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pt::peg::to::json(n)             Parser Tools             pt::peg::to::json(n)



______________________________________________________________________________


NAME

       pt::peg::to::json - PEG Conversion. Write JSON format


SYNOPSIS

       package require Tcl  8.5

       package require pt::peg::to::json  ?1?

       package require pt::peg

       package require json::write

       pt::peg::to::json reset

       pt::peg::to::json configure

       pt::peg::to::json configure option

       pt::peg::to::json configure option value...

       pt::peg::to::json convert serial

_________________________________________________________________


DESCRIPTION

       Are  you  lost ?  Do you have trouble understanding this document ?  In
       that case please read the overview  provided  by  the  Introduction  to
       Parser  Tools.  This document is the entrypoint to the whole system the
       current package is a part of.

       This package implements the converter from parsing expression  grammars
       to JSON markup.

       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 pt::peg::export. The
       latter is intented for use in untrusted environments and  done  through
       the  corresponding  export plugin pt::peg::export::json sitting between
       converter and export manager.

       IMAGE: arch_core_eplugins



API

       The API provided by this package satisfies  the  specification  of  the
       Converter API found in the Parser Tools Export API specification.

       pt::peg::to::json reset
              This  command  resets  the  configuration  of the package to its
              default settings.

       pt::peg::to::json configure
              This command returns a dictionary containing the current config-
              uration of the package.

       pt::peg::to::json configure option
              This command returns the current value of the specified configu-
              ration option of the package. For  the  set  of  legal  options,
              please read the section Options.

       pt::peg::to::json configure option value...
              This  command  sets the given configuration options of the pack-
              age, to the specified values. For  the  set  of  legal  options,
              please read the section Options.

       pt::peg::to::json convert serial
              This  command  takes  the  canonical  serialization of a parsing
              expression grammar, as specified in  section  PEG  serialization
              format,  and  contained  in  serial,  and  generates JSON markup
              encoding the grammar, per  the  current  package  configuration.
              The  created  string  is then returned as the result of the com-
              mand.



OPTIONS

       The converter to the JSON grammar exchange format recognizes  the  fol-
       lowing  configuration variables and changes its behaviour as they spec-
       ify.

       -file 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 unknown.

       -name string
              The value of this option is the name of the grammar we are  pro-
              cessing.  The default value is a_pe_grammar.

       -user string
              The  value  of this option is the name of the user for which the
              command is run. The default value is unknown.

       -indented boolean
              If this option is set the system will break the  generated  JSON
              across  lines  and  indent  it according to its inner structure,
              with each key of a dictionary on a separate line.

              If the option is not set (the default), the  whole  JSON  object
              will  be  written on a single line, with minimum spacing between
              all elements.

       -aligned boolean
              If this option is set the system will ensure that the values for
              the keys in a dictionary are vertically aligned with each other,
              for a nice table effect.  To make this work  this  also  implies
              that -indented is set.

              If  the option is not set (the default), the output is formatted
              as per the value of indented, without trying to align the values
              for dictionary keys.



JSON GRAMMAR EXCHANGE FORMAT

       The  json  format for parsing expression grammars was written as a data
       exchange format not bound to Tcl. It was defined to allow the  exchange
       of  grammars  with  PackRat/PEG  based parser generators for other lan-
       guages.

       It is formally specified by the rules below:

       [1]    The JSON of any PEG is a JSON object.

       [2]    This object holds a single key, pt::grammar::peg, and its value.
              This value holds the contents of the grammar.

       [3]    The contents of the grammar are a JSON object holding the set of
              nonterminal symbols and the starting  expression.  The  relevant
              keys and their values are

              rules  The  value  is  a JSON object whose keys are the names of
                     the nonterminal symbols known to the grammar.

                     [1]    Each nonterminal symbol may occur only once.

                     [2]    The empty string is not a legal  nonterminal  sym-
                            bol.

                     [3]    The value for each symbol is a JSON object itself.
                            The relevant keys and their values in this dictio-
                            nary are

                            is     The  value is a JSON string holding the Tcl
                                   serialization  of  the  parsing  expression
                                   describing  the  symbols  sentennial struc-
                                   ture, as specified in the section PE  seri-
                                   alization format.

                            mode   The  value is a JSON holding holding one of
                                   three values specifying how a parser should
                                   handle  the  semantic value produced by the
                                   symbol.

                                   value  The semantic value of the  nontermi-
                                          nal  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.

                                   leaf   The  semantic value of the nontermi-
                                          nal 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.

