command-definition.md

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definition

Command definition

Commands are defined using a string expression.

The expression must start with the command name, optionally using : as a namespace separator, for example:

• greet
• demo:greet

Arguments

A command can take arguments:

Description	Example
Required argument	greet name
Optional argument	greet [name]
Array argument with 0-n values	greet [name]*
Array argument with 1-n values	greet name*

Options

A command can take options:

Description	Example
Simple flag (boolean value)	greet [--yell]
Option with an mandatory value	greet [--iterations=]
Option that can be used 0-n times (array value)	greet [--iterations=]*
Option with a shortcut	greet [-y|--yell]

Options are always optional (duh). If an option is required, then it should be an argument.

Default values

Default values for arguments and options can be defined explicitly:

$app->command('greet [firstname] [lastname] [--age=]', function () {
    // ...
})->defaults([
    'firstname' => 'John',
    'lastname'  => 'Doe',
    'age' => 25,
]);

They can also be inferred from the callback parameters if it is a callable:

$app->command('greet [name] [--age=]', function ($name = 'John', $age = 25) {
    // ...
});

Descriptions

$app->command('greet name [--yell]', function () {
    // ...
})->descriptions('Greet someone', [
    'name'   => 'Who do you want to greet?',
    '--yell' => 'If set, the task will yell in uppercase letters',
]);

Hyphens

Arguments and options containing hyphens (-) are matched to camelCase variables:

$app->command('run [--dry-run]', function ($dryRun) {
    // ...
});

Single command applications

Sometimes you write an application with a single command, or you want one command to be the default command.

Symfony provides the setDefaultCommand() method for that, you can use it like this:

$app->command('run', /* ... */);
$app->setDefaultCommand('run');