👨💻 about me home CV/Resume News 🖊️ Contact Github LinkedIn I’m a Haskeller 🏆 Best of LuaX pub bang ypp panda lsvg Fizzbuzz Calculadoira TPG todo pwd rrpi
Author Christophe Delord
Web site http://cdelord.fr/sp, https://github.com/CDSoft/sp
License This software is released under the LGPL license.
.. container:: contents
Table of Contents
.. container:: sectnum
Introduction and tutorial
Introduction
^^^^^^^^^^^^
SP (Simple Parser) is a Python [1]_ parser generator. It is aimed at
easy usage rather than performance. SP produces
`Top-Down <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-down_parser>`__ `Recursive
descent <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursive_descent_parser>`__
parsers. SP also uses
`memoization <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memoization>`__ to optimize
parsers' speed when dealing with ambiguous grammars.
License
'''''''
SP is available under the GNU Lesser General Public:
::
Simple Parser: A Python parser generator
Copyright (C) 2009-2016 Christophe Delord
Simple Parser is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published
by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.
Simple Parser is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
along with Simple Parser. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
Structure of the document
'''''''''''''''''''''''''
`Introduction and tutorial <#introduction-and-tutorial>`__
starts smoothly with a gentle tutorial as an introduction. I think
this tutorial may be sufficient to start with SP.
`SP reference <#sp-reference>`__
is a reference documentation. It will detail SP as much as possible.
`Some examples to illustrate SP <#some-examples-to-illustrate-sp>`__
gives the reader some examples to illustrate SP.
Installation
^^^^^^^^^^^^
Getting SP
''''''''''
SP is freely available on its web page (https://github.com/CDSoft/sp).
Requirements
''''''''''''
SP is a *pure Python* package. It may run on *any platform* supported by
Python. The only requirement of SP is *Python 2.6*, *Python 3.1* or
newer [2]_. Python can be downloaded at http://www.python.org.
Tutorial
^^^^^^^^
.. _introduction-1:
Introduction
''''''''''''
This short tutorial presents how to make a simple calculator. The
calculator will compute basic mathematical expressions (``+``, ``-``,
``*``, ``/``) possibly nested in parenthesis. We assume the reader is
familiar with regular expressions.
Defining the grammar
''''''''''''''''''''
Expressions are defined with a grammar. For example an expression is a
sum of terms and a term is a product of factors. A factor is either a
number or a complete expression in parenthesis.
We describe such grammars with rules. A rule describes the composition
of an item of the language. In our grammar we have 3 items (expr, term,
factor). We will call these items *symbols* or *non terminal symbols*.
The decomposition of a symbol is symbolized with ``->``.
Grammar for expressions:
+-------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Grammar rule | Description |
+===============================+======================================+
| ``exp | An expression is a term eventually |
| r -> term (('+'|'-') term)*`` | followed with a plus (``+``) or a |
| | minus (``-``) sign and an other term |
| | any number of times (``*`` is a |
| | repetition of an expression 0 or |
| | more times). |
+-------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| ``ter | A term is a factor eventually |
| m -> fact (('*'|'/') fact)*`` | followed with a ``*`` or ``/`` sign |
| | and an other factor any number of |
| | times. |
+-------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| ``fact -> ('+'|'-') f | A factor is either a factor preceded |
| act | number | '(' expr ')'`` | by a sign, a number or an expression |
| | in parenthesis. |
+-------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
We have defined here the grammar rules (i.e. the sentences of the
language). We now need to describe the lexical items (i.e. the words of
the language). These words - also called *terminal symbols* - are
described using regular expressions. In the rules we have written some
of these terminal symbols (``+``, ``-``, ``*``, ``/``, ``(``, ``)``). We
have to define ``number``. For sake of simplicity numbers are integers
composed of digits (the corresponding regular expression can be
``[0-9]+``). To simplify the grammar and then the Python script we
define two terminal symbols to group the operators (additive and
multiplicative operators). We can also define a special symbol that is
ignored by SP. This symbol is used as a separator. This is generally
useful for white spaces and comments.
