fix: replace bare assert with user-friendly error in _guess_method

httpie/cli/argparser.py

@@ -413,7 +413,14 @@ def _guess_method(self):
         """
         if self.args.method is None:
             # Invoked as `http URL'.
-            assert not self.args.request_items
+            if self.args.request_items:
+                self.error(
+                    'no HTTP method or URL detected but request items found. '
+                    'Please make sure that the URL comes right after '
+                    'the optional METHOD:\n'
+                    '    http [METHOD] URL [REQUEST_ITEM ...]\n'
+                    'See https://httpie.io/docs/cli for more information.'
+                )
             if self.has_input_data:
                 self.args.method = HTTP_POST
             else:

tests/test_cli.py

@@ -316,6 +316,31 @@ def test_guess_when_method_set_but_invalid_and_item_exists(self):
                 key='old_item', value='b', sep='=', orig='old_item=b'),
         ]
 
+    def test_guess_when_method_not_set_but_request_items_present(self):
+        """When method is None but request_items exist, _guess_method
+        should produce a user-friendly error instead of an AssertionError.
+
+        This state can occur when argparse misassigns positional arguments
+        due to intermixed optional and positional arguments (e.g.,
+        ``http POST --auth-type bearer --auth token URL``).
+        See https://github.com/httpie/cli/issues/1614
+        """
+        self.parser.args = argparse.Namespace()
+        self.parser.args.method = None
+        self.parser.args.url = 'http://example.com/'
+        self.parser.args.request_items = [
+            KeyValueArg(
+                key='test', value='header', sep=':', orig='test:header')
+        ]
+        self.parser.args.ignore_stdin = False
+        self.parser.env = MockEnvironment()
+        # Patch print_usage since the parser isn't fully initialized in
+        # unit tests (no spec attribute).
+        self.parser.print_usage = lambda *a, **kw: None
+        with pytest.raises(SystemExit) as exc_info:
+            self.parser._guess_method()
+        assert exc_info.value.code == 2
+
 
 class TestNoOptions:
 

tests/test_cli_ui.py

@@ -1,8 +1,36 @@
+import argparse
+import io
+import sys
+
 import pytest
 import shutil
 import os
 from tests.utils import http
 
+
+# Detect whether argparse quotes choices in error messages.
+# Python 3.12.4+ (and 3.13+) removed the quotes.
+def _argparse_quotes_choices():
+    p = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog='_probe')
+    p.add_argument('--c', choices=['x'])
+    buf = io.StringIO()
+    saved = sys.stderr
+    sys.stderr = buf
+    try:
+        p.parse_args(['--c', 'z'])
+    except SystemExit:
+        pass
+    finally:
+        sys.stderr = saved
+    return "'x'" in buf.getvalue()
+
+
+def _fmt_argparse_choice(choice):
+    return f"'{choice}'" if _ARGPARSE_QUOTES else choice
+
+
+_ARGPARSE_QUOTES = _argparse_quotes_choices()
+
 NAKED_BASE_TEMPLATE = """\
 usage:
     http {extra_args}[METHOD] URL [REQUEST_ITEM ...]
@@ -27,7 +55,11 @@
 
 NAKED_HELP_MESSAGE_PRETTY_WITH_INVALID_ARG = NAKED_BASE_TEMPLATE.format(
     extra_args="--pretty {all, colors, format, none} ",
-    error_msg="argument --pretty: invalid choice: '$invalid' (choose from 'all', 'colors', 'format', 'none')"
+    error_msg=(
+        f"argument --pretty: invalid choice: '$invalid' "
+        f"(choose from {_fmt_argparse_choice('all')}, {_fmt_argparse_choice('colors')}, "
+        f"{_fmt_argparse_choice('format')}, {_fmt_argparse_choice('none')})"
+    )
 )
 
 

tests/test_encoding.py

@@ -14,7 +14,9 @@
 
 
 CHARSET_TEXT_PAIRS = [
-    ('big5', '卷首卷首卷首卷首卷卷首卷首卷首卷首卷首卷首卷首卷首卷首卷首卷首卷首卷首'),
+    # Use varied Traditional Chinese text so charset_normalizer can
+    # reliably distinguish big5 from other CJK encodings (e.g. johab).
+    ('big5', '天地玄黃宇宙洪荒日月盈昃辰宿列張寒來暑往秋收冬藏閏餘成歲律呂調陽雲騰致雨露結為霜'),
     ('windows-1250', 'Všichni lidé jsou si rovni. Všichni lidé jsou si rovni.'),
     (UTF8, 'Všichni lidé jsou si rovni. Všichni lidé jsou si rovni.'),
 ]