GSP
Quick Navigator

Search Site

Unix VPS
A - Starter
B - Basic
C - Preferred
D - Commercial
MPS - Dedicated
Previous VPSs
* Sign Up! *

Support
Contact Us
Online Help
Handbooks
Domain Status
Man Pages

FAQ
Virtual Servers
Pricing
Billing
Technical

Network
Facilities
Connectivity
Topology Map

Miscellaneous
Server Agreement
Year 2038
Credits
 

USA Flag

 

 

Man Pages
HOP::Lexer(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation HOP::Lexer(3)

HOP::Lexer - "Higher Order Perl" Lexer

Version 0.032

 use HOP::Lexer 'string_lexer';
  
 my @input_tokens = (
     [ 'VAR',   qr/[[:alpha:]]+/    ],
     [ 'NUM',   qr/\d+/             ],
     [ 'OP',    qr/[+=]/            ],
     [ 'SPACE', qr/\s*/, sub { () } ],
 );
  
 my $text  = 'x = 3 + 4';
 my $lexer = string_lexer( $text, @input_tokens );
  
 my @tokens;
 while ( my $token = $lexer->() ) {
     push @tokens, $token;
 }

Two functions may be exported, "make_lexer" and "string_lexer".

 my $lexer = make_lexer( $input_iterator, @tokens );

The "make_lexer" function expects an input data iterator as the first argument and a series of tokens as subsequent arguments. It returns a stream of lexed tokens. The output tokens are two element arrays:

 [ $label, $matched_text ]

The iterator should be a subroutine reference that returns the next value merely by calling the subroutine with no arguments. If you have a single block of text in a scalar that you want lexed, see the "string_lexer" function.

The input @tokens array passed into "make_lexer" is expected to be a list of array references with two mandatory items and one optional one:

 [ $label, qr/$match/, &transform ]
  • $label

    The $label is the name used for the first item in an output token.

  • $match

    The $match is either an exact string or regular expression which matches the text the label is to identify.

  • &transform

    The &transform subroutine reference is optional. If supplied, this will take the matched text and should return a token matching an output token or an empty list if the token is to be discarded. For example, to discard whitespace (the label is actually irrelevant, but it helps to document the code):

     [ 'WHITESPACE', /\s+/, sub {()} ]
        

    The two arguments supplied to the transformation subroutine are the label and value. Thus, if we wish to force all non-negative integers to have a unary plus, we might do something like this:

     [ 
       'REVERSED INT',  # the label
       /[+-]?\d+/,      # integers with an optional unary plus or minus
       sub { 
         my ($label, $value) = @_;
         $value = "+$value" unless $value =~ /^[-+]/;
         [ $label, $value ]
       } 
     ]
        

For example, let's say we want to convert the string "x = 3 + 4" to the following tokens:

  [ 'VAR', 'x' ]
  [ 'OP',  '=' ]
  [ 'NUM', 3   ]
  [ 'OP',  '+' ]
  [ 'NUM', 4   ]

One way to do this would be with the following code:

  my $text = 'x = 3 + 4';
  my @text = ($text);
  my $iter = sub { shift @text };
  
  my @input_tokens = (
      [ 'VAR',   qr/[[:alpha:]]+/    ],
      [ 'NUM',   qr/\d+/             ],
      [ 'OP',    qr/[+=]/            ],
      [ 'SPACE', qr/\s*/, sub { () } ],
  );
  
  my $lexer = make_lexer( $iter, @input_tokens );
  
  my @tokens;
  while ( my $token = $lexer->() ) {
      push @tokens, $token;
  }

@tokens would contain the desired tokens.

Note that the order in which the input tokens are passed in might cause input to be lexed in different ways, thus the order is significant ("/\w+/" might slurp up numbers before "/\b\d+\b/" can read them).

 my $lexer = string_lexer( $string, @tokens );

This function is identical to "make_lexer", but takes a string as the first argument. This is merely syntactic sugar for the common case where we have our data in a string but don't want to create an iterator. The following are equivalent.

 my $lexer = string_lexer( $text, @input_tokens );

Versus:

 my @text  = ($text);
 my $iter  = sub { shift @text };
 my $lexer = make_lexer( $iter, @input_tokens );

The following caveats (or pitfalls, if you prefer), should be kept in mind while lexing data.
  • Unlexed data

    The tokens returned by the lexer are array references. If any data cannot be lexed, it will be returned as a string, unchanged.

  • Capturing parens

    Internally, Hop::Lexer uses capturing parentheses to extract the data from the provided regular expressions. If you need to group data in regular expressions, use the non-capturing parentheses "(?:...)". Otherwise, your code will break.

  • Precedence

    It's important to note that the order of the described tokens is important. If you have keywords such as "while", "if", "unless", and so on, and any text which matches "qr/[[:word:]]+/" is considered a variable, the following fails:

      my @input_tokens = (
          [ 'VAR',     qr/[[:word:]]+/         ],
          [ 'KEYWORD', qr/(?:while|if|unless)/ ],
      );
        

    This is because the potential keywords will be matched as "VAR". To deal with this, place the higher precedence tokens first:

      my @input_tokens = (
          [ 'KEYWORD', qr/(?:while|if|unless)/ ],
          [ 'VAR',     qr/[[:word:]]+/         ],
      );
        

Mark Jason Dominus. Maintained by Curtis "Ovid" Poe, "<ovid@cpan.org>"

Please report any bugs or feature requests to "bug-hop-lexer@rt.cpan.org", or through the web interface at <http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=HOP-Lexer>. I will be notified, and then you'll automatically be notified of progress on your bug as I make changes.

