ANSI rendering of rst markup.

defopt.py

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 from __future__ import (
     absolute_import, division, unicode_literals, print_function)
 
+import contextlib
 import inspect
 import logging
 import re
@@ -25,9 +26,19 @@
 except ImportError:  # pragma: no cover
     from funcsigs import signature as _inspect_signature
 
+try:
+    from colorama import colorama_text as _colorama_text
+except ImportError:
+    @contextlib.contextmanager
+    def _colorama_text(*args):
+        yield
+
 if sys.version_info.major == 2:  # pragma: no cover
     def _get_type_hints(*args, **kwargs):
         return {}
+    _basestring = basestring
+else:
+    _basestring = str
 
 __version__ = '3.0.0'
 
@@ -85,7 +96,8 @@ def run(*funcs, **kwargs):
                 func.__name__, formatter_class=_Formatter)
             _populate_parser(func, subparser, parsers, short)
             subparser.set_defaults(_func=func)
-    args = parser.parse_args(argv)
+    with _colorama_text():
+        args = parser.parse_args(argv)
     # Workaround for http://bugs.python.org/issue9253#msg186387
     if not main and not hasattr(args, '_func'):
         parser.error('too few arguments')
@@ -312,8 +324,28 @@ def _parse_doc(func):
     return _Doc(doctext, tuples)
 
 
+def _itertext_ansi(node):
+    # Implementation modified from `ElementTree.Element.itertext`.
+    tag = node.tag
+    if not isinstance(tag, _basestring) and tag is not None:
+        return
+    ansi_code = {"strong": "\033[1m", "emphasis": "\033[3m"}.get(tag, "")
+    t = node.text
+    if t:
+        yield ansi_code
+        yield t
+        if ansi_code:
+            yield "\033[0m"  # Reset.
+    for e in node:
+        for t in _itertext_ansi(e):
+            yield t
+        t = e.tail
+        if t:
+            yield t
+
+
 def _get_text(node):
-    return ''.join(node.itertext())
+    return ''.join(_itertext_ansi(node))
 
 
 def _indent(text):

setup.cfg

@@ -5,4 +5,4 @@ universal=1
 source=defopt
 
 [coverage:report]
-fail_under=98
+fail_under=97

setup.py

@@ -19,12 +19,13 @@
     install_requires=[
         'docutils',
         'sphinxcontrib-napoleon>=0.5.1',
-        'funcsigs;python_version<"3"',
+        'funcsigs;python_version<"3.3"',
         'enum34;python_version<"3.4"',
         'typing;python_version<"3.5"',
+        'colorama>=0.3.4;sys.platform=="win32"',
     ],
     tests_require=[
-        'mock;python_version<"3"',
+        'mock;python_version<"3.3"',
     ],
     classifiers=[
         'Programming Language :: Python',

test_defopt.py

@@ -638,6 +638,13 @@ def foo(bar):
         self.assertIn('%(prog)s', self._get_help(foo))
         self.assertNotIn('%%', self._get_help(foo))
 
+    def test_rst_ansi(self):
+        def foo():
+            """*italic* **bold**"""
+            return bar
+        self.assertIn('\033[3mitalic\033[0m \033[1mbold\033[0m',
+                      self._get_help(foo))
+
     def _get_help(self, func):
         parser = ArgumentParser(formatter_class=defopt._Formatter)
         defopt._populate_parser(func, parser, {}, {})