The livelex lexer
Project description
This module is designed to parse text using rules, which are regular-expression based. Rules are grouped into lexicons, and lexicons are grouped into a Language object. Every lexicon has its own set of rules that describe the text that is expected in that context.
A rule consists of three parts: a pattern, an action and a target.
The pattern is a either a regular expression string, or an object that inherits Pattern. In that case its build() method is called to get the pattern.
The action can be any object, and is streamed together with the matched part of the text. It can be seen as a token. If the action is an instance of Action, its filter_actions() method is called, which can yield zero or more tokens. The special skip action skips the matching text.
The target is a list of objects, which can be integer numbers or references to a different lexicon. A positive number pushes the same lexicon on the stack, while a negative number pops the current lexicon(s) off the stack, so that lexing the text continues with a previous lexicon. It is also possible to pop a lexicon and push a different one.
Using a special rule, a lexicon may specify a default action, which is streamed with text that is not recognized by any other rule in the lexicon. A lexicon may also specify a default target, which is chosen when no rule matches the current text.
The livelex module is written and maintained by Wilbert Berendsen.
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