Rename yaml_comments parameter of ArgumentParser.dump to with_comments

CHANGELOG.rst

@@ -21,13 +21,19 @@ Changed
   parser/subcommand the option was given to. Also suggests running ``--help``
   for the corresponding parser/subcommand (`#809
   <https://github.com/omni-us/jsonargparse/pull/809>`__).
+- The ``yaml_comments`` parameter of ``ArgumentParser.dump`` has been renamed to
+  ``with_comments`` to allow future comments support of other formats (`#811
+  <https://github.com/omni-us/jsonargparse/pull/811>`__).
 
 Deprecated
 ^^^^^^^^^^
 - ``ArgumentParser.default_meta`` property and ``with_meta`` parameter of
   ``ArgumentParser.parse_*`` are deprecated and will be removed in v5.0.0.
   Instead use ``.clone(with_meta=...)`` (`#810
   <https://github.com/omni-us/jsonargparse/pull/810>`__).
+- The ``yaml_comments`` parameter of ``ArgumentParser.dump`` is deprecated and
+  will be removed in v5.0.0. Use ``with_comments`` instead (`#811
+  <https://github.com/omni-us/jsonargparse/pull/811>`__).
 
 
 v4.43.0 (2025-11-11)

DOCUMENTATION.rst

@@ -284,7 +284,7 @@ Depending on the parse method used (see :class:`.ArgumentParser`) and how the
 parser was built, some of the options above might not apply. Parsing of
 environment variables must be explicitly enabled, except if using
 :py:meth:`.ArgumentParser.parse_env`. If the parser does not have an
-`action="config"` argument, then there is no parsing of a full config
+``action="config"`` argument, then there is no parsing of a full config
 environment variable or a way to provide a config file from command line.
 
 
@@ -755,9 +755,9 @@ If you import ``from jsonargparse import set_parsing_settings`` and then run
 ``set_parsing_settings(config_read_mode_fsspec_enabled=True)``, the following
 functions and classes will also support loading from URLs:
 :py:meth:`.ArgumentParser.parse_path`, :py:meth:`.ArgumentParser.get_defaults`
-(``default_config_files`` argument), `action="config"`,
+(``default_config_files`` argument), ``action="config"``,
 :class:`.ActionJsonSchema`, :class:`.ActionJsonnet` and :class:`.ActionParser`.
-This means that a tool that can receive a config file via `action="config"` is
+This means that a tool that can receive a config file via ``action="config"`` is
 able to get the content from a URL, thus something like the following would
 work:
 
@@ -1338,7 +1338,7 @@ string respectively.
 Serialization
 -------------
 
-Parsers that have an `action="config"` argument also include a
+Parsers that have an ``action="config"`` argument also include a
 ``--print_config`` option. This is useful particularly for command line tools
 with a large set of options to create an initial config file including all
 default values. If the `ruamel.yaml <https://pypi.org/project/ruamel.yaml>`__
@@ -2550,7 +2550,7 @@ There is also the :py:meth:`.ArgumentParser.parse_env` function to only parse
 environment variables, which might be useful for some use cases in which there
 is no command line call involved.
 
-If a parser includes an `action="config"` argument, then the environment
+If a parser includes an ``action="config"`` argument, then the environment
 variable for this config file will be parsed before all the other environment
 variables.
 
@@ -2758,7 +2758,7 @@ following:
 When using the :class:`.ActionParser` class, the value of the node in a config
 file can be either the complex node itself, or the path to a file which will be
 loaded and parsed with the corresponding inner parser. Naturally using
-`action="config"` to parse a complete config file will parse the inner
+``action="config"`` to parse a complete config file will parse the inner
 nodes correctly.
 
 Note that when adding ``inner_parser`` a title was given. In the help, the added

jsonargparse/_actions.py

@@ -260,7 +260,7 @@ def __call__(self, parser, namespace, value, option_string=None):
         kwargs = {"subparser": parser, "key": None, "skip_none": False, "skip_validation": False}
         valid_flags = {"": None, "skip_default": "skip_default", "skip_null": "skip_none"}
         if ruamel_support:
-            valid_flags["comments"] = "yaml_comments"
+            valid_flags["comments"] = "with_comments"
         if value is not None:
             flags = value[0].split(",")
             invalid_flags = [f for f in flags if f not in valid_flags]

jsonargparse/_core.py

@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@
     argcomplete_namespace,
     handle_completions,
 )
-from ._deprecated import ParserDeprecations, deprecated_skip_check
+from ._deprecated import ParserDeprecations, deprecated_skip_check, deprecated_yaml_comments
 from ._formatters import DefaultHelpFormatter, empty_help, get_env_var
 from ._jsonnet import ActionJsonnet
 from ._jsonschema import ActionJsonSchema
@@ -739,7 +739,7 @@ def dump(
         skip_none: bool = True,
         skip_default: bool = False,
         skip_validation: bool = False,
-        yaml_comments: bool = False,
+        with_comments: bool = False,
         skip_link_targets: bool = True,
         **kwargs,
     ) -> str:
@@ -753,7 +753,7 @@ def dump(
             skip_none: Whether to exclude entries whose value is None.
             skip_default: Whether to exclude entries whose value is the same as the default.
             skip_validation: Whether to skip parser checking.
-            yaml_comments: Whether to add help content as comments. ``yaml_comments=True`` implies ``format='yaml'``.
+            with_comments: Whether to add help content as comments. Currently only supported for ``format='yaml'``.
             skip_link_targets: Whether to exclude link targets.
 
