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GeezerVison is showing github.com — GH-130750: Restore quoting of choices in argparse error messages to match documentation and improve clarity by savannahostrowski · Pull Request #144983 · python/cpython

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@savannahostrowski

@savannahostrowski savannahostrowski commented Feb 19, 2026 •
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In 66b3922 (gh-117766), argparse was changed to use str() instead of repr() when displaying choices in error messages. This was done to improve StrEnum display, but had the side effect of removing quotes from string choices, making error messages less clear and inconsistent with the documentation.

  • Issue: Wrong output example on invalid options documentation #130750

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@savannahostrowski
Ensure quotes around suggestions
4c79b5a
@savannahostrowski savannahostrowski added needs backport to 3.13 only security fixes needs backport to 3.14 bugs and security fixes labels Feb 19, 2026
@bedevere-app bedevere-app Bot added the awaiting core review label Feb 19, 2026
@savannahostrowski savannahostrowski changed the title GH-130751: Restore quoting of choices in argparse error messages to match documentation and improve clarity GH-130750: Restore quoting of choices in argparse error messages to match documentation and improve clarity Feb 19, 2026
@bedevere-app bedevere-app Bot mentioned this pull request Feb 19, 2026
Wrong output example on invalid options documentation #130750
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📜🤖 Added by blurb_it.
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@savannahostrowski savannahostrowski mentioned this pull request Feb 19, 2026
gh-130750: Fix invalid choices documentation #130751
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@savannahostrowski
Merge branch 'main' into fix-suggestion
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sobolevn
sobolevn approved these changes Feb 19, 2026
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I support explicit quotes, because bar in Python is a variable name, 'bar' is a string. 👍

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@bedevere-app bedevere-app Bot added awaiting merge and removed awaiting core review labels Feb 19, 2026
@savannahostrowski
Merge branch 'main' into fix-suggestion
82d0715
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savannahostrowski enabled auto-merge (squash) February 23, 2026 17:09
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savannahostrowski disabled auto-merge February 23, 2026 17:14
@savannahostrowski

savannahostrowski commented Feb 23, 2026

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@serhiy-storchaka Mind taking a look at this one, since you were involved in the merge of the PR that changed this display?
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@serhiy-storchaka

serhiy-storchaka commented Feb 23, 2026

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Looking how is this handled in other programs. On Linux:

$ ls --color=xyz
error: invalid value 'xyz' for '--color[=<color>]'

  [possible values: always, auto, never]

For more information, try '--help'.

On FreeBSD:

$ ls --color=xyz
ls: unsupported --color value 'xyz' (must be always, auto, or never)

Both quote the invalid value, but do not quote the list of valid values.
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@savannahostrowski

savannahostrowski commented Feb 23, 2026 •
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There are also plenty of command-line tools that do quote valid choices in error messages, so it's a mixed bag across the ecosystem, I think.

My preference would be to restore the previous quoting behavior here. The PR that changed the display wasn't really about removing quotes; it was about fixing StrEnum, and the loss of quotes was an acknowledged side effect.
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serhiy-storchaka
serhiy-storchaka reviewed May 4, 2026
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Well, argparce deviated enough from the original getopt.c, so we can not follow it in this particular detail.

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Comment thread Lib/argparse.py Resolved

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savannahostrowski added 4 commits May 4, 2026 11:20
@savannahostrowski
Merge branch 'main' into fix-suggestion
7682569
@savannahostrowski
Merge branch 'fix-suggestion' of https://github.com/savannahostrowski…
b70ed30 
…/cpython into fix-suggestion
@savannahostrowski
Just quote everything, since its all a str anyway
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@savannahostrowski
Merge branch 'main' into fix-suggestion
fcf76a7
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serhiy-storchaka approved these changes May 4, 2026
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LGTM. 👍

