CLI Comparison

Java Command Line Parsers Comparison

Overview

Overview

Name	Creator	First Public Release	Latest Stable Version	Latest Release Date	Minimum Java Version	Software License
picocli	Remko Popma	2017-04-15	4.6.3	2022-02-09	5	Apache 2.0
Airline	Airlift	2012-01-15	0.8	2017-08-28	8	Apache 2.0
Airline 2	Rob Vesse	2015-06-22	2.7.2	2019-07-23	7	Apache 2.0
argparse4j	Tatsuhiro Tsujikawa	2011-11-30	0.8.1	2017-09-18	6	MIT
argparser	John Lloyd	Fall 2004	1	Fall 2004	4	-
args4j	Kohsuke Kawaguchi	2005-05-10	2.33	2016-01-31	6	MIT
clajr	Marco Tonti	2006-05-16	0.9	2006-05-16	4	LGPL 2
cli-parser	Sam Pullara	2011-09-18	1.1.5	2019-01-25	5	Apache 2.0
CmdLn	Stephen Ostermiller	2003-01	1.08.02	2010	5	GPL
Commandline	Jan Kroken	2014-03-06	1.7.0	2014-03-06	8	Apache 2.0
DocOpt.java	Docopt	2014-07-21	0.6.0	2014-08-16	6	BSD
DPML CLI (Jakarta Commons CLI2 fork)	The Digital Product Meta Library	2006-12-01	2.1.1	2008-08-22	6	Apache 2.0
Dr. Matthias Laux	Matthias Laux	2004-08	1.0	2004-08	5	-
Jakarta Commons CLI	Apache Commons	2002-11-06	1.4	2017-03-09	5	Apache 2.0
jargo	Softhouse	2013-03-18	0.1.1	2013-08-22	6	Apache 2.0
jargp	Dennis M. Sosnoski	2003	1.0	2013-02-27	4	BSD
jargs	Steve Purcell & Ewan Mellor	2001	1.0	2013-04-17	5	BSD
java-getopt	Aaron M. Renn	1998	1.0.14	2012-02-08	4	LGPL 2
JCLAP	Giles Winstanley	2011-07-05	2.0	2018-12-04	8	BSD
jcmdline	Lynne Lawrence	2002-10-29	2.0.0	2002-10-29	4	Mozilla Public License 1.1
jcommander	Cédric Beust	2010-10-12	1.71	2017-05-17	8	Apache 2.0
jcommando	Brett Wool- dridge	2005-06-22	1.2	2011-08-19	?	zlib/libpng (binary distribution)
jewelcli	Tim Wood	2011-10-20	0.8.9	2014-02-13	6	Apache 2.0
JOpt simple	Paul Holser	06-Nov-2011?	5.0.4	2017-07-14	8	MIT
jsap	Martian Software	2004-02-24	2.1	2006-08-03	4	LGPL
naturalcli	Ferran Busquets	2007-12-08	1.2.2	2008-07-20	4?	Apache 2.0
parse-cmd	jf.zarama	2008-08-09	0.0.93	2011-09-19	4	Apache 2.0
ritopt	Damian Ryan Eads	2001-10-18	0.2.1	2001-10-24	3	GPL
Rop	ryenus	2013-03-23	1.1.1	2013-09-18	7	MIT
TE-Code Command	Andrew S. Townley	2003-06-07	3.0.0-pre3	2005-02-06	4	BSD

