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Goparsify

Go


A parser-combinator library for building easy to test, read and maintain parsers using functional composition.

Everything should be unicode safe by default, but you can opt out of unicode whitespace for a decent ~20% performance boost.

Run(parser, input, ASCIIWhitespace)

Benchmarks

$ make bench
goos: darwin
goarch: arm64
pkg: github.com/damienstanton/goparsify/json
BenchmarkUnmarshalParsec-8         33187             34662 ns/op           49375 B/op       1307 allocs/op
BenchmarkUnmarshalParsify-8        59160             20299 ns/op           44596 B/op        212 allocs/op
BenchmarkUnmarshalStdlib-8         52909             22604 ns/op           13427 B/op        251 allocs/op
PASS
ok      github.com/damienstanton/goparsify/json 4.670s

Most of the remaining small allocs are from putting things in interface{} and are pretty unavoidable. https://www.darkcoding.net/software/go-the-price-of-interface/ is a good read.

Debugging parsers

When a parser isnt working as you intended you can build with debugging and enable logging to get a detailed log of exactly what the parser is doing.

First build with debug using -tags debug:

$ go build -tags debug

Then, enable logging by calling EnableLogging(os.Stdout) in your code. This works great with tests, eg in the goparsify source tree:

$ go test -tags debug ./html -v
=== RUN   TestParse
html.go:48 | <body>hello <p  | tag {
html.go:43 | <body>hello <p  |   tstart {
html.go:43 | body>hello <p c |     < found "<"
html.go:20 | >hello <p color |     identifier found "body"
html.go:33 | >hello <p color |     attrs {
html.go:32 | >hello <p color |       attr {
html.go:20 | >hello <p color |         identifier did not find [a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9]*
html.go:32 | >hello <p color |       } did not find [a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9]*
html.go:33 | >hello <p color |     } found ""
html.go:43 | hello <p color= |     > found ">"
html.go:43 | hello <p color= |   } found "[<,body,,map[string
html.go:24 | hello <p color= |   elements {
html.go:23 | hello <p color= |     element {
html.go:21 | <p color=\"blue |       text found "hello "
html.go:23 | <p color=\"blue |     } found "\"hello \""
html.go:23 | <p color=\"blue |     element {
html.go:21 | <p color=\"blue |       text did not find <>
html.go:48 | <p color=\"blue |       tag {
html.go:43 | <p color=\"blue |         tstart {
html.go:43 | p color=\"blue\ |           < found "<"
html.go:20 |  color=\"blue\" |           identifier found "p"
html.go:33 |  color=\"blue\" |           attrs {
html.go:32 |  color=\"blue\" |             attr {
html.go:20 | =\"blue\">world |               identifier found "color"
html.go:32 | \"blue\">world< |               = found "="
html.go:32 | >world</p></bod |               string literal found "blue"
html.go:32 | >world</p></bod |             } found "[color,=,blue]"
html.go:32 | >world</p></bod |             attr {
html.go:20 | >world</p></bod |               identifier did not find [a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9]*
html.go:32 | >world</p></bod |             } did not find [a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9]*
html.go:33 | >world</p></bod |           } found "[[color,=,blue]]"
html.go:43 | world</p></body |           > found ">"
html.go:43 | world</p></body |         } found "[<,p,,map[string]st
html.go:24 | world</p></body |         elements {
html.go:23 | world</p></body |           element {
html.go:21 | </p></body>     |             text found "world"
html.go:23 | </p></body>     |           } found "\"world\""
html.go:23 | </p></body>     |           element {
html.go:21 | </p></body>     |             text did not find <>
html.go:48 | </p></body>     |             tag {
html.go:43 | </p></body>     |               tstart {
html.go:43 | /p></body>      |                 < found "<"
html.go:20 | /p></body>      |                 identifier did not find [a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9]*
html.go:43 | </p></body>     |               } did not find [a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9]*
html.go:48 | </p></body>     |             } did not find [a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9]*
html.go:23 | </p></body>     |           } did not find [a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9]*
html.go:24 | </p></body>     |         } found "[\"world\"]"
html.go:44 | </p></body>     |         tend {
html.go:44 | p></body>       |           </ found "</"
html.go:20 | ></body>        |           identifier found "p"
html.go:44 | </body>         |           > found ">"
html.go:44 | </body>         |         } found "[</,,p,>]"
html.go:48 | </body>         |       } found "[[<,p,,map[string]s
html.go:23 | </body>         |     } found "html.htmlTag{Name:\
html.go:23 | </body>         |     element {
html.go:21 | </body>         |       text did not find <>
html.go:48 | </body>         |       tag {
html.go:43 | </body>         |         tstart {
html.go:43 | /body>          |           < found "<"
html.go:20 | /body>          |           identifier did not find [a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9]*
html.go:43 | </body>         |         } did not find [a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9]*
html.go:48 | </body>         |       } did not find [a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9]*
html.go:23 | </body>         |     } did not find [a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9]*
html.go:24 | </body>         |   } found "[\"hello \",html.ht
html.go:44 | </body>         |   tend {
html.go:44 | body>           |     </ found "</"
html.go:20 | >               |     identifier found "body"
html.go:44 |                 |     > found ">"
html.go:44 |                 |   } found "[</,,body,>]"
html.go:48 |                 | } found "[[<,body,,map[strin
--- PASS: TestParse (0.00s)
PASS
ok      github.com/damienstanton/goparsify/html 0.196s

