'\"
'\" Generated from file 'to\&.inc' by tcllib/doctools with format 'nroff'
'\" Copyright (c) 2009 Andreas Kupries <andreas_kupries@users\&.sourceforge\&.net>
'\"
.TH "pt::peg::to::container" n 1\&.1 tcllib "Parser Tools"
.\" The -*- nroff -*- definitions below are for supplemental macros used
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.de AP
.ie !"\\$4"" .TP \\$4
.el \{\
.   ie !"\\$2"" .TP \\n()Cu
.   el          .TP 15
.\}
.ta \\n()Au \\n()Bu
.ie !"\\$3"" \{\
\&\\$1 \\fI\\$2\\fP (\\$3)
.\".b
.\}
.el \{\
.br
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\&\\$1	\\fI\\$2\\fP
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.el \{\
\&\\fI\\$1\\fP
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.\}
.el \}\
\h'-1.5n'\L'|\\n(^yu-1v'\h'\\n(^lu+3n'\L'\\n(^tu+1v-\\n(^yu'\l'|0u-1.5n\(ul'
.\}
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.\}
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.nr ^x \\n(^tu+1v-\\n(^Yu
\kx\h'-\\nxu'\h'|\\n(^lu+3n'\ky\L'-\\n(^xu'\v'\\n(^xu'\h'|0u'\c
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.SH "STANDARD OPTIONS"
.LP
.nf
.ta 5.5c 11c
.ft B
..
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.ft R
.LP
See the \\*(So manual entry for details on the standard options.
..
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Command-Line Name:	\\fB\\$1\\fR
Database Name:	\\fB\\$2\\fR
Database Class:	\\fB\\$3\\fR
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.BS
.SH NAME
pt::peg::to::container \- PEG Conversion\&. Write CONTAINER format
.SH SYNOPSIS
package require \fBTcl 8\&.5 9\fR
.sp
package require \fBpt::peg::to::container ?1\&.1?\fR
.sp
package require \fBpt::peg\fR
.sp
package require \fBtext::write\fR
.sp
package require \fBchar\fR
.sp
\fBpt::peg::to::container\fR \fBreset\fR
.sp
\fBpt::peg::to::container\fR \fBconfigure\fR
.sp
\fBpt::peg::to::container\fR \fBconfigure\fR \fIoption\fR
.sp
\fBpt::peg::to::container\fR \fBconfigure\fR \fIoption\fR \fIvalue\fR\&.\&.\&.
.sp
\fBpt::peg::to::container\fR \fBconvert\fR \fIserial\fR
.sp
.BE
.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
Are you lost ?
Do you have trouble understanding this document ?
In that case please read the overview provided by the
\fIIntroduction to Parser Tools\fR\&. This document is the
entrypoint to the whole system the current package is a part of\&.
.PP
This package implements the converter from parsing expression grammars
to CONTAINER markup\&.
.PP
It resides in the Export section of the Core Layer of Parser Tools,
and can be used either directly with the other packages of this layer,
or indirectly through the export manager provided by
\fBpt::peg::export\fR\&. The latter is intented for use in untrusted
environments and done through the corresponding export plugin
\fBpt::peg::export::container\fR sitting between converter
and export manager\&.
.PP
IMAGE: arch_core_eplugins
.PP
.SH API
The API provided by this package satisfies the specification of the
Converter API found in the \fIParser Tools Export API\fR
specification\&.
.TP
\fBpt::peg::to::container\fR \fBreset\fR
This command resets the configuration of the package to its default
settings\&.
.TP
\fBpt::peg::to::container\fR \fBconfigure\fR
This command returns a dictionary containing the current configuration
of the package\&.
.TP
\fBpt::peg::to::container\fR \fBconfigure\fR \fIoption\fR
This command returns the current value of the specified configuration
\fIoption\fR of the package\&. For the set of legal options, please read
