use argparse to parse aliases & flags

IPython/config/application.py

@@ -1,431 +1,431 b''
 # encoding: utf-8
 """
 A base class for a configurable application.
 
 Authors:
 
 * Brian Granger
 * Min RK
 """
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 #  Copyright (C) 2008-2011  The IPython Development Team
 #
 #  Distributed under the terms of the BSD License.  The full license is in
 #  the file COPYING, distributed as part of this software.
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Imports
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 import logging
 import os
 import re
 import sys
 from copy import deepcopy
 
 from IPython.config.configurable import SingletonConfigurable
 from IPython.config.loader import (
-    KeyValueConfigLoader, PyFileConfigLoader, Config, ArgumentError
+    KVArgParseConfigLoader, PyFileConfigLoader, Config, ArgumentError
 )
 
 from IPython.utils.traitlets import (
     Unicode, List, Int, Enum, Dict, Instance, TraitError
 )
 from IPython.utils.importstring import import_item
 from IPython.utils.text import indent, wrap_paragraphs, dedent
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # function for re-wrapping a helpstring
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Descriptions for the various sections
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 # merge flags&aliases into options
 option_description = """
 IPython command-line arguments are passed as '--<flag>', or '--<name>=<value>'.
 
 Arguments that take values are actually convenience aliases to full
 Configurables, whose aliases are listed on the help line. For more information
 on full configurables, see '--help-all'.
 """.strip() # trim newlines of front and back
 
 keyvalue_description = """
 Parameters are set from command-line arguments of the form:
 `--Class.trait=value`.
 This line is evaluated in Python, so simple expressions are allowed, e.g.::
 `--C.a='range(3)'` For setting C.a=[0,1,2].
 """.strip() # trim newlines of front and back
 
 subcommand_description = """
 Subcommands are launched as `{app} cmd [args]`. For information on using
 subcommand 'cmd', do: `{app} cmd -h`.
 """.strip().format(app=os.path.basename(sys.argv[0]))
 # get running program name
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Application class
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
 class ApplicationError(Exception):
     pass
 
 
 class Application(SingletonConfigurable):
     """A singleton application with full configuration support."""
 
     # The name of the application, will usually match the name of the command
     # line application
     name = Unicode(u'application')
 
     # The description of the application that is printed at the beginning
     # of the help.
     description = Unicode(u'This is an application.')
     # default section descriptions
     option_description = Unicode(option_description)
     keyvalue_description = Unicode(keyvalue_description)
     subcommand_description = Unicode(subcommand_description)
 
     # The usage and example string that goes at the end of the help string.
     examples = Unicode()
 
     # A sequence of Configurable subclasses whose config=True attributes will
     # be exposed at the command line.
     classes = List([])
 
     # The version string of this application.
     version = Unicode(u'0.0')
 
     # The log level for the application
     log_level = Enum((0,10,20,30,40,50,'DEBUG','INFO','WARN','ERROR','CRITICAL'),
                     default_value=logging.WARN,
                     config=True,
                     help="Set the log level by value or name.")
     def _log_level_changed(self, name, old, new):
         """Adjust the log level when log_level is set."""
         if isinstance(new, basestring):
             new = getattr(logging, new)
             self.log_level = new
         self.log.setLevel(new)
     
     # the alias map for configurables
     aliases = Dict({'log-level' : 'Application.log_level'})
     
     # flags for loading Configurables or store_const style flags
     # flags are loaded from this dict by '--key' flags
     # this must be a dict of two-tuples, the first element being the Config/dict
     # and the second being the help string for the flag
     flags = Dict()
     def _flags_changed(self, name, old, new):
         """ensure flags dict is valid"""
         for key,value in new.iteritems():
             assert len(value) == 2, "Bad flag: %r:%s"%(key,value)
             assert isinstance(value[0], (dict, Config)), "Bad flag: %r:%s"%(key,value)
             assert isinstance(value[1], basestring), "Bad flag: %r:%s"%(key,value)
         
     
     # subcommands for launching other applications
     # if this is not empty, this will be a parent Application
     # this must be a dict of two-tuples, 
     # the first element being the application class/import string
     # and the second being the help string for the subcommand
     subcommands = Dict()
     # parse_command_line will initialize a subapp, if requested
     subapp = Instance('IPython.config.application.Application', allow_none=True)
     
