gh-138697: Fix inferring dest from a single-dash long option in argparse (#138699)

* gh-138697: Fix inferring dest from a single-dash long option in argparse

If a short option and a single-dash long option are passed to add_argument(),
dest is now inferred from the single-dash long option.

* Make double-dash options taking priority over single-dash long options.

---------

Co-authored-by: Savannah Ostrowski <savannah@python.org>

Doc/library/argparse.rst

@@ -1322,8 +1322,12 @@ attribute is determined by the ``dest`` keyword argument of
 
 For optional argument actions, the value of ``dest`` is normally inferred from
 the option strings.  :class:`ArgumentParser` generates the value of ``dest`` by
-taking the first long option string and stripping away the initial ``--``
+taking the first double-dash long option string and stripping away the initial
-string.  If no long option strings were supplied, ``dest`` will be derived from
+``-`` characters.
+If no double-dash long option strings were supplied, ``dest`` will be derived
+from the first single-dash long option string by stripping the initial ``-``
+character.
+If no long option strings were supplied, ``dest`` will be derived from
 the first short option string by stripping the initial ``-`` character.  Any
 internal ``-`` characters will be converted to ``_`` characters to make sure
 the string is a valid attribute name.  The examples below illustrate this
@@ -1331,11 +1335,12 @@ behavior::
 
    >>> parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
    >>> parser.add_argument('-f', '--foo-bar', '--foo')
+   >>> parser.add_argument('-q', '-quz')
    >>> parser.add_argument('-x', '-y')
-   >>> parser.parse_args('-f 1 -x 2'.split())
+   >>> parser.parse_args('-f 1 -q 2 -x 3'.split())
-   Namespace(foo_bar='1', x='2')
+   Namespace(foo_bar='1', quz='2', x='3')
-   >>> parser.parse_args('--foo 1 -y 2'.split())
+   >>> parser.parse_args('--foo 1 -quz 2 -y 3'.split())
-   Namespace(foo_bar='1', x='2')
+   Namespace(foo_bar='1', quz='2', x='2')
 
 ``dest`` allows a custom attribute name to be provided::
 
@@ -1344,6 +1349,9 @@ behavior::
    >>> parser.parse_args('--foo XXX'.split())
    Namespace(bar='XXX')
 
+.. versionchanged:: next
+   Single-dash long option now takes precedence over short options.
+
 
 .. _deprecated:
 

Doc/whatsnew/3.15.rst

@@ -1275,3 +1275,10 @@ that may require changes to your code.
   Use its :meth:`!close` method or the :func:`contextlib.closing` context
   manager to close it.
   (Contributed by Osama Abdelkader and Serhiy Storchaka in :gh:`140601`.)
+
+* If a short option and a single-dash long option are passed to
+  :meth:`argparse.ArgumentParser.add_argument`, *dest* is now inferred from
+  the single-dash long option. For example, in ``add_argument('-f', '-foo')``,
+  *dest* is now ``'foo'`` instead of ``'f'``.
+  Pass an explicit *dest* argument to preserve the old behavior.
+  (Contributed by Serhiy Storchaka in :gh:`138697`.)

Lib/argparse.py

@@ -1660,29 +1660,35 @@ def _get_positional_kwargs(self, dest, **kwargs):
     def _get_optional_kwargs(self, *args, **kwargs):
         # determine short and long option strings
         option_strings = []
-        long_option_strings = []
         for option_string in args:
             # error on strings that don't start with an appropriate prefix
             if not option_string[0] in self.prefix_chars:
                 raise ValueError(
                     f'invalid option string {option_string!r}: '
                     f'must start with a character {self.prefix_chars!r}')
-
-            # strings starting with two prefix characters are long options
             option_strings.append(option_string)
-            if len(option_string) > 1 and option_string[1] in self.prefix_chars:
-                long_option_strings.append(option_string)
 
         # infer destination, '--foo-bar' -> 'foo_bar' and '-x' -> 'x'
         dest = kwargs.pop('dest', None)
         if dest is None:
-            if long_option_strings:
+            priority = 0
-                dest_option_string = long_option_strings[0]
+            for option_string in option_strings:
-            else:
+                if len(option_string) <= 2:
-                dest_option_string = option_strings[0]
+                    # short option: '-x' -> 'x'
-            dest = dest_option_string.lstrip(self.prefix_chars)
+                    if priority < 1:
+                        dest = option_string.lstrip(self.prefix_chars)
+                        priority = 1
+                elif option_string[1] not in self.prefix_chars:
+                    # single-dash long option: '-foo' -> 'foo'
+                    if priority < 2:
+                        dest = option_string.lstrip(self.prefix_chars)
+                        priority = 2
+                else:
+                    # two-dash long option: '--foo' -> 'foo'
+                    dest = option_string.lstrip(self.prefix_chars)
+                    break
             if not dest:
-                msg = f'dest= is required for options like {option_string!r}'
+                msg = f'dest= is required for options like {repr(option_strings)[1:-1]}'
                 raise TypeError(msg)
             dest = dest.replace('-', '_')
 

Lib/test/test_argparse.py

@@ -581,13 +581,22 @@ class TestOptionalsShortLong(ParserTestCase):
 class TestOptionalsDest(ParserTestCase):
     """Tests various means of setting destination"""
 
-    argument_signatures = [Sig('--foo-bar'), Sig('--baz', dest='zabbaz')]
+    argument_signatures = [
+        Sig('-x', '-foobar', '--foo-bar', '-barfoo', '-X'),
+        Sig('--baz', dest='zabbaz'),
+        Sig('-y', '-qux', '-Y'),
+        Sig('-z'),
+    ]
     failures = ['a']
     successes = [
-        ('--foo-bar f', NS(foo_bar='f', zabbaz=None)),
+        ('--foo-bar f', NS(foo_bar='f', zabbaz=None, qux=None, z=None)),
-        ('--baz g', NS(foo_bar=None, zabbaz='g')),
+        ('-x f', NS(foo_bar='f', zabbaz=None, qux=None, z=None)),
-        ('--foo-bar h --baz i', NS(foo_bar='h', zabbaz='i')),
+        ('--baz g', NS(foo_bar=None, zabbaz='g', qux=None, z=None)),
-        ('--baz j --foo-bar k', NS(foo_bar='k', zabbaz='j')),
+        ('--foo-bar h --baz i', NS(foo_bar='h', zabbaz='i', qux=None, z=None)),
+        ('--baz j --foo-bar k', NS(foo_bar='k', zabbaz='j', qux=None, z=None)),
+        ('-qux l', NS(foo_bar=None, zabbaz=None, qux='l', z=None)),
+        ('-y l', NS(foo_bar=None, zabbaz=None, qux='l', z=None)),
+        ('-z m', NS(foo_bar=None, zabbaz=None, qux=None, z='m')),
     ]
 
 
@@ -5611,6 +5620,8 @@ def test_invalid_option_strings(self):
         self.assertTypeError('-', errmsg='dest= is required')
         self.assertTypeError('--', errmsg='dest= is required')
         self.assertTypeError('---', errmsg='dest= is required')
+        self.assertTypeError('-', '--', '---',
+                errmsg="dest= is required for options like '-', '--', '---'")
 
     def test_invalid_prefix(self):
         self.assertValueError('--foo', '+foo',

Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2025-09-09-13-00-42.gh-issue-138697.QVwJw_.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+Fix inferring *dest* from a single-dash long option in :mod:`argparse`. If a
+short option and a single-dash long option are passed to
+:meth:`!add_argument`, *dest* is now inferred from the single-dash long
+option.