Using MUX as a Standard

Evennia allows for any command syntax. If you like the way DikuMUDs, LPMuds or MOOs handle things, you could emulate that with Evennia. If you are ambitious you could even design a whole new style, perfectly fitting your own dreams of the ideal game.

We do offer a default however. The default Evennia setup tends to resemble MUX2, and its cousins PennMUSH, TinyMUSH, and RhostMUSH. While the reason for this similarity is partly historical, these codebases offer very mature feature sets for administration and building.

Evennia is not a MUX system though. It works very differently in many ways. For example, Evennia deliberately lacks an online softcode language (a policy explained on our softcode policy page). Evennia also does not shy from using its own syntax when deemed appropriate: the MUX syntax has grown organically over a long time and is, frankly, rather arcane in places. All in all the default command syntax should at most be referred to as “MUX-like” or “MUX-inspired”.

Documentation policy

All the commands in the default command sets should have their doc-strings formatted on a similar form:

      """
      Short header
    
      Usage:
        key[/switches, if any] <mandatory args> [optional] choice1||choice2||choice3
    
      Switches:
        switch1    - description
        switch2    - description
    
      Examples:
        usage example and output
    
      Longer documentation detailing the command.
    
      """

• Two spaces are used for indentation in all default commands.

• Square brackets [ ] surround optional, skippable arguments.

• Angled brackets < > surround a description of what to write rather than the exact syntax.

• *Explicit choices are separated by |. To avoid this being parsed as a color code, use || (this will come out as a single |) or put spaces around the character (“|”) if there’s plenty of room.

• The Switches and Examples blocks are optional based on the Command.

Here is the nick command as an example:

      """
      Define a personal alias/nick
    
      Usage:
        nick[/switches] <nickname> = [<string>]
        alias             ''
    
      Switches:
        object   - alias an object
        account   - alias an account
        clearall - clear all your aliases
        list     - show all defined aliases (also "nicks" works)
    
      Examples:
        nick hi = say Hello, I'm Sarah!
        nick/object tom = the tall man
    
      A 'nick' is a personal shortcut you create for your own use [...]
    
        """

For commands that require arguments, the policy is for it to return a Usage: string if the command is entered without any arguments. So for such commands, the Command body should contain something to the effect of

      if not self.args:
          self.caller.msg("Usage: nick[/switches] <nickname> = [<string>]")
          return