# help-version

> Handle --help and --version arguments in your CLI application

Latest version **1.1.1** (published 2016-06-16) · MIT license · 0 weekly downloads

## Install

```sh
npm install help-version
pnpm add help-version
yarn add help-version
bun add help-version
```

## Health

**Score 15/100 (F)** — status: abandoned.

Positive: no vulnerabilities.

Warnings: low downloads; no types; no esm support.

Negative: abandoned; low maintenance score.

## Facts

| | |
|---|---|
| Version | 1.1.1 |
| Published | 2016-06-16 |
| First published | 2015-05-23 |
| Weekly downloads | 0 |
| License | MIT |
| TypeScript types | none |
| Module format | CommonJS |
| Dependencies | 3 |
| Known vulnerabilities | 0 |
| Install scripts | no |
| GitHub stars | 5 |
| Author | Eugene Sharygin |
| Maintainers | eush77 |
| Keywords | cli, bin, argv, opts, help, version, argument, arguments, usage, option, options, flag, flags, application, program, testable |

## Links

- npm: https://www.npmjs.com/package/help-version
- Repository: https://github.com/eush77/help-version
- Issues: https://github.com/eush77/help-version/issues
- npm.io page: https://npm.io/package/help-version

## Dependencies (3)

- [once](https://npm.io/package/once.md) ^1.3.3
- [callsites](https://npm.io/package/callsites.md) ^1.0.0
- [find-root](https://npm.io/package/find-root.md) ^1.0.0

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## Recent versions

- 1.1.1 (latest) — 2016-06-16
- 1.1.0 — 2016-01-24
- 1.0.0 — 2015-06-27
- 0.2.0 — 2015-05-23
- 0.1.0 — 2015-05-23

## README

[![npm](https://nodei.co/npm/help-version.png)](https://nodei.co/npm/help-version/)

# help-version

[![Build Status][travis-badge]][travis] [![Dependency Status][david-badge]][david]

Anything you wanted to do with `--help` and `--version`:

- checks these arguments in `process.argv`, so you don't have to;
- extracts `version` from your `package.json` file;
- returns functions that give you both `--help` and `--version`, in case you need to handle them differently;
- returns the function that prints `--help` and exits with the given code;
- highly configurable: you can set `process.argv`, `stdout` and `stderr` streams, and even `process.exit` function — this means testing won't be a problem.

[travis]: https://travis-ci.org/eush77/help-version
[travis-badge]: https://travis-ci.org/eush77/help-version.svg
[david]: https://david-dm.org/eush77/help-version
[david-badge]: https://david-dm.org/eush77/help-version.png

## Example

```js
#!/usr/bin/env node

var Cli = require('help-version');

var cli = Cli('Usage:  my-cat [file]');

cli.version()
//=> "v0.1.0"

if (process.argv.length != 3) {
  // Show help and exit with code 1.
  cli.help(1);
}

fs.createReadStream(process.argv[2])
  .pipe(process.stdout);
```

Catches `--help` and `--version` automatically.

```
$ ./cat.js --help
Usage:  my-cat [file]
$ ./cat.js --version
v0.1.0
$ ./cat.js file.txt
contents of file.txt
```

## API

### `cli = Cli(helpText, [opts])`

- `helpText` {String | Function} — help text to print on `--help`, or function to produce it.

Checks `opts.argv` for `--help` or `--version`.

1. If `--help` is found, prints `helpText` to `opts.stdout` and calls `opts.exit`.

2. If `--version` is found, prints app version (determined from the `version` field from your local `package.json`) to `opts.stdout` and calls `opts.exit`.

Returns object with two (bound) methods: `cli.help([code], [stream])` and `cli.version([code], [stream])`.

| Option         | Default                 |
| :------------: | :---------------------: |
| `argv`         | `process.argv.slice(2)` |
| `exit([code])` | `process.exit`          |
| `stdout`       | `process.stdout`        |
| `stderr`       | `process.stderr`        |

### `cli.help([code], [stream])`

With no arguments, returns the help string.

With one or two arguments, writes it to `stream` instead and exits (via `opts.exit`) with `code`. `stream` defaults to `opts.stdout` if `code==0` and `opts.stderr` otherwise.

### `cli.version([code], [stream])`

With no arguments, returns the version string.

With one or two arguments, writes it to the `stream` instead and exits (via `opts.exit`) with `code`. `stream` defaults to `opts.stdout` if `code==0` and `opts.stderr` otherwise.

## Install

```
npm install help-version
```

## License

MIT

---
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