~* Citrus *~ Parsing Expressions for Ruby Citrus is a compact and powerful parsing library for [Ruby](http://ruby-lang.org/) that combines the elegance and expressiveness of the language with the simplicity and power of [parsing expressions](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsing_expression_grammar). # Installation Via [RubyGems](http://rubygems.org/): $ gem install citrus From a local copy: $ git clone git://github.com/mjijackson/citrus.git $ cd citrus $ rake package install # Background In order to be able to use Citrus effectively, you must first understand the difference between syntax and semantics. Syntax is a set of rules that govern the way letters and punctuation may be used in a language. For example, English syntax dictates that proper nouns should start with a capital letter and that sentences should end with a period. Semantics are the rules by which meaning may be derived in a language. For example, as you read a book you are able to make some sense of the particular way in which words on a page are combined to form thoughts and express ideas because you understand what the words themselves mean and you understand what they mean collectively. Computers use a similar process when interpreting code. First, the code must be parsed into recognizable symbols or tokens. These tokens may then be passed to an interpreter which is responsible for forming actual instructions from them. Citrus is a pure Ruby library that allows you to perform both lexical analysis and semantic interpretation quickly and easily. Using Citrus you can write powerful parsers that are simple to understand and easy to create and maintain. In Citrus, there are three main types of objects: rules, grammars, and matches. ## Rules A [Rule](api/classes/Citrus/Rule.html) is an object that specifies some matching behavior on a string. There are two types of rules: terminals and non-terminals. Terminals can be either Ruby strings or regular expressions that specify some input to match. For example, a terminal created from the string "end" would match any sequence of the characters "e", "n", and "d", in that order. Terminals created from regular expressions may match any sequence of characters that can be generated from that expression. Non-terminals are rules that may contain other rules but do not themselves match directly on the input. For example, a Repeat is a non-terminal that may contain one other rule that will try and match a certain number of times. Several other types of non-terminals are available that will be discussed later. Rule objects may also have semantic information associated with them in the form of Ruby modules. Rules use these modules to extend the matches they create. ## Grammars A [Grammar](api/classes/Citrus/Grammar.html) is a container for rules. Usually the rules in a grammar collectively form a complete specification for some language, or a well-defined subset thereof. A Citrus grammar is really just a souped-up Ruby [module](http://ruby-doc.org/core/classes/Module.html). These modules may be included in other grammar modules in the same way that Ruby modules are normally used. This property allows you to divide a complex grammar into more manageable, reusable pieces that may be combined at runtime. Any rule with the same name as a rule in an included grammar may access that rule with a mechanism similar to Ruby's `super` keyword. ## Matches A [Match](api/classes/Citrus/Match.html) object represents a successful recognition of some piece of the input. Matches are created by rule objects during a parse. Matches are arranged in a tree structure where any match may contain any number of other matches. Each match contains information about its own subtree. The structure of the tree is determined by the way in which the rule that generated each match is used in the grammar. For example, a match that is created from a nonterminal rule that contains several other terminals will likewise contain several matches, one for each terminal. However, this is an implementation detail and should be relatively transparent to the user. Match objects may be extended with semantic information in the form of methods. These methods should provide various interpretations for the semantic value of a match. # Syntax The most straightforward way to compose a Citrus grammar is to use Citrus' own custom grammar syntax. This syntax borrows heavily from Ruby, so it should already be familiar to Ruby programmers. ## Terminals Terminals may be represented by a string or a regular expression. Both follow the same rules as Ruby string and regular expression literals. 