The best CLI parser for Java

Question

What CLI parser for Java is easy to use and more scalable than others?

Answer 1

I don't think scalability is a factor here. you want something which is feature complete and easy to use. I mostly use jargs but I generally dislike it's API (using it out of habit).

you can also try java getopt impl, which I did not personally used.

Answer 2

Here are some of the most popular. They are all pretty feature complete, and having used the top two I can recommend them.

• Commons CLI
  http://commons.apache.org/cli/

• Java Gems
  http://code.google.com/p/javagems/

• JArgs
  http://jargs.sourceforge.net/

• GetOpt
  http://www.urbanophile.com/arenn/hacking/download.html

EDIT: For completeness, here are some others I've come across

• JOpt Simple
  http://jopt-simple.sourceforge.net/

• Args4J
  https://args4j.dev.java.net/

• ArgParser
  http://people.cs.ubc.ca/~lloyd/java/argparser.html

• Natural CLI
  http://naturalcli.sourceforge.net/

• TE-Code
  http://te-code.sourceforge.net/

• JSAP
  http://www.martiansoftware.com/jsap/

• CLAJR
  http://clajr.sourceforge.net/

• CmdLn
  http://ostermiller.org/utils/CmdLn.html

• JewelCli
  http://jewelcli.sourceforge.net/

• JCommando
  http://jcommando.sourceforge.net/

• Parse-cmd
  http://code.google.com/p/parse-cmd/

Answer 3

JLine is a library for building shell like applications in Java. Groovy is using it for it's shell implementation.

Answer 4

See also these questions and answers:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/367706/is-there-a-good-option-parser-for-java

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1200054/java-library-for-parsing-command-line-parameters

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/207831/what-is-the-best-way-of-parsing-many-complex-command-line-arguments-in-java

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/435740/are-there-good-java-libraries-that-facilitate-building-command-line-applications

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/560884/is-there-a-good-command-line-argument-processing-api-for-java