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<H1><A NAME="SECTION0071900000000000000000">
5.19 <tt class="module">cmd</tt> --
Support for line-oriented command interpreters</A>
</H1>
<P>
<A NAME="module-cmd"><!--z--></A>
<P>
The <tt class="class">Cmd</tt> class provides a simple framework for writing
line-oriented command interpreters. These are often useful for
test harnesses, administrative tools, and prototypes that will
later be wrapped in a more sophisticated interface.
<P>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
<td><nobr><b><span class="typelabel">class</span> <tt id='l2h-1291' class="class">Cmd</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
<td><big>[</big><var>completekey</var><big>]</big><var>,</var><big>[</big><var>stdin</var><big>]</big><var>,</var><big>[</big><var>stdout</var><big>]</big>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
A <tt class="class">Cmd</tt> instance or subclass instance is a line-oriented
interpreter framework. There is no good reason to instantiate
<tt class="class">Cmd</tt> itself; rather, it's useful as a superclass of an
interpreter class you define yourself in order to inherit
<tt class="class">Cmd</tt>'s methods and encapsulate action methods.
<P>
The optional argument <var>completekey</var> is the <tt class="module"><a href="module-readline.html">readline</a></tt> name
of a completion key; it defaults to <kbd>Tab</kbd>. If <var>completekey</var> is
not <code>None</code> and <tt class="module">readline</tt> is available, command completion
is done automatically.
<P>
The optional arguments <var>stdin</var> and <var>stdout</var> specify the
input and output file objects that the Cmd instance or subclass
instance will use for input and output. If not specified, they
will default to <var>sys.stdin</var> and <var>sys.stdout</var>.
<P>
<span class="versionnote">Changed in version 2.3:
The <var>stdin</var> and <var>stdout</var> parameters were added..</span>
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<span class="release-info">Release 2.3.4, documentation updated on May 20, 2004.</span>
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