'abc' # match "abc" "abc\n" # match "abc\n" /abc/i # match "abc" in any case /\xFF/ # match "\xFF" Character classes and the dot (match anything) symbol are supported as well for compatibility with other parsing expression implementations. [a-z0-9] # match any lowercase letter or digit [\x00-\xFF] # match any octet . # match any single character, including new lines Also, strings may use backticks instead of quotes to indicate that they should match in a case-insensitive manner. `abc` # match "abc" in any case Besides case sensitivity, case-insensitive strings have the same behavior as double quoted strings. See [Terminal](api/classes/Citrus/Terminal.html) and [StringTerminal](api/classes/Citrus/StringTerminal.html) for more information. ## Repetition Quantifiers may be used after any expression to specify a number of times it must match. The universal form of a quantifier is `N*M` where `N` is the minimum and `M` is the maximum number of times the expression may match. 'abc'1*2 # match "abc" a minimum of one, maximum of two times 'abc'1* # match "abc" at least once 'abc'*2 # match "abc" a maximum of twice Additionally, the minimum and maximum may be omitted entirely to specify that an expression may match zero or more times. 'abc'* # match "abc" zero or more times The `+` and `?` operators are supported as well for the common cases of `1*` and `*1` respectively. 'abc'+ # match "abc" one or more times 'abc'? # match "abc" zero or one time See [Repeat](api/classes/Citrus/Repeat.html) for more information. ## Lookahead Both positive and negative lookahead are supported in Citrus. Use the `&` and `!` operators to indicate that an expression either should or should not match. In neither case is any input consumed. &'a' 'b' # match a "b" preceded by an "a" 'a' !'b' # match an "a" that is not followed by a "b" !'a' . # match any character except for "a" A special form of lookahead is also supported which will match any character that does not match a given expression. ~'a' # match all characters until an "a" ~/xyz/ # match all characters until /xyz/ matches When using this operator (the tilde), at least one character must be consumed for the rule to succeed. See [AndPredicate](api/classes/Citrus/AndPredicate.html), [NotPredicate](api/classes/Citrus/NotPredicate.html), and [ButPredicate](api/classes/Citrus/ButPredicate.html) for more information. ## Sequences Sequences of expressions may be separated by a space to indicate that the rules should match in that order. 'a' 'b' 'c' # match "a", then "b", then "c" 'a' [0-9] # match "a", then a numeric digit See [Sequence](api/classes/Citrus/Sequence.html) for more information. ## Choices Ordered choice is indicated by a vertical bar that separates two expressions. When using choice, each expression is tried in order. When one matches, the rule returns the match immediately without trying the remaining rules. 'a' | 'b' # match "a" or "b" 'a' 'b' | 'c' # match "a" then "b" (in sequence), or "c" It is important to note when using ordered choice that any operator binds more tightly than the vertical bar. A full chart of operators and their respective levels of precedence is below. See [Choice](api/classes/Citrus/Choice.html) for more information. ## Grouping As is common in many programming languages, parentheses may be used to override the normal binding order of operators. In the following example parentheses are used to make the vertical bar between `'b'` and `'c'` bind tighter than the space between `'a'` and `'b'`. 'a' ('b' | 'c') # match "a", then "b" or "c" ## Labels Match objects may be referred to by a different name than the rule that originally generated them. Labels are added by placing the label and a colon immediately preceding any expression. chars:/[a-z]+/ # the characters matched by the regular expression # may be referred to as "chars" in an extension # method ## Extensions Extensions may be specified using either "module" or "block" syntax. When using module syntax, specify the name of a module that is used to extend match objects in between less than and greater than symbols. [a-z0-9]5*9 # match a string that consists of any lower # cased letter or digit between 5 and 9 # times and extend the match with the # CouponCode module Additionally, extensions may be specified inline using curly braces. When using this method, the code inside the curly braces may be invoked by calling the `value` method on the match object. [0-9] { to_i } # match any digit and return its integer value when # calling the #value method on the match object Note that when using the inline block method you may also specify arguments in between vertical bars immediately following the opening curly brace, just like in Ruby blocks. ## Super When including a grammar inside another, all rules in the child that have the same name as a rule in the parent also have access to the `super` keyword to invoke the parent rule. grammar Number def number [0-9]+ end end grammar FloatingPoint include Number rule number super ('.' super)? end end In the example above, the `FloatingPoint` grammar includes `Number`. Both have a rule named `number`, so `FloatingPoint#number` has access to `Number#number` by means of using `super`. See [Super](api/classes/Citrus/Super.html) for more