Add support for rich-argparse

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+## 2.7.0 (TBD)
+
+- Enhancements
+    - Integrated rich-argparse with cmd2's default argparse help formatter.
+
 ## 2.6.2 (June 26, 2025)
 
 - Enhancements

cmd2/argparse_custom.py

@@ -229,14 +229,17 @@ def my_completer(self, text, line, begidx, endidx, arg_tokens)
     ZERO_OR_MORE,
     ArgumentError,
 )
-from collections.abc import Callable, Iterable, Sequence
-from gettext import (
-    gettext,
+from collections.abc import (
+    Callable,
+    Iterable,
+    Sequence,
 )
+from gettext import gettext
 from typing import (
     IO,
     TYPE_CHECKING,
     Any,
+    ClassVar,
     NoReturn,
     Optional,
     Protocol,
@@ -245,6 +248,8 @@ def my_completer(self, text, line, begidx, endidx, arg_tokens)
     runtime_checkable,
 )
 
+from rich_argparse import RawTextRichHelpFormatter
+
 from . import (
     ansi,
     constants,
@@ -991,9 +996,25 @@ def _SubParsersAction_remove_parser(self: argparse._SubParsersAction, name: str)
 ############################################################################################################
 
 
-class Cmd2HelpFormatter(argparse.RawTextHelpFormatter):
+class Cmd2HelpFormatter(RawTextRichHelpFormatter):
     """Custom help formatter to configure ordering of help text."""
 
+    # rich-argparse formats all group names with str.title().
+    # Override their formatter to do nothing.
+    group_name_formatter: ClassVar[Callable[[str], str]] = str
+
+    # Disable automatic highlighting in the help text.
+    highlights: ClassVar[list[str]] = []
+
+    # Disable markup rendering in usage, help, description, and epilog text.
+    # cmd2's built-in commands do not escape opening brackets in their help text
+    # and therefore rely on these settings being False. If you desire to use
+    # markup in your help text, inherit from Cmd2HelpFormatter and override
+    # these settings in that child class.
+    usage_markup: ClassVar[bool] = False
+    help_markup: ClassVar[bool] = False
+    text_markup: ClassVar[bool] = False
+
     def _format_usage(
         self,
         usage: Optional[str],

cmd2/cmd2.py

@@ -42,14 +42,16 @@
 import sys
 import tempfile
 import threading
-from code import (
-    InteractiveConsole,
-)
+from code import InteractiveConsole
 from collections import (
     OrderedDict,
     namedtuple,
 )
-from collections.abc import Callable, Iterable, Mapping
+from collections.abc import (
+    Callable,
+    Iterable,
+    Mapping,
+)
 from types import (
     FrameType,
     ModuleType,
@@ -763,8 +765,8 @@ def _build_parser(
         """Build argument parser for a command/subcommand.
 
         :param parent: CommandParent object which owns the command using the parser.
-                       This function assumes that parent is where parser_builder
-                       is defined when parser_builder is a classmethod.
+                       When parser_builder is a classmethod, this function passes
+                       parent's class to it.
         :param parser_builder: means used to build the parser
         :param prog: prog value to set in new parser
         :return: new parser
@@ -781,9 +783,7 @@ def _build_parser(
         else:
             raise TypeError(f"Invalid type for parser_builder: {type(parser_builder)}")
 
-        from .decorators import (
-            _set_parser_prog,
-        )
+        from .decorators import _set_parser_prog
 
         _set_parser_prog(parser, prog)
 

pyproject.toml

@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ dependencies = [
     "gnureadline>=8; platform_system == 'Darwin'",
     "pyperclip>=1.8",
     "pyreadline3>=3.4; platform_system == 'Windows'",
+    "rich-argparse>=1.7.1",
     "wcwidth>=0.2.10",
 ]