Debugging performance

If you build the parser with -tags debug it will instrument each parser and a call to DumpDebugStats() will show stats:

var name matches total time self time calls errors location
_value Any() 5.0685431s 34.0131ms 878801 0 json.go:36
_object Seq() 3.7513821s 10.5038ms 161616 40403 json.go:24
_properties Some() 3.6863512s 5.5028ms 121213 0 json.go:14
_properties Seq() 3.4912614s 46.0229ms 818185 0 json.go:14
_array Seq() 931.4679ms 3.5014ms 65660 55558 json.go:16
_array Some() 911.4597ms 0s 10102 0 json.go:16
_properties string literal 126.0662ms 44.5201ms 818185 0 json.go:14
_string string literal 67.033ms 26.0126ms 671723 136369 json.go:12
_properties : 50.0238ms 45.0205ms 818185 0 json.go:14
_properties , 48.5189ms 36.0146ms 818185 121213 json.go:14
_number number literal 28.5159ms 10.5062ms 287886 106066 json.go:13
_true true 17.5086ms 12.5069ms 252537 232332 json.go:10
_null null 14.5082ms 11.007ms 252538 252535 json.go:9
_object } 10.5051ms 10.5033ms 121213 0 json.go:24
_false false 10.5049ms 5.0019ms 232333 222229 json.go:11
_object { 10.0046ms 5.0052ms 161616 40403 json.go:24
_array , 4.5024ms 4.0018ms 50509 10102 json.go:16
_array [ 4.5014ms 2.0006ms 65660 55558 json.go:16
_array ] 0s 0s 10102 0 json.go:16

All times are cumulative, it would be nice to break this down into a parse tree with relative times. This is a nice addition to pprof as it will break down the parsers based on where they are used instead of grouping them all by type.

This is free when the debug tag isnt used.

Example calculator

Lets say we wanted to build a calculator that could take an expression and calculate the result.

Lets start with test:

func TestNumbers(t *testing.T) {
    result, err := Calc(`1`)
    require.NoError(t, err)
    require.EqualValues(t, 1, result)
}

Then define a parser for numbers

var number = NumberLit().Map(func(n Result) Result {
    switch i := n.Result.(type) {
    case int64:
        return Result{Result: float64(i)}
    case float64:
        return Result{Result: i}
    default:
        panic(fmt.Errorf("unknown value %#v", i))
    }
})

func Calc(input string) (float64, error) {
    result, err := Run(y, input)
    if err != nil {
        return 0, err
    }
    return result.(float64), nil
}

This parser will return numbers either as float64 or int depending on the literal, for this calculator we only want floats so we Map the results and type cast.

Run the tests and make sure everything is ok.

Time to add addition

func TestAddition(t *testing.T) {
    result, err := Calc(`1+1`)
    require.NoError(t, err)
    require.EqualValues(t, 2, result)
}


var sumOp  = Chars("+-", 1, 1)

sum = Seq(number, Some(And(sumOp, number))).Map(func(n Result) Result {
    i := n.Child[0].Result.(float64)

    for _, op := range n.Child[1].Child {
        switch op.Child[0].Token {
        case "+":
            i += op.Child[1].Result.(float64)
        case "-":
            i -= op.Child[1].Result.(float64)
        }
    }

    return Result{Result: i}
})

// and update Calc to point to the new root parser -> `result, err := ParseString(sum, input)`

This parser will match number ([+-] number)+, then map its to be the sum. See how the Child map directly to the positions in the parsers? n is the result of the and, n.Child[0] is its first argument, n.Child[1] is the result of the Some parser, n.Child[1].Child[0] is the result of the first And and so fourth. Given how closely tied the parser and the Map are it is good to keep the two together.

You can continue like this and add multiplication and parenthesis fairly easily. Eventually if you keep adding parsers you will end up with a loop, and go will give you a handy error message like:

typechecking loop involving value = goparsify.Any(number, groupExpr)

we need to break the loop using a pointer, then set its value in init

var (
    value Parser
    prod = Seq(&value, Some(And(prodOp, &value)))
)

func init() {
    value = Any(number, groupExpr)
}

Take a look at calc for a full example.

Preventing backtracking with cuts

A cut is a marker that prevents backtracking past the point it was set. This greatly improves error messages when used correctly:

alpha := Chars("a-z")

// without a cut if the close tag is left out the parser will backtrack and ignore the rest of the string
nocut := Many(Any(Seq("<", alpha, ">"), alpha))
_, err := Run(nocut, "asdf <foo")
fmt.Println(err.Error())
// Outputs: left unparsed: <foo

// with a cut, once we see the open tag we know there must be a close tag that matches it, so the parser will error
cut := Many(Any(Seq("<", Cut(), alpha, ">"), alpha))
_, err = Run(cut, "asdf <foo")
fmt.Println(err.Error())
// Outputs: offset 9: expected >

prior art

Inspired by https://github.com/prataprc/goparsec

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