Matching css comments /* - not sure if this is a bug or my ignorance

[zmoazeni]

Hi there. I'm loving this library.

I'm working with CSS parsing, and I've come across this confusing issue:

∴ irb
irb(main):001:0> require "parslet"
=> true
irb(main):002:0> Parslet.match('\*').parse('*')
=> "*"@0
irb(main):003:0> Parslet.match('/').parse('/')
=> "/"@0
irb(main):004:0> Parslet.match('/\*').parse('/*')
Parslet::ParseFailed: Don't know what to do with "*" at line 1 char 2.
        from /Users/zmoazeni/.rbenv/versions/1.9.3-p385/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/parslet-1.5.0/lib/parslet/cause.rb:63:in `raise'
        from /Users/zmoazeni/.rbenv/versions/1.9.3-p385/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/parslet-1.5.0/lib/parslet/atoms/base.rb:46:in `parse'
        from (irb):4
        from /Users/zmoazeni/.rbenv/versions/1.9.3-p385/bin/irb:12:in `<main>'
irb(main):005:0> (Parslet.match('/') >> Parslet.match('\*')).parse('/*')
=> "/*"@0
irb(main):006:0> '/*' =~ Parslet.match('/\*').re
=> 0

Am I doing something boneheaded with combining the regex Parslet.match('/\*') or is this a subtle bug?

[jonathanhefner]

I'm new to Parslet as well, so I may be wrong on this, but I think match is supposed to match a single character class. For example, you'd get the same error if you wrote Parslet.match('01').parse('01')

If you can give up the regex functionality (and just do exact matching), you could try Parslet.str('/*').parse('/*')

[floere]

Hi guys, you are (almost) right – match only works with regular expression strings that match a single character, eg. [a-z], [\n\t]. Like @jonathanhefner said, str seems to be the thing you are looking for. Cheers!

[zmoazeni]

Ah thanks for the tip @floere @jonathanhefner. Brainfart on my side.

[floere]

I forgot to post a link to the documentation: https://github.com/kschiess/parslet/blob/master/lib/parslet.rb#L126-L146. The code is very well documented in general. Cheers and have fun!