     # extra command-line arguments that don't set config values
     extra_args = List(Unicode)
     
 
     def __init__(self, **kwargs):
         SingletonConfigurable.__init__(self, **kwargs)
         # Ensure my class is in self.classes, so my attributes appear in command line
         # options and config files.
         if self.__class__ not in self.classes:
             self.classes.insert(0, self.__class__)
         
         self.init_logging()
 
     def _config_changed(self, name, old, new):
         SingletonConfigurable._config_changed(self, name, old, new)
         self.log.debug('Config changed:')
         self.log.debug(repr(new))
 
     def init_logging(self):
         """Start logging for this application.
 
         The default is to log to stdout using a StreaHandler. The log level
         starts at loggin.WARN, but this can be adjusted by setting the 
         ``log_level`` attribute.
         """
         self.log = logging.getLogger(self.__class__.__name__)
         self.log.setLevel(self.log_level)
         if sys.executable.endswith('pythonw.exe'):
             # this should really go to a file, but file-logging is only
             # hooked up in parallel applications
             self._log_handler = logging.StreamHandler(open(os.devnull, 'w'))
         else:
             self._log_handler = logging.StreamHandler()
         self._log_formatter = logging.Formatter("[%(name)s] %(message)s")
         self._log_handler.setFormatter(self._log_formatter)
         self.log.addHandler(self._log_handler)
 
     def initialize(self, argv=None):
         """Do the basic steps to configure me.
         
         Override in subclasses.
         """
         self.parse_command_line(argv)
         
     
     def start(self):
         """Start the app mainloop.
         
         Override in subclasses.
         """
         if self.subapp is not None:
             return self.subapp.start()
     
     def print_alias_help(self):
         """Print the alias part of the help."""
         if not self.aliases:
             return
         
         lines = []
         classdict = {}
         for cls in self.classes:
             # include all parents (up to, but excluding Configurable) in available names
             for c in cls.mro()[:-3]:
                 classdict[c.__name__] = c
         
         for alias, longname in self.aliases.iteritems():
             classname, traitname = longname.split('.',1)
             cls = classdict[classname]
             
             trait = cls.class_traits(config=True)[traitname]
             help = cls.class_get_trait_help(trait).splitlines()
             # reformat first line
             help[0] = help[0].replace(longname, alias) + ' (%s)'%longname
             lines.extend(help)
         # lines.append('')
         print os.linesep.join(lines)
     
     def print_flag_help(self):
         """Print the flag part of the help."""
         if not self.flags:
             return
         
         lines = []
         for m, (cfg,help) in self.flags.iteritems():
             lines.append('--'+m)
             lines.append(indent(dedent(help.strip())))
         # lines.append('')
         print os.linesep.join(lines)
     
     def print_options(self):
         if not self.flags and not self.aliases:
             return
         lines = ['Options']
         lines.append('-'*len(lines[0]))
         lines.append('')
         for p in wrap_paragraphs(self.option_description):
             lines.append(p)
             lines.append('')
         print os.linesep.join(lines)
         self.print_flag_help()
         self.print_alias_help()
         print
     
     def print_subcommands(self):
         """Print the subcommand part of the help."""
         if not self.subcommands:
             return
         
         lines = ["Subcommands"]
         lines.append('-'*len(lines[0]))
         lines.append('')
         for p in wrap_paragraphs(self.subcommand_description):
             lines.append(p)
             lines.append('')
         for subc, (cls, help) in self.subcommands.iteritems():
             lines.append(subc)
             if help:
                 lines.append(indent(dedent(help.strip())))
         lines.append('')
         print os.linesep.join(lines)
     
     def print_help(self, classes=False):
         """Print the help for each Configurable class in self.classes.
         
         If classes=False (the default), only flags and aliases are printed.
         """
         self.print_subcommands()
         self.print_options()
         
         if classes:
             if self.classes:
                 print "Class parameters"
                 print "----------------"
                 print
                 for p in wrap_paragraphs(self.keyvalue_description):
                     print p
                     print
         
             for cls in self.classes:
                 cls.class_print_help()
                 print
         else:
             print "To see all available configurables, use `--help-all`"
             print
 
     def print_description(self):
         """Print the application description."""
         for p in wrap_paragraphs(self.description):
             print p
             print
 
     def print_examples(self):
         """Print usage and examples.
 
