{"categories":[{"label":"Utilities","url":"https://skillfed.io/packages/category/utilities/4"}],"enrichment":{"capability":"Provides Windows-compatible command-line argument parsing and quoting, handling both legacy (pre-VS 2005) and modern C runtime argument-parsing behaviors that standard shlex does not support.","skillfed_tags":["windows-cli","argument-parsing"],"use_cases":["Building cross-platform CLI tools that need to invoke Windows executables with properly escaped arguments.","Implementing build systems or package managers that must handle Windows command-line parsing correctly.","Parsing command-line arguments from Windows programs that use either legacy or modern C runtime conventions.","Testing or validating Windows argument quoting in tools that generate Windows batch or PowerShell commands.","Migrating POSIX shell scripts to Windows while preserving correct argument handling."],"what_it_does":"mslex is a Windows-specific port of Python's shlex module that correctly handles Windows command-line quoting and parsing. Unlike shlex, which follows POSIX conventions, mslex accounts for the quirks of Windows argument parsing\u2014specifically the different behaviors between legacy msvcrt.dll (which exhibits modulo-3 periodic quoting behavior from pre-VS 2005) and modern C runtimes (UCRT from VS 2005 onward). The package provides three functions\u2014split, quote, and join\u2014mirroring shlex's interface.\n\nWhen parsing, mslex validates that a quoted string parses identically under both legacy and modern rules, raising an error if they disagree; you can override this by explicitly setting ucrt=True or ucrt=False. This is useful for developers building command-line tools on Windows, cross-platform build systems, or tools that invoke other Windows programs and need to correctly escape arguments. The package has no runtime dependencies and is marked Production/Stable, though development is dormant.","worth_installing":"Yes, if you are building Windows command-line tools or cross-platform systems that invoke Windows programs. The package solves a real, non-obvious problem (Windows quoting is genuinely different from POSIX) with no dependencies and permissive licensing. However, dormant maintenance (667 days since last release) means you should verify it handles your specific Windows versions and C runtime targets before relying on it in production."},"id":"mslex","links":{"html":"https://skillfed.io/packages/mslex","md":"https://skillfed.io/packages/mslex.md","pypi":"https://pypi.org/project/mslex/"},"maintenance":{"status":"dormant"},"meta":{"latest_release":"2024-10-16","license_spdx":null,"license_treatment":"permissive","name":"mslex","python_support":"supports_current","summary":"shlex for windows"},"popularity":{"monthly_downloads":1080151,"position":4397,"tier":"top_5000"},"security":{"n_vulnerabilities":0},"version":"1.3.0"}