Terminal symbol definition for expressions:
+-------------------+-----------------------+--------------------+
| Terminal symbol | Regular expression | Comment |
+===================+=======================+====================+
| ``number`` | ``[0-9]+ or \d+`` | One or more digits |
+-------------------+-----------------------+--------------------+
| ``addop`` | ``[+-]`` | a ``+`` or a ``-`` |
+-------------------+-----------------------+--------------------+
| ``mulop`` | ``[*/]`` | a ``*`` or a ``/`` |
+-------------------+-----------------------+--------------------+
| ``spaces`` | ``\s+`` | One or more spaces |
+-------------------+-----------------------+--------------------+
This is sufficient to define our parser with SP.
Grammar of the expression recognizer:
::
def Calc():
number = R(r'[0-9]+')
addop = R('[+-]')
mulop = R('[*/]')
with Separator(r'\s+'):
expr = Rule()
fact = Rule()
fact |= addop & fact
fact |= '(' & expr & ')'
fact |= number
term = fact & ( mulop & fact )[:]
expr |= term & ( addop & term )[:]
return expr
``Calc`` is the name of the Python function that returns a parser. This
function returns ``expr`` which is the *axiom*\ [3]_ of the grammar.
``expr`` and ``fact`` are recursive rules. They are first declared as
empty rules (``expr = Rule()``) and alternatives are later added
(``expr |= ...``).
Slices are used to implement repetitions. ``foo[:]`` parses ``foo`` zero
or more times, which is equivalent to ``foo*`` in a classical grammar
notation.
The grammar can also be defined with the mini grammar language provided
by SP:
::
def Calc():
return compile("""
number = r'[0-9]+' ;
addop = r'[+-]' ;
mulop = r'[*/]' ;
separator: r'\s+' ;
!expr = term (addop term)* ;
term = fact (mulop fact)* ;
fact = addop fact ;
fact = '(' expr ')' ;
fact = number ;
""")
Here the *axiom*\ [4]_ is identified by ``!``.
With this small grammar we can only recognize a correct expression. We
will see in the next sections how to read the actual expression and to
compute its value.
Reading the input and returning values
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
The input of the grammar is a string. To do something useful we need to
read this string in order to transform it into an expected result.
This string can be read by catching the return value of terminal
symbols. By default any terminal symbol returns a string containing the
current token. So the token ``'('`` always returns the string ``'('``.
For some tokens it may be useful to compute a Python object from the
token. For example ``number`` should return an integer instead of a
string, ``addop`` and ``mulop``, followed by a number, should return a
function corresponding to the operator. That's why we will add a
function to the token and rule definitions. So we associate ``int`` to
``number`` and ``op1`` and ``op2`` to unary and binary operators.
``int`` is a Python function converting objects to integers and ``op1``
and ``op2`` are user defined functions.
``op1`` and ``op2`` functions:
::
op1 = lambda f,x: {'+':pos, '-':neg}[f](x)
op2 = lambda f,y: lambda x: {'+': add, '-': sub, '*': mul, '/': div}[f](x,y)
# red applyies functions to a number
def red(x, fs):
for f in fs: x = f(x)
return x
To associate a function to a token or a rule it must be applied using ``/`` or ``*`` operators:
- ``/`` applies a function to an object returned by a (sub)parser.
- ``*`` applies a function to an tuple of objects returned by a
sequence of (sub) parsers.
Token and rule definitions with functions:
::
