catASTrophe

parse source text into an Abstract Syntax Tree (AST)

Installation

$ npm install catastrophe

Use

1. Create a matcher
2. Call yourMatcher.parse(src)
3. Do stuff with the generated AST

'use strict'

const match = require('catastrophe')

const numberList = match.many('NumberList',
	match.regex('Number', /^\s*(\d+)\s*/),
	',')

const ast = numberList.parse('1, 2, 3,').toObject()
/*
{ type: 'NumberList',
  parts:
   [ { type: 'Item',
       parts:
        [ { type: 'Number', parts: [ '1' ] },
          { type: 'String', parts: [ ',' ] } ] },
     { type: 'Item',
       parts:
        [ { type: 'Number', parts: [ '2' ] },
          { type: 'String', parts: [ ',' ] } ] },
     { type: 'Item',
       parts:
        [ { type: 'Number', parts: [ '3' ] },
          { type: 'String', parts: [ ',' ] } ] } ] }
*/

API

Matcher

A "Matcher" has two different forms, depending on how it is being referred to below: 1) as a parameter, and 2) as a return value. When it is being passed as a parameter, it will be normalized to its more formal definition. The pseudo-code for normalization is:

function normalize(matcher) {
	return match.string(matcher) if matcher is string
	return match.regex(matcher) if matcher is regex
	return matcher if matcher is function
	throw new Error('Invalid matcher: ' + matcher)
}

The normalized matcher is just a function that takes the form:

function matcher(ctx: SourceContext) {
	return undefined if no match
	return {
		ctx: SourceContext after match,
		node: AstNode after match
	}
}
matcher.match = str => matcher(new SourceContext(str))
matcher.parse = str => matcher.match(str).node

Functions

match.any(...matchers: Array): Matcher

Returns a matcher that matches the first matching matcher given.

Example:

match.any(numberMatcher, alphaMatcher).parse('123')
// => { type: 'Number', ... }

match.many(type: string, item: Matcher, separator: Matcher): Matcher

Returns a matcher that matches zero-or-more items as specified by the given item-matcher and separator-matcher.

Example:

match.many('NumberList', match.regex('Number', /^\s*(\d+)\s*/), ',')
// => { type: 'NumberList',
//      parts: [ { type: 'Item', parts: [ { type: 'Number', parts: [ '1' ] } ] } ] }

match.optional(noneType: string, matcher: Matcher): Matcher

Matches zero or one item specified by the given matcher. If it matches, it returns the AST node as returned by matcher. If there is no match, it returns an empty AST node with the type specified by noneType.

match.plus(type: string, item: Matcher, separator: Matcher): Matcher

Same as match.many, except that it requires a minimum of one (1) match.

match.regex(type: string, regex: RegExp): Matcher

Creates a matcher based on a Regular Expression.

Example:

match.regex('Number', /^\s*(\d+)\s*/)

match.sequence(type: string, ...matchers: Array): Matcher

Matches a sequence of matchers.

Example:

match.sequence('Block',
	match.string('LeftBrace', '{'),
	match.many(statementMatcher),
	match.string('RightBrace'),)

match.string(type: string, s: string): Matcher

Matches a string, disregarding whitespace.