# 4.3 Creating a Raw Transaction with Named Arguments

> **NOTE:** This is a draft in progress, so that I can get some feedback from early reviewers. It is not yet ready for learning.

It can sometimes be daunting to figure out the right order for the arguments to a bitcoin-cli command. Fortunately, you can use _named arguments_ as an alternative.

> **VERSION WARNING:** This is an innovation from Bitcoin Core v 0.14.0. If you used our setup scripts, that's what you should have, but double-check your version if you have any problems.

## Create a Named Argument Alias

To use a named argument you must run `bitcoin-cli` with the `-named` argument. If you plan to do this regularly, you'll probably want to create an alias:
```
alias bitcoin-cli="bitcoin-cli -named"
```
As usual, that's for your ease of use, but we'll continue using the whole commands, to maintain clarity.

## Test Out a Named Argument

To learn what the names are for the arguments of a command, just look at `bitcoin-cli help`. It will list the arguments in their proper order, but will now also give names for each of them.

For example, `bitcoin-cli getbalance` lists the following arguments:

   1. account
   2. minconf
   3. include watchonly
   
The following shows a traditional, unintuitive usage of `getbalance` with `minconf`:
```
$ bitcoin-cli getbalance "*" 1
```
With named arguments you can now call it like this, which improves clarities and minimizes mistakes:
```
$ bitcoin-cli -named getbalance account="*" minconf=1
```

## Test Out a Raw Transaction

Here's what all the commands for sending a raw transaction would look like with named arguments:
```
$ utxo_txid=$(bitcoin-cli listunspent | jq -r '.[0] | .txid') 
$ utxo_vout=$(bitcoin-cli listunspent | jq -r '.[0] | .vout')
$ recipient="n2eMqTT929pb1RDNuqEnxdaLau1rxy3efi"

$  rawtxhex=$(bitcoin-cli -named createrawtransaction transactions='''[ { "txid": "'$utxo_txid'", "vout": '$utxo_vout' } ]''' outputs='''{ "'$recipient'": 0.7595 }''')
$ bitcoin-cli -named decoderawtransaction hexstring=$rawtxhex 
{
  "txid": "f445f121085d98635f7302e641f815d1ca4ce70f0e1b03f144ad1661dc5e10e7",
  "hash": "f445f121085d98635f7302e641f815d1ca4ce70f0e1b03f144ad1661dc5e10e7",
  "size": 85,
  "vsize": 85,
  "version": 2,
  "locktime": 0,
  "vin": [
    {
      "txid": "2b5f5798359e0e23e02764588166f222d4ce056419dec83c743b72aad171d708",
      "vout": 1,
      "scriptSig": {
        "asm": "",
        "hex": ""
      },
      "sequence": 4294967295
    }
  ],
  "vout": [
    {
      "value": 0.75950000,
      "n": 0,
      "scriptPubKey": {
        "asm": "OP_DUP OP_HASH160 e7c1345fc8f87c68170b3aa798a956c2fe6a9eff OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG",
        "hex": "76a914e7c1345fc8f87c68170b3aa798a956c2fe6a9eff88ac",
        "reqSigs": 1,
        "type": "pubkeyhash",
        "addresses": [
          "n2eMqTT929pb1RDNuqEnxdaLau1rxy3efi"
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

$ signedtx=$(bitcoin-cli -named signrawtransaction hexstring=$rawtxhex | jq -r '.hex')
$ bitcoin-cli -named sendrawtransaction hexstring=$signedtx
8000dca7b1e7ab70f4056bc4512af6ffff7727d1588436521da3e5d886dbcddf
```
Voila! You've sent out another raw transaction, but this time using named arguments for clarity and to reduce errors.

> **WARNING:** At the time of this writing, there was a bug in the `createrawtransactions` named arguments. The help files said to use `inputs`, but the code used `transactions`. We believe that `transactions` will stay in usage and the help files will be updated accordingly.

## Summary: Creating a Raw Transaction with Named Arguments

By running `bitcoin-cli` with the `-named` flag, you can use named arguments rather than depending on ordered arguments. `bitcoin-cli help` will always show you the right name for each argument. This can result in more robust, easier-to-read, less error-prone code.