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--- /dev/null Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000 +++ b/ply-3.8/doc/internal.html Wed Mar 23 02:40:16 2016 +0000 @@ -0,0 +1,874 @@ +<html> +<head> +<title>PLY Internals</title> +</head> +<body bgcolor="#ffffff"> + +<h1>PLY Internals</h1> + +<b> +David M. Beazley <br> +dave@dabeaz.com<br> +</b> + +<p> +<b>PLY Version: 3.0</b> +<p> + +<!-- INDEX --> +<div class="sectiontoc"> +<ul> +<li><a href="#internal_nn1">Introduction</a> +<li><a href="#internal_nn2">Grammar Class</a> +<li><a href="#internal_nn3">Productions</a> +<li><a href="#internal_nn4">LRItems</a> +<li><a href="#internal_nn5">LRTable</a> +<li><a href="#internal_nn6">LRGeneratedTable</a> +<li><a href="#internal_nn7">LRParser</a> +<li><a href="#internal_nn8">ParserReflect</a> +<li><a href="#internal_nn9">High-level operation</a> +</ul> +</div> +<!-- INDEX --> + + +<H2><a name="internal_nn1"></a>1. Introduction</H2> + + +This document describes classes and functions that make up the internal +operation of PLY. Using this programming interface, it is possible to +manually build an parser using a different interface specification +than what PLY normally uses. For example, you could build a gramar +from information parsed in a completely different input format. Some of +these objects may be useful for building more advanced parsing engines +such as GLR. + +<p> +It should be stressed that using PLY at this level is not for the +faint of heart. Generally, it's assumed that you know a bit of +the underlying compiler theory and how an LR parser is put together. + +<H2><a name="internal_nn2"></a>2. Grammar Class</H2> + + +The file <tt>ply.yacc</tt> defines a class <tt>Grammar</tt> that +is used to hold and manipulate information about a grammar +specification. It encapsulates the same basic information +about a grammar that is put into a YACC file including +the list of tokens, precedence rules, and grammar rules. +Various operations are provided to perform different validations +on the grammar. In addition, there are operations to compute +the first and follow sets that are needed by the various table +generation algorithms. + +<p> +<tt><b>Grammar(terminals)</b></tt> + +<blockquote> +Creates a new grammar object. <tt>terminals</tt> is a list of strings +specifying the terminals for the grammar. An instance <tt>g</tt> of +<tt>Grammar</tt> has the following methods: +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>g.set_precedence(term,assoc,level)</tt></b> +<blockquote> +Sets the precedence level and associativity for a given terminal <tt>term</tt>. +<tt>assoc</tt> is one of <tt>'right'</tt>, +<tt>'left'</tt>, or <tt>'nonassoc'</tt> and <tt>level</tt> is a positive integer. The higher +the value of <tt>level</tt>, the higher the precedence. Here is an example of typical +precedence settings: + +<pre> +g.set_precedence('PLUS', 'left',1) +g.set_precedence('MINUS', 'left',1) +g.set_precedence('TIMES', 'left',2) +g.set_precedence('DIVIDE','left',2) +g.set_precedence('UMINUS','left',3) +</pre> + +This method must be called prior to adding any productions to the +grammar with <tt>g.add_production()</tt>. The precedence of individual grammar +rules is determined by the precedence of the right-most terminal. + +</blockquote> +<p> +<b><tt>g.add_production(name,syms,func=None,file='',line=0)</tt></b> +<blockquote> +Adds a new grammar rule. <tt>name</tt> is the name of the rule, +<tt>syms</tt> is a list of symbols making up the right hand +side of the rule, <tt>func</tt> is the function to call when +reducing the rule. <tt>file</tt> and <tt>line</tt> specify +the filename and line number of the rule and are used for +generating error messages. + +<p> +The list of symbols in <tt>syms</tt> may include character +literals and <tt>%prec</tt> specifiers. Here are some +examples: + +<pre> +g.add_production('expr',['expr','PLUS','term'],func,file,line) +g.add_production('expr',['expr','"+"','term'],func,file,line) +g.add_production('expr',['MINUS','expr','%prec','UMINUS'],func,file,line) +</pre> + +<p> +If any kind of error is detected, a <tt>GrammarError</tt> exception +is raised with a message indicating the reason for the failure. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>g.set_start(start=None)</tt></b> +<blockquote> +Sets the starting rule for the grammar. <tt>start</tt> is a string +specifying the name of the start rule. If <tt>start</tt> is omitted, +the first grammar rule added with <tt>add_production()</tt> is taken to be +the starting rule. This method must always be called after all +productions have been added. