NAME
Parse::Stallion::EBNF - Output/Input parser in Extended Backus Naur Form.
SYNOPSIS
#Output
use Parse::Stallion;
$parser = new Parse::Stallion(...);
use Parse::Stallion::EBNF;
$ebnf_form = ebnf Parse::Stallion::EBNF($parser);
print $ebnf_form;
#Input
my $rules = '
start = (number qr/\s*\+\s*/ number)
S{return $number->[0] + $number->[1]}S;
number = qr/\d+/;
';
my $rule_parser = ebnf_new Parse::Stallion::EBNF($rules);
my $value = $rule_parser->parse_and_evaluate('1 + 6');
#$value should be 7
DESCRIPTION
Output
Given a parser from Parse::Stallion, creates a string that is the parser's grammar in EBNF.
If LEAF_DISPLAY is passed in as a parameter to a LEAF rule, that is also part of the output of a leaf node. This can be useful, for instance, to display a description of the code of a PARSE_FORWARD routine.
The following are appended to rules that have them defined:
-MATCH_MIN_FIRST-
-EVALUATION-
-UNEVALUATION-
-USE_STRING_MATCH-
-MATCH_ONCE-
-RULE_INFO-
Input
Use Parse::Stallion for more complicated grammars.
Enter a string with simple grammar rules, a parser is returned.
Each rule must be terminated by a semicolon.
Each rule name must consist of word characters (\w).
Format:
<rule_name> = <rule_def>;
Four types of rules: 'and', 'or', 'leaf', 'multiple'/'optional'
Rule names and aliases must start with a letter or underscore though may contain digits as well. They are case sensitive.
AND
'and' rule, the rule_def must be rule names separated by whitespace.
OR
'or' rule, the rule_def must be rule names separated by single pipes (|).
LEAF
'leaf' rule can be done on a string via 'qr' or 'q' or as a parse_forward/optionally parse_backtract combination.
'leaf' rule, the rule_def can be a 'qr' or 'q' followed by a non-space, non-word character (\W) up to a repetition of that character. What is betweent the characters is treated as either a regular expression (if 'qr') or a string (if 'q'). Additionally, if a string is within quotes or double quotes it is treated as a string. The following are the same:
q/x\x/, q'x\x', 'x\x', "x\x", qr/x\\x/, qr'x\\x'
The qr of a leaf is not the same as a perl regexp's declaration. Notably, one cannot escape the delimiting chars. That is, qr/\//
is valid perl but not valid here, one could instead use
qr+/+
which is also valid perl.
Modifiers are allowed and are inserted into the regexp via an extended regex sequence:
qr/abc/i
internally becomes
qr/(?i)abc/
MULTIPLE/Optional
'multiple' rule, a rule name enclosed within curly braces {}. Optionally may have a minimum and maximum occurence by following the definition with an asterisk min, max. For example:
multiple_rule = {ruleM}*5,0;
would have at least 5 occurences of ruleM. The maximum is required and 0 sets it to unlimited.
Optional rules can be specified within square brackets. The following are the same:
{rule_a}*0,1
[rule_a]
To try to parse with the minimum occurences of a multiple rule first and then go increasing order add a '?' after the right curly brace:
multiple_rule2 ={ruleX}?;
multiple_rule ={ruleX}?*3,9;
SUBRULES
Subrules may be specified within a rule by enclosing the subrule within parentheses.
ALIAS
An alias may be specified by an alias name followed by a dot: the alias then a dot. I.e.,
rule_1 = rule_2 S{print $rule_2;}S;
rule_3 = alias.rule_2 S{print $alias;}S;
alias.qr/regex/
alias.(rule1 rule2)
alias.(rule1 | rule2)
EVALUATION
For the evaluation phase (see Parse::Stallion) any rule can be enclosed within parentheses followed by an evaluationsubroutine that should be enclosed within S{ til }S. Or else S[ til ]S. The 'sub ' declaration is done internally.
Internally all subrules have variables created that contain their evaluated values. If a subrule's name may occur more than once it is passed in an array reference. See Parse::Stallion for details on parameters passed to evaluation routine. This saves on having to create code for reading in the parameters.
Examples:
rule = (number plus number) S{subroutine}S;
will create an evaluation subroutine string and eval:
sub {
my $number = $_[0]->{number};
my $plus = $_[0]->{plus};
subroutine
}
$number is an array ref, $plus is the returned value from subrule plus.
number = (/\d+/) S{subroutine}S;
is a leaf rule, which only gets one argument to its subroutine:
sub {
my $_ = $_[0];
subroutine
}
Evaluation is only done after parsing unlike the option of during parsing found in Parse::Stallion.
PARSE_MATCH xyzzy, change this section
By putting =PM within a rule (or subrule), the parse_match is used instead of the returned or generated values.
ab = (x.({qr/\d/} =PM) qr/\d/) S{$x}; #Will return a string
cd = (y.{qr/\d/} qr/\d/) S{$y}; #Will return hash ref to an array ref
COMMENTS
Comments may be placed on lines after a hash ('#'):
rule = (sub1 # comment
sub2 #comment
sub3) S{}
# comment
PARSE_FORWARD
As in Parse::Stallion, a PARSE_FORWARD routine may be declared via F{ sub {your routine} }F (or F[ followed by ]F). A PARSE_BACKTRACK routine can follow via a B{ sub {...}}B.
SEE ALSO
example/calculator_ebnf.pl
t/ebnf_in.t in the test cases for examples.
Parse::Stallion