         This usage string goes at the end of the command line help string
         and should contain examples of the application's usage.
         """
         if self.examples:
             print "Examples"
             print "--------"
             print
             print indent(dedent(self.examples.strip()))
             print
 
     def print_version(self):
         """Print the version string."""
         print self.version
 
     def update_config(self, config):
         """Fire the traits events when the config is updated."""
         # Save a copy of the current config.
         newconfig = deepcopy(self.config)
         # Merge the new config into the current one.
         newconfig._merge(config)
         # Save the combined config as self.config, which triggers the traits
         # events.
         self.config = newconfig
     
     def initialize_subcommand(self, subc, argv=None):
         """Initialize a subcommand with argv."""
         subapp,help = self.subcommands.get(subc)
         
         if isinstance(subapp, basestring):
             subapp = import_item(subapp)
         
         # clear existing instances
         self.__class__.clear_instance()
         # instantiate
         self.subapp = subapp.instance()
         # and initialize subapp
         self.subapp.initialize(argv)
         
     def parse_command_line(self, argv=None):
         """Parse the command line arguments."""
         argv = sys.argv[1:] if argv is None else argv
 
         if self.subcommands and len(argv) > 0:
             # we have subcommands, and one may have been specified
             subc, subargv = argv[0], argv[1:]
             if re.match(r'^\w(\-?\w)*$', subc) and subc in self.subcommands:
                 # it's a subcommand, and *not* a flag or class parameter
                 return self.initialize_subcommand(subc, subargv)
             
         if '-h' in argv or '--help' in argv or '--help-all' in argv:
             self.print_description()
             self.print_help('--help-all' in argv)
             self.print_examples()
             self.exit(0)
 
         if '--version' in argv:
             self.print_version()
             self.exit(0)
         
-        loader = KeyValueConfigLoader(argv=argv, aliases=self.aliases,
+        loader = KVArgParseConfigLoader(argv=argv, aliases=self.aliases,
                                         flags=self.flags)
         try:
             config = loader.load_config()
             self.update_config(config)
         except (TraitError, ArgumentError) as e:
             self.print_description()
             self.print_help()
             self.print_examples()
             self.log.fatal(str(e))
             self.exit(1)
         # store unparsed args in extra_args
         self.extra_args = loader.extra_args
 
     def load_config_file(self, filename, path=None):
         """Load a .py based config file by filename and path."""
         loader = PyFileConfigLoader(filename, path=path)
         try:
             config = loader.load_config()
         except IOError:
             # problem with the file (probably doesn't exist), raise
             raise
         except Exception:
             # problem while running the file
             self.log.error("Exception while loading config file %s [path=%s]"%
                             (filename, path), exc_info=True)
         else:
             self.update_config(config)
     
     def generate_config_file(self):
         """generate default config file from Configurables"""
         lines = ["# Configuration file for %s."%self.name]
         lines.append('')
         lines.append('c = get_config()')
         lines.append('')
         for cls in self.classes:
             lines.append(cls.class_config_section())
         return '\n'.join(lines)
 
     def exit(self, exit_status=0):
         self.log.debug("Exiting application: %s" % self.name)
         sys.exit(exit_status)
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # utility functions, for convenience
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 def boolean_flag(name, configurable, set_help='', unset_help=''):
     """Helper for building basic --trait, --no-trait flags.
     
     Parameters
     ----------
     
     name : str
         The name of the flag.
     configurable : str
         The 'Class.trait' string of the trait to be set/unset with the flag
     set_help : unicode
         help string for --name flag
     unset_help : unicode
         help string for --no-name flag
     
     Returns
     -------
     
     cfg : dict
         A dict with two keys: 'name', and 'no-name', for setting and unsetting
         the trait, respectively.
     """
     # default helpstrings
     set_help = set_help or "set %s=True"%configurable
     unset_help = unset_help or "set %s=False"%configurable
     
     cls,trait = configurable.split('.')
     
     setter = {cls : {trait : True}}
     unsetter = {cls : {trait : False}}
     return {name : (setter, set_help), 'no-'+name : (unsetter, unset_help)}
 

IPython/config/loader.py

@@ -1,588 +1,660 b''
 """A simple configuration system.
 