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>g.find_unreachable()</tt></b> +<blockquote> +Diagnostic function. Returns a list of all unreachable non-terminals +defined in the grammar. This is used to identify inactive parts of +the grammar specification. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>g.infinite_cycle()</tt></b> +<blockquote> +Diagnostic function. Returns a list of all non-terminals in the +grammar that result in an infinite cycle. This condition occurs if +there is no way for a grammar rule to expand to a string containing +only terminal symbols. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>g.undefined_symbols()</tt></b> +<blockquote> +Diagnostic function. Returns a list of tuples <tt>(name, prod)</tt> +corresponding to undefined symbols in the grammar. <tt>name</tt> is the +name of the undefined symbol and <tt>prod</tt> is an instance of +<tt>Production</tt> which has information about the production rule +where the undefined symbol was used. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>g.unused_terminals()</tt></b> +<blockquote> +Diagnostic function. Returns a list of terminals that were defined, +but never used in the grammar. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>g.unused_rules()</tt></b> +<blockquote> +Diagnostic function. Returns a list of <tt>Production</tt> instances +corresponding to production rules that were defined in the grammar, +but never used anywhere. This is slightly different +than <tt>find_unreachable()</tt>. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>g.unused_precedence()</tt></b> +<blockquote> +Diagnostic function. Returns a list of tuples <tt>(term, assoc)</tt> +corresponding to precedence rules that were set, but never used the +grammar. <tt>term</tt> is the terminal name and <tt>assoc</tt> is the +precedence associativity (e.g., <tt>'left'</tt>, <tt>'right'</tt>, +or <tt>'nonassoc'</tt>. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>g.compute_first()</tt></b> +<blockquote> +Compute all of the first sets for all symbols in the grammar. Returns a dictionary +mapping symbol names to a list of all first symbols. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>g.compute_follow()</tt></b> +<blockquote> +Compute all of the follow sets for all non-terminals in the grammar. +The follow set is the set of all possible symbols that might follow a +given non-terminal. Returns a dictionary mapping non-terminal names +to a list of symbols. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>g.build_lritems()</tt></b> +<blockquote> +Calculates all of the LR items for all productions in the grammar. This +step is required before using the grammar for any kind of table generation. +See the section on LR items below. +</blockquote> + +<p> +The following attributes are set by the above methods and may be useful +in code that works with the grammar. All of these attributes should be +assumed to be read-only. Changing their values directly will likely +break the grammar. + +<p> +<b><tt>g.Productions</tt></b> +<blockquote> +A list of all productions added. The first entry is reserved for +a production representing the starting rule. The objects in this list +are instances of the <tt>Production</tt> class, described shortly. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>g.Prodnames</tt></b> +<blockquote> +A dictionary mapping the names of nonterminals to a list of all +productions of that nonterminal. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>g.Terminals</tt></b> +<blockquote> +A dictionary mapping the names of terminals to a list of the +production numbers where they are used. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>g.Nonterminals</tt></b> +<blockquote> +A dictionary mapping the names of nonterminals to a list of the +production numbers where they are used. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>g.First</tt></b> +<blockquote> +A dictionary representing the first sets for all grammar symbols. This is +computed and returned by the <tt>compute_first()</tt> method. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>g.Follow</tt></b> +<blockquote> +A dictionary representing the follow sets for all grammar rules. This is +computed and returned by the <tt>compute_follow()</tt> method. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>g.Start</tt></b> +<blockquote> +Starting symbol for the grammar. Set by the <tt>set_start()</tt> method. +</blockquote> + +For the purposes of debugging, a <tt>Grammar</tt> object supports the <tt>__len__()</tt> and +<tt>__getitem__()</tt> special methods. Accessing <tt>g[n]</tt> returns the nth production +from the grammar. + + +<H2><a name="internal_nn3"></a>3. Productions</H2> + + +<tt>Grammar</tt> objects store grammar rules as instances of a <tt>Production</tt> class. This +class has no public constructor--you should only create productions by calling <tt>Grammar.add_production()</tt>. +The following attributes are available on a <tt>Production</tt> instance <tt>p</tt>. + +<p> +<b><tt>p.name</tt></b> +<blockquote> +The name of the production. For a grammar rule such as <tt>A : B C D</tt>, this is <tt>'A'</tt>. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>p.prod</tt></b> +<blockquote> +A tuple of symbols making up the right-hand side of the production. For a grammar rule such as <tt>A : B C D</tt>, this is <tt>('B','C','D')</tt>. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>p.number</tt></b> +<blockquote> +Production number. An integer containing the index of the production in the grammar's <tt>Productions</tt> list. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>p.func</tt></b> +<blockquote> +The name of the reduction function associated with the production. +This is the function that will execute when reducing the entire +grammar rule during parsing. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>p.callable</tt></b> +<blockquote> +The callable object associated with the name in <tt>p.func</tt>. This is <tt>None</tt> +unless the production has been bound using <tt>bind()</tt>. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>p.file</tt></b> +<blockquote> +Filename associated with the production. Typically this is the file where the production was defined. Used for error messages. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>p.lineno</tt></b> +<blockquote> +Line number associated with the production. Typically this is the line number in <tt>p.file</tt> where the production was defined. Used for error messages. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>p.prec</tt></b> +<blockquote> +Precedence and associativity associated with the production. This is a tuple <tt>(assoc,level)</tt> where +<tt>assoc</tt> is one of <tt>'left'</tt>,<tt>'right'</tt>, or <tt>'nonassoc'</tt> and <tt>level</tt> is +an integer. This value is determined by the precedence of the right-most terminal symbol in the production +or by use of the <tt>%prec</tt> specifier when adding the production. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>p.usyms</tt></b> +<blockquote> +A list of all unique symbols found in the production. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>p.lr_items</tt></b> +<blockquote> +A list of all LR items for this production. This attribute only has a meaningful value if the +<tt>Grammar.build_lritems()</tt> method has been called. The items in this list are +instances of <tt>LRItem</tt> described below. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>p.lr_next</tt></b> +<blockquote> +The head of a linked-list representation of the LR items in <tt>p.lr_items</tt>. +This attribute only has a meaningful value if the <tt>Grammar.build_lritems()</tt> +method has been called. Each <tt>LRItem</tt> instance has a <tt>lr_next</tt> attribute +to move to the next item. The list is terminated by <tt>None</tt>. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>p.bind(dict)</tt></b> +<blockquote> +Binds the production function name in <tt>p.func</tt> to a callable object in +<tt>dict</tt>. This operation is typically carried out in the last step +prior to running the parsing engine and is needed since parsing tables are typically +read from files which only include the function names, not the functions themselves. +</blockquote> + +<P> +<tt>Production</tt> objects support +the <tt>__len__()</tt>, <tt>__getitem__()</tt>, and <tt>__str__()</tt> +special methods. +<tt>len(p)</tt> returns the number of symbols in <tt>p.prod</tt> +and <tt>p[n]</tt> is the same as <tt>p.prod[n]</tt>. + +<H2><a name="internal_nn4"></a>4. LRItems</H2> + + +The construction of parsing tables in an LR-based parser generator is primarily +done over a set of "LR Items". An LR item represents a stage of