See <http://www.perl.com/pub/a/2006/01/05/parsing.html> for a detailed article about using this module, along with a comprehensive example.

This has now been included in the distribution as HOP::Lexer::Article.

Many thanks to Mark Dominus and Elsevier, Inc. for allowing this work to be republished.

Code derived from the book "Higher-Order Perl" by Mark Dominus, published by Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, Copyright 2005 by Elsevier Inc.

All Software (code listings) presented in the book can be found on the companion website for the book (http://perl.plover.com/hop/) and is subject to the License agreements below.

Please read the following agreement carefully before using this Software. This Software is licensed under the terms contained in this Software license agreement ("agreement"). By using this Software product, you, an individual, or entity including employees, agents and representatives ("you" or "your"), acknowledge that you have read this agreement, that you understand it, and that you agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of this agreement. Elsevier inc. ("Elsevier") expressly does not agree to license this Software product to you unless you assent to this agreement. If you do not agree with any of the following terms, do not use the Software.

YOUR USE OF THIS SOFTWARE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. NEITHER ELSEVIER NOR ITS LICENSORS REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT THE SOFTWARE PRODUCT WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS OR THAT ITS OPERATION WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE. WE EXCLUDE AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL EXPRESS AND IMPLIED WARRANTIES NOT STATED HEREIN, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN ADDITION, NEITHER ELSEVIER NOR ITS LICENSORS MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, REGARDING THE PERFORMANCE OF YOUR NETWORK OR COMPUTER SYSTEM WHEN USED IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE SOFTWARE PRODUCT. WE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGE OR LOSS OF ANY KIND ARISING OUT OF OR RESULTING FROM YOUR POSSESSION OR USE OF THE SOFTWARE PRODUCT CAUSED BY ERRORS OR OMISSIONS, DATA LOSS OR CORRUPTION, ERRORS OR OMISSIONS IN THE PROPRIETARY MATERIAL, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER SUCH LIABILITY IS BASED IN TORT, CONTRACT OR OTHERWISE AND INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ACTUAL, SPECIAL, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES. IF THE FOREGOING LIMITATION IS HELD TO BE UNENFORCEABLE, OUR MAXIMUM LIABILITY TO YOU SHALL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNT OF THE PURCHASE PRICE PAID BY YOU FOR THE SOFTWARE PRODUCT. THE REMEDIES AVAILABLE TO YOU AGAINST US AND THE LICENSORS OF MATERIALS INCLUDED IN THE SOFTWARE PRODUCT ARE EXCLUSIVE.

YOU UNDERSTAND THAT ELSEVIER, ITS AFFILIATES, LICENSORS, SUPPLIERS AND AGENTS, MAKE NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, WITH RESPECT TO THE SOFTWARE PRODUCT, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION THE PROPRIETARY MATERIAL, AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

IN NO EVENT WILL ELSEVIER, ITS AFFILIATES, LICENSORS, SUPPLIERS OR AGENTS, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY LOST PROFITS, LOST SAVINGS OR OTHER INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, ARISING OUT OF YOUR USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE PRODUCT REGARDLESS OF WHETHER SUCH DAMAGES ARE FORESEEABLE OR WHETHER SUCH DAMAGES ARE DEEMED TO RESULT FROM THE FAILURE OR INADEQUACY OF ANY EXCLUSIVE OR OTHER REMEDY.

This Software License Agreement is a legal agreement between the Author and any person or legal entity using or accepting any Software governed by this Agreement. The Software is available on the companion website (http://perl.plover.com/hop/) for the Book, Higher-Order Perl, which is published by Morgan Kaufmann Publishers. "The Software" is comprised of all code (fragments and pseudocode) presented in the book.

By installing, copying, or otherwise using the Software, you agree to be bound by the terms of this Agreement.

The parties agree as follows:

1 Grant of License
We grant you a nonexclusive license to use the Software for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial, as long as the following credit is included identifying the original source of the Software: "from Higher-Order Perl by Mark Dominus, published by Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, Copyright 2005 by Elsevier Inc".
2 Disclaimer of Warranty.
We make no warranties at all. The Software is transferred to you on an "as is" basis. You use the Software at your own peril. You assume all risk of loss for all claims or controversies, now existing or hereafter, arising out of use of the Software. We shall have no liability based on a claim that your use or combination of the Software with products or data not supplied by us infringes any patent, copyright, or proprietary right. All other warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, any warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose are hereby excluded.
3 Limitation of Liability.
We will have no liability for special, incidental, or consequential damages even if advised of the possibility of such damages. We will not be liable for any other damages or loss in any way connected with the Software.
2022-04-09 perl v5.32.1

Search for    or go to Top of page |  Section 3 |  Main Index

Powered by GSP Visit the GSP FreeBSD Man Page Interface.
Output converted with ManDoc.