information. ## Precedence The following table contains a list of all Citrus symbols and operators and their precedence. A higher precedence indicates tighter binding. Operator | Name | Precedence --------- | ------------------------- | ---------- '' | String (single quoted) | 7 "" | String (double quoted) | 7 `` | String (case insensitive) | 7 [] | Character class | 7 . | Dot (any character) | 7 // | Regular expression | 7 () | Grouping | 7 * | Repetition (arbitrary) | 6 + | Repetition (one or more) | 6 ? | Repetition (zero or one) | 6 & | And predicate | 5 ! | Not predicate | 5 ~ | But predicate | 5 <> | Extension (module name) | 4 {} | Extension (literal) | 4 : | Label | 3 e1 e2 | Sequence | 2 e1 | e2 | Ordered choice | 1 # Example Below is an example of a simple grammar that is able to parse strings of integers separated by any amount of white space and a `+` symbol. grammar Addition rule additive number plus (additive | number) end rule number [0-9]+ space end rule plus '+' space end rule space [ \t]* end end Several things to note about the above example: * Grammar and rule declarations end with the `end` keyword * A sequence of rules is created by separating expressions with a space * Likewise, ordered choice is represented with a vertical bar * Parentheses may be used to override the natural binding order * Rules may refer to other rules in their own definitions simply by using the other rule's name * Any expression may be followed by a quantifier ## Interpretation The grammar above is able to parse simple mathematical expressions such as "1+2" and "1 + 2+3", but it does not have enough semantic information to be able to actually interpret these expressions. At this point, when the grammar parses a string it generates a tree of [Match](api/classes/Citrus/Match.html) objects. Each match is created by a rule and may itself be comprised of any number of submatches. Submatches are created whenever a rule contains another rule. For example, in the grammar above `number` matches a string of digits followed by white space. Thus, a match generated by this rule will contain two submatches. We can define a method inside a set of curly braces that will be used to extend a particular rule's matches. This works in similar fashion to using Ruby's blocks. Let's extend the `Addition` grammar using this technique. grammar Addition rule additive (number plus term:(additive | number)) { number.value + term.value } end rule number ([0-9]+ space) { to_i } end rule plus '+' space end rule space [ \t]* end end In this version of the grammar we have added two semantic blocks, one each for the `additive` and `number` rules. These blocks contain code that we can execute by calling `value` on match objects that result from those rules. It's easiest to explain what is going on here by starting with the lowest level block, which is defined within `number`. Inside this block we see a call to another method, namely `to_i`. When called in the context of a match object, methods that are not defined may be called on a match's internal string object via `method_missing`. Thus, the call to `to_i` should return the integer value of the match. Similarly, matches created by `additive` will also have a `value` method. Notice the use of the `term` label within the rule definition. This label allows the match that is created by the choice between `additive` and `number` to be retrieved using the `term` method. The value of an additive match is determined to be the values of its `number` and `term` matches added together using Ruby's addition operator. Since `additive` is the first rule defined in the grammar, any match that results from parsing a string with this grammar will have a `value` method that can be used to recursively calculate the collective value of the entire match tree. To give it a try, save the code for the `Addition` grammar in a file called addition.citrus. Next, assuming you have the Citrus [gem](https://rubygems.org/gems/citrus) installed, try the following sequence of commands in a terminal. $ irb > require 'citrus' => true > Citrus.load 'addition' => [Addition] > m = Addition.parse '1 + 2 + 3' => # m.value => 6 Congratulations! You just ran your first piece of Citrus code. One interesting thing to notice about the above sequence of commands is the return value of [Citrus#load](api/classes/Citrus.html#M000003). When you use `Citrus.load` to load a grammar file (and likewise [Citrus#eval](api/classes/Citrus.html#M000004) to evaluate a raw string of grammar code), the return value is an array of all the grammars present in that file. Take a look at [examples/calc.citrus](http://github.com/mjijackson/citrus/blob/master/examples/calc.citrus) for an example of a calculator that is able to parse and evaluate more complex mathematical expressions. ## Additional Methods If you need more than just a `value` method on your match object, you can attach additional methods as well. There are two ways