diff --git a/peg.el b/peg.el index d71c707dc0..0e4221eeb7 100644 --- a/peg.el +++ b/peg.el @@ -79,17 +79,69 @@ ;; Beginning-of-Symbol (bos) ;; End-of-Symbol (eos) ;; -;; PEXs also support parsing actions, i.e. Lisp snippets which -;; are executed when a pex matches. This can be used to construct -;; syntax trees or for similar tasks. Actions are written as +;; Rules can refer to other rules, and a grammar is often structured +;; as a tree, with a root rule referring to one or more "branch +;; rules", all the way down to the "leaf rules" that deal with actual +;; buffer text. Rules can be recursive or mutually referential, +;; though care must be taken not to create infinite loops. +;; +;; PEXs also support parsing actions, i.e. Lisp snippets which are +;; executed when a pex matches. This can be used to construct syntax +;; trees or for similar tasks. The most basic form of action is +;; written as: ;; ;; (action FORM) ; evaluate FORM for its side-effects -;; `(VAR... -- FORM...) ; stack action ;; ;; Actions don't consume input, but are executed at the point of -;; match. A "stack action" takes VARs from the "value stack" and -;; pushes the result of evaluating FORMs to that stack. -;; See `peg-ex-parse-int' in `peg-tests.el' for an example. +;; match. Another kind of action is called a "stack action", and +;; looks like this: +;; +;; `(VAR... -- FORM...) ; stack action +;; +;; A stack action takes VARs from the "value stack" and pushes the +;; results of evaluating FORMs to that stack. + +;; The value stack is created during the course of parsing. Certain +;; operators (see below) that match buffer text can push values onto +;; this stack. "Upstream" rules can then draw values from the stack, +;; and optionally push new ones back. For instance, consider this +;; very simple grammar: +;; +;; (with-peg-rules +;; ((query (+ term) (eol)) +;; (term key ":" value (opt (+ [space])) +;; `(k v -- (cons (intern k) v))) +;; (key (substring (and (not ":") (+ [word])))) +;; (value (or string-value number-value)) +;; (string-value (substring (+ [alpha]))) +;; (number-value (substring (+ [digit])) +;; `(val -- (string-to-number val)))) +;; (peg-run (peg query))) +;; +;; This invocation of `peg-run' would parse this buffer text: +;; +;; name:Jane age:30 +;; +;; And return this Elisp sexp: +;; +;; ((age . 30) (name . "Jane")) +;; +;; Note that, in complex grammars, some care must be taken to make +;; sure that the number and type of values drawn from the stack always +;; match those pushed. In the example above, both `string-value' and +;; `number-value' push a single value to the stack. Since the `value' +;; rule only includes these two sub-rules, any upstream rule that +;; makes use of `value' can be confident it will always and only push +;; a single value to the stack. +;; +;; Stack action forms are in a sense analogous to lambda forms: the +;; symbols before the "--" are the equivalent of lambda arguments, +;; while the forms after the "--" are return values. The difference +;; being that a lambda form can only return a single value, while a +;; stack action can push multiple values onto the stack. It's also +;; perfectly valid to use `(-- FORM...)' or `(VAR... --)': the former +;; pushes values to the stack without consuming any, and the latter +;; pops values from the stack and discards them. ;; ;; Derived Operators: ;; @@ -101,6 +153,8 @@ ;; (replace E RPL); Match E and replace the matched region with RPL. ;; (list E) ; Match E and push a list of the items that E produced. ;; +;; See `peg-ex-parse-int' in `peg-tests.el' for further examples. +;; ;; Regexp equivalents: ;; ;; Here a some examples for regexps and how those could be written as pex. @@ -177,7 +231,7 @@ EXPS is a list of rules/expressions that failed.") ;;;; Main entry points -;; Sometimes (with-peg-rule ... (peg-run (peg ...))) is too +;; Sometimes (with-peg-rules ... (peg-run (peg ...))) is too ;; longwinded for the task at hand, so `peg-parse' comes in handy. (defmacro peg-parse (&rest pexs) "Match PEXS at point.