parsing one +of the grammar rules. To compute the LR items, it is first necessary to +call <tt>Grammar.build_lritems()</tt>. Once this step, all of the productions +in the grammar will have their LR items attached to them. + +<p> +Here is an interactive example that shows what LR items look like if you +interactively experiment. In this example, <tt>g</tt> is a <tt>Grammar</tt> +object. + +<blockquote> +<pre> +>>> <b>g.build_lritems()</b> +>>> <b>p = g[1]</b> +>>> <b>p</b> +Production(statement -> ID = expr) +>>> +</pre> +</blockquote> + +In the above code, <tt>p</tt> represents the first grammar rule. In +this case, a rule <tt>'statement -> ID = expr'</tt>. + +<p> +Now, let's look at the LR items for <tt>p</tt>. + +<blockquote> +<pre> +>>> <b>p.lr_items</b> +[LRItem(statement -> . ID = expr), + LRItem(statement -> ID . = expr), + LRItem(statement -> ID = . expr), + LRItem(statement -> ID = expr .)] +>>> +</pre> +</blockquote> + +In each LR item, the dot (.) represents a specific stage of parsing. In each LR item, the dot +is advanced by one symbol. It is only when the dot reaches the very end that a production +is successfully parsed. + +<p> +An instance <tt>lr</tt> of <tt>LRItem</tt> has the following +attributes that hold information related to that specific stage of +parsing. + +<p> +<b><tt>lr.name</tt></b> +<blockquote> +The name of the grammar rule. For example, <tt>'statement'</tt> in the above example. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>lr.prod</tt></b> +<blockquote> +A tuple of symbols representing the right-hand side of the production, including the +special <tt>'.'</tt> character. For example, <tt>('ID','.','=','expr')</tt>. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>lr.number</tt></b> +<blockquote> +An integer representing the production number in the grammar. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>lr.usyms</tt></b> +<blockquote> +A set of unique symbols in the production. Inherited from the original <tt>Production</tt> instance. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>lr.lr_index</tt></b> +<blockquote> +An integer representing the position of the dot (.). You should never use <tt>lr.prod.index()</tt> +to search for it--the result will be wrong if the grammar happens to also use (.) as a character +literal. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>lr.lr_after</tt></b> +<blockquote> +A list of all productions that can legally appear immediately to the right of the +dot (.). This list contains <tt>Production</tt> instances. This attribute +represents all of the possible branches a parse can take from the current position. +For example, suppose that <tt>lr</tt> represents a stage immediately before +an expression like this: + +<pre> +>>> <b>lr</b> +LRItem(statement -> ID = . expr) +>>> +</pre> + +Then, the value of <tt>lr.lr_after</tt> might look like this, showing all productions that +can legally appear next: + +<pre> +>>> <b>lr.lr_after</b> +[Production(expr -> expr PLUS expr), + Production(expr -> expr MINUS expr), + Production(expr -> expr TIMES expr), + Production(expr -> expr DIVIDE expr), + Production(expr -> MINUS expr), + Production(expr -> LPAREN expr RPAREN), + Production(expr -> NUMBER), + Production(expr -> ID)] +>>> +</pre> + +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>lr.lr_before</tt></b> +<blockquote> +The grammar symbol that appears immediately before the dot (.) or <tt>None</tt> if +at the beginning of the parse. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>lr.lr_next</tt></b> +<blockquote> +A link to the next LR item, representing the next stage of the parse. <tt>None</tt> if <tt>lr</tt> +is the last LR item. +</blockquote> + +<tt>LRItem</tt> instances also support the <tt>__len__()</tt> and <tt>__getitem__()</tt> special methods. +<tt>len(lr)</tt> returns the number of items in <tt>lr.prod</tt> including the dot (.). <tt>lr[n]</tt> +returns <tt>lr.prod[n]</tt>. + +<p> +It goes without saying that all of the attributes associated with LR +items should be assumed to be read-only. Modifications will very +likely create a small black-hole that will consume you and your code. + +<H2><a name="internal_nn5"></a>5. LRTable</H2> + + +The <tt>LRTable</tt> class is used to represent LR parsing table data. This +minimally includes the production list, action table, and goto table. + +<p> +<b><tt>LRTable()</tt></b> +<blockquote> +Create an empty LRTable object. This object