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@savannahostrowski
Merge branch 'main' into fix-suggestion
1d14d66
@savannahostrowski
savannahostrowski enabled auto-merge (squash) May 4, 2026 20:55
savannahostrowski added 2 commits May 4, 2026 14:16
@savannahostrowski
Missed tests
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one more test
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@savannahostrowski
savannahostrowski merged commit 53a7f76 into python:main May 4, 2026
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@bedevere-app bedevere-app Bot removed the awaiting merge label May 4, 2026
@miss-islington-app

miss-islington-app Bot commented May 4, 2026

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Thanks @savannahostrowski for the PR 🌮🎉.. I'm working now to backport this PR to: 3.13, 3.14.
🐍🍒⛏🤖
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@miss-islington-app

miss-islington-app Bot commented May 4, 2026

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Sorry, @savannahostrowski, I could not cleanly backport this to 3.14 due to a conflict.
Please backport using cherry_picker on command line.

cherry_picker 53a7f76501923059188922be231db855265fe9a4 3.14
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@miss-islington-app miss-islington-app Bot assigned savannahostrowski May 4, 2026
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miss-islington-app Bot commented May 4, 2026

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Sorry, @savannahostrowski, I could not cleanly backport this to 3.13 due to a conflict.
Please backport using cherry_picker on command line.

cherry_picker 53a7f76501923059188922be231db855265fe9a4 3.13
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@savannahostrowski savannahostrowski mentioned this pull request May 4, 2026
[3.14] GH-130750: Restore quoting of choices in argparse error messag… #149385
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bedevere-app Bot commented May 4, 2026

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GH-149385 is a backport of this pull request to the 3.14 branch.
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@bedevere-app bedevere-app Bot removed the needs backport to 3.14 bugs and security fixes label May 4, 2026
@savannahostrowski savannahostrowski mentioned this pull request May 4, 2026
[3.13] GH-130750: Restore quoting of choices in argparse error messag… #149386
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bedevere-app Bot commented May 4, 2026

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GH-149386 is a backport of this pull request to the 3.13 branch.
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@bedevere-app bedevere-app Bot removed the needs backport to 3.13 only security fixes label May 4, 2026
savannahostrowski added a commit that referenced this pull request May 4, 2026
@savannahostrowski
[3.14] GH-130750: Restore quoting of choices in argparse error messag… (
a458589 
#149385)

[3.14] GH-130750: Restore quoting of choices in argparse error messages to match documentation and improve clarity (GH-144983)
(cherry picked from commit 53a7f76)
savannahostrowski added a commit that referenced this pull request May 4, 2026
@savannahostrowski
[3.13] GH-130750: Restore quoting of choices in argparse error messag… (
a02beab 
#149386)

[3.13] GH-130750: Restore quoting of choices in argparse error messages to match documentation and improve clarity (GH-144983)
(cherry picked from commit 53a7f76)
@jaimergp jaimergp mentioned this pull request May 26, 2026
Make test_sorted_commands_in_error less picky conda/conda#16151
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1 of 3 tasks
@adamchainz adamchainz mentioned this pull request Jun 12, 2026
Fix argparse test assertion adamchainz/django-harlequin#99
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adamchainz added a commit to adamchainz/django-harlequin that referenced this pull request Jun 12, 2026
@adamchainz
Fix argparse test assertion (#99)
c613f1a 
The fix from #45 needs fixing for an upstream fix to the original fix:
python/cpython#144983.
@MatusGasparik MatusGasparik mentioned this pull request Jul 13, 2026
commitizen: 4.13.9 -> 4.16.4 NixOS/nixpkgs#539725
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@coderabbitai coderabbitai Bot mentioned this pull request Aug 1, 2026
feat(moderation): admin re-moderation entry point and catalog sweep script ByronWilliamsCPA/cyo-adventure#529
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@serhiy-storchaka serhiy-storchaka serhiy-storchaka approved these changes
@sobolevn sobolevn sobolevn approved these changes

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