         Returns:
@@ -762,7 +762,9 @@ def dump(
         Raises:
             TypeError: If any of the values of cfg is invalid according to the parser.
         """
+        with_comments = deprecated_yaml_comments(kwargs, with_comments)
         skip_validation = deprecated_skip_check(ArgumentParser.dump, kwargs, skip_validation)
+
         check_valid_dump_format(format)
 
         cfg = cfg.clone(with_meta=False)
@@ -786,7 +788,7 @@ def dump(
                 self._dump_delete_default_entries(cfg_dict, defaults.as_dict())
 
         with parser_context(parent_parser=self):
-            return dump_using_format(self, cfg_dict, "yaml_comments" if yaml_comments else format)
+            return dump_using_format(self, cfg_dict, dump_format=format, with_comments=with_comments)
 
     def _dump_cleanup_actions(self, cfg, actions, dump_kwargs, prefix=""):
         skip_none = dump_kwargs["skip_none"]

jsonargparse/_deprecated.py

@@ -668,6 +668,21 @@ def deprecated_skip_check(component, kwargs: dict, skip_validation: bool) -> boo
     return skip_validation
 
 
+def deprecated_yaml_comments(kwargs: dict, with_comments: bool) -> bool:
+    yaml_comments = kwargs.pop("yaml_comments", None)
+    if yaml_comments is not None:
+        deprecation_warning(
+            deprecated_yaml_comments,
+            (
+                "yaml_comments parameter was deprecated in v4.44.0 and will be removed in "
+                "v5.0.0. Instead use with_comments."
+            ),
+            stacklevel=3,
+        )
+        return yaml_comments
+    return with_comments
+
+
 ParserError = ArgumentError
 
 

jsonargparse/_loaders_dumpers.py

@@ -281,10 +281,16 @@ def check_valid_dump_format(dump_format: str):
         raise ValueError(f'Unknown output format "{dump_format}".')
 
 
-def dump_using_format(parser: ArgumentParser, data: dict, dump_format: str) -> str:
+def dump_using_format(parser: ArgumentParser, data: dict, dump_format: str, with_comments: bool = False) -> str:
     if dump_format == "parser_mode":
         dump_format = parser.parser_mode if parser.parser_mode in dumpers else "yaml"
-    args = (data, parser) if dump_format == "yaml_comments" else (data,)
+    if with_comments:
+        if f"{dump_format}_comments" not in dumpers:
+            if dump_format == "yaml":
+                raise ValueError("ruamel.yaml is required for dumping YAML with comments.")
+            raise ValueError(f"Dumping with comments is not supported for format '{dump_format}'.")
+        dump_format = f"{dump_format}_comments"
+    args = (data, parser) if dump_format.endswith("_comments") else (data,)
     dump = dumpers[dump_format](*args)
     if parser.dump_header and comment_prefix.get(dump_format):
         prefix = comment_prefix[dump_format]

jsonargparse_tests/test_core.py

@@ -566,6 +566,24 @@ def test_dump_order(parser, subtests):
         assert dump == "\n".join(v + ": " + str(n) for n, v in args.items()) + "\n"
 
 
+def test_dump_comments_not_supported(parser):
+    parser.parser_mode = "json"
+    parser.add_argument("--op", type=int, default=1)
+    cfg = parser.get_defaults()
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="Dumping with comments is not supported for format 'json'"):
+        parser.dump(cfg, with_comments=True)
+
+
+@skip_if_no_pyyaml
+def test_dump_comments_missing_ruamel(parser):
+    parser.add_argument("--op", type=int, default=1)
+    cfg = parser.get_defaults()
+    with patch.dict("jsonargparse._loaders_dumpers.dumpers") as dumpers:
+        dumpers.pop("yaml_comments", None)
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="ruamel.yaml is required for dumping YAML with comments"):
+            parser.dump(cfg, with_comments=True)
+
+
 @pytest.fixture
 def parser_schema_jsonnet(parser, example_parser):
     parser.add_argument("--cfg", action="config")

jsonargparse_tests/test_deprecated.py

@@ -853,6 +853,19 @@ def test_DefaultHelpFormatter_yaml_comments(parser):
     assert "formatter.set_yaml_argument_comment(" in source[w[-1].lineno - 1]
 
 
+@pytest.mark.skipif(not ruamel_support, reason="ruamel.yaml package is required")
+def test_deprecated_dump_yaml_comments_parameter(parser):
+    parser.add_argument("--arg", type=int, default=1, help="Description")
+    cfg = parser.get_defaults()
+    with catch_warnings(record=True) as w:
+        parser.dump(cfg, yaml_comments=True)
+    assert_deprecation_warn(
+        w,
+        message="yaml_comments parameter was deprecated in v4.44.0 and will be removed in v5.0.0",
+        code="parser.dump(cfg, yaml_comments=True)",
+    )
+
+
 @dataclasses.dataclass
 class ComposeA:
     a: int = 1