 Authors
 -------
 * Brian Granger
 * Fernando Perez
 * Min RK
 """
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 #  Copyright (C) 2008-2011  The IPython Development Team
 #
 #  Distributed under the terms of the BSD License.  The full license is in
 #  the file COPYING, distributed as part of this software.
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Imports
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 import __builtin__
 import re
 import sys
 
 from IPython.external import argparse
 from IPython.utils.path import filefind, get_ipython_dir
 from IPython.utils import warn
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Exceptions
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
 class ConfigError(Exception):
     pass
 
 
 class ConfigLoaderError(ConfigError):
     pass
 
 class ArgumentError(ConfigLoaderError):
     pass
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Argparse fix
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 # Unfortunately argparse by default prints help messages to stderr instead of
 # stdout.  This makes it annoying to capture long help screens at the command
 # line, since one must know how to pipe stderr, which many users don't know how
 # to do.  So we override the print_help method with one that defaults to
 # stdout and use our class instead.
 
 class ArgumentParser(argparse.ArgumentParser):
     """Simple argparse subclass that prints help to stdout by default."""
     
     def print_help(self, file=None):
         if file is None:
             file = sys.stdout
         return super(ArgumentParser, self).print_help(file)
     
     print_help.__doc__ = argparse.ArgumentParser.print_help.__doc__
     
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Config class for holding config information
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
 class Config(dict):
     """An attribute based dict that can do smart merges."""
 
     def __init__(self, *args, **kwds):
         dict.__init__(self, *args, **kwds)
         # This sets self.__dict__ = self, but it has to be done this way
         # because we are also overriding __setattr__.
         dict.__setattr__(self, '__dict__', self)
 
     def _merge(self, other):
         to_update = {}
         for k, v in other.iteritems():
             if not self.has_key(k):
                 to_update[k] = v
             else: # I have this key
                 if isinstance(v, Config):
                     # Recursively merge common sub Configs
                     self[k]._merge(v)
                 else:
                     # Plain updates for non-Configs
                     to_update[k] = v
 
         self.update(to_update)
 
     def _is_section_key(self, key):
         if key[0].upper()==key[0] and not key.startswith('_'):
             return True
         else:
             return False
 
     def __contains__(self, key):
         if self._is_section_key(key):
             return True
         else:
             return super(Config, self).__contains__(key)
     # .has_key is deprecated for dictionaries.
     has_key = __contains__
 
     def _has_section(self, key):
         if self._is_section_key(key):
             if super(Config, self).__contains__(key):
                 return True
         return False
 
     def copy(self):
         return type(self)(dict.copy(self))
 
     def __copy__(self):
         return self.copy()
 
     def __deepcopy__(self, memo):
         import copy
         return type(self)(copy.deepcopy(self.items()))
 
     def __getitem__(self, key):
         # We cannot use directly self._is_section_key, because it triggers
         # infinite recursion on top of PyPy. Instead, we manually fish the
         # bound method.
         is_section_key = self.__class__._is_section_key.__get__(self)
         
         # Because we use this for an exec namespace, we need to delegate
         # the lookup of names in __builtin__ to itself.  This means
         # that you can't have section or attribute names that are 
         # builtins.
         try:
             return getattr(__builtin__, key)
         except AttributeError:
             pass
         if is_section_key(key):
             try:
                 return dict.__getitem__(self, key)
             except KeyError:
                 c = Config()
                 dict.__setitem__(self, key, c)
                 return c
         else:
             return dict.__getitem__(self, key)
 
     def __setitem__(self, key, value):
         # Don't allow names in __builtin__ to be modified.
         if hasattr(__builtin__, key):
             raise ConfigError('Config variable names cannot have the same name '
                               'as a Python builtin: %s' % key)
         if self._is_section_key(key):
             if not isinstance(value, Config):
                 raise ValueError('values whose keys begin with an uppercase '
                                  'char must be Config instances: %r, %r' % (key, value))
         else:
             dict.__setitem__(self, key, value)
 
     def __getattr__(self, key):
         try:
             return self.__getitem__(key)
         except KeyError, e:
             raise AttributeError(e)
 
     def __setattr__(self, key, value):
         try:
             self.__setitem__(key, value)
         except KeyError, e:
             raise AttributeError(e)
 
     def __delattr__(self, key):
         try:
             dict.__delitem__(self, key)
         except KeyError, e:
             raise AttributeError(e)
 
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Config loading classes
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
 class ConfigLoader(object):
     """A object for loading configurations from just about anywhere.
     
