Pass config file(s) and load default vals in `argparse`

college_configs.py

#!/usr/bin/env python3
# coding: utf-8
"""
    :author: pk13055
    :brief: wrapper script for pars initiation
"""
import argparse
import configparser
from multiprocessing import set_start_method
import sys


def collect_configs(argv=None):
    """Collect arguments
    """
    # Do argv default this way, as doing it in the functional
    # declaration sets it at compile time.
    if argv is None:
        argv = sys.argv

    # Parse any conf_file specification
    # We make this parser with add_help=False so that
    # it doesn't parse -h and print help.
    conf_parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
        description=__doc__,  # printed with -h/--help
        # Don't mess with format of description
        formatter_class=argparse.RawDescriptionHelpFormatter,
        # Turn off help, so we print all options in response to -h
        add_help=False
    )
    conf_parser.add_argument('-c', '--config', dest='configs', action='append',
                             default=['configs/default.cfg'],
                             help="configuration file paths")
    args, remaining_argv = conf_parser.parse_known_args()

    config = configparser.ConfigParser()
    success = config.read(args.configs)
    failed = list(set(args.configs) - set(success))

    def map_value(section: str, k: str):
        if config.get(section, k) in ['yes', 'on', 'no', 'off', 'true', 'false', '1', '0']:
            return config.getboolean(section, k)
        else:
            try:
                return config.getint(section, k)
            except ValueError:
                return config.getfloat(section, k)

    sections = {
        'default': {
            k: map_value('DEFAULT', k) for k, v in config.defaults().items()
        }
    }
    [
        sections.update({
            section: {
                k: map_value(section, k) for k in config[section].keys()
            }
        }) for section in config.sections()
    ]

    # add high level cli options here
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(parents=[conf_parser])
    parser.add_argument('--verbose', '-v', action='count', default=3)
    parser.set_defaults(**sections.get('default', dict()))
    args = parser.parse_args(remaining_argv)

    sections.pop('default')  # since args will contain the default values
    return sections, args


def main():
    section, args = collect_configs()
    print(section, args)
    # TODO: add code here


if __name__ == "__main__":
    sys.exit(main())