number = R(r'[0-9]+') / int
fact |= (addop & fact) * op1
term = (fact & ( (mulop & fact) * op2 )[:]) * red
# R(r'[0-9]+') applyed on "42" will return "42".
# R(r'[0-9]+') / int will return int("42")
# addop & fact applyied on "+ 42" will return ('+', 42)
# (addop & fact) * op1 will return op1(*('+', 42)), i.e. op1('+', 42)
# so (addop & fact) * op1 returns +42
# (addop & fact) * op2 will return op2(*('+', 42)), i.e. op2('+', 42)
# so (addop & fact) * op2 returns lambda x: add(x, 42)
# fact & ( (mulop & fact) * op2 )[:] returns a number and a list of functions
# for instance (42, [(lambda x:mul(x, 43)), (lambda x:mul(x, 44))])
# so (fact & ( (mulop & fact) * op2 )[:]) * red applyied on "42*43*44"
# will return red(42, [(lambda x:mul(x, 43)), (lambda x:mul(x, 44))])
# i.e. 42*43*44
And with the SP language:
::
number = r'[0-9]+' : `int` ;
addop = r'[+-]' ;
mulop = r'[*/]' ;
fact = addop fact :: `op1` ;
term = fact (mulop fact :: `op2`)* :: `red` ;
# r'[0-9]+' applyed on "42" will return "42".
# r'[0-9]+' : `int` will return int("42")
# "addop fact" applyied on "+ 42" will return ('+', 42)
# "addop fact :: `op1`" will return op1(*('+', 42)), i.e. op1('+', 42)
# so "addop fact :: `op1`" returns +42
# "addop fact :: `op2`" will return op2(*('+', 42)), i.e. op2('+', 42)
# so "addop fact :: `op2`" returns lambda x: add(x, 42)
# "fact (mulop fact :: `op2`)*" returns a number and a list of functions
# for instance (42, [(lambda x:mul(x, 43)), (lambda x:mul(x, 44))])
# so "fact (mulop fact :: `op2`)* :: `red`" applyied on "42*43*44"
# will return red(42, [(lambda x:mul(x, 43)), (lambda x:mul(x, 44))])
# i.e. 42*43*44
In the SP language, ``:`` (as ``/``) applies a Python function (more
generally a callable object) to a value returned by a sequence and
``::`` (as ``*``) applies a Python function to several values returned
by a sequence.
Here is finally the complete parser.
Expression recognizer and evaluator:
::
from sp import *
def Calc():
from operator import pos, neg, add, sub, mul, truediv as div
op1 = lambda f,x: {'+':pos, '-':neg}[f](x)
op2 = lambda f,y: lambda x: {'+': add, '-': sub, '*': mul, '/': div}[f](x,y)
def red(x, fs):
for f in fs: x = f(x)
return x
number = R(r'[0-9]+') / int
addop = R('[+-]')
mulop = R('[*/]')
with Separator(r'\s+'):
expr = Rule()
fact = Rule()
fact |= (addop & fact) * op1
fact |= '(' & expr & ')'
fact |= number
term = (fact & ( (mulop & fact) * op2 )[:]) * red
expr |= (term & ( (addop & term) * op2 )[:]) * red
return expr
Or with SP language:
::
from sp import *
def Calc():
from operator import pos, neg, add, sub, mul, truediv as div
op1 = lambda f,x: {'+':pos, '-':neg}[f](x)
op2 = lambda f,y: lambda x: {'+': add, '-': sub, '*': mul, '/': div}[f](x,y)
def red(x, fs):
for f in fs: x = f(x)
return x
return compile("""
number = r'[0-9]+' : `int` ;
addop = r'[+-]' ;
mulop = r'[*/]' ;
separator: r'\s+' ;
!expr = term (addop term :: `op2`)* :: `red` ;
term = fact (mulop fact :: `op2`)* :: `red` ;
fact = addop fact :: `op1` ;
fact = '(' expr ')' ;
fact = number ;
""")
Embedding the parser in a script
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
A parser is a simple Python object. This example show how to write a
function that returns a parser. The parser can be applied to strings by
simply calling the parser.
Writing SP grammars in Python:
::
from sp import *
def MyParser():
parser = ...
return parser
# You can instanciate your parser here
my_parser = MyParser()
# and use it
parsed_object = my_parser(string_to_be_parsed)
To use this parser you now just need to instantiate an object.
Complete Python script with expression parser:
::
from sp import *
def Calc():
...
calc = Calc()
while True:
expr = input('Enter an expression: ')
try: print(expr, '=', calc(expr))
except Exception as e: print("%s:"%e.__class__.__name__, e)
Conclusion
''''''''''
This tutorial shows some of the possibilities of SP. If you have read it
carefully you may be able to start with SP. The next chapters present SP
more precisely. They contain more examples to illustrate all the
features of SP.
