Regular usage output with Click command aliases

You need to keep track of the aliases used.

The aliases are kept in a global variable because click uses a lot of context instances.

And you need to implement your own HelpFormatter. This covers all uses of the help construction.

In the write_usage replace the aliases with the full command names. Keep track of aliases filled to cover the case of test_core a a -h as a command for test_core add auto -h. If an alias is not found in prog don't try the next alias used (while instead of for).

import click

clickAliases = []

class AliasedGroup(click.Group):
    def get_command(self, ctx, cmd_name):
        rv = click.Group.get_command(self, ctx, cmd_name)
        if rv is not None:
            return rv
        matches = [x for x in self.list_commands(ctx)
                    if x.startswith(cmd_name)]
        if not matches:
            return None
        elif len(matches) == 1:
            clickAliases.append((cmd_name, matches[0]))
            return click.Group.get_command(self, ctx, matches[0])
        ctx.fail('Too many matches: %s' % ', '.join(sorted(matches)))

class MyHelpFormatter(click.HelpFormatter):
    def write_usage(self, prog, args="", prefix="Usage: "):
        if clickAliases:
            parts = prog.split()
            partIdx = 0
            for alias,cmd in clickAliases:
                while partIdx < len(parts):
                    if parts[partIdx] == alias:
                        parts[partIdx] = cmd
                        partIdx += 1
                        break
                    partIdx += 1
            prog = ' '.join(parts)
        click.HelpFormatter.write_usage(self, prog, args, prefix)

def make_formatter(self):
    return MyHelpFormatter(width=self.terminal_width, max_width=self.max_content_width)
click.Context.make_formatter = make_formatter
# version 8.x makes if easier with
# click.Context.formatter_class = MyHelpFormatter

@click.group(cls=AliasedGroup, context_settings={'help_option_names': ['-h', '--help']})
def cli():
    pass

@cli.group(cls=AliasedGroup)
def add():
    click.echo("add command")

@add.command()
@click.option('--yarr')
def combined(yarr):
    click.echo(f"combined command: {yarr}")

# simulate command arguments - for debugging
# cli(['a', 'c', '-h'], prog_name='test_core')

# normal start
cli(prog_name='test_core')

Terminal output

$ python test_core.py a c -h
add command
Usage: test_core add combined [OPTIONS]

Options:
  --yarr TEXT
  -h, --help   Show this message and exit.