How can the default helpCommand be called inside a cobra command?

Question

In the following code I'm defining a command, where two options are possible: 1. myapp info --flag1 text 2. myapp info --flag2 if none of the two options are specified, I want to show the helpCommand

var infoCmd = &cobra.Command{
    Use:   "info",
    Short: "A brief description of your command",
    Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
        var infoURL string
        if flag1 != "" {
            doSomething()
        } else if flag2 { //this is a boolean flag
            doSomethingElse()
        } else {
            // Show the default help here
        }
     },
 }

In the cobra README the helpCommand is explained for usage like myapp help info or myapp info --help or myapp info --nonexistentoption but nothing regarding how to actually call the method voluntarily. Any pointers?

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 01 '17 at 15:19

I think its just this looking through the lib (not tested):

var infoCmd = &cobra.Command{
    Use:   "info",
    Short: "A brief description of your command",
    Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
        var infoURL string
        if flag1 != "" {
            doSomething()
        } else if flag2 { //this is a boolean flag
            doSomethingElse()
        } else {
            // Show the default help here
            cmd.Help()
        }
     },
 }

See here:

// Help puts out the help for the command.
// Used when a user calls help [command].
// Can be defined by user by overriding HelpFunc.
func (c *Command) Help() error {
    c.HelpFunc()(c, []string{})
    return nil
}

Generally speaking a readme is only going to give some get started and overview info, you will often have to open up the godocs (inline documentation) to properly understand a package: godoc cobra: help command

How can the default helpCommand be called inside a cobra command?

1 Answers1