Happy SP'ing!
SP reference
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Usage
^^^^^
SP is a package which main function is to provide basic objects to build
a complete parser.
The grammar is a Python object.
Grammar embedding example:
::
def Foo():
bar = R('bar')
return bar
Then you can use the new generated parser. The parser is simply a Python
object.
Parser usage example:
::
test = "bar"
my_parser = Foo()
x = my_parser(test) # Parses "bar"
print x
Grammar structure
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
SP grammars are Python objects. SP grammars may contain two parts:
Tokens
are built by the ``R`` or ``K`` keywords.
Rules
are described after tokens in a ``Separator`` context.
Example of SP grammar structure:
::
def Foo():
# Tokens
number = R(r'\d+') / int
# Rules
with Separator(r'\s+'):
S = number[:]
return S
foo = Foo()
result = foo("42 43 44") # return [42, 43, 44]
Lexer
^^^^^
Regular expression syntax
'''''''''''''''''''''''''
The lexer is based on the *re*\ [5]_ module. SP profits from the power
of Python regular expressions. This document assumes the reader is
familiar with regular expressions.
You can use the syntax of regular expressions as expected by the
*re*\ [6]_ module.
Predefined tokens
'''''''''''''''''
Tokens can be explicitly defined by the ``R``, ``K`` and ``Separator``
keywords.
+-----------+----------------------------------------------------------+
| E | Usage |
| xpression | |
+===========+==========================================================+
| ``R`` | defines a regular token. The token is defined with a |
| | regular expression and returns a string (or a tuple of |
| | strings if the regular expression defines groups). |
+-----------+----------------------------------------------------------+
| ``K`` | defines a token that returns nothing (useful for |
| | keywords for instance). The keyword is defined by an |
| | identifier (in this case word boundaries are expected |
| | around the keyword) or another string (in this case the |
| | pattern is not considered as a regular expression). The |
| | token just recognizes a keyword and returns nothing. |
+-----------+----------------------------------------------------------+
| ``Se | is a context manager used to define separators for the |
| parator`` | rules defined in the context. The token is defined with |
| | a regular expression and returns nothing. |
+-----------+----------------------------------------------------------+
A token can be defined by:
a name
which identifies the token. This name is used by the parser.
a regular expression
which describes what to match to recognize the token.
an action
which can translate the matched text into a Python object. It can be
a function of one argument or a non callable object. If it is not
callable, it will be returned for each token otherwise it will be
applied to the text of the token and the result will be returned.
This action is optional. By default the token text is returned.
Token definition examples:
::
integer = R(r'\d+') / int
identifier = R(r'[a-zA-Z]\w*\b')
boolean = R(r'(True|False)\b') / (lambda b: b=='True')
spaces = K(r'\s+')
comments = K(r'#.*')
with Separator(spaces|comments):
# rules defined here will use spaces and comments as separators
atom = '(' & expr & ')'
There are two kinds of tokens. Tokens defined by the ``R`` or ``K``
keywords are parsed by the parser and tokens defined by the
``Separator`` keyword are considered as separators (white spaces or
comments for example) and are wiped out by the lexer.
The word boundary ``\b`` can be used to avoid recognizing "True" at the
beginning of "Truexyz".
If the regular expression defines groups, the parser returns a tuple
containing these groups:
::
couple = R('<(\d+)-(\d+)>')
couple("<42-43>") == ('42', '43')
If the regular expression defines only one group, the parser returns the
value of this group:
::
first = R('<(\d+)-\d+>')
first("<42-43>") == '42'
Unwanted groups can be avoided using ``(?:...)``.
A name can be given to a token to make error messages easier to read:
::
couple = R('<(\d+)-(\d+)>', name="couple")
Regular expressions can be compiled using specific compilation options.
