Required flags and optional filename positional arguments by extension do not play together
Author: scopCreated Aug 1, 2026Updated Aug 1, 2026
If one sets for a command
Args: cobra.MaximumNArgs(1),
ValidArgsFunction: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string, toComplete string) ([]string, cobra.ShellCompDirective) {
return []string{"foo", "bar", "baz"}, cobra.ShellCompDirectiveFilterFileExt
},
...and
var foo string
serveCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&foo, "hello", "H", "", "Hello the world")
_ = serveCmd.MarkFlagRequired("hello")
...the resulting completion does not work properly. The required flag(s) get passed "eagerly" to the bash completion filedir function which does not understand the flag, and fails.
With current bash-completion main branch
$ ./my-cli serve <TAB>
[...]
+ __my-cli_debug $'The completions are: --hello\tHello the world\n-H\tHello the world\nfoo\nbar\nbaz\n'
[...]
+ _filedir '--hello|Hello|the|world|-H|Hello|the|world|foo|bar|baz|'
[...]
bash_completion: _comp_compgen_filedir: usage error
A complete example file in a cobra-cli generated project
/*
Copyright © 2026 NAME HERE <EMAIL ADDRESS>
*/
package cmd
import (
"fmt"
"github.com/spf13/cobra"
)
// serveCmd represents the serve command
var serveCmd = &cobra.Command{
Use: "serve",
Short: "A brief description of your command",
Long: `A longer description that spans multiple lines and likely contains examples
and usage of using your command. For example:
Cobra is a CLI library for Go that empowers applications.
This application is a tool to generate the needed files
to quickly create a Cobra application.`,
Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
fmt.Println("serve called")
},
Args: cobra.MaximumNArgs(1),
ValidArgsFunction: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string, toComplete string) ([]string, cobra.ShellCompDirective) {
return []string{"foo", "bar", "baz"}, cobra.ShellCompDirectiveFilterFileExt
},
}
func init() {
var foo string
serveCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&foo, "hello", "H", "", "Hello the world")
_ = serveCmd.MarkFlagRequired("hello")
rootCmd.AddCommand(serveCmd)
// Here you will define your flags and configuration settings.
// Cobra supports Persistent Flags which will work for this command
// and all subcommands, e.g.:
// serveCmd.PersistentFlags().String("foo", "", "A help for foo")
// Cobra supports local flags which will only run when this command
// is called directly, e.g.:
// serveCmd.Flags().BoolP("toggle", "t", false, "Help message for toggle")
}
The description here is a specific one, I have not tried out or thought if this might happen with some other configuration combinations. This is with cobra v1.10.2.
Source: spf13/cobra