gogo-cobra

How to invoke help by default for a Cobra Subcommand?


I want sub command to print out the help menu if no argument or flags are passed (The main command does this by default).

For example, the main command without any arguments or flags:

chris@pop-os:~$ ./tk
Command line application to deploy

Usage:
  tk [command]

Available Commands:
  addon       Install packages
  cluster     Used to create cloud infrastructures
  help        Help about any command

Flags:
      --config string   config file (default is $HOME/.tk8.yaml)
  -h, --help            help for tk
  -t, --toggle          Help message for toggle

Use "tk [command] --help" for more information about a command.

I want a subcommand like "tk addon" to also return its own help menu if no arguments or flags is entered, currently it only gives a blank line.

addon code :

var addonCmd = &cobra.Command{
    Use:   "addon",
Short: "Install addon packages",
Long: `Install additional packages`,
Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {

        }
    },
}

Solution

  • It is possible to do with checking of amount of passed arguments to your program. If there is more then 0 args you will do actual work, but if it less then you will just show the "help" for the command.

    var addonCmd = &cobra.Command{
        Use:   "addon",
        Short: "Install addon packages",
        Long: `Install additional packages`,
        Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
            if len(args) == 0 {
                cmd.Help()
                os.Exit(0)
            }
            // do actual work
        },
    }