Opterator is an option parsing script for Python that takes the boilerplate out of option parsing. It currently wraps optparse.OptionParser, and thus behaves similarly, but in the future, it may take care of the parsing on its own to allow more freedom in specifying options. Opterator is based on an idea that a main() function for a script can be decorated to allow command-line arguments to be translated into method parameters. This allows it to be self-documenting, and reduces errors in creating and assigning options. For example, an optparse program for renaming a file might look like this: >>> from optparse import OptionParser >>> def main(): ... '''main entrypoint for renaming files. Accept two options, backup ... and interactive''' ... parser = OptionParser(usage="A script for renaming files") ... parser.add_option('-b', '--backup', action=store_true, ... help='backup the file') ... parser.add_option('-i', '--interactive', action=store_true, ... help='interactively move files') ... # Move the file ... >>> if __name__ == '__main__': ... main() The equivalent code using opterator looks like this: >>> from opterator import opterate >>> @opterate ... def main(source, dest, backup=False, interactive=False): ... '''A script for renaming files ... @param backup -b --backup backup the file ... @param interactive -i --interactive interatively ... move files... ''' ... # Move the file ... >>> if __name__ == '__main__': ... main() Opterator automatically generates help messages from the docstring. If your main function looks like this: @opterate def main(filename1, filename2, recursive=False, backup=False, suffix='~', *other_filenames): '''An example copy script with some example parameters that might be used in a copy command. @param recursive -r --recursive copy directories recursively @param backup -b --backup backup any files you copy over @param suffix -S --suffix override the usual backup suffix ''' pass Your help text will look like this: dusty:opterator $ python copy.py -h Usage: copy.py [options] filename1 filename2 [other_filenames] An example copy script with some example parameters that might be used in a copy command. Options: -h, --help show this help message and exit -r, --recursive copy directories recursively -b, --backup backup any files you copy over -S SUFFIX, --suffix=SUFFIX override the usual backup suffix That's about it... let me know if you have any questions or suggestions. <dusty@linux.ca>