-`ExactValidArgs(int)` - the command will report an error if there are not exactly N positional args OR if there are any positional args that are not in the `ValidArgs` field of `Command`
Long: `echo things multiple times back to the user by providing
a count and a string.`,
Args: cobra.MinimumNArgs(1),
Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
for i := 0; i <echoTimes;i++{
fmt.Println("Echo: " + strings.Join(args, " "))
}
},
}
cmdTimes.Flags().IntVarP(&echoTimes, "times", "t", 1, "times to echo the input")
var rootCmd = &cobra.Command{Use: "app"}
rootCmd.AddCommand(cmdPrint, cmdEcho)
cmdEcho.AddCommand(cmdTimes)
rootCmd.Execute()
}
```
For a more complete example of a larger application, please checkout [Hugo](http://gohugo.io/).
## Help Command
Cobra automatically adds a help command to your application when you have subcommands.
This will be called when a user runs 'app help'. Additionally, help will also
support all other commands as input. Say, for instance, you have a command called
'create' without any additional configuration; Cobra will work when 'app help
create' is called. Every command will automatically have the '--help' flag added.
### Example
The following output is automatically generated by Cobra. Nothing beyond the
command and flag definitions are needed.
$ cobra help
Cobra is a CLI library for Go that empowers applications.
This application is a tool to generate the needed files
to quickly create a Cobra application.
Usage:
cobra [command]
Available Commands:
add Add a command to a Cobra Application
help Help about any command
init Initialize a Cobra Application
Flags:
-a, --author string author name for copyright attribution (default "YOUR NAME")
--config string config file (default is $HOME/.cobra.yaml)
-h, --help help for cobra
-l, --license string name of license for the project
--viper use Viper for configuration (default true)
Use "cobra [command] --help" for more information about a command.
Help is just a command like any other. There is no special logic or behavior
around it. In fact, you can provide your own if you want.
### Defining your own help
You can provide your own Help command or your own template for the default command to use
with following functions:
```go
cmd.SetHelpCommand(cmd *Command)
cmd.SetHelpFunc(f func(*Command, []string))
cmd.SetHelpTemplate(s string)
```
The latter two will also apply to any children commands.
## Usage Message
When the user provides an invalid flag or invalid command, Cobra responds by
showing the user the 'usage'.
### Example
You may recognize this from the help above. That's because the default help
embeds the usage as part of its output.
$ cobra --invalid
Error: unknown flag: --invalid
Usage:
cobra [command]
Available Commands:
add Add a command to a Cobra Application
help Help about any command
init Initialize a Cobra Application
Flags:
-a, --author string author name for copyright attribution (default "YOUR NAME")
--config string config file (default is $HOME/.cobra.yaml)
-h, --help help for cobra
-l, --license string name of license for the project
--viper use Viper for configuration (default true)
Use "cobra [command] --help" for more information about a command.
### Defining your own usage
You can provide your own usage function or template for Cobra to use.
Like help, the function and template are overridable through public methods:
```go
cmd.SetUsageFunc(f func(*Command) error)
cmd.SetUsageTemplate(s string)
```
## Version Flag
Cobra adds a top-level '--version' flag if the Version field is set on the root command.
Running an application with the '--version' flag will print the version to stdout using
the version template. The template can be customized using the
`cmd.SetVersionTemplate(s string)` function.
## PreRun and PostRun Hooks
It is possible to run functions before or after the main `Run` function of your command. The `PersistentPreRun` and `PreRun` functions will be executed before `Run`. `PersistentPostRun` and `PostRun` will be executed after `Run`. The `Persistent*Run` functions will be inherited by children if they do not declare their own. These functions are run in the following order:
-`PersistentPreRun`
-`PreRun`
-`Run`
-`PostRun`
-`PersistentPostRun`
An example of two commands which use all of these features is below. When the subcommand is executed, it will run the root command's `PersistentPreRun` but not the root command's `PersistentPostRun`:
fmt.Printf("Inside subCmd PersistentPostRun with args: %v\n", args)
},
}
rootCmd.AddCommand(subCmd)
rootCmd.SetArgs([]string{""})
rootCmd.Execute()
fmt.Println()
rootCmd.SetArgs([]string{"sub", "arg1", "arg2"})
rootCmd.Execute()
}
```
Output:
```
Inside rootCmd PersistentPreRun with args: []
Inside rootCmd PreRun with args: []
Inside rootCmd Run with args: []
Inside rootCmd PostRun with args: []
Inside rootCmd PersistentPostRun with args: []
Inside rootCmd PersistentPreRun with args: [arg1 arg2]
Inside subCmd PreRun with args: [arg1 arg2]
Inside subCmd Run with args: [arg1 arg2]
Inside subCmd PostRun with args: [arg1 arg2]
Inside subCmd PersistentPostRun with args: [arg1 arg2]
```
## Suggestions when "unknown command" happens
Cobra will print automatic suggestions when "unknown command" errors happen. This allows Cobra to behave similarly to the `git` command when a typo happens. For example:
```
$ hugo srever
Error: unknown command "srever" for "hugo"
Did you mean this?
server
Run 'hugo --help' for usage.
```
Suggestions are automatic based on every subcommand registered and use an implementation of [Levenshtein distance](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levenshtein_distance). Every registered command that matches a minimum distance of 2 (ignoring case) will be displayed as a suggestion.
If you need to disable suggestions or tweak the string distance in your command, use:
```go
command.DisableSuggestions = true
```
or
```go
command.SuggestionsMinimumDistance = 1
```
You can also explicitly set names for which a given command will be suggested using the `SuggestFor` attribute. This allows suggestions for strings that are not close in terms of string distance, but makes sense in your set of commands and for some which you don't want aliases. Example:
Cobra can generate a shell-completion file for the following shells: bash, zsh, fish, PowerShell. If you add more information to your commands, these completions can be amazingly powerful and flexible. Read more about it in [Shell Completions](shell_completions.md).