     The resulting configuration is packaged as a :class:`Struct`.
     
     Notes
     -----
     A :class:`ConfigLoader` does one thing: load a config from a source 
     (file, command line arguments) and returns the data as a :class:`Struct`.
     There are lots of things that :class:`ConfigLoader` does not do.  It does
     not implement complex logic for finding config files.  It does not handle
     default values or merge multiple configs.  These things need to be 
     handled elsewhere.
     """
 
     def __init__(self):
         """A base class for config loaders.
         
         Examples
         --------
         
         >>> cl = ConfigLoader()
         >>> config = cl.load_config()
         >>> config
         {}
         """
         self.clear()
 
     def clear(self):
         self.config = Config()
 
     def load_config(self):
         """Load a config from somewhere, return a :class:`Config` instance.
         
         Usually, this will cause self.config to be set and then returned.
         However, in most cases, :meth:`ConfigLoader.clear` should be called
         to erase any previous state.
         """
         self.clear()
         return self.config
 
 
 class FileConfigLoader(ConfigLoader):
     """A base class for file based configurations.
 
     As we add more file based config loaders, the common logic should go
     here.
     """
     pass
 
 
 class PyFileConfigLoader(FileConfigLoader):
     """A config loader for pure python files.
     
     This calls execfile on a plain python file and looks for attributes
     that are all caps.  These attribute are added to the config Struct.
     """
 
     def __init__(self, filename, path=None):
         """Build a config loader for a filename and path.
 
         Parameters
         ----------
         filename : str
             The file name of the config file.
         path : str, list, tuple
             The path to search for the config file on, or a sequence of
             paths to try in order.
         """
         super(PyFileConfigLoader, self).__init__()
         self.filename = filename
         self.path = path
         self.full_filename = ''
         self.data = None
 
     def load_config(self):
         """Load the config from a file and return it as a Struct."""
         self.clear()
         self._find_file()
         self._read_file_as_dict()
         self._convert_to_config()
         return self.config
 
     def _find_file(self):
         """Try to find the file by searching the paths."""
         self.full_filename = filefind(self.filename, self.path)
 
     def _read_file_as_dict(self):
         """Load the config file into self.config, with recursive loading."""
         # This closure is made available in the namespace that is used
         # to exec the config file.  It allows users to call
         # load_subconfig('myconfig.py') to load config files recursively.
         # It needs to be a closure because it has references to self.path
         # and self.config.  The sub-config is loaded with the same path
         # as the parent, but it uses an empty config which is then merged
         # with the parents.
         
         # If a profile is specified, the config file will be loaded
         # from that profile
         
         def load_subconfig(fname, profile=None):
             # import here to prevent circular imports
             from IPython.core.profiledir import ProfileDir, ProfileDirError
             if profile is not None:
                 try:
                     profile_dir = ProfileDir.find_profile_dir_by_name(
                             get_ipython_dir(),
                             profile,
                     )
                 except ProfileDirError:
                     return
                 path = profile_dir.location
             else:
                 path = self.path
             loader = PyFileConfigLoader(fname, path)
             try:
                 sub_config = loader.load_config()
             except IOError:
                 # Pass silently if the sub config is not there. This happens
                 # when a user s using a profile, but not the default config.
                 pass
             else:
                 self.config._merge(sub_config)
         
         # Again, this needs to be a closure and should be used in config
         # files to get the config being loaded.
         def get_config():
             return self.config
 
         namespace = dict(load_subconfig=load_subconfig, get_config=get_config)
         fs_encoding = sys.getfilesystemencoding() or 'ascii'
         conf_filename = self.full_filename.encode(fs_encoding)
         execfile(conf_filename, namespace)
 
     def _convert_to_config(self):
         if self.data is None:
             ConfigLoaderError('self.data does not exist')
 
 
 class CommandLineConfigLoader(ConfigLoader):
     """A config loader for command line arguments.
 
