How to pass a list/array as argument to python fire?

Question

I have function like this -

def my_func(my_list_arg=["one", "two"]):

Which I'm trying to call from command line using python-fire.

I have tried several ways -

---

Attempt 1:

fire_runner.py my_func [one, two]

Results in two separate arguments "[one" and "two]".

---

Attempt 2:

fire_runner.py my_func ["one", "two"]

which has the same result.

---

Attempt 3:

fire_runner.py my_func [\"one\", \"two\"]

same result.

Answer 1

Your list will first be parsed by the command line shell. This means you need to force it as a single argument. There are many ways to do this:

1. No space: [one,two]

2. Escape the space: [one,\ two]

3. Quotes: "[one, two]".

Note that you could modify your function to take a list of arguments using the following syntax:

def my_func(*args):

The name args here is convention, but it is just a variable name, so it can be anything. This will allow you to call your function as

fire_runner.py my_func one two