hasParameterOption may get an array.
Thanks.

dotmpe · 2016-11-10T12:29:34Z

hasParameterOption is the key that makes this usable, for years I believed the InputOption::VALUE_OPTIONAL part of console was broken, in favour of "BC".

It is not mentioned on https://symfony.com/doc/current/console/input.html, while "there is no way you can distinguish when the option was used without a value" is.

…empty) should remain empty (chalasr) This PR was merged into the 3.3-dev branch. Discussion ---------- [Console] Explicitly passed options without value (or empty) should remain empty | Q | A | ------------- | --- | Branch? | master | Bug fix? | yes | New feature? | no | BC breaks? | no | Deprecations? | no | Tests pass? | yes | Fixed tickets | #21215 #11572 #12773 | License | MIT | Doc PR | n/a (maybe look at updating the existing one) This conserves empty values for options instead of returning their default values. Code: ```php // cli.php $application = new Application(); $application ->register('echo') ->addOption('prefix', null, InputOption::VALUE_OPTIONAL, null, 'my-default') ->addArgument('value', InputArgument::REQUIRED) ->setCode(function ($input, $output) { var_dump($input->getOption('prefix')); }); $application->run(); ``` Before: ![before](http://image.prntscr.com/image/157d9c6c054240da8b0dce54c9ce24d6.png) After: ![after](http://image.prntscr.com/image/4aeded77f8084d3c985687fc8cc7b54e.png) Commits ------- 8086742 [Console] Explicitly passed options without value (or empty) should remain empty

This PR was merged into the 2.2 branch. Discussion ---------- FixCommand - fix diff optional value handling regression fix for #2554: ```php new InputOption('diff', '', InputOption::VALUE_OPTIONAL, 'Also produce diff for each file.', 'sbd'), ``` that means: - 'diff' option may or may not be passed - when it's passed, value for it is optional - 'sbd' is default value of `diff` option regardless it is passed or not (!!!) I guess assumption during creating 2254 was that `sbd` would be only a value for `diff` if one would pass `--diff` (without value). Apparently, it is a value even if one would not pass that option at all, leading to generate diff even without using `--diff` option. ref symfony/symfony#11572 Commits ------- 5546893 FixCommand - fix diff optional value handling

The InputOption::VALUE_OPTIONAL option mode will always return null if you don't set a default value, but returning any other value makes it impossible to correctly determine whether the flag was set or not. Solution is to rely on $input->hasParameterOption() instead. See: https://github.com/symfony/symfony/issues/11572\#issuecomment-197929086

…roblem (Jean85, javiereguiluz) This PR was submitted for the 2.7 branch but it was merged into the 2.8 branch instead (closes #9560). Discussion ---------- Add 2 solutions for the 'option with optional argument' problem While working on facile-it/paraunit#121, I discovered a tricky case with the Console component: using an option with an optional argument seemed impossible! The doc said: > There is nothing forbidding you to create a command with an option that optionally accepts a value. However, there is no way you can distinguish when the option was used without a value (command --language) or when it wasn't used at all (command). In both cases, the value retrieved for the option will be null. This is NOT TRUE. I've found two possible solutions to this issue (one myself, one in symfony/symfony#11572 (comment)) and this PR introduces them in the docs. I've also moved around the two tips/cautions which were at the end of the article, because with my reword it seemed nicer to me. Commits ------- d3f254d Minor simplifications 1aad365 Minor reword 99f9e3f Simplify the explanation leaving just one solution a05b002 Add 2 solutions for the 'option with optional argument' problem

…roblem (Jean85, javiereguiluz) This PR was submitted for the 2.7 branch but it was merged into the 2.8 branch instead (closes #9560). Discussion ---------- Add 2 solutions for the 'option with optional argument' problem While working on facile-it/paraunit#121, I discovered a tricky case with the Console component: using an option with an optional argument seemed impossible! The doc said: > There is nothing forbidding you to create a command with an option that optionally accepts a value. However, there is no way you can distinguish when the option was used without a value (command --language) or when it wasn't used at all (command). In both cases, the value retrieved for the option will be null. This is NOT TRUE. I've found two possible solutions to this issue (one myself, one in symfony/symfony#11572 (comment)) and this PR introduces them in the docs. I've also moved around the two tips/cautions which were at the end of the article, because with my reword it seemed nicer to me. Commits ------- 7be002b Add 2 solutions for the 'option with optional argument' problem

algorhythm · 2023-10-23T08:47:20Z

I've written an more resuable function that can answer the question for any option

public function wasOptionUsed(string $optionName): bool
{
    // raises an error if option doesn't exists
    $this->input->getOption($optionName);

    $option = $this->getDefinition()->getOption($optionName);
    $name = $option->getName();
    $shortcut = $option->getShortcut();

    return $this->input->hasParameterOption([
        '--' . $name,
        '-' . $shortcut,
    ]);
}

EdwardIII changed the title ~~Option with optional argument always returning null whether specified or not~~ [Console] Option with optional argument always returning null whether specified or not Aug 7, 2014

EdwardIII mentioned this issue Aug 8, 2014

Using Command Options describes missing feature symfony/symfony-docs#4110

Closed

1emming mentioned this issue Aug 13, 2014

[Console] Need way to determine if option was provided #11661

Closed

stof added the Console label Aug 18, 2014

stof mentioned this issue Aug 18, 2014

Make --write-sql value optional instead of none doctrine/migrations#169

Closed

ocke mentioned this issue Sep 8, 2014

[Console] Added three state long option #11883

Closed

stof mentioned this issue Sep 19, 2014

Added name-match and latest-only option composer/satis#160

Closed

xabbuh mentioned this issue Dec 1, 2014

[Console] Ability to use option default only if the option was passed #12769

Closed

xabbuh mentioned this issue Dec 12, 2014

[Console] Add method to know parsed option #12773

Closed

javiereguiluz added the Bug label Feb 5, 2016

carsonbot added the Status: Needs Review label Feb 5, 2016

c33s added a commit to c33s/versioning-bundle that referenced this issue Mar 17, 2016

workaround symfony console bug symfony/symfony#11572

c6fbc24

dakess mentioned this issue Jan 28, 2017

[Console] Support empty values for options #21215

Closed

chalasr mentioned this issue Jan 28, 2017

[Console] Explicitly passed options without value (or empty) should remain empty #21228

Merged

spolischook mentioned this issue Feb 17, 2017

[Console] There is no way to determine if an option with default value was not set #8486

Closed

fabpot closed this as completed Mar 1, 2017

keradus mentioned this issue Apr 20, 2017

FixCommand - fix diff optional value handling PHP-CS-Fixer/PHP-CS-Fixer#2711

Merged

remkop mentioned this issue Feb 28, 2018

Customize value assigned when option specified without value remkop/picocli#280

Closed

This was referenced Apr 5, 2018

Fix text options facile-it/paraunit#121

Merged

Add 2 solutions for the 'option with optional argument' problem symfony/symfony-docs#9560

Closed

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[Console] Option with optional argument always returning null whether specified or not #11572

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