     As we add more command line based loaders, the common logic should go
     here.
     """
 
+    def _exec_config_str(self, lhs, rhs):
+        exec_str = 'self.config.' + lhs + '=' + rhs
+        try:
+            # Try to see if regular Python syntax will work. This
+            # won't handle strings as the quote marks are removed
+            # by the system shell.
+            exec exec_str in locals(), globals()
+        except (NameError, SyntaxError):
+            # This case happens if the rhs is a string but without
+            # the quote marks. Use repr, to get quote marks, and
+            # 'u' prefix and see if
+            # it succeeds. If it still fails, we let it raise.
+            exec_str = u'self.config.' + lhs + '=' + repr(rhs)
+            exec exec_str in locals(), globals()
+    
+    def _load_flag(self, cfg):
+        """update self.config from a flag, which can be a dict or Config"""
+        if isinstance(cfg, (dict, Config)):
+            # don't clobber whole config sections, update
+            # each section from config:
+            for sec,c in cfg.iteritems():
+                self.config[sec].update(c)
+        else:
+            raise ValueError("Invalid flag: '%s'"%raw)
+
 # raw --identifier=value pattern
 # but *also* accept '-' as wordsep, for aliases
 # accepts:  --foo=a
 #           --Class.trait=value
 #           --alias-name=value
 # rejects:  -foo=value
 #           --foo
 #           --Class.trait
 kv_pattern = re.compile(r'\-\-[A-Za-z][\w\-]*(\.[\w\-]+)*\=.*')
 
 # just flags, no assignments, with two *or one* leading '-'
 # accepts:  --foo
 #           -foo-bar-again
 # rejects:  --anything=anything
 #           --two.word
 
 flag_pattern = re.compile(r'\-\-?\w+[\-\w]*$')
 
 class KeyValueConfigLoader(CommandLineConfigLoader):
     """A config loader that loads key value pairs from the command line.
 
     This allows command line options to be gives in the following form::
     
         ipython --profile="foo" --InteractiveShell.autocall=False
     """
 
     def __init__(self, argv=None, aliases=None, flags=None):
         """Create a key value pair config loader.
 
         Parameters
         ----------
         argv : list
             A list that has the form of sys.argv[1:] which has unicode
             elements of the form u"key=value". If this is None (default),
             then sys.argv[1:] will be used.
         aliases : dict
             A dict of aliases for configurable traits.
             Keys are the short aliases, Values are the resolved trait.
             Of the form: `{'alias' : 'Configurable.trait'}`
         flags : dict
             A dict of flags, keyed by str name. Vaues can be Config objects,
             dicts, or "key=value" strings.  If Config or dict, when the flag
             is triggered, The flag is loaded as `self.config.update(m)`.
 
         Returns
         -------
         config : Config
             The resulting Config object.
 
         Examples
         --------
 
             >>> from IPython.config.loader import KeyValueConfigLoader
             >>> cl = KeyValueConfigLoader()
             >>> cl.load_config(["--A.name='brian'","--B.number=0"])
             {'A': {'name': 'brian'}, 'B': {'number': 0}}
         """
         self.clear()
         if argv is None:
             argv = sys.argv[1:]
         self.argv = argv
         self.aliases = aliases or {}
         self.flags = flags or {}
         
     
     def clear(self):
         super(KeyValueConfigLoader, self).clear()
         self.extra_args = []
         
     
     def _decode_argv(self, argv, enc=None):
         """decode argv if bytes, using stin.encoding, falling back on default enc"""
         uargv = []
         if enc is None:
             enc = sys.stdin.encoding or sys.getdefaultencoding()
         for arg in argv:
             if not isinstance(arg, unicode):
                 # only decode if not already decoded
                 arg = arg.decode(enc)
             uargv.append(arg)
         return uargv
                 
                 
     def load_config(self, argv=None, aliases=None, flags=None):
         """Parse the configuration and generate the Config object.
         
         After loading, any arguments that are not key-value or
         flags will be stored in self.extra_args - a list of
         unparsed command-line arguments.  This is used for
         arguments such as input files or subcommands.
         
