Provided by: tcllib_1.21+dfsg-1_all bug

NAME

       pt::pe - Parsing Expression Serialization

SYNOPSIS

       package require Tcl  8.5

       package require pt::pe  ?1.0.1?

       package require char

       ::pt::pe verify serial ?canonvar?

       ::pt::pe verify-as-canonical serial

       ::pt::pe canonicalize serial

       ::pt::pe print serial

       ::pt::pe bottomup cmdprefix pe

       cmdprefix pe op arguments

       ::pt::pe topdown cmdprefix pe

       ::pt::pe equal seriala serialb

       ::pt::pe epsilon

       ::pt::pe dot

       ::pt::pe alnum

       ::pt::pe alpha

       ::pt::pe ascii

       ::pt::pe control

       ::pt::pe digit

       ::pt::pe graph

       ::pt::pe lower

       ::pt::pe print

       ::pt::pe punct

       ::pt::pe space

       ::pt::pe upper

       ::pt::pe wordchar

       ::pt::pe xdigit

       ::pt::pe ddigit

       ::pt::pe terminal t

       ::pt::pe range ta tb

       ::pt::pe nonterminal nt

       ::pt::pe choice pe...

       ::pt::pe sequence pe...

       ::pt::pe repeat0 pe

       ::pt::pe repeat1 pe

       ::pt::pe optional pe

       ::pt::pe ahead pe

       ::pt::pe notahead pe

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

DESCRIPTION

       Are  you  lost  ?   Do you have trouble understanding this document ?  In that case please
       read the overview provided by the Introduction to  Parser  Tools.  This  document  is  the
       entrypoint to the whole system the current package is a part of.

       This  package  provides commands to work with the serializations of parsing expressions as
       managed by the Parser Tools, and specified in section PE serialization format.

       This is a supporting package in the Core Layer of Parser Tools.

       IMAGE: arch_core_support

API

       ::pt::pe verify serial ?canonvar?
              This command verifies that the content of serial is  a  valid  serialization  of  a
              parsing  expression  and will throw an error if that is not the case. The result of
              the command is the empty string.

              If the argument canonvar is specified it is interpreted as the name of  a  variable
              in the calling context. This variable will be written to if and only if serial is a
              valid regular serialization. Its value will be a boolean, with True indicating that
              the  serialization is not only valid, but also canonical. False will be written for
              a valid, but non-canonical serialization.

              For the specification of serializations see the section PE serialization format.

       ::pt::pe verify-as-canonical serial
              This command verifies that the content of serial is a valid canonical serialization
              of a parsing expression and will throw an error if that is not the case. The result
              of the command is the empty string.

              For the specification of canonical serializations see the section PE  serialization
              format.

       ::pt::pe canonicalize serial
              This command assumes that the content of serial is a valid regular serialization of
              a parsing expression and will throw an error if that is not the case.

              It will then convert the input into the canonical  serialization  of  this  parsing
              expression  and  return it as its result. If the input is already canonical it will
              be returned unchanged.

              For the specification of regular and canonical serializations see  the  section  PE
              serialization format.

       ::pt::pe print serial
              This  command  assumes that the argument serial contains a valid serialization of a
              parsing expression and returns a string containing that  PE  in  a  human  readable
              form.

              The  exact format of this form is not specified and cannot be relied on for parsing
              or other machine-based activities.

              For the specification of serializations see the section PE serialization format.

       ::pt::pe bottomup cmdprefix pe
              This command walks the parsing expression pe  from  the  bottom  up  to  the  root,
              invoking  the  command  prefix  cmdprefix for each partial expression. This implies
              that the children of a parsing expression PE are handled before PE.

              The command prefix has the signature

              cmdprefix pe op arguments
                     I.e. it is invoked with the parsing expression pe the walk is currently  at,
                     the op'erator in the pe, and the operator's arguments.

                     The  result  returned  by  the  command  prefix  replaces  pe in the parsing
                     expression it was a child of, allowing  transformations  of  the  expression
                     tree.

                     This  also  means  that  for  all  inner parsing expressions the contents of
                     arguments are the results of the command prefix invoked for the children  of
                     this inner parsing expression.

       ::pt::pe topdown cmdprefix pe
              This  command  walks  the  parsing  expression pe from the root down to the leaves,
              invoking the command prefix cmdprefix for each  partial  expression.  This  implies
              that the children of a parsing expression PE are handled after PE.

              The command prefix has the same signature as for bottomup, see above.

              The result returned by the command prefix is ignored.

       ::pt::pe equal seriala serialb
              This  command  tests the two parsing expressions seriala and serialb for structural
              equality. The result of the command is a boolean value. It will be set to  true  if
              the expressions are identical, and false otherwise.

