yargs/yargs

Allow customising of "extra" help

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#427 opened on Mar 10, 2016

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Help Wantedfeature requesttriaged

Description

When I use certain things like choices or default values the outputted help looks quite convoluted to me. It would be nice to optionally hide that output of format it differently.

E.g. I have this:

Options:
  -l, --log-level  Set log level
      [choices: "silly", "verbose", "info", "warn", "error", "silent"] [default:
                                                                         "info"]
  -v, --version    Show version number                                 [boolean]
  -h, --help       Show help                                           [boolean]

Maybe something like this is nicer:

Options:
  -l, --log-level  Set log level (default: "info")
                   [ "silly", "verbose", "info", "warn", "error", "silent" ]
  -v, --version    Show version number                                 [boolean]
  -h, --help       Show help                                           [boolean]

Options:
  -l, --log-level  Set log level (defaults to "info" or use "silly", "verbose", "warn", "error", "silent")
  -v, --version    Show version number                                 [boolean]
  -h, --help       Show help                                           [boolean]

Options:
  -l, --log-level  Set log level (defaults to "info")
  -v, --version    Show version number                                 [boolean]
  -h, --help       Show help                                           [boolean]

Options:
  -l, --log-level  Set log level (info,silly,verbose,warn,error,silent)
  -v, --version    Show version number                                 [boolean]
  -h, --help       Show help                                           [boolean]

Contributor guide

Tech stack
javascriptnodejs
Domain
cli
Issue type
feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
half day
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
stale
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
mostly clear
Prerequisites
yargs basicsNode.js CLI development
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
40
Research direction
Examine the yargs source code, specifically the help generation logic (likely in lib/usage.js). Review the issue comments for desired behavior. Propose an API for customizing the display of choices and defaults, such as a `showExtraHelp` option. Create a prototype and open a draft pull request for initial feedback.