the section \fBOptions\fR\&.
.TP
\fBpt::peg::to::container\fR \fBconfigure\fR \fIoption\fR \fIvalue\fR\&.\&.\&.
This command sets the given configuration \fIoption\fRs of the
package, to the specified \fIvalue\fRs\&. For the set of legal options,
please read the section \fBOptions\fR\&.
.TP
\fBpt::peg::to::container\fR \fBconvert\fR \fIserial\fR
This command takes the canonical serialization of a parsing expression
grammar, as specified in section \fBPEG serialization format\fR,
and contained in \fIserial\fR, and generates CONTAINER markup
encoding the grammar, per the current package configuration\&.
The created string is then returned as the result of the command\&.
.PP
.SH OPTIONS
The converter to the CONTAINER format recognizes the following options
and changes its behaviour as they specify\&.
.TP
\fB-file\fR string
The value of this option is the name of the file or other entity from
which the grammar came, for which the command is run\&. The default
value is \fBunknown\fR\&.
.TP
\fB-name\fR string
The value of this option is the name of the grammar we are processing\&.
The default value is \fBa_pe_grammar\fR\&.
.TP
\fB-user\fR string
The value of this option is the name of the user for which the command
is run\&. The default value is \fBunknown\fR\&.
.TP
\fB-mode\fR \fBbulk\fR|\fBincremental\fR
The value of this option controls which methods of
\fBpt::peg::container\fR instances are used to specify the
grammar, i\&.e\&. preload it into the container\&. There are two legal
values, as listed below\&. The default is \fBbulk\fR\&.
.RS
.TP
\fBbulk\fR
In this mode the methods \fBstart\fR, \fBadd\fR, \fBmodes\fR,
and \fBrules\fR are used to specify the grammar in a bulk manner,
i\&.e\&. as a set of nonterminal symbols, and two dictionaries mapping
from the symbols to their semantic modes and parsing expressions\&.
.sp
This mode is the default\&.
.TP
\fBincremental\fR
In this mode the methods \fBstart\fR, \fBadd\fR, \fBmode\fR,
and \fBrule\fR are used to specify the grammar piecemal, with each
nonterminal having its own block of defining commands\&.
.RE
.TP
\fB-template\fR string
The value of this option is a string into which to put the generated
code and the other configuration settings\&. The various locations for
user-data are expected to be specified with the placeholders listed
below\&. The default value is "\fB@code@\fR"\&.
.RS
.TP
\fB@user@\fR
To be replaced with the value of the option \fB-user\fR\&.
.TP
\fB@format@\fR
To be replaced with the the constant \fBCONTAINER\fR\&.
.TP
\fB@file@\fR
To be replaced with the value of the option \fB-file\fR\&.
.TP
\fB@name@\fR
To be replaced with the value of the option \fB-name\fR\&.
.TP
\fB@mode@\fR
To be replaced with the value of the option \fB-mode\fR\&.
.TP
\fB@code@\fR
To be replaced with the generated code\&.
.RE
.PP
.SH "GRAMMAR CONTAINER"
The \fBcontainer\fR format is another form of describing parsing
expression grammars\&. While data in this format is executable it does
not constitute a parser for the grammar\&. It always has to be used in
conjunction with the package \fBpt::peg::interp\fR, a grammar
interpreter\&.
.PP
The format represents grammars by a \fBsnit::type\fR, i\&.e\&. class,
whose instances are API-compatible to the instances of the
\fBpt::peg::container\fR package, and which are preloaded with the
grammar in question\&.
.PP
It has no direct formal specification beyond what was said above\&.
.SS EXAMPLE
Assuming the following PEG for simple mathematical expressions
.PP
.CS


