cpp-peglib

C++11 header-only PEG (Parsing Expression Grammars) library.

cpp-peglib tries to provide more expressive parsing experience in a simple way. This library depends on only one header file. So, you can start using it right away just by including peglib.h in your project.

The PEG syntax is well described on page 2 in the document. cpp-peglib also supports the following additional syntax for now:

< and > (Capture operators)

How to use

This is a simple calculator sample. It shows how to define grammar, associate samantic actions to the grammar and handle semantic values.

#include <assert.h>

// (1) Include the header file
#include <peglib.h>

using namespace peglib;
using namespace std;

int main(void) {

    // (2) Make a parser
    auto syntax = R"(
        # Grammar for Calculator...
        Additive  <- Multitive '+' Additive / Multitive
        Multitive <- Primary '*' Multitive / Primary
        Primary   <- '(' Additive ')' / Number
        Number    <- [0-9]+
    )";

    peg parser(syntax);

    // (3) Setup an action
    parser["Additive"] = {
        nullptr,                                      // Default action
        [](const vector<any>& v) {
            return v[0].get<int>() + v[1].get<int>(); // 1st choice
        },
        [](const vector<any>& v) { return v[0]; }     // 2nd choice
    };

    parser["Multitive"] = {
        nullptr,                                      // Default action
        [](const vector<any>& v) {
            return v[0].get<int>() * v[1].get<int>(); // 1st choice
        },
        [](const vector<any>& v) { return v[0]; }     // 2nd choice
    };

    parser["Primary"] = [](const vector<any>& v) {
        return v.size() == 1 ? v[0] : v[1];
    };

    parser["Number"] = [](const char* s, size_t l) {
        return stoi(string(s, l), nullptr, 10);
    };

    // (4) Parse
    int val;
    parser.parse("1+2*3", val);

    assert(val == 7);
}

Here is a complete list of available actions:

[](const char* s, size_t l, const std::vector<peglib::any>& v, any& c)
[](const char* s, size_t l, const std::vector<peglib::any>& v)
[](const char* s, size_t l)
[](const std::vector<peglib::any>& v, any& c)
[](const std::vector<peglib::any>& v)
[]()

const char* s, size_t l gives a pointer and length of the matched string.

const std::vector<peglib::any>& v contains semantic values. peglib::any class is very similar to boost::any. You can obtain a value by castning it to the actual type. In order to determine the actual type, you have to check the return value type of the child action for the semantic value.

any& c is a context data which can be used by the user for whatever purposes.

The following example uses < and > operators. They are the capture operators. Each capture operator creates a semantic value that contains const char* of the position. It could be useful to eliminate unnecessary characters.

auto syntax = R"(
    ROOT  <- _ TOKEN (',' _ TOKEN)*
    TOKEN <- < [a-z0-9]+ > _
    _     <- [ \t\r\n]*
)";

peg pg(syntax);

pg["TOKEN"] = [](const char* s, size_t l, const vector<any>& v) {
    auto b = v[0].get<const char*>(); // '<'
    auto e = v[1].get<const char*>(); // '>'
    auto token = string(b, e - b);    // 'token' doesn't include trailing whitespaces
};

auto ret = pg.parse(" token1, token2 ");

Simple interface

cpp-peglib provides std::regex-like simple interface for trivial tasks.

peglib::peg_match tries to capture strings in the < ... > operator and store them into peglib::match object.

peglib::match m;
auto ret = peglib::peg_match(
    R"(
        ROOT      <-  _ ('[' < TAG_NAME > ']' _)*
        TAG_NAME  <-  (!']' .)+
        _         <-  [ \t]*
    )",
    " [tag1] [tag:2] [tag-3] ",
    m);

assert(ret == true);
assert(m.size() == 4);
assert(m.str(1) == "tag1");
assert(m.str(2) == "tag:2");
assert(m.str(3) == "tag-3");

There are some ways to search a peg pattern in a document.

using namespace peglib;

auto syntax = R"(
ROOT <- '[' < [a-z0-9]+ > ']'
)";

auto s = " [tag1] [tag2] [tag3] ";

// peglib::peg_search
peg pg(syntax);
size_t pos = 0;
auto l = strlen(s);
match m;
while (peg_search(pg, s + pos, l - pos, m)) {
  cout << m.str()  << endl; // entire match
  cout << m.str(1) << endl; // submatch #1
  pos += m.length();
}

// peglib::peg_token_iterator
peg_token_iterator it(syntax, s);
while (it != peg_token_iterator()) {
  cout << it->str()  << endl; // entire match
  cout << it->str(1) << endl; // submatch #1
  ++it;
}

// peglib::peg_token_range
for (auto& m: peg_token_range(syntax, s)) {
  cout << m.str()  << endl; // entire match
  cout << m.str(1) << endl; // submatch #1
}

Make a parser with parser operators

Instead of makeing a parser by parsing PEG syntax text, we can also construct a parser by hand with parser operators. Here is an example:

using namespace peglib;
using namespace std;

vector<string> tags;

Definition ROOT, TAG_NAME, _;
ROOT     <= seq(_, zom(seq(chr('['), TAG_NAME, chr(']'), _)));
TAG_NAME <= oom(seq(npd(chr(']')), dot())), [&](const char* s, size_t l) {
                tags.push_back(string(s, l));
            };
_        <= zom(cls(" \t"));

auto ret = ROOT.parse(" [tag1] [tag:2] [tag-3] ");

The following are available operators:

Operator	Description
seq	Sequence
cho	Prioritized Choice
zom	Zero or More
oom	One or More
opt	Optional
apd	And predicate
npd	Not predicate
lit	Literal string
cls	Character class
chr	Character
dot	Any character

Sample codes

Tested Compilers

Visual Studio 2013
Clang 3.5

TODO

Linear-time parsing (Packrat parsing)
Optimization of grammars
Unicode support

Other C++ PEG parser libraries

Thanks to the authors of the libraries that inspired cpp-peglib.

Boost Spirit X3 - A set of C++ libraries for parsing and output generation implemented as Domain Specific Embedded Languages (DSEL) using Expression templates and Template Meta-Programming
PEGTL - Parsing Expression Grammar Template Library
lars::Parser - A header-only linear-time c++ parsing expression grammar (PEG) parser generator supporting left-recursion and grammar ambiguity

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