         Parameters
         ----------
         argv : list, optional
             A list that has the form of sys.argv[1:] which has unicode
             elements of the form u"key=value". If this is None (default),
             then self.argv will be used.
         aliases : dict
             A dict of aliases for configurable traits.
             Keys are the short aliases, Values are the resolved trait.
             Of the form: `{'alias' : 'Configurable.trait'}`
         flags : dict
             A dict of flags, keyed by str name. Values can be Config objects
             or dicts.  When the flag is triggered, The config is loaded as 
             `self.config.update(cfg)`.
         """
         from IPython.config.configurable import Configurable
 
         self.clear()
         if argv is None:
             argv = self.argv
         if aliases is None:
             aliases = self.aliases
         if flags is None:
             flags = self.flags
         
         # ensure argv is a list of unicode strings:
         uargv = self._decode_argv(argv)
         for idx,raw in enumerate(uargv):
             # strip leading '-'
             item = raw.lstrip('-')
             
             if raw == '--':
                 # don't parse arguments after '--'
                 # this is useful for relaying arguments to scripts, e.g.
                 # ipython -i foo.py --pylab=qt -- args after '--' go-to-foo.py
                 self.extra_args.extend(uargv[idx+1:])
                 break
             
             if kv_pattern.match(raw):
                 lhs,rhs = item.split('=',1)
                 # Substitute longnames for aliases.
                 if lhs in aliases:
                     lhs = aliases[lhs]
                 if '.' not in lhs:
                     # probably a mistyped alias, but not technically illegal
                     warn.warn("Unrecognized alias: '%s', it will probably have no effect."%lhs)
-                exec_str = 'self.config.' + lhs + '=' + rhs
-                try:
-                    # Try to see if regular Python syntax will work. This
-                    # won't handle strings as the quote marks are removed
-                    # by the system shell.
-                    exec exec_str in locals(), globals()
-                except (NameError, SyntaxError):
-                    # This case happens if the rhs is a string but without
-                    # the quote marks. Use repr, to get quote marks, and
-                    # 'u' prefix and see if
-                    # it succeeds. If it still fails, we let it raise.
-                    exec_str = u'self.config.' + lhs + '=' + repr(rhs)
-                    exec exec_str in locals(), globals()
+                self._exec_config_str(lhs, rhs)
+                
             elif flag_pattern.match(raw):
                 if item in flags:
                     cfg,help = flags[item]
-                    if isinstance(cfg, (dict, Config)):
-                        # don't clobber whole config sections, update
-                        # each section from config:
-                        for sec,c in cfg.iteritems():
-                            self.config[sec].update(c)
-                    else:
-                        raise ValueError("Invalid flag: '%s'"%raw)
+                    self._load_flag(cfg)
                 else:
                     raise ArgumentError("Unrecognized flag: '%s'"%raw)
             elif raw.startswith('-'):
                 kv = '--'+item
                 if kv_pattern.match(kv):
                     raise ArgumentError("Invalid argument: '%s', did you mean '%s'?"%(raw, kv))
                 else:
                     raise ArgumentError("Invalid argument: '%s'"%raw)
             else:
                 # keep all args that aren't valid in a list, 
                 # in case our parent knows what to do with them.
                 self.extra_args.append(item)
         return self.config
 
 class ArgParseConfigLoader(CommandLineConfigLoader):
     """A loader that uses the argparse module to load from the command line."""
 
-    def __init__(self, argv=None, *parser_args, **parser_kw):
+    def __init__(self, argv=None, aliases=None, flags=None, *parser_args, **parser_kw):
         """Create a config loader for use with argparse.
 
         Parameters
         ----------
 
         argv : optional, list
           If given, used to read command-line arguments from, otherwise
           sys.argv[1:] is used.
 
         parser_args : tuple
           A tuple of positional arguments that will be passed to the
           constructor of :class:`argparse.ArgumentParser`.
 
         parser_kw : dict
           A tuple of keyword arguments that will be passed to the
           constructor of :class:`argparse.ArgumentParser`.
 
         Returns
         -------
         config : Config
             The resulting Config object.
         """
         super(CommandLineConfigLoader, self).__init__()
-        if argv == None:
+        self.clear()
+        if argv is None:
             argv = sys.argv[1:]
         self.argv = argv
+        self.aliases = aliases or {}
+        self.flags = flags or {}
+        
         self.parser_args = parser_args
         self.version = parser_kw.pop("version", None)
         kwargs = dict(argument_default=argparse.SUPPRESS)
         kwargs.update(parser_kw)
         self.parser_kw = kwargs
 
-    def load_config(self, argv=None):
+    def load_config(self, argv=None, aliases=None, flags=None):
         """Parse command line arguments and return as a Config object.
 
