Shell script with command line arguments

gistfile1.py

#!/usr/bin/env python

import subprocess
import argparse
import zipfile
import os

parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Upload a file or files to a RESTful endpoint')
parser.add_argument('-e', '--environment', metavar='TEST/PROD', 
                   help='The environment to upload to: TEST/PROD')
parser.add_argument('--host', metavar='host:port', 
                   help='If a specific host rather than environment is desired.')

parser.add_argument('someMetadata', metavar='SomeMetadataWithFile',
                   help='Some type of metadata to send with the file')
parser.add_argument('file', metavar='File',  nargs='*', 
                   help='the file to upload')

args = parser.parse_args()
#print args

def uploadFile(filename):
	# get hostname
	url = "http://"
	if args.host != None:
		url += args.host
	else:
		if args.environment == 'PROD':
			url += "PROD_URL_GOES_HERE"
		elif args.environment == 'TEST':
			url += "TEST_URL_GOES_HERE"
	# append the rest of the URL and action
	url += "/restfulEndpointHere?action=UPLOAD"
	# append the someMetadata field
	url += "&someMetadata=" + args.someMetadata
	# upload file
	
	print "Uploading to " + url + " ..."
	print ""
	subprocess.call(['curl', '--data-binary', '@'+filename, '-w', '\n', url])

if len(args.file) == 1:
	print "Uploading single file: %s" % args.file[0]
	uploadFile(args.file[0])
else:
	print "Combining multiple files as zip:"
	# create the zip file
	zipPath = "./.upload.zip"
	file = zipfile.ZipFile(zipPath, "w")
	for filename in args.file:
			print "   " + filename
			file.write(filename, os.path.basename(filename), zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED)
	file.close()
	uploadFile(zipPath)
	os.remove(zipPath)
	

This is an example for my records of creating a command line shell with argument parsing.

It's written in Python instead of bash as Python was far nicer to work with for this and it's available on virtually every *nix installation so is almost as equally portable.