Options are defined in the ``re`` module:
::
token = R('...', flags=re.IGNORECASE|re.DOTALL)
``re`` defines the following flags:
I (IGNORECASE)
Perform case-insensitive matching.
L (LOCALE)
Make ``\w``, ``\W``, ``\b``, ``\B``, dependent on the current locale.
M (MULTILINE)
``"^"`` matches the beginning of lines (after a newline) as well as
the string. ``"$"`` matches the end of lines (before a newline) as
well as the end of the string.
S (DOTALL)
``"."`` matches any character at all, including the newline.
X (VERBOSE)
Ignore whitespace and comments for nicer looking RE's.
U (UNICODE)
Make ``\w``, ``\W``, ``\b``, ``\B``, dependent on the Unicode locale
Inline tokens
'''''''''''''
Tokens can also be defined on the fly. Their definition are then inlined
in the grammar rules. This feature may be useful for keywords or
punctuation signs.
In this case tokens can be written without the ``R`` or ``K`` keywords.
They are considered as keywords (as defined by ``K``).
Inline token definition examples:
::
IfThenElse = 'if' & Cond &
'then' & Statement &
'else' & Statement
Parser
^^^^^^
Declaration
'''''''''''
A parser is declared as a Python object.
Grammar rules
'''''''''''''
Rule declarations have two parts. The left side declares the symbol
associated to the rule. The right side describes the decomposition of
the rule. Both parts of the declaration are separated with an equal sign
(``=``).
Rule declaration example:
::
SYMBOL = (A & B) * (lambda a, b: f(a, b))
Sequences
'''''''''
Sequences in grammar rules describe in which order symbols should appear
in the input string. For example the sequence ``A & B`` recognizes an
``A`` followed by a ``B``.
For example to say that a ``sum`` is a ``term`` plus another ``term``
you can write:
::
Sum = Term & '+' & Term
Alternatives
''''''''''''
Alternatives in grammar rules describe several possible decompositions
of a symbol. The infix pipe operator (``|``) is used to separate
alternatives. ``A | B`` recognizes either an ``A`` or a ``B``. If both
``A`` and ``B`` can be matched only the first longest match is
considered. So the order of alternatives may be very important when two
alternatives can match texts of the same size.
For example to say that an ``atom`` is an *integer* or an *expression in
paranthesis* you can write:
::
Atom = integer | '(' & Expr & ')'
Repetitions
'''''''''''
Repetitions in grammar rules describe how many times an expression
should be matched.
+-----------+----------------------------------------------------------+
| E | Usage |
| xpression | |
+===========+==========================================================+
| ``A[:1]`` | recognizes zero or one ``A``. |
+-----------+----------------------------------------------------------+
| ``A[:]`` | recognizes zero or more ``A``. |
+-----------+----------------------------------------------------------+
| ``A[1:]`` | recognizes one or more ``A``. |
+-----------+----------------------------------------------------------+
| ` | recognizes at least m and at most n ``A``. |
| `A[m:n]`` | |
+-----------+----------------------------------------------------------+
| ``A | recognizes at least m and at most n ``A`` using ``s`` as |
| [m:n:s]`` | a separator. |
+-----------+----------------------------------------------------------+
Repetitions are greedy. Repetitions are implemented as Python loops.
Thus whatever the length of the repetitions, the Python stack will not
overflow.
The separator is useful to parse lists. For instance a comma separated
parameter list is ``parameter[::',']``.
Precedence and grouping
'''''''''''''''''''''''
The following table lists the different structures in increasing
precedence order. To override the default precedence you can group
expressions with parenthesis.
Precedence in SP expressions:
+-----------------------+-----------------------+
| Structure | Example |
+=======================+=======================+
| Alternative | ``A | B`` |
+-----------------------+-----------------------+
| Sequence | ``A & B`` |
+-----------------------+-----------------------+
| Repetitions | ``A[x:y]`` |
+-----------------------+-----------------------+
| Symbol and grouping | ``A`` and ``( ... )`` |
+-----------------------+-----------------------+
Actions
'''''''
Grammar rules can contain actions as Python functions.
Functions are applied to parsed objects using ``/`` or ``*``.
