Python argparse example demonstrating the most common usage options.

argparse_example.py

"""
Python argparse example demonstrating the most common usage options.
"""
import argparse

parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
    description='Description of the routine',
    # includes default values in help entries
    formatter_class=argparse.ArgumentDefaultsHelpFormatter,
)
parser.add_argument('a', type=int,
                    help='first positional argument, int')
parser.add_argument('b',
                    help='second positional argument, str')
parser.add_argument('files', metavar='file', nargs='+',
                    help='a file to process, multiple values accepted')
parser.add_argument('-k', '--option1', action='store_true',
                    help='optional boolean argument')
parser.add_argument('-l', '--option2', type=int, default=3,
                    help='optional integer argument')
parser.add_argument('-m', '--option3', type=int, choices=[0, 1, 2],
                    default=0,
                    help='optional integer argument with fixed choices')
parser.add_argument('-v', '--verbosity', action='count', default=0,
                    help='increase output verbosity')
args = parser.parse_args()

print(args)