PEG calculator (Expression)
    Digit      <- '0'/'1'/'2'/'3'/'4'/'5'/'6'/'7'/'8'/'9'       ;
    Sign       <- '-' / '+'                                     ;
    Number     <- Sign? Digit+                                  ;
    Expression <- Term (AddOp Term)*                            ;
    MulOp      <- '*' / '/'                                     ;
    Term       <- Factor (MulOp Factor)*                        ;
    AddOp      <- '+'/'-'                                       ;
    Factor     <- '(' Expression ')' / Number                   ;
END;

.CE
.PP
one possible CONTAINER serialization for it is
.PP
.CS


snit::type a_pe_grammar {
    constructor {} {
        install myg using pt::peg::container ${selfns}::G
        $myg start {n Expression}
        $myg add   AddOp Digit Expression Factor MulOp Number Sign Term
        $myg modes {
            AddOp      value
            Digit      value
            Expression value
            Factor     value
            MulOp      value
            Number     value
            Sign       value
            Term       value
        }
        $myg rules {
            AddOp      {/ {t -} {t +}}
            Digit      {/ {t 0} {t 1} {t 2} {t 3} {t 4} {t 5} {t 6} {t 7} {t 8} {t 9}}
            Expression {/ {x {t \\50} {n Expression} {t \\51}} {x {n Factor} {* {x {n MulOp} {n Factor}}}}}
            Factor     {x {n Term} {* {x {n AddOp} {n Term}}}}
            MulOp      {/ {t *} {t /}}
            Number     {x {? {n Sign}} {+ {n Digit}}}
            Sign       {/ {t -} {t +}}
            Term       {n Number}
        }
        return
    }

    component myg
    delegate method * to myg
}

.CE
.PP
.SH "PEG SERIALIZATION FORMAT"
Here we specify the format used by the Parser Tools to serialize
Parsing Expression Grammars as immutable values for transport,
comparison, etc\&.
.PP
We distinguish between \fIregular\fR and \fIcanonical\fR
serializations\&.
While a PEG may have more than one regular serialization only exactly
one of them will be \fIcanonical\fR\&.
.TP
regular serialization
.RS
.IP [1]
The serialization of any PEG is a nested Tcl dictionary\&.
.IP [2]
This dictionary holds a single key, \fBpt::grammar::peg\fR, and its
value\&. This value holds the contents of the grammar\&.
.IP [3]
The contents of the grammar are a Tcl dictionary holding the set of
nonterminal symbols and the starting expression\&. The relevant keys and
their values are
.RS
.TP
\fBrules\fR
The value is a Tcl dictionary whose keys are the names of the
nonterminal symbols known to the grammar\&.
.RS
.IP [1]
Each nonterminal symbol may occur only once\&.
.IP [2]
The empty string is not a legal nonterminal symbol\&.
.IP [3]
The value for each symbol is a Tcl dictionary itself\&. The relevant
keys and their values in this dictionary are
.RS
.TP
\fBis\fR
The value is the serialization of the parsing expression describing
the symbols sentennial structure, as specified in the section
\fBPE serialization format\fR\&.
.TP
\fBmode\fR
The value can be one of three values specifying how a parser should
handle the semantic value produced by the symbol\&.
.RS
.TP
\fBvalue\fR
The semantic value of the nonterminal symbol is an abstract syntax
tree consisting of a single node node for the nonterminal itself,
which has the ASTs of the symbol's right hand side as its children\&.
.TP
\fBleaf\fR
The semantic value of the nonterminal symbol is an abstract syntax
tree consisting of a single node node for the nonterminal, without any
children\&. Any ASTs generated by the symbol's right hand side are
discarded\&.
.TP
\fBvoid\fR
The nonterminal has no semantic value\&. Any ASTs generated by the
symbol's right hand side are discarded (as well)\&.
.RE
.RE
.RE
.TP
\fBstart\fR
The value is the serialization of the start parsing expression of the
grammar, as specified in the section \fBPE serialization format\fR\&.
.RE
.IP [4]
The terminal symbols of the grammar are specified implicitly as the
set of all terminal symbols used in the start expression and on the
RHS of the grammar rules\&.
.RE
.TP
canonical serialization
The canonical serialization of a grammar has the format as specified
in the previous item, and then additionally satisfies the constraints
below, which make it unique among all the possible serializations of
this grammar\&.
.RS
.IP [1]
The keys found in all the nested Tcl dictionaries are sorted in
ascending dictionary order, as generated by Tcl's builtin command
\fBlsort -increasing -dict\fR\&.
.IP [2]
The string representation of the value is the canonical representation
of a Tcl dictionary\&. I\&.e\&. it does not contain superfluous whitespace\&.
.RE
.PP
.SS EXAMPLE
Assuming the following PEG for simple mathematical expressions
.PP
.CS


PEG calculator (Expression)
    Digit      <- '0'/'1'/'2'/'3'/'4'/'5'/'6'/'7'/'8'/'9'       ;
    Sign       <- '-' / '+'                                     ;
    Number     <- Sign? Digit+                                  ;
    Expression <- Term (AddOp Term)*                            ;
    MulOp      <- '*' / '/'                                     ;
    Term       <- Factor (MulOp Factor)*                        ;
    AddOp      <- '+'/'-'                                       ;
    Factor     <- '(' Expression ')' / Number                   ;
END;

