interpreting space after parameter as boolean use

[smhg]

This is probably not an issue, but rather a question:

The existing translation tool xgettext (part of GNU gettext-tools) allows these different usages of their --keyword parameter:

• xgettext --keyword=foo --keyword=bar source.js
  Scans source.js for foo, bar and the default keywords (_, gettext,... for JavaScript files).
• xgettext --keyword=foo --keyword=bar --keyword source.js
  Scans source.js for only foo and bar, ignoring the default keywords.

The --keyword parameter is acting both as a boolean and as an array of strings. The use of an equal-sign is mandatory when specifying a string value.

Is something similar possible with yargs?

[smhg]

Additionally, the short version acts in a similar way:

• xgettext -kfoo -kbar source.js
• xgettext -kfoo -kbar -k source.js

In this case too a space after the parameter is considered to signal boolean use. xgettext -k foo would cause foo to be interpreted as the source file, ignoring default keywords.

[bcoe]

@smhg today I do not believe there is a way to differentiate between an argument set with = and one set with a space.

I could imagine us adding some additional meta information like this to the object returned after parsing.

[smhg]

@bcoe thank you for your reply!
It would be nice to use in an xgettext companion project (gmarty/xgettext) but I can't tell if this pattern is common. Absolutely feel free to close/archive this issue.