if __name__ == "__main__":
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
    parser.add_argument("--db",type=str, dest='db', nargs='?', default="test")
    parser.add_argument("--collection",type=str, dest='collection', nargs='?', help="Collection, default is test", default="test")
    args = parser.parse_args()
    db = args.db                   # gross!
    collection = args.collection   # yuck!
    print(db)
    print(collection)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
    parser.add_argument("--db",type=str, dest='db', nargs='?', default="test")
    parser.add_argument("--collection",type=str, dest='collection', nargs='?', help="Collection, default is test", default="test")
    parser.SUPER_parse_args() # now, db and collection are already in the namespace!
    print(db)
    print(collection)

globals().update(args.__dict__)

parser_args = parser.parse_args()
if parser_args.verbose:
    globals().update(argparse.Namespace(verbose=parser_args.verbose).__dict__)