How best to get raw args?

[mmkal]

Hi - I have a use case where I'd like to get the exact raw arguments passed to the command - what's the best way to do that? I notice some inconsistencies in all of the ways that I'm aware of. Example:

import {Argument, Command, Option, program} from 'commander'

program
  .name('myprogram')
  .addOption(new Option('--foo'))
  .addArgument(new Argument('abc'))
  .action(async function (...args) {
    console.log(this.name(), args.slice(0, -2), this.args, this.processedArgs, this.rawArgs)
  })

// `node myprogram.js abc --foo` outputs:
// myprogram ["abc"] ["abc"] ["abc"] ["/usr/local/bin/node", "/path/to/myprogram.js", "abc", "--foo"]

const sub = new Command('subcommand')
sub
  .addOption(new Option('--foo'))
  .addArgument(new Argument('abc'))
  .action(async function (...args) {
    console.log(this.name(), args.slice(0, -2), this.args, this.processedArgs, this.rawArgs)
  })
program.addCommand(sub)

// `node myprogram.js subcommand abc --foo` outputs:
// subcommand [ 'abc' ] [ 'abc' ] [ 'abc' ] []

program.parse()

Note the comments showing the differences in the outputs. The root program exposes everything in rawArgs, which is roughly what I want (ideally I'd like the rawProcessedArgs which would be ["abc", "--foo"] but I can handle getting rid of the node and program path)

But for the subcommand, none of the available ways of getting args, includes the --foo option that I passed. And for some reason rawArgs doesn't even include the abc argument.

Also rawArgs is not part of the typescript interface, so maybe I'm not supposed to be using it?

Is there a better way to get ["abc", "--foo"] in both cases?

[shadowspawn]

Hmm... rawArgs is only added to the root command. It has been available for a long time, but isn't much used, isn't in the TypeScript, and predates the parseOptions like user et al. That said, you can use it if it helps! From a subcommand, you can work up to the root command by following the parent link.

If you are using the default processing which picks up process.argv.slice(2), you could perhaps go and consult that yourself directly.

The subcommand is not storing what got passed to it from the parent command for parsing.