Store single values as string and not as list

README.md

@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ args, kwargs = parse_args(argv=['pargv.py', '--name=pargv'])
 
 # Specification
 
-`parse_args` parses arguments in the following way, assuming the following command line arguments (`sys.argv`): `['/pargv/pargv.py', 'command', 'positional', '--flag', '--optional=value', 'test', '--output-file', 'filename', '-flg', 'name', 'name2']`
+`parse_args` parses arguments in the following way, assuming the following command line arguments (`sys.argv`): `['/pargv/pargv.py', 'command', 'positional', '--flag', '--optional=value', 'test', '--output-file', 'filename', '-ab', 'one', 'two']`
 
 By calling `args, kwargs = parse_args()`, this would return the following list and dict:
 
@@ -38,10 +38,9 @@ args = ['/pargv/pargv.py', 'command', 'positional']
 kwargs = {
         'flag': True,
         'optional': ['value', 'test'],
-        'output_file': ['filename'],
+        'output_file': 'filename',
-        'f': True,
+        'a': True,
-        'l': True,
+        'b': ['one', 'two'],
-        'g': ['name', 'name2'],
     }
 ```
 
@@ -49,6 +48,7 @@ kwargs = {
 
 - All arguments before the first option (starting with a hyphen) are considered positional arguments (`args`)
 - All other arguments are considered optional keyword arguments (`kwargs`)
-- Optional arguments without leading hyphens are considered as values to preceding keyword arguments and saved as list
+- Optional arguments without leading hyphens are considered as values to preceding keyword arguments
-- Flags are recorded with the value `True` in the dict
+- One value of an option is stored as a string, multiple values are stored as a list
-- Up to 2 leading hyphens are stripped from options, all other hyphens are converted into underscores (`---test-this-` would become `_test_this_`)
+- Flags are stored with the value `True` in the dict
+- Up to 2 leading hyphens are stripped from options, all other hyphens are converted into underscores (`---test-this-` would become the key `_test_this_` in the dict)

pargv.py

@@ -38,4 +38,8 @@ def parse_args(argv=None):
                 key = arg[-1]
     if len(values):
         kwargs[key] = values
+
+    for k, v in kwargs.items():
+        if isinstance(v, list) and len(v) == 1:
+            kwargs[k] = v[0]
     return (args, kwargs)

tests/test_functionality.py

@@ -50,12 +50,21 @@ def test_positional_and_optional_arguments():
         }
 
 
-def test_short_arg_with_multiple_options():
+def test_short_arg_with_single_option():
-    args, kwargs = parse_args(['-a', '-i', 'a', 'b'])
+    args, kwargs = parse_args(['-a', 'b', '--abc', 'd'])
     assert args == []
     assert kwargs == {
-        'a': True,
+        'a': 'b',
-        'i': ['a', 'b']
+        'abc': 'd',
+    }
+
+
+def test_short_arg_with_multiple_options():
+    args, kwargs = parse_args(['-i', 'a', 'b', '--input', 'c', 'd'])
+    assert args == []
+    assert kwargs == {
+        'i': ['a', 'b'],
+        'input': ['c', 'd']
     }
 
 
@@ -63,8 +72,8 @@ def test_long_args_with_equals():
     args, kwargs = parse_args(['--input-file=a.py', '--output-file=b.py'])
     assert args == []
     assert kwargs == {
-        'input_file': ['a.py'],
+        'input_file': 'a.py',
-        'output_file': ['b.py']
+        'output_file': 'b.py'
     }
 
 
@@ -80,7 +89,7 @@ def test_unintended_hyphen():
     {
         'flag': True,
         'optional': ['value', 'test'],
-        'output_file': ['filename'],
+        'output_file': 'filename',
         'f': True,
         'l': True,
         'g': ['name', 'name2'],