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| Expression | Value |
+================+=====================================================+
| ``parse | returns *function(result of parser)*. |
| r / function`` | |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| ``parse | returns *function(*result of parser)*. |
| r * function`` | |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
``*`` can be used to analyse the result of a sequence.
Abstract syntax trees
'''''''''''''''''''''
An abstract syntax tree (AST) is an abstract representation of the
structure of the input. A node of an AST is a Python object (there is no
constraint about its class). AST nodes are completely defined by the
user.
AST example (parsing a couple):
::
class Couple:
def __init__(self, a, b):
self.a = a
self.b = b
def Foo():
couple = ('(' & item & ',' & item & ')') * Couple
return couple
Constants
'''''''''
It is sometimes useful to return a constant. ``C`` defines a parser that
matches an empty input and returns a constant.
Constant example:
::
number = ( '1' & C("one")
| '2' & C("two")
| '3' & C("three")
)
Position in the input string
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
To know the current position in the input string, the ``At()`` parser
returns an object containing the current index (attribute ``index``) and
the corresponding line and column numbers (attributes ``line`` and
``column``):
::
position = At() / `lambda p: (p.line, p.column)`
rule = ... & pos & ...
Performances and memory consumption
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Backtracking has a cost. The parser may often try to parse again the
same string at the same position. To improve the speed of the parser,
some time consuming functions are *memoized*. This drastically fasten
the parser but requires more memory. If a lot of string are parsed in a
single script this mechanism can slow down the computer because of heavy
swap disk usage or even lead to a memory error.
To avoid such problems it is recommended to clean the memoization cache
by calling the ``sp.clean`` function:
::
import sp
...
for s in a_lot_of_strings:
parse(s)
sp.clean()
Older Python versions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This document describes the usage of SP with Python 2.6 or Python 3.1.
Grammars need some adaptations to work with Python 2.5. or older.
Separators
^^^^^^^^^^
Separators use context managers which don't exist in Python 2.4. Context
managers have been introduced in Python 2.5
(``from __future__ import with_statement``) and in Python 2.6 (as a
standard feature). When the context managers are not available, it may
be possible to call the ``__enter__`` and ``__exit__`` method explicitly
(tested for Python 2.4).
Python 2.6 and later:
::
number = R(r'\d+') / int
with Separator('\s+'):
coord = number & ',' & number
Python 2.5 with ``with_statement``:
::
from __future__ import with_statement
number = R(r'\d+') / int
with Separator('\s+'):
coord = number & ',' & number
Python 2.5 or 2.4 (or older but not tested) without ``with_statement``:
::
sep = Separator('\s+')
number = R(r'\d+') / int
sep.__enter__()
coord = number & ',' & number
sep.__exit__()
SP mini language
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Instead of using Python expressions that can sometimes be difficult to
read, it's possible to write grammars in a cleaner syntax and compile
these grammar with the ``sp.compile`` function. This function takes the
grammar as a string parameter. The ``sp.compile_file`` function reads
the grammar in a separate file.
