old_contents: """A set of functions to standardize some options for python scripts."""
  
  
  def setup_parser_help(parser, additional_docs=None):
      """
      Set formatting for parser to raw and add docstring to help output
  
      Parameters
      ----------
  
      parser : `ArgumentParser`
          The parser to be modified.
  
      additional_docs: str
          Any documentation to be added to the documentation produced by
          `argparse`
  
      """
      from argparse import RawDescriptionHelpFormatter
  
      parser.formatter_class = RawDescriptionHelpFormatter
      if additional_docs is not None:
          parser.epilog = additional_docs
  
  
  def add_verbose(parser):
      """
      Add a verbose option (--verbose or -v) to parser.
  
      Parameters:
      -----------
  
      parser : `ArgumentParser`
  
      """
  
      verbose_help = "provide more information during processing"
      parser.add_argument("-v", "--verbose", help=verbose_help,
                          action="store_true")
  
  
  def add_directories(parser):
      """
      Add a positional argument that is one or more directories.
  
      Parameters
      ----------
  
      parser : `ArgumentParser`
  
      """
  
      parser.add_argument("dir", metavar='dir', nargs='+',
                          help="Directory to process")
  
  
  def construct_default_parser(docstring=None):
      #import script_helpers
      import argparse
  
      parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
      if docstring is not None:
          setup_parser_help(parser, docstring)
      add_verbose(parser)
      add_directories(parser)
  
      return parser
  
new_contents: """A set of functions to standardize some options for python scripts."""
  
  
  def setup_parser_help(parser, additional_docs=None):
      """
      Set formatting for parser to raw and add docstring to help output
  
      Parameters
      ----------
  
      parser : `ArgumentParser`
          The parser to be modified.
  
      additional_docs: str
          Any documentation to be added to the documentation produced by
          `argparse`
  
      """
      from argparse import RawDescriptionHelpFormatter
  
      parser.formatter_class = RawDescriptionHelpFormatter
      if additional_docs is not None:
          parser.epilog = additional_docs
  
  
  def add_verbose(parser):
      """
      Add a verbose option (--verbose or -v) to parser.
  
      Parameters:
      -----------
  
      parser : `ArgumentParser`
  
      """
  
      verbose_help = "provide more information during processing"
      parser.add_argument("-v", "--verbose", help=verbose_help,
                          action="store_true")
  
  
  def add_directories(parser, nargs_in='+'):
      """
      Add a positional argument that is one or more directories.
  
      Parameters
      ----------
  
      parser : `ArgumentParser`
  
      """
  
      parser.add_argument("dir", metavar='dir', nargs=nargs_in,
                          help="Directory to process")
  
  
  def construct_default_parser(docstring=None):
      #import script_helpers
      import argparse
  
      parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
      if docstring is not None:
          setup_parser_help(parser, docstring)
      add_verbose(parser)
      add_directories(parser)
  
      return parser
  
subject: Allow for directories argument to be optional