.CE
.PP
then its canonical serialization (except for whitespace) is
.PP
.CS


pt::grammar::peg {
    rules {
        AddOp      {is {/ {t -} {t +}}                                                                mode value}
        Digit      {is {/ {t 0} {t 1} {t 2} {t 3} {t 4} {t 5} {t 6} {t 7} {t 8} {t 9}}                mode value}
        Expression {is {x {n Term} {* {x {n AddOp} {n Term}}}}                                        mode value}
        Factor     {is {/ {x {t (} {n Expression} {t )}} {n Number}}                                  mode value}
        MulOp      {is {/ {t *} {t /}}                                                                mode value}
        Number     {is {x {? {n Sign}} {+ {n Digit}}}                                                 mode value}
        Sign       {is {/ {t -} {t +}}                                                                mode value}
        Term       {is {x {n Factor} {* {x {n MulOp} {n Factor}}}}                                    mode value}
    }
    start {n Expression}
}

.CE
.PP
.SH "PE SERIALIZATION FORMAT"
Here we specify the format used by the Parser Tools to serialize
Parsing Expressions as immutable values for transport, comparison,
etc\&.
.PP
We distinguish between \fIregular\fR and \fIcanonical\fR
serializations\&.
While a parsing expression may have more than one regular
serialization only exactly one of them will be \fIcanonical\fR\&.
.TP
Regular serialization
.RS
.TP
\fBAtomic Parsing Expressions\fR
.RS
.IP [1]
The string \fBepsilon\fR is an atomic parsing expression\&. It matches
the empty string\&.
.IP [2]
The string \fBdot\fR is an atomic parsing expression\&. It matches
any character\&.
.IP [3]
The string \fBalnum\fR is an atomic parsing expression\&. It matches
any Unicode alphabet or digit character\&. This is a custom extension of
PEs based on Tcl's builtin command \fBstring is\fR\&.
.IP [4]
The string \fBalpha\fR is an atomic parsing expression\&. It matches
any Unicode alphabet character\&. This is a custom extension of PEs
based on Tcl's builtin command \fBstring is\fR\&.
.IP [5]
The string \fBascii\fR is an atomic parsing expression\&. It matches
any Unicode character below U0080\&. This is a custom extension of PEs
based on Tcl's builtin command \fBstring is\fR\&.
.IP [6]
The string \fBcontrol\fR is an atomic parsing expression\&. It matches
any Unicode control character\&. This is a custom extension of PEs based
on Tcl's builtin command \fBstring is\fR\&.
.IP [7]
The string \fBdigit\fR is an atomic parsing expression\&. It matches
any Unicode digit character\&. Note that this includes characters
outside of the [0\&.\&.9] range\&. This is a custom extension of PEs
based on Tcl's builtin command \fBstring is\fR\&.
.IP [8]
The string \fBgraph\fR is an atomic parsing expression\&. It matches
any Unicode printing character, except for space\&. This is a custom
extension of PEs based on Tcl's builtin command \fBstring is\fR\&.
.IP [9]
The string \fBlower\fR is an atomic parsing expression\&. It matches
any Unicode lower-case alphabet character\&. This is a custom extension
of PEs based on Tcl's builtin command \fBstring is\fR\&.
.IP [10]
The string \fBprint\fR is an atomic parsing expression\&. It matches
any Unicode printing character, including space\&. This is a custom
extension of PEs based on Tcl's builtin command \fBstring is\fR\&.
.IP [11]
The string \fBpunct\fR is an atomic parsing expression\&. It matches
any Unicode punctuation character\&. This is a custom extension of PEs
based on Tcl's builtin command \fBstring is\fR\&.
.IP [12]
The string \fBspace\fR is an atomic parsing expression\&. It matches
any Unicode space character\&. This is a custom extension of PEs based
on Tcl's builtin command \fBstring is\fR\&.
.IP [13]
The string \fBupper\fR is an atomic parsing expression\&. It matches
any Unicode upper-case alphabet character\&. This is a custom extension
of PEs based on Tcl's builtin command \fBstring is\fR\&.
.IP [14]
The string \fBwordchar\fR is an atomic parsing expression\&. It
matches any Unicode word character\&. This is any alphanumeric character
(see alnum), and any connector punctuation characters (e\&.g\&.
underscore)\&. This is a custom extension of PEs based on Tcl's builtin
command \fBstring is\fR\&.
.IP [15]
The string \fBxdigit\fR is an atomic parsing expression\&. It matches
any hexadecimal digit character\&. This is a custom extension of PEs
based on Tcl's builtin command \fBstring is\fR\&.
.IP [16]
The string \fBddigit\fR is an atomic parsing expression\&. It matches
any decimal digit character\&. This is a custom extension of PEs based
on Tcl's builtin command \fBregexp\fR\&.
.IP [17]
The expression
[list t \fBx\fR]
is an atomic parsing expression\&. It matches the terminal string \fBx\fR\&.
.IP [18]
The expression
[list n \fBA\fR]
is an atomic parsing expression\&. It matches the nonterminal \fBA\fR\&.
.RE
.TP
\fBCombined Parsing Expressions\fR
.RS
.IP [1]
For parsing expressions \fBe1\fR, \fBe2\fR, \&.\&.\&. the result of
[list / \fBe1\fR \fBe2\fR \&.\&.\&. ]
is a parsing expression as well\&.
This is the \fIordered choice\fR, aka \fIprioritized choice\fR\&.
.IP [2]
For parsing expressions \fBe1\fR, \fBe2\fR, \&.\&.\&. the result of
[list x \fBe1\fR \fBe2\fR \&.\&.\&. ]
is a parsing expression as well\&.
This is the \fIsequence\fR\&.
.IP [3]
For a parsing expression \fBe\fR the result of
[list * \fBe\fR]
is a parsing expression as well\&.
This is the \fIkleene closure\fR, describing zero or more
repetitions\&.
.IP [4]
For a parsing expression \fBe\fR the result of
[list + \fBe\fR]
is a parsing expression as well\&.
This is the \fIpositive kleene closure\fR, describing one or more
repetitions\&.
.IP [5]
For a parsing expression \fBe\fR the result of
[list & \fBe\fR]
is a parsing expression as well\&.
This is the \fIand lookahead predicate\fR\&.
.IP [6]
For a parsing expression \fBe\fR the result of
[list ! \fBe\fR]
is a parsing expression as well\&.
This is the \fInot lookahead predicate\fR\&.
.IP [7]
For a parsing expression \fBe\fR the result of
[list ? \fBe\fR]
is a parsing expression as well\&.
This is the \fIoptional input\fR\&.
.RE
.RE
.TP
Canonical serialization
The canonical serialization of a parsing expression has the format as
specified in the previous item, and then additionally satisfies the
constraints below, which make it unique among all the possible
serializations of this parsing expression\&.
.RS
.IP [1]
The string representation of the value is the canonical representation
of a pure Tcl list\&. I\&.e\&. it does not contain superfluous whitespace\&.
.IP [2]
Terminals are \fInot\fR encoded as ranges (where start and end of the
range are identical)\&.
.RE
.PP
.PP
.SS EXAMPLE
Assuming the parsing expression shown on the right-hand side of the
rule
.PP
.CS