contains only the information needed to +run an LR parser. +</blockquote> + +An instance <tt>lrtab</tt> of <tt>LRTable</tt> has the following methods: + +<p> +<b><tt>lrtab.read_table(module)</tt></b> +<blockquote> +Populates the LR table with information from the module specified in <tt>module</tt>. +<tt>module</tt> is either a module object already loaded with <tt>import</tt> or +the name of a Python module. If it's a string containing a module name, it is +loaded and parsing data is extracted. Returns the signature value that was used +when initially writing the tables. Raises a <tt>VersionError</tt> exception if +the module was created using an incompatible version of PLY. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>lrtab.bind_callables(dict)</tt></b> +<blockquote> +This binds all of the function names used in productions to callable objects +found in the dictionary <tt>dict</tt>. During table generation and when reading +LR tables from files, PLY only uses the names of action functions such as <tt>'p_expr'</tt>, +<tt>'p_statement'</tt>, etc. In order to actually run the parser, these names +have to be bound to callable objects. This method is always called prior to +running a parser. +</blockquote> + +After <tt>lrtab</tt> has been populated, the following attributes are defined. + +<p> +<b><tt>lrtab.lr_method</tt></b> +<blockquote> +The LR parsing method used (e.g., <tt>'LALR'</tt>) +</blockquote> + + +<p> +<b><tt>lrtab.lr_productions</tt></b> +<blockquote> +The production list. If the parsing tables have been newly +constructed, this will be a list of <tt>Production</tt> instances. If +the parsing tables have been read from a file, it's a list +of <tt>MiniProduction</tt> instances. This, together +with <tt>lr_action</tt> and <tt>lr_goto</tt> contain all of the +information needed by the LR parsing engine. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>lrtab.lr_action</tt></b> +<blockquote> +The LR action dictionary that implements the underlying state machine. +The keys of this dictionary are the LR states. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>lrtab.lr_goto</tt></b> +<blockquote> +The LR goto table that contains information about grammar rule reductions. +</blockquote> + + +<H2><a name="internal_nn6"></a>6. LRGeneratedTable</H2> + + +The <tt>LRGeneratedTable</tt> class represents constructed LR parsing tables on a +grammar. It is a subclass of <tt>LRTable</tt>. + +<p> +<b><tt>LRGeneratedTable(grammar, method='LALR',log=None)</tt></b> +<blockquote> +Create the LR parsing tables on a grammar. <tt>grammar</tt> is an instance of <tt>Grammar</tt>, +<tt>method</tt> is a string with the parsing method (<tt>'SLR'</tt> or <tt>'LALR'</tt>), and +<tt>log</tt> is a logger object used to write debugging information. The debugging information +written to <tt>log</tt> is the same as what appears in the <tt>parser.out</tt> file created +by yacc. By supplying a custom logger with a different message format, it is possible to get +more information (e.g., the line number in <tt>yacc.py</tt> used for issuing each line of +output in the log). The result is an instance of <tt>LRGeneratedTable</tt>. +</blockquote> + +<p> +An instance <tt>lr</tt> of <tt>LRGeneratedTable</tt> has the following attributes. + +<p> +<b><tt>lr.grammar</tt></b> +<blockquote> +A link to the Grammar object used to construct the parsing tables. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>lr.lr_method</tt></b> +<blockquote> +The LR parsing method used (e.g., <tt>'LALR'</tt>) +</blockquote> + + +<p> +<b><tt>lr.lr_productions</tt></b> +<blockquote> +A reference to <tt>grammar.Productions</tt>. This, together with <tt>lr_action</tt> and <tt>lr_goto</tt> +contain all of the information needed by the LR parsing engine. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>lr.lr_action</tt></b> +<blockquote> +The LR action dictionary that implements the underlying state machine. The keys of this dictionary are +the LR states. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>lr.lr_goto</tt></b> +<blockquote> +The LR goto table that contains information about grammar rule reductions. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>lr.sr_conflicts</tt></b> +<blockquote> +A list of tuples <tt>(state,token,resolution)</tt> identifying all shift/reduce conflicts. <tt>state</tt> is the LR state +number where the conflict occurred, <tt>token</tt> is the token causing the conflict, and <tt>resolution</tt> is +a string describing the resolution taken. <tt>resolution</tt> is either <tt>'shift'</tt> or <tt>'reduce'</tt>. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>lr.rr_conflicts</tt></b> +<blockquote> +A list of tuples <tt>(state,rule,rejected)</tt> identifying all reduce/reduce conflicts. <tt>state</tt> is the +LR state number where the conflict occurred, <tt>rule</tt> is the production rule that was selected +and <tt>rejected</tt> is the production rule that was rejected. Both <tt>rule</tt> and </tt>rejected</tt> are +instances of <tt>Production</tt>. They can be inspected to provide the user with more information. +</blockquote> + +<p> +There are two public methods of <tt>LRGeneratedTable</tt>. + +<p> +<b><tt>lr.write_table(modulename,outputdir="",signature="")</tt></b> +<blockquote> +Writes the LR parsing table information to a Python module. <tt>modulename</tt> is a string +specifying the name of a module such as <tt>"parsetab"</tt>. <tt>outputdir</tt> is the name of a +directory where the module should be created. <tt>signature</tt> is a string representing a +grammar signature that's written into the output file. This can be used to detect when +the data stored in a module file is out-of-sync with the the grammar specification (and that +the tables need to be regenerated). If <tt>modulename</tt> is a string <tt>"parsetab"</tt>, +this function creates a file called <tt>parsetab.py</tt>. If the module name represents a +package such as <tt>"foo.bar.parsetab"</tt>, then only the last component, <tt>"parsetab"</tt> is +used. +</blockquote> + + +<H2><a name="internal_nn7"></a>7. LRParser</H2> + + +The <tt>LRParser</tt> class implements the low-level LR parsing engine. + + +<p> +<b><tt>LRParser(lrtab, error_func)</tt></b> +<blockquote> +Create an LRParser. <tt>lrtab</tt> is an instance of <tt>LRTable</tt> +containing the LR production and state tables. <tt>error_func</tt> is the +error function to invoke in the event of a parsing error. +</blockquote> + +An instance <tt>p</tt> of <tt>LRParser</tt> has the following methods: + +<p> +<b><tt>p.parse(input=None,lexer=None,debug=0,tracking=0,tokenfunc=None)</tt></b> +<blockquote> +Run the parser. <tt>input</tt> is a string, which if supplied is fed into the +lexer using its <tt>input()</tt> method. <tt>lexer</tt> is an instance of the +<tt>Lexer</tt> class to use for tokenizing. If not supplied, the last lexer +created with the <tt>lex</tt> module is used. <tt>debug</tt> is a boolean flag +that enables debugging. <tt>tracking</tt> is a boolean flag that tells the +parser to perform additional line number tracking. <tt>tokenfunc</tt> is a callable +function that returns the next token. If supplied, the parser will use it to get +all tokens. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>p.restart()</tt></b> +<blockquote> +Resets the parser state for a parse already in progress. +</blockquote> + +<H2><a name="internal_nn8"></a>8. ParserReflect</H2> + + +<p> +The <tt>ParserReflect</tt> class is used to collect parser specification data +from a Python module or object. This class is what collects all of the +<tt>p_rule()</tt> functions in a PLY file, performs basic error checking, +and collects all of the needed information to build a grammar. Most of the +high-level PLY interface as used by the <tt>yacc()</tt> function is actually +implemented by this class. + +<p> +<b><tt>ParserReflect(pdict, log=None)</tt></b> +<blockquote> +Creates a <tt>ParserReflect</tt> instance. <tt>pdict</tt> is a dictionary +containing parser specification data. This dictionary typically corresponds +to the module or class dictionary of code that implements a PLY parser. +<tt>log</tt> is a logger instance that will be used to report error +messages. +</blockquote> + +An instance <tt>p</tt> of <tt>ParserReflect</tt> has the following methods: + +<p> +<b><tt>p.get_all()</tt></b> +<blockquote> +Collect and store all required parsing information. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>p.validate_all()</tt></b> +<blockquote> +Validate all of the collected parsing information. This is a seprate step +from <tt>p.get_all()</tt> as a performance optimization. In order to +increase parser start-up time, a parser can elect to only validate the +parsing data when regenerating the parsing tables. The validation +step tries to collect as much information as possible rather than +raising an exception at the first sign of trouble. The attribute +<tt>p.error</tt> is set if there are any validation errors. The +value of this attribute is also returned. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>p.signature()</tt></b> +<blockquote> +Compute a signature representing the contents of the collected parsing +data. The signature value should change if anything in the parser +specification has changed in a way that would justify parser table +regeneration. This method can be called after <tt>p.get_all()</tt>, +but before <tt>p.validate_all()</tt>. +</blockquote> + +The following attributes are set in the process of collecting data: + +<p> +<b><tt>p.start</tt></b> +<blockquote> +The grammar start symbol, if any. Taken from <tt>pdict['start']</tt>. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>p.error_func</tt></b> +<blockquote> +The error handling function or <tt>None</tt>. Taken from <tt>pdict['p_error']</tt>. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>p.tokens</tt></b> +<blockquote> +The token list. Taken from <tt>pdict['tokens']</tt>. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>p.prec</tt></b> +<blockquote> +The precedence specifier. Taken from <tt>pdict['precedence']</tt>. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>p.preclist</tt></b> +<blockquote> +A parsed version of the precedence specified. A list of tuples of the form +<tt>(token,assoc,level)</tt> where <tt>token</tt> is the terminal symbol, +<tt>assoc</tt> is the associativity (e.g., <tt>'left'</tt>) and <tt>level</tt> +is a numeric precedence level. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>p.grammar</tt></b> +<blockquote> +A list of tuples <tt>(name, rules)</tt> representing the grammar rules. <tt>name</tt> is the +name of a Python function or method in <tt>pdict</tt> that starts with <tt>"p_"</tt>. +<tt>rules</tt> is a list of tuples <tt>(filename,line,prodname,syms)</tt> representing +the grammar rules found in the documentation string of that function. <tt>filename</tt> and <tt>line</tt> contain location +information that can be used for debugging. <tt>prodname</tt> is the name of the +production. <tt>syms</tt> is the right-hand side of the production. If you have a +function like this + +<pre> +def p_expr(p): + '''expr : expr PLUS expr + | expr MINUS expr + | expr TIMES expr + | expr DIVIDE expr''' +</pre> + +then the corresponding entry in <tt>p.grammar</tt> might look like this: + +<pre> +('p_expr', [ ('calc.py',10,'expr', ['expr','PLUS','expr']), + ('calc.py',11,'expr', ['expr','MINUS','expr']), + ('calc.py',12,'expr', ['expr','TIMES','expr']), + ('calc.py',13,'expr', ['expr','DIVIDE','expr']) + ]) +</pre> +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>p.pfuncs</tt></b> +<blockquote> +A sorted list of tuples <tt>(line, file, name, doc)</tt> representing all of +the <tt>p_</tt> functions found. <tt>line</tt> and <tt>file</tt> give location +information. <tt>name</tt> is the name of the function. <tt>doc</tt> is the +documentation string. This list is sorted in ascending order by line number. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>p.files</tt></b> +<blockquote> +A dictionary holding all of the source filenames that were encountered +while collecting parser information. Only the keys of this dictionary have +any meaning. +</blockquote> + +<p> +<b><tt>p.error</tt></b> +<blockquote> +An attribute that indicates whether or not any critical errors +occurred in validation. If this is set, it means that that some kind +of problem was detected and that no further processing should be +performed. +</blockquote> + + +<H2><a name="internal_nn9"></a>9. High-level operation</H2> + + +Using all of the above classes requires some attention to detail. The <tt>yacc()</tt> +function carries out a very specific sequence of operations to create a grammar. +This same sequence should be emulated if you build an alternative PLY interface. + +<ol> +<li>A <tt>ParserReflect</tt> object is created and raw grammar specification data is +collected. +<li>A <tt>Grammar</tt> object is created and populated with information +from the specification data. +<li>A <tt>LRGenerator</tt> object is created to run the LALR algorithm over +the <tt>Grammar</tt> object. +<li>Productions in the LRGenerator and bound to callables using the <tt>bind_callables()</tt> +method. +<li>A <tt>LRParser</tt> object is created from from the information in the +<tt>LRGenerator</tt> object. +</ol> + +</body> +</html> + + + + + + +