argparse action to get a default arg value from environment

envdefault.py

# originally found in https://stackoverflow.com/a/10551190

import argparse
import os

class EnvDefault(argparse.Action):
    def __init__(self, envvar, required=True, default=None, **kwargs):
        if not default and envvar:
            if envvar in os.environ:
                default = os.environ[envvar]
        if required and default:
            required = False
        super(EnvDefault, self).__init__(default=default, required=required, 
                                         **kwargs)

    def __call__(self, parser, namespace, values, option_string=None):
        setattr(namespace, self.dest, values)