>>> # create the top-level parser >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='PROG') >>> parser.add_argument('--foo', action='store_true', help='foo help') >>> subparsers = parser.add_subparsers(help='sub-command help') >>> >>> # create the parser for the "a" command >>> parser_a = subparsers.add_parser('a', help='a help') >>> parser_a.add_argument('bar', type=int, help='bar help') >>> >>> # create the parser for the "b" command >>> parser_b = subparsers.add_parser('b', help='b help') >>> parser_b.add_argument('--baz', choices='XYZ', help='baz help') >>> >>> # parse some argument lists >>> parser.parse_args(['a', '12']) Namespace(bar=12, foo=False) >>> parser.parse_args(['--foo', 'b', '--baz', 'Z']) Namespace(baz='Z', foo=True) example from: https://docs.python.org/3/library/argparse.html#sub-commands