python - Handle spaces in argparse input

Question

Using python and argparse, the user could input a file name with -d as the flag.

parser.add_argument("-d", "--dmp", default=None)

However, this failed when the path included spaces. E.g.

-d C:SMTHNGName with spacesMOREfile.csv

NOTE: the spaces would cause an error (flag only takes in 'C:SMTHNGName' as input).

error: unrecognized arguments: with spacesMOREfile.csv

Took me longer than it should have to find the solution to this problem... (did not find a Q&A for it so I'm making my own post)

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18157376/handle-spaces-in-argparse-input

Answer 1

For those who can't parse arguments and still get "error: unrecognized arguments:" I found a workaround:

parser.add_argument('-d', '--dmp', nargs='+', ...)
opts = parser.parse_args()

and then when you want to use it just do

' '.join(opts.dmp)