              String  equality  is  usable only if we can assume that the two parsing expressions
              are pure Tcl lists.

       ::pt::pe epsilon
              This command constructs the atomic parsing expression for epsilon.

       ::pt::pe dot
              This command constructs the atomic parsing expression for dot.

       ::pt::pe alnum
              This command constructs the atomic parsing expression for alnum.

       ::pt::pe alpha
              This command constructs the atomic parsing expression for alpha.

       ::pt::pe ascii
              This command constructs the atomic parsing expression for ascii.

       ::pt::pe control
              This command constructs the atomic parsing expression for control.

       ::pt::pe digit
              This command constructs the atomic parsing expression for digit.

       ::pt::pe graph
              This command constructs the atomic parsing expression for graph.

       ::pt::pe lower
              This command constructs the atomic parsing expression for lower.

       ::pt::pe print
              This command constructs the atomic parsing expression for print.

       ::pt::pe punct
              This command constructs the atomic parsing expression for punct.

       ::pt::pe space
              This command constructs the atomic parsing expression for space.

       ::pt::pe upper
              This command constructs the atomic parsing expression for upper.

       ::pt::pe wordchar
              This command constructs the atomic parsing expression for wordchar.

       ::pt::pe xdigit
              This command constructs the atomic parsing expression for xdigit.

       ::pt::pe ddigit
              This command constructs the atomic parsing expression for ddigit.

       ::pt::pe terminal t
              This command constructs the atomic parsing expression for the terminal symbol t.

       ::pt::pe range ta tb
              This command constructs the atomic parsing expression for  the  range  of  terminal
              symbols ta ... tb.

       ::pt::pe nonterminal nt
              This  command  constructs  the atomic parsing expression for the nonterminal symbol
              nt.

       ::pt::pe choice pe...
              This  command  constructs  the  parsing  expression  representing  the  ordered  or
              prioritized choice between the argument parsing expressions. The first argument has
              the highest priority.

       ::pt::pe sequence pe...
              This command constructs the parsing expression representing  the  sequence  of  the
              argument  parsing  expression.  The  first  argument  is  the  first element of the
              sequence.

       ::pt::pe repeat0 pe
              This command constructs the  parsing  expression  representing  the  zero  or  more
              repetition of the argument parsing expression pe, also known as the kleene closure.

       ::pt::pe repeat1 pe
              This  command  constructs  the  parsing  expression  representing  the  one or more
              repetition of the argument parsing expression pe, also known as the positive kleene
              closure.

       ::pt::pe optional pe
              This  command constructs the parsing expression representing the optionality of the
              argument parsing expression pe.

       ::pt::pe ahead pe
              This command constructs the parsing expression representing the positive  lookahead
              of the argument parsing expression pe.

       ::pt::pe notahead pe
              This  command constructs the parsing expression representing the negative lookahead
              of the argument parsing expression pe.

PE SERIALIZATION FORMAT

       Here we specify the format used by the Parser Tools to serialize  Parsing  Expressions  as
       immutable values for transport, comparison, etc.

       We  distinguish  between regular and canonical serializations.  While a parsing expression
       may have more than one regular serialization only exactly one of them will be canonical.

       Regular serialization

              Atomic Parsing Expressions

                     [1]    The string epsilon is an atomic parsing expression.  It  matches  the
                            empty string.

                     [2]    The  string  dot  is  an  atomic  parsing  expression. It matches any
                            character.

                     [3]    The string alnum is an atomic  parsing  expression.  It  matches  any
                            Unicode  alphabet  or  digit character. This is a custom extension of
                            PEs based on Tcl's builtin command string is.

                     [4]    The string alpha is an atomic  parsing  expression.  It  matches  any
                            Unicode  alphabet  character. This is a custom extension of PEs based
                            on Tcl's builtin command string is.

                     [5]    The string ascii is an atomic  parsing  expression.  It  matches  any
                            Unicode  character  below  U0080.  This  is a custom extension of PEs
                            based on Tcl's builtin command string is.

                     [6]    The string control is an atomic parsing expression.  It  matches  any
                            Unicode control character. This is a custom extension of PEs based on
                            Tcl's builtin command string is.

                     [7]    The string digit is an atomic  parsing  expression.  It  matches  any
                            Unicode  digit  character. Note that this includes characters outside
                            of the [0..9] range. This is a custom extension of PEs based on Tcl's
                            builtin command string is.

                     [8]    The  string  graph  is  an  atomic parsing expression. It matches any
                            Unicode printing character,  except  for  space.  This  is  a  custom
                            extension of PEs based on Tcl's builtin command string is.

