René's URL Explorer Experiment

{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","headline":"Add a page to the documentation listing stdlib modules with a command-line interface (CLI)","articleBody":"While reviewing PR #109152, I discover that the sqlite3 module has a command line interface. Maybe I knew and then I forgot.\n\nIs there a a documentation page listing all modules with a command-line interface (CLI)? I don't know so.\n\nBy searching for ``main(`` pattern and for ``__main__.py`` files, so far, I found:\n\n* ast: https://docs.python.org/dev/library/ast.html#command-line-usage\n* asyncio: https://docs.python.org/dev/library/asyncio.html just one sentence, \"You can experiment with an asyncio concurrent context in the REPL\".\n* base64: shhh, it's a secret, it's not documented!\n* calendar: https://docs.python.org/dev/library/calendar.html#command-line-usage\n* compileall: https://docs.python.org/dev/library/compileall.html#command-line-use\n* ensurepip: https://docs.python.org/dev/library/ensurepip.html#command-line-interface\n* gzip: https://docs.python.org/dev/library/gzip.html#command-line-interface\n* idlelib: not sure if it's the same as: https://docs.python.org/dev/library/idle.html#command-line-usage\n* json.tool: https://docs.python.org/dev/library/json.html#module-json.tool\n* pdb: https://docs.python.org/3/library/pdb.html\n* profile: https://docs.python.org/dev/library/profile.html#instant-user-s-manual\n* py_compile: https://docs.python.org/dev/library/py_compile.html#command-line-interface\n* quopri: (missing)\n* site: https://docs.python.org/dev/library/site.html#command-line-interface\n* sqlite3 https://docs.python.org/3/library/sqlite3.html#command-line-interface\n* tabnanny: https://docs.python.org/dev/library/tabnanny.html\n* tarfile: https://docs.python.org/dev/library/tarfile.html#command-line-interface\n* timeit: https://docs.python.org/dev/library/timeit.html#command-line-interface\n* tokenize: https://docs.python.org/dev/library/tokenize.html#command-line-usage\n* trace: https://docs.python.org/dev/library/trace.html#command-line-usage\n* turtledemo: https://docs.python.org/3/library/turtle.html#module-turtledemo\n* uuid: https://docs.python.org/dev/library/uuid.html#command-line-example\n* unittest: https://docs.python.org/dev/library/unittest.html#command-line-interface\n* venv: https://docs.python.org/dev/library/venv.html#creating-virtual-environments\n* webbrowser: https://docs.python.org/3.14/library/webbrowser.html\n* zipapp: https://docs.python.org/dev/library/zipapp.html#command-line-interface\n* zipfile: https://docs.python.org/dev/library/zipfile.html#command-line-interface\n\nSome modules include self-tests in their main() function. I dislike that and I would suggest to remove it and at least move it to their test suite.\n\n* ctypes.util: self-test\n* ctypes.textpad: demo\n* curses.has_key: self-test?\n* ``dbm.__init__``: get the DB type... but this CLI is not easy discoverable, it's in the __init__ module!\n* getopt: self-test\n* heapq: self-test\n* shlex: print tokens. Is it really useful?\n* imaplib: self-test, \"test the IMAP4_stream class\"\n* modulefinder: self-test\n* netrc: just parse ``~/.netrc`` if available, and then display nothing... not very useful\n* random: benchmark\n* smtplib: \"Test the sendmail method\", try to send an email to localhost SMTP server.\n* symtable: self-test. parse itself (symtable.py)\n* turtle: it's a demo. Looks more like an easter egg or advanced example than \"an useful CLI\".\n* textwrap: self-test\n* tkinter: self-test\n* wsgiref.simple_server: self-test, run a server, open itself in a browser, stop the server.\n* xml.sax.expatreader: Sheakspear easter egg.\n* xml.sax.xmlreader: self-test.\n* xmlrpc.client + xmlrpc.server: simple demo.\n\n\u003c!-- gh-linked-prs --\u003e\n### Linked PRs\n* gh-109436\n\u003c!-- /gh-linked-prs --\u003e\n","author":{"url":"https://github.com/vstinner","@type":"Person","name":"vstinner"},"datePublished":"2023-09-15T07:19:37.000Z","interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":"https://schema.org/CommentAction","userInteractionCount":19},"url":"https://github.com/109435/cpython/issues/109435"}