lineno.py

#!/usr/bin/env python

import argparse
import sys


def line_numbers(lnos):
    l = []
    for lno in map(lambda v: v.split('-'), lnos.split(',')):
        try:
            if len(lno) == 1:
                l.append((int(lno[0]), int(lno[0])))
            else:
                l.append((int(lno[0]), int(lno[1])))
        except:
            raise argparse.ArgumentTypeError('Could not parse %s as a line number' % lno)
    return l

parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Prints the lines in range')
parser.add_argument('linenumbers', type=line_numbers)
parser.add_argument('file', type=argparse.FileType('r'), help='File to read from')


if __name__ == '__main__':
    args = parser.parse_args()
    lines = list(args.file.readlines())
    for lnos in args.linenumbers:
        sys.stdout.write(''.join(lines[lnos[0] - 1:lnos[1]]))