                     [9]    The  string  lower  is  an  atomic parsing expression. It matches any
                            Unicode lower-case alphabet character. This is a custom extension  of
                            PEs based on Tcl's builtin command string is.

                     [10]   The  string  print  is  an  atomic parsing expression. It matches any
                            Unicode  printing  character,  including  space.  This  is  a  custom
                            extension of PEs based on Tcl's builtin command string is.

                     [11]   The  string  punct  is  an  atomic parsing expression. It matches any
                            Unicode punctuation character. This is  a  custom  extension  of  PEs
                            based on Tcl's builtin command string is.

                     [12]   The  string  space  is  an  atomic parsing expression. It matches any
                            Unicode space character. This is a custom extension of PEs  based  on
                            Tcl's builtin command string is.

                     [13]   The  string  upper  is  an  atomic parsing expression. It matches any
                            Unicode upper-case alphabet character. This is a custom extension  of
                            PEs based on Tcl's builtin command string is.

                     [14]   The  string  wordchar is an atomic parsing expression. It matches any
                            Unicode word character.  This  is  any  alphanumeric  character  (see
                            alnum),  and any connector punctuation characters (e.g.  underscore).
                            This is a custom extension of PEs  based  on  Tcl's  builtin  command
                            string is.

                     [15]   The  string  xdigit  is  an atomic parsing expression. It matches any
                            hexadecimal digit character. This is a custom extension of PEs  based
                            on Tcl's builtin command string is.

                     [16]   The  string  ddigit  is  an atomic parsing expression. It matches any
                            decimal digit character. This is a custom extension of PEs  based  on
                            Tcl's builtin command regexp.

                     [17]   The expression [list t x] is an atomic parsing expression. It matches
                            the terminal string x.

                     [18]   The expression [list n A] is an atomic parsing expression. It matches
                            the nonterminal A.

              Combined Parsing Expressions

                     [1]    For parsing expressions e1, e2, ... the result of [list / e1 e2 ... ]
                            is a parsing expression as well.  This is  the  ordered  choice,  aka
                            prioritized choice.

                     [2]    For parsing expressions e1, e2, ... the result of [list x e1 e2 ... ]
                            is a parsing expression as well.  This is the sequence.

                     [3]    For a parsing expression e the result of [list  *  e]  is  a  parsing
                            expression  as  well.  This is the kleene closure, describing zero or
                            more repetitions.

                     [4]    For a parsing expression e the result of [list  +  e]  is  a  parsing
                            expression  as well.  This is the positive kleene closure, describing
                            one or more repetitions.

                     [5]    For a parsing expression e the result of [list  &  e]  is  a  parsing
                            expression as well.  This is the and lookahead predicate.

                     [6]    For  a  parsing  expression  e  the result of [list ! e] is a parsing
                            expression as well.  This is the not lookahead predicate.

                     [7]    For a parsing expression e the result of [list  ?  e]  is  a  parsing
                            expression as well.  This is the optional input.

       Canonical serialization
              The  canonical serialization of a parsing expression has the format as specified in
              the previous item, and then additionally satisfies  the  constraints  below,  which
              make it unique among all the possible serializations of this parsing expression.

              [1]    The  string representation of the value is the canonical representation of a
                     pure Tcl list. I.e. it does not contain superfluous whitespace.

              [2]    Terminals are not encoded as ranges (where start and end of  the  range  are
                     identical).

   EXAMPLE
       Assuming the parsing expression shown on the right-hand side of the rule

                  Expression <- Term (AddOp Term)*

       then its canonical serialization (except for whitespace) is

                  {x {n Term} {* {x {n AddOp} {n Term}}}}

BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK

       This  document,  and  the  package  it  describes, will undoubtedly contain bugs and other
       problems.   Please  report  such   in   the   category   pt   of   the   Tcllib   Trackers
       [http://core.tcl.tk/tcllib/reportlist].  Please also report any ideas for enhancements you
       may have for either package and/or documentation.

       When proposing code changes, please provide unified diffs, i.e the output of diff -u.

       Note further that attachments are strongly preferred over inlined patches. Attachments can
       be  made  by going to the Edit form of the ticket immediately after its creation, and then
       using the left-most button in the secondary navigation bar.

KEYWORDS

       EBNF, LL(k), PEG, TDPL, context-free languages,  expression,  grammar,  matching,  parser,
       parsing  expression,  parsing  expression grammar, push down automaton, recursive descent,
       state, top-down parsing languages, transducer

CATEGORY

       Parsing and Grammars

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (c) 2009 Andreas Kupries <andreas_kupries@users.sourceforge.net>