Python argparse argument with quotes

Command line is parsed into argument vector by python process itself. Depending on how python is built, that would be done by some sort of run-time library. For Windows build, that would be most likely MS Visual C++ runtime library. More details about how it parses command line can be found in Visual C++ documentation: Parsing C++ command-Line arguments.

In particular:

• A string surrounded by double quotation marks ("string") is interpreted as a single argument, regardless of white space contained within. A quoted string can be embedded in an argument.

• A double quotation mark preceded by a backslash (\") is interpreted as a literal double quotation mark character (").

If you want to see unprocessed command line, on Windows you can do this:

import win32api
print(win32api.GetCommandLine())

I think it is the shell that eats them, so python will actually never see them. Escaping them on the command line may be your only option.

If it's the \"backslash\" style escaping you don't like for some reason, then this way should work instead:

pbsnodes -x | xmlparse -t '"interactive-00"'