because who doesn't love a good script

argparse.py

import argparse
import config_file as cfg # a config file


# i like to have 'main' as a stand-alone function, so I have the option
# of importing this file as a module, and calling main directly
def main(*args):
  # in which we do the things
  print('Running main function')


# in which we parse the arguments passed to the script
if __name__ == "__main__":
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Identify anomalies in port counts')
    
    # a string
    parser.add_argument('-d', '--date',
                        action='store',
                        help='Date-time string (format yyyy-mm-ddTHH:MM)',
                        default=None)
                        
    # an integer
    parser.add_argument('-n', '--numdays',
                        action='store',
                        type=int,
                        help='Number of days back to use for baseline',
                        default=30)

    # pull default value from a config file
    parser.add_argument('-l', '--minlen', type=int, action='store', 
                        help='Minimum length of domain SLD', default=cfg.min_len)	
    # a Boolean
    parser.add_argument('-t', '--test-mode',
                        action='store_true',
                        help='run in test mode',
                        default=None)
    
    # a mutually exclusive group
    group = parser.add_mutually_exclusive_group(required=True)
    group.add_argument('--dst',
                        action='store_true',
                        help='Analyze by dstport',
                        default=None)
    group.add_argument('--src',
                        action='store_true',
                        help='Analyze by srcport',
                        default=None)
    
    args = parser.parse_args()
    
    if args.test_mode:  
      print(args)
    else:
      # how to handle our mutually exclusive arguments 
      if args.dst:
          logging.info('Analyzing dstport')
          port = 'dstport'
          direction = 'outbound'
      elif args.src:
          logging.info('Analyzing srcport')
          port = 'srcport'
          direction = 'inbound'

      # finally, call the main function
      main(args.date, args.numdays, args.minlen, port, direction)

'''
How to call the script:

    python argparse.py -d '2020-03-04' -n 30 -l 5 --dst
    python argparse.py -h
    python argparse.py -t
'''