Product Comparison

Product Comparison

Name	API	Generates Usage Help	Custom- izable Usage Help	User Manual	Facilitates Source Inclusion	Required depen- dencies
picocli	annotations & reflection, and builder API (use either or both together)	yes	yes	yes	yes	-
Airline	annotations & reflection	yes		readme	no	Google Guava
Active Airline fork	annotations & reflection	yes		yes	no	Javax Inject, Apache Commons Collections 4
argparse4j	Builder	yes		yes	no	-
argparser	Builder	yes		javadoc	yes	-
args4j	annotations & reflection	yes		partial	no	-
clajr	method name reflection	yes		readme	yes	-
cli-parser	annotations & reflection	yes		readme	yes	-
CmdLn	Builder	yes		readme	yes	-
Commandline	annotations & reflection	no	-	readme	no	-
DocOpt.java	Generates code from usage help	yes	yes	readme	yes	-
DPML CLI (Jakarta Commons CLI2 fork)	Builder	yes		yes	no	?
Dr. Matthias Laux	Builder	no	-	yes	yes	-
Jakarta Commons CLI	Builder	yes		yes	yes	-
jargo	Builder	yes		readme & javadoc	no	Google Guava
jargp	Descriptor & reflection	no	-	no	yes	-
jargs	Builder	no	-	no	yes	-
java-getopt	Getopt	no	-	javadoc	yes	-
JCLAP	Builder	yes		readme	yes	-
jcmdline	Builder	yes		yes	yes	-
jcommander	annotations & reflection	yes	no	yes	no	-
jcommando	Generates code from XML	yes		yes	yes	-
jewelcli	annotations & reflection	yes		yes	no	optionally Google Guava, Google Guice, LambdaJ, Commons Lang 3
JOpt simple	Builder	yes		yes	no	-
jsap	Builder	yes		yes	no	-
naturalcli	Builder	yes		yes	no	-
parse-cmd	Builder	yes		readme	yes	-
ritopt	Builder	yes		yes	yes	-
Rop	annotations & reflection	yes		readme	yes	-
TE-Code Command	Declarative with callbacks	yes		yes	no	-

Parsing Features

Parsing Features Comparison

Name	POSIX Short Option Groups	Configurable Option Prefix	Strongly Typed Option Parameters	Strongly Typed Positional Parameters	Multi-value Options
picocli	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Airline	yes	no	yes	yes	yes
Airline 2	yes	no	yes	no	yes
argparse4j	yes	yes	yes	no	yes
argparser	no	yes	yes	yes	yes
args4j	no	yes	yes	yes	yes
clajr	no	no	yes	no	yes
cli-parser	no	no	yes	no	no
CmdLn	no	no	no	no	no
Commandline	yes	no	no	no	no
DocOpt.java	yes	no	no	no	yes
DPML CLI (Jakarta Commons CLI2 fork)	yes	no	no	no	yes
Dr. Matthias Laux	no	no	no	no	yes
Jakarta Commons CLI	yes	no	no	no	yes
jargo	no	yes	yes	yes	yes
jargp	no	no	yes	?	yes
jargs	yes	no	yes	no	no
java-getopt	yes	no	no	no	no
JCLAP	yes	no	yes	no	yes
jcmdline	no	no	yes	no	no
jcommander	no	yes	yes	no	yes
jcommando	no	no	numbers	no	no
jewelcli	no	no	yes	yes	yes
JOpt simple	yes	no	yes	yes	yes
jsap	no	no	yes	no	no
naturalcli	no	yes	yes	no	yes
parse-cmd	no	yes	no	no	no
ritopt	no	no	yes	no	yes
Rop	no	no	yes	no	no
TE-Code Command	yes	no	no	no	yes

Advanced Parsing Features

Advanced Parsing Features Comparison

Name	Subcommands	Exclusive Options	Configurable Validation	i18n
picocli	yes	yes (in 4.0)	minimal (use jsr-380)	yes
Airline	yes	no	no	no
Airline 2	yes	yes	no	no
argparse4j	yes	yes	no	layout is locale-aware
argparser	no	no	no	no
args4j	yes	yes	no	yes
clajr	no	no	no	no
cli-parser	no	no	no	no
CmdLn	no	no	yes	no
Commandline	no	no	no	no
DocOpt.java	no	yes	no	no
DPML CLI (Jakarta Commons CLI2 fork)	yes	no	yes	no
Dr. Matthias Laux	no	no	no	no
Jakarta Commons CLI	no	no	no	no
jargo	yes	no	no	no
jargp	no	no	no	no
jargs	no	no	no	no
java-getopt	no	no	no	yes
JCLAP	no	no	no	yes
jcmdline	no	no	no	yes
jcommander	yes	no	yes	yes
jcommando	no	no	no	no
jewelcli	no	no	no	yes
JOpt simple	no	no	no	no
jsap	no	no	no	no
naturalcli	no	no	no	no
parse-cmd	no	no	yes	no
ritopt	yes	no	no	no
Rop	yes	no	no	no
TE-Code Command	no	yes	no	yes