Here the equivalence between Python expressions and the SP mini
language:
+-----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
| SP Python expressions | SP mini language | Description |
+=======================+=======================+=====================+
| | ``R("r | | ``r" | Token defined by a |
| egular expression")`` | regular expression"`` | regular expression |
| | ``R("reg | | ``name.r"regexpr"`` | |
| expr", name="name")`` | | |
+-----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
| | ``K("plain text")`` | | ``"plain text"`` | Keyword defined by |
| | ``K("plain | | | a non interpreted |
| text", name="name")`` | ``name."plain text"`` | string |
+-----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
| ``t = R('... | ``lex | Regular expression |
| ', flags=re.I|re.S)`` | er: I S; t = r'...'`` | options |
+-----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
| ``w | ``separator: ... ;`` | Separator |
| ith Separator(...):`` | | definition |
+-----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
| ``C(object)`` | :l | Parses nothing and |
| | iteral:`\`object`\ \` | returns ``object`` |
+-----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
| ``... / function`` | :literal: | Parses ... and |
| | `... : `function`\ \` | apply the result to |
| | | ``function`` |
| | | (``function(...)``) |
+-----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
| ``... * function`` | :literal:` | Parses ... and |
| | ... :: `function`\ \` | apply the result |
| | | (multiple values) |
| | | to ``function`` |
| | | ( |
| | | ``function(*...)``) |
+-----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
| ``... & At() & ...`` | ``... @ ...`` | Position in the |
| | | input string |
+-----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
| ``(...)[:]`` | ``(...)*`` | Zero or more |
| | | matches |
+-----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
| ``(...)[1:]`` | ``(...)+`` | One or more matches |
+-----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
| ``(...)[:1]`` | ``(...)?`` | Zero or one matche |
+-----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
| ``(...)[::S]`` | ``[.../S]*`` | Zero or more |
| | | matches separated |
| | | by ``S`` |
+-----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
| ``(...)[1::S]`` | ``[.../S]+`` | One or more matches |
| | | separated by ``S`` |
+-----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
| ``A & B & C`` | ``A B C`` | Sequence |
+-----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
| ``A | B | C`` | ``A | B | C`` | Alternative |
+-----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
| ``(...)`` | ``(...)`` | Grouping |
+-----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
| ``rule_name = ...`` | ``rule_name = ... ;`` | Rule definition |
+-----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
| ``axiom_name = ...`` | `` | Axiom definition |
| | !axiom_name = ... ;`` | |
+-----------------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
Some examples to illustrate SPNewick format ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
::
In mathematics, Newick tree format (or Newick notation or New Hampshire tree format) is a way to represent graph-theoretical trees with edge lengths using parentheses and commas. It was created by James Archie, William H. E. Day, Joseph Felsenstein, Wayne Maddison, Christopher Meacham, F. James Rohlf, and David Swofford, at two meetings in 1986, the second of which was at Newick's restaurant in Dover, New Hampshire, USA.
-- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The grammar given by Wikipedia is:
::
Tree --> Subtree ";" | Branch ";" Subtree --> Leaf | Internal Leaf --> Name Internal --> "(" BranchSet ")" Name BranchSet --> Branch | Branch "," BranchSet Branch --> Subtree Length Name --> empty | string Length --> empty | ":" number
With very few transformation, this grammar can be converted to a
Simple Parser grammar. Only BranchSet is rewritten to use a
comma separated list parser:
::
Tree = Subtree ';' | Branch ';' ; Subtree = Leaf | Internal ; Leaf = Name ; Internal = '(' [Branch/',']+ ')' Name ; Branch = Subtree Length ; Name = r'[^;:,()]*'; Length = '' | ':' r'[0-9.]+' ;
Here is the complete parser (newick.py):
Infix/Prefix/Postfix notation converter ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
.. _introduction-2:
Introduction ''''''''''''
In the previous example, the parser computes the value of the expression on the fly, while parsing. It is also possible to build an abstract syntax tree to store an abstract representation of the input. This may be useful when several passes are necessary.
This example shows how to parse an expression (infix, prefix or postfix) and convert it in infix, prefix and postfix notation. The expression is saved in a tree. Each node of the tree correspond to an operator in the expression. Each leaf is a number. Then to write the expression in infix, prefix or postfix notation, we just need to walk through the tree in a particular order.
.. _abstract-syntax-trees-1:
Abstract syntax trees '''''''''''''''''''''
The AST of this converter has three types of node:
class Op is used to store operators (+, -,
*, /, ^). It has two sons
associated to the sub expressions.
class Atom is an atomic expression (a number or a symbolic name).
class Func is used to store functions.
These classes are instantiated by the init method. The infix, prefix and postfix methods return strings containing the representation of the node in infix, prefix and postfix notation.