         Parameters
         ----------
 
         args : optional, list
           If given, a list with the structure of sys.argv[1:] to parse
           arguments from. If not given, the instance's self.argv attribute
           (given at construction time) is used."""
         self.clear()
         if argv is None:
             argv = self.argv
-        self._create_parser()
+        if aliases is None:
+            aliases = self.aliases
+        if flags is None:
+            flags = self.flags
+        self._create_parser(aliases, flags)
         self._parse_args(argv)
         self._convert_to_config()
         return self.config
 
     def get_extra_args(self):
         if hasattr(self, 'extra_args'):
             return self.extra_args
         else:
             return []
 
-    def _create_parser(self):
+    def _create_parser(self, aliases=None, flags=None):
         self.parser = ArgumentParser(*self.parser_args, **self.parser_kw)
-        self._add_arguments()
+        self._add_arguments(aliases, flags)
 
-    def _add_arguments(self):
+    def _add_arguments(self, aliases=None, flags=None):
         raise NotImplementedError("subclasses must implement _add_arguments")
 
     def _parse_args(self, args):
         """self.parser->self.parsed_data"""
         # decode sys.argv to support unicode command-line options
         uargs = []
         for a in args:
             if isinstance(a, str):
                 # don't decode if we already got unicode
                 a = a.decode(sys.stdin.encoding or 
                                             sys.getdefaultencoding())
             uargs.append(a)
         self.parsed_data, self.extra_args = self.parser.parse_known_args(uargs)
 
     def _convert_to_config(self):
         """self.parsed_data->self.config"""
         for k, v in vars(self.parsed_data).iteritems():
-            exec_str = 'self.config.' + k + '= v'
-            exec exec_str in locals(), globals()
-
-
+            self._exec_config_str(k, v)
+
+class KVArgParseConfigLoader(ArgParseConfigLoader):
+    """A config loader that loads aliases and flags with argparse,
+    but will use KVLoader for the rest.  This allows better parsing 
+    of common args, such as `ipython -c 'print 5'`, but still gets
+    arbitrary config with `ipython --InteractiveShell.use_readline=False`"""
+    def _add_arguments(self, aliases=None, flags=None):
+        self.alias_flags = {}
+        # print aliases, flags
+        if aliases is None:
+            aliases = self.aliases
+        if flags is None:
+            flags = self.flags
+        paa = self.parser.add_argument
+        for key,value in aliases.iteritems():
+            if key in flags:
+                # flags
+                nargs = '?'
+            else:
+                nargs = None
+            if len(key) is 1:
+                paa('-'+key, '--'+key, type=str, dest=value, nargs=nargs)
+            else:
+                paa('--'+key, type=str, dest=value, nargs=nargs)
+        for key, (value, help) in flags.iteritems():
+            if key in self.aliases:
+                # 
+                self.alias_flags[self.aliases[key]] = value
+                continue
+            if len(key) is 1:
+                paa('-'+key, '--'+key, action='append_const', dest='_flags', const=value)
+            else:
+                paa('--'+key, action='append_const', dest='_flags', const=value)
+    
+    def _convert_to_config(self):
+        """self.parsed_data->self.config, parse unrecognized extra args via KVLoader."""
+        # remove subconfigs list from namespace before transforming the Namespace
+        if '_flags' in self.parsed_data:
+            subcs = self.parsed_data._flags
+            del self.parsed_data._flags
+        else:
+            subcs = []
+        
+        for k, v in vars(self.parsed_data).iteritems():
+            if v is None:
+                # it was a flag that shares the name of an alias
+                subcs.append(self.alias_flags[k])
+            else:
+                # eval the KV assignment
+                self._exec_config_str(k, v)
+        
+        for subc in subcs:
+            self.config.update(subc)
+        
+        if self.extra_args:
+            sub_parser = KeyValueConfigLoader()
+            sub_parser.load_config(self.extra_args)
+            self.config.update(sub_parser.config)
+            self.extra_args = sub_parser.extra_args