How to include default values in ‘–help’

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parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
    # ... other options ...
    formatter_class=argparse.ArgumentDefaultsHelpFormatter)

Output looks like this:

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  --scan-time [SCAN_TIME]
                        Wait SCAN-TIME seconds between status checks.
                        (default: 5)

Another tip: add ‘%(default)’ to the help parameter to control what is displayed.

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parser.add_argument("--type", default="toto", choices=["toto","titi"],
                              help = "type (default: %(default)s)")

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