input.rst

Console Input (Arguments & Options)

The most interesting part of the commands are the arguments and options that you can make available. These arguments and options allow you to pass dynamic information from the terminal to the command.

Using Command Arguments

Arguments are the strings - separated by spaces - that come after the command name itself. They are ordered, and can be optional or required. For example, to add an optional last_name argument to the command and make the name argument required:

// ...
use Symfony\Component\Console\Input\InputArgument;

class GreetCommand extends Command
{
    // ...

    protected function configure()
    {
        $this
            // ...
            ->addArgument('name', InputArgument::REQUIRED, 'Who do you want to greet?')
            ->addArgument('last_name', InputArgument::OPTIONAL, 'Your last name?')
        ;
    }
}

You now have access to a last_name argument in your command:

// ...
class GreetCommand extends Command
{
    // ...

    protected function execute(InputInterface $input, OutputInterface $output)
    {
        $text = 'Hi '.$input->getArgument('name');

        $lastName = $input->getArgument('last_name')
        if ($lastName) {
            $text .= ' '.$lastName;
        }

        $output->writeln($text.'!');
    }
}

The command can now be used in either of the following ways:

$ php app/console app:greet Fabien
Hi Fabien!

$ php app/console app:greet Fabien Potencier
Hi Fabien Potencier!

It is also possible to let an argument take a list of values (imagine you want to greet all your friends). Only the last argument can be a list:

$this
    // ...
    ->addArgument(
        'names',
        InputArgument::IS_ARRAY,
        'Who do you want to greet (separate multiple names with a space)?'
    );

To use this, just specify as many names as you want:

$ php app/console app:greet Fabien Ryan Bernhard

You can access the names argument as an array:

$names = $input->getArgument('names')
if (count($names) > 0) {
    $text .= ' '.implode(', ', $names);
}

There are three argument variants you can use:

InputArgument::REQUIRED

The argument is mandatory. The command doesn't run if the argument isn't provided;

InputArgument::OPTIONAL

The argument is optional and therefore can be omitted;

InputArgument::IS_ARRAY

The argument can contain any number of values. For that reason, it must be used at the end of the argument list

You can combine IS_ARRAY with REQUIRED and OPTIONAL like this:

$this
    // ...
    ->addArgument(
        'names',
        InputArgument::IS_ARRAY | InputArgument::REQUIRED,
        'Who do you want to greet (separate multiple names with a space)?'
    );

Using Command Options

Unlike arguments, options are not ordered (meaning you can specify them in any order) and are specified with two dashes (e.g. --yell). Options are always optional, and can be setup to accept a value (e.g. --dir=src) or simply as a boolean flag without a value (e.g. --yell).

For example, add a new option to the command that can be used to specify how many times in a row the message should be printed:

$this
    // ...
    ->addOption(
        'iterations',
        null,
        InputOption::VALUE_REQUIRED,
        'How many times should the message be printed?',
        1
    );

Next, use this in the command to print the message multiple times:

for ($i = 0; $i < $input->getOption('iterations'); $i++) {
    $output->writeln($text);
}

Now, when you run the task, you can optionally specify a --iterations flag:

# no --iterations provided, the default (1) is used
$ php app/console app:greet Fabien
Hi Fabien!

$ php app/console app:greet Fabien --iterations=5
Hi Fabien
Hi Fabien
Hi Fabien
Hi Fabien
Hi Fabien

# the order of options isn't important
$ php app/console app:greet Fabien --iterations=5 --yell
$ php app/console app:greet Fabien --yell --iterations=5
$ php app/console app:greet --yell --iterations=5 Fabien

Tip

You can also declare a one-letter shortcut that you can call with a single dash, like -i:

$this
    // ...
    ->addOption(
        'iterations',
        'i',
        InputOption::VALUE_REQUIRED,
        'How many times should the message be printed?',
        1
    );

There are four option variants you can use:

InputOption::VALUE_IS_ARRAY

This option accepts multiple values (e.g. --dir=/foo --dir=/bar);

InputOption::VALUE_NONE

Do not accept input for this option (e.g. --yell);

InputOption::VALUE_REQUIRED

This value is required (e.g. --iterations=5), the option itself is still optional;

InputOption::VALUE_OPTIONAL

This option may or may not have a value (e.g. --yell or --yell=loud).

You can combine VALUE_IS_ARRAY with VALUE_REQUIRED or VALUE_OPTIONAL like this:

$this
    // ...
    ->addOption(
        'colors',
        null,
        InputOption::VALUE_REQUIRED | InputOption::VALUE_IS_ARRAY,
        'Which colors do you like?',
        array('blue', 'red')
    );

Tip

There is nothing forbidding you to create a command with an option that optionally accepts a value. However, there is no way you can distinguish when the option was used without a value (command --language) or when it wasn't used at all (command). In both cases, the value retrieved for the option will be null.