    Expression <- Term (AddOp Term)*

.CE
.PP
then its canonical serialization (except for whitespace) is
.PP
.CS


    {x {n Term} {* {x {n AddOp} {n Term}}}}

.CE
.PP
.SH "BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK"
This document, and the package it describes, will undoubtedly contain
bugs and other problems\&.
Please report such in the category \fIpt\fR of the
\fITcllib Trackers\fR [http://core\&.tcl\&.tk/tcllib/reportlist]\&.
Please also report any ideas for enhancements you may have for either
package and/or documentation\&.
.PP
When proposing code changes, please provide \fIunified diffs\fR,
i\&.e the output of \fBdiff -u\fR\&.
.PP
Note further that \fIattachments\fR are strongly preferred over
inlined patches\&. Attachments can be made by going to the \fBEdit\fR
form of the ticket immediately after its creation, and then using the
left-most button in the secondary navigation bar\&.
.SH KEYWORDS
CONTAINER, EBNF, LL(k), PEG, TDPL, context-free languages, conversion, expression, format conversion, grammar, matching, parser, parsing expression, parsing expression grammar, push down automaton, recursive descent, serialization, state, top-down parsing languages, transducer
.SH CATEGORY
Parsing and Grammars
.SH COPYRIGHT
.nf
Copyright (c) 2009 Andreas Kupries <andreas_kupries@users\&.sourceforge\&.net>

.fi