to do this. The first lets you define additional methods inline in your semantic block. This block will be used to create a new Module using [Module#new](http://ruby-doc.org/core/classes/Module.html#M001682). Using the `Addition` example above, we might refactor the `additive` rule to look like this: rule additive (number plus term:(additive | number)) { def lhs number.value end def rhs term.value end def value lhs + rhs end } end Now, in addition to having a `value` method, matches that result from the `additive` rule will have a `lhs` and a `rhs` method as well. Although not particularly useful in this example, this technique can be useful when unit testing more complex rules. For example, using this method you might make the following assertions in a unit test: match = Addition.parse('1 + 4') assert_equal(1, match.lhs) assert_equal(4, match.rhs) assert_equal(5, match.value) If you would like to abstract away the code in a semantic block, simply create a separate Ruby module (in another file) that contains the extension methods you want and use the angle bracket notation to indicate that a rule should use that module when extending matches. To demonstrate this method with the above example, in a Ruby file you would define the following module. module Additive def lhs number.value end def rhs term.value end def value lhs + rhs end end Then, in your Citrus grammar file the rule definition would look like this: rule additive (number plus term:(additive | number)) end This method of defining extensions can help keep your grammar files cleaner. However, you do need to make sure that your extension modules are already loaded before using `Citrus.load` to load your grammar file. # Testing Citrus was designed to facilitate simple and powerful testing of grammars. To demonstrate how this is to be done, we'll use the `Addition` grammar from our previous [example](example.html). The following code demonstrates a simple test case that could be used to test that our grammar works properly. class AdditionTest < Test::Unit::TestCase def test_additive match = Addition.parse('23 + 12', :root => :additive) assert(match) assert_equal('23 + 12', match) assert_equal(35, match.value) end def test_number match = Addition.parse('23', :root => :number) assert(match) assert_equal('23', match) assert_equal(23, match.value) end end The key here is using the `:root` option when performing the parse to specify the name of the rule at which the parse should start. In `test_number`, since `:number` was given the parse will start at that rule as if it were the root rule of the entire grammar. The ability to change the root rule on the fly like this enables easy unit testing of the entire grammar. Also note that because match objects are themselves strings, assertions may be made to test equality of match objects with string values. ## Debugging When a parse fails, a [ParseError](api/classes/Citrus/ParseError.html) object is generated which provides a wealth of information about exactly where the parse failed including the offset, line number, line text, and line offset. Using this object, you could possibly provide some useful feedback to the user about why the input was bad. The following code demonstrates one way to do this. def parse_some_stuff(stuff) match = StuffGrammar.parse(stuff) rescue Citrus::ParseError => e raise ArgumentError, "Invalid stuff on line %d, offset %d!" % [e.line_number, e.line_offset] end In addition to useful error objects, Citrus also includes a means of visualizing match trees in the console via `Match#dump`. This can help when determining which rules are generating which matches and how they are organized in the match tree. # Extras Several files are included in the Citrus repository that make it easier to work with grammar files in various editors. ## TextMate To install the Citrus [TextMate](http://macromates.com/) bundle, simply double-click on the `Citrus.tmbundle` file in the `extras` directory. ## Vim To install the [Vim](http://www.vim.org/) scripts, copy the files in `extras/vim` to a directory in Vim's [runtimepath](http://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/options.html#\'runtimepath\'). # Links The primary resource for all things to do with parsing expressions can be found on the original [Packrat and Parsing Expression Grammars page](http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/~baford/packrat) at MIT. Also, a useful summary of parsing expression grammars can be found on [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsing_expression_grammar). Citrus draws inspiration from another Ruby library for writing parsing expression grammars, Treetop. While Citrus' syntax is similar to that of [Treetop](http://treetop.rubyforge.org), it's not identical. The link is included here for those who may wish to explore an alternative implementation. # License Copyright 2010 Michael Jackson Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.