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fix: inherit HideHelpCommand in subcommands #2395

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Merged
dearchap merged 3 commits into from
Aug 16, 2026
+77 −1
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fix: inherit HideHelpCommand in subcommands #2395

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c8d40bf
fix: inherit HideHelpCommand in subcommands
utkarshalpha Jul 26, 2026
db44817
Document that HideHelpCommand is inherited by subcommands
utkarshalpha Aug 15, 2026
8f56e7f
Merge branch 'main' into fix/hide-help-command-inheritance
dearchap Aug 16, 2026
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3 changes: 3 additions & 0 deletions command.go
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -46,6 +46,9 @@ type Command struct {
Flags []Flag `json:"flags"`
// Boolean to hide built-in help command and help flag
HideHelp bool `json:"hideHelp"`
// Boolean to hide the built-in help command. Applies to this command and
// all of its subcommands: as with HideHelp, a true value is inherited and
// a subcommand cannot turn it back off.
// Ignored if HideHelp is true.
HideHelpCommand bool `json:"hideHelpCommand"`
// Boolean to hide built-in version flag and the VERSION section of help
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13 changes: 12 additions & 1 deletion command_setup.go
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -227,14 +227,25 @@ func (cmd *Command) hideHelp() bool {
return false
}

func (cmd *Command) hideHelpCommand() bool {

@dearchap dearchap Aug 15, 2026

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Minor: with this change HideHelpCommand now propagates to all descendants, but its doc comment in command.go still reads // Ignored if HideHelp is true. only. A short note that the value applies to this command and its subcommands would prevent confusion about why a nested command lost its help command.

tracef("hide help command (cmd=%[1]q)", cmd.Name)
for c := cmd; c != nil; c = c.parent {
if c.HideHelpCommand {
return true
}
}

return false
}

func (cmd *Command) ensureHelp() {
tracef("ensuring help (cmd=%[1]q)", cmd.Name)

helpCommand := buildHelpCommand(true)

if !cmd.hideHelp() {
if cmd.Command(helpCommand.Name) == nil {
if !cmd.HideHelpCommand {
if !cmd.hideHelpCommand() {

@dearchap dearchap Aug 15, 2026

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Heads-up: this is a behavior change for nested trees, not just a bug fix. hideHelpCommand() walks the whole ancestor chain, so once any ancestor sets HideHelpCommand: true, a descendant cannot re-enable the built-in help command — even by explicitly setting HideHelpCommand: false on itself. Before this change, app config help still worked when only the root hid the command, because each command's own field value controlled the append. If that was intentional (matching HideHelp inheritance semantics), consider noting it explicitly in the release notes.

tracef("appending helpCommand (cmd=%[1]q)", cmd.Name)
cmd.appendCommand(helpCommand)
}
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3 changes: 3 additions & 0 deletions godoc-current.txt
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Expand Up @@ -464,6 +464,9 @@ type Command struct {
Flags []Flag `json:"flags"`
// Boolean to hide built-in help command and help flag
HideHelp bool `json:"hideHelp"`
// Boolean to hide the built-in help command. Applies to this command and
// all of its subcommands: as with HideHelp, a true value is inherited and
// a subcommand cannot turn it back off.
// Ignored if HideHelp is true.
HideHelpCommand bool `json:"hideHelpCommand"`
// Boolean to hide built-in version flag and the VERSION section of help
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56 changes: 56 additions & 0 deletions help_test.go
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Expand Up @@ -1271,8 +1271,11 @@ func TestHideHelpCommand_WithHideHelp(t *testing.T) {
}

func TestHideHelpCommand_WithSubcommands(t *testing.T) {
out := &bytes.Buffer{}
cmd := &Command{
HideHelpCommand: true,
Writer: out,
ErrWriter: out,
Commands: []*Command{
{
Name: "nully",
Expand All @@ -1289,6 +1292,59 @@ func TestHideHelpCommand_WithSubcommands(t *testing.T) {

r.ErrorContains(cmd.Run(buildTestContext(t), []string{"cli.test", "help"}), "No help topic for 'help'")
r.NoError(cmd.Run(buildTestContext(t), []string{"cli.test", "--help"}))

out.Reset()
r.ErrorContains(cmd.Run(buildTestContext(t), []string{"cli.test", "nully", "help"}), "No help topic for 'help'")
r.NoError(cmd.Run(buildTestContext(t), []string{"cli.test", "nully", "--help"}))
r.NotContains(out.String(), "help, h")

out.Reset()
r.ErrorContains(cmd.Run(buildTestContext(t), []string{"cli.test", "nully", "nully2", "help"}), "No help topic for 'help'")
r.NoError(cmd.Run(buildTestContext(t), []string{"cli.test", "nully", "nully2", "--help"}))
r.NotContains(out.String(), "help, h")
}

// A subcommand cannot re-enable the help command once an ancestor has hidden
// it. This mirrors HideHelp, which has always been inherited the same way.
func TestHideHelpCommand_SubcommandCannotOptBackIn(t *testing.T) {
out := &bytes.Buffer{}
cmd := &Command{
HideHelpCommand: true,
Writer: out,
ErrWriter: out,
Commands: []*Command{
{
Name: "nully",
HideHelpCommand: false, // ignored, the root already hid it
},
},
}

r := require.New(t)

r.ErrorContains(cmd.Run(buildTestContext(t), []string{"cli.test", "nully", "help"}), "No help topic for 'help'")
r.NoError(cmd.Run(buildTestContext(t), []string{"cli.test", "nully", "--help"}))
r.NotContains(out.String(), "help, h")
}

// The same inheritance already applies to HideHelp, so the two fields stay
// consistent with each other.
func TestHideHelp_SubcommandCannotOptBackIn(t *testing.T) {
cmd := &Command{
HideHelp: true,
Writer: io.Discard,
Commands: []*Command{
{
Name: "nully",
HideHelp: false, // ignored, the root already hid it
},
},
}

r := require.New(t)

r.ErrorContains(cmd.Run(buildTestContext(t), []string{"cli.test", "nully", "help"}), "No help topic for 'help'")
r.ErrorContains(cmd.Run(buildTestContext(t), []string{"cli.test", "nully", "--help"}), providedButNotDefinedErrMsg)
}

func TestDefaultCompleteWithFlags(t *testing.T) {
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3 changes: 3 additions & 0 deletions testdata/godoc-v3.x.txt
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Expand Up @@ -464,6 +464,9 @@ type Command struct {
Flags []Flag `json:"flags"`
// Boolean to hide built-in help command and help flag
HideHelp bool `json:"hideHelp"`
// Boolean to hide the built-in help command. Applies to this command and
// all of its subcommands: as with HideHelp, a true value is inherited and
// a subcommand cannot turn it back off.
// Ignored if HideHelp is true.
HideHelpCommand bool `json:"hideHelpCommand"`
// Boolean to hide built-in version flag and the VERSION section of help
Expand Down