Should show sub commands when there are no args?

[ryuheechul]

I know I can add --help (which mask telling me that without the args) and that shows the sub commands. But why not showing the sub commands with just mask? Curious if there is any down sides on that.

[ryuheechul]

(actually mask help works too not just mask --help which is great 👍🏼)

[ryuheechul]

(after using mask some more) my question also applies to sub commands as well.
Let's say there is a maskfile.md like below.

## a
### b
#### c

~~~sh
echo "I'm c"
~~~

running mask a b doesn't let me know about c but show this output below.

error: 'mask a b' requires a subcommand, but one was not provided

USAGE:
    mask a b <SUBCOMMAND>

For more information try --help

now with either of the below will reveal the sub command c:

• mask alloy helm --help
• mask alloy helm help

mask-a-b


USAGE:
    mask a b <SUBCOMMAND>

FLAGS:
    -h, --help       Prints help information
    -V, --version    Prints version information

SUBCOMMANDS:
    help       Prints this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)
    c

So my initial argument holds even more with sub commands.

Why not just reveal the sub command without adding help or --help too?
So discovering further down the depth can become easier and quicker.

[jacobdeichert]

why not showing the sub commands with just mask?

Good question...

First is that mask's help/--help command is powered by clap and I believe we don't customize any part of the output. I do want to upgrade or even replace clap with something lighter possibly, and would prefer to customize the help output instead of relying on the underlying library to do that.

Second, when you run mask or mask <subcommand> and it requires a further subcommand, clap takes over and spits out that error: 'mask' requires a subcommand, but one was not provided. I can't remember if we can intercept that or not.. if we can intercept that we could override it. When I get around to replacing clap we'll have more control to do so.

[ryuheechul]

Hey, thanks for the reply! So it's mostly coming from the limitations of using clap to handle those parts and potentially replace it with some other ways in the future, noted!