Grammar '''''''
Lexical definitions
::
ident = r'\b(?!sin|cos|tan|min|max)\w+\b' : Atom ;
func1 = r'sin' | r'cos' | r'tan' ; func2 = r'min' | r'max' ;
op = op_add | op_mul | op_pow ; op_add = r'[+-]' ; op_mul = r'[*/]' ; op_pow = r'^' ;
Infix expressions
The grammar for infix expressions is similar to the grammar used in the previous example:
::
expr = term (op_add term ::
lambda op, y: lambda x: Op(op, x, y))* :: red
; term = fact (op_mul fact ::
lambda op, y: lambda x: Op(op, x, y))* :: red
; fact = atom (op_pow fact ::
lambda op, y: lambda x: Op(op, x, y))? :: red
; atom = ident ; atom = '(' expr ')' ; atom = func1 '(' expr ')' ::
Func ; atom = func2 '(' expr ',' expr ')' ::
Func ;
red is a function that applies a list of functions to a
value:
::
def red(x, fs): for f in fs: x = f(x) return x
Prefix expressions
The grammar for prefix expressions is very simple. A compound prefix expression is an operator followed by two subexpressions, or a binary function followed by two subexpressions, or a unary function followed by one subexpression:
::
expr_pre = ident ; expr_pre = op expr_pre expr_pre :: Op
; expr_pre = func1 expr_pre :: Func ; expr_pre = func2
expr_pre expr_pre :: Func ;
Postfix expressions
At first sight postfix and infix grammars may be very similar. Only the position of the operators changes. So a compound postfix expression is a first expression followed by a second one and an operator. This rule is left recursive. As SP is a descendant recursive parser, such rules are forbidden to avoid infinite recursion. To remove the left recursion a classical solution is to rewrite the grammar like this:
::
expr_post = ident expr_post_rest :: lambda x, f: f(x) ;
expr_post_rest = ( expr_post op ::
lambda y, op: lambda x: Op(op, x, y) | expr_post func2 ::
lambda y, f: lambda x: Func(f, x, y) | func1 :
lambda f: lambda x: Func(f, x) ) expr_post_rest ::
lambda f, g: lambda x: g(f(x)) ; expr_post_rest =
lambda x: x ;
The parser searches for an atomic expression and builds the AST
corresponding to the remaining subexpression.
expr_post_rest returns a function that builds the complete
AST when applied to the first atomic expression. This is a way to
simulate inherited attributes.
Using the previous red function and the repetitions,
this rule can be rewritten as:
::
expr_post = ident expr_post_rest* :: red ;
expr_post_rest = ( expr_post op ::
lambda y, op: lambda x: Op(op, x, y) | expr_post func2 ::
lambda y, f: lambda x: Func(f, x, y) | func1 :
lambda f: lambda x: Func(f, x) ) ;
or simply:
::
expr_post = ident ( expr_post op ::
lambda y, op: lambda x: Op(op, x, y) | expr_post func2 ::
lambda y, f: lambda x: Func(f, x, y) | func1 :
lambda f: lambda x: Func(f, x) )* :: red ;
Source code '''''''''''
Here is the complete source code (notation.py):
Complete interactive calculator ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This chapter presents an extension of the calculator described in the
tutorial <#tutorial>__. This calculator has a
memory.
The grammar has been rewritten using the SP language.
New functions '''''''''''''
The calculator has memories. A memory cell is identified by a name.
For example, if the user types pi = 3.14, the memory cell
named pi will contain the value of pi and
2*pi will return 6.28.
.. _source-code-1:
Source code '''''''''''
.. note::
Another calculator is available as a separate package.
Calc <http://cdelord.fr/calc.html>__ is a full
featured programmers' calculator. It is scriptable and allows user
functions.
Here is the complete source code (calc.py):
.. [1] Python is a wonderful object oriented programming language available at http://www.python.org
.. [2] Older Python versions may work (tested with Python
2.4 and 2.5). See the
Older Python versions <#older-python-versions>__
chapter.
.. [3] The axiom is the symbol from which the parsing starts
.. [4] The axiom is the symbol from which the parsing starts
.. [5] re is a standard Python module. It handles regular expressions. For further information about re you can read http://docs.python.org/library/re.html
.. [6] Read the Python documentation for further information: http://docs.python.org/library/re.html#re-syntax