                                   void   The   nonterminal  has  no  semantic
                                          value. Any  ASTs  generated  by  the
                                          symbol's  right  hand  side are dis-
                                          carded (as well).

              start  The value is a JSON string holding the Tcl  serialization
                     of the start parsing expression of the grammar, as speci-
                     fied in the section PE serialization format.

       [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.


       As an aside to the advanced reader, this is pretty much the same as the
       Tcl  serialization  of PE grammars, as specified in section PEG serial-
       ization format, except that the Tcl dictionaries and lists of that for-
       mat are mapped to JSON objects and arrays. Only the parsing expressions
       themselves are not translated further, but kept as  JSON  strings  con-
       taining  a  nested  Tcl list, and there is no concept of canonicity for
       the JSON either.

   EXAMPLE
       Assuming the following PEG for simple mathematical expressions


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


       a JSON serialization for it is


       {
           "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 {t (} {n Expression} {t )}} {x {n Factor} {* {x {n MulOp} {n Factor}}}}",
                       "mode" : "value"
                   },
                   "Factor"    : {
                       "is"   : "x {n Term} {* {x {n AddOp} {n Term}}}",
                       "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"   : "n Number",
                       "mode" : "value"
                   }
               },
               "start" : "n Expression"
           }
       }


       and a Tcl serialization of the same is


       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 {t (} {n Expression} {t )}} {x {n Factor} {* {x {n MulOp} {n Factor}}}}} mode value}
            Factor     {is {x {n Term} {* {x {n AddOp} {n Term}}}}                                        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  {n Number}                                                                    mode value}
           }
           start {n Expression}
       }


       The similarity of the latter to the JSON should be quite obvious.


PEG SERIALIZATION FORMAT

       Here we specify the format used by the Parser Tools to serialize  Pars-
       ing  Expression Grammars as immutable values for transport, comparison,
       etc.

       We distinguish between regular and canonical serializations.   While  a
       PEG  may  have  more than one regular serialization only exactly one of
       them will be canonical.

       regular serialization

              [1]    The serialization of any PEG is a nested Tcl  dictionary.

              [2]    This dictionary holds a single key, pt::grammar::peg, and
                     its value. This value holds the contents of the  grammar.

              [3]    The  contents of the grammar are a Tcl dictionary holding
                     the set of nonterminal symbols and the  starting  expres-
                     sion. The relevant keys and their values are

                     rules  The  value  is a Tcl dictionary whose keys are the
                            names of the  nonterminal  symbols  known  to  the
                            grammar.

                            [1]    Each  nonterminal  symbol  may  occur  only
                                   once.

                            [2]    The empty string is not a legal nonterminal
                                   symbol.

                            [3]    The  value for each symbol is a Tcl dictio-
                                   nary itself. The relevant  keys  and  their
                                   values in this dictionary are

                                   is     The  value  is  the serialization of
                                          the  parsing  expression  describing
                                          the symbols sentennial structure, as
                                          specified in the section PE  serial-
                                          ization format.

                                   mode   The value can be one of three values
                                          specifying how a parser should  han-
                                          dle  the  semantic value produced by
                                          the symbol.

                                          value  The  semantic  value  of  the
                                                 nonterminal   symbol   is  an
                                                 abstract syntax tree consist-
                                                 ing of a single node node for
                                                 the nonterminal itself, which
                                                 has  the ASTs of the symbol's
                                                 right hand side as its  chil-
                                                 dren.

                                          leaf   The  semantic  value  of  the
                                                 nonterminal  symbol   is   an
                                                 abstract syntax tree consist-
                                                 ing of a single node node for
                                                 the  nonterminal, without any
                                                 children. Any ASTs  generated
                                                 by  the  symbol's  right hand
                                                 side are discarded.

                                          void   The nonterminal has no seman-
                                                 tic value. Any ASTs generated
                                                 by the  symbol's  right  hand
                                                 side are discarded (as well).

                     start  The value is the serialization of the start  pars-
                            ing expression of the grammar, as specified in the
                            section PE serialization format.

              [4]    The terminal symbols of the grammar are specified implic-
                     itly as the set of all terminal symbols used in the start
                     expression and on the RHS of the grammar rules.

       canonical serialization
              The canonical serialization of a grammar has the format as spec-
              ified  in the previous item, and then additionally satisfies the
              constraints below, which make it unique among all  the  possible
              serializations of this grammar.

              [1]    The  keys  found  in  all the nested Tcl dictionaries are
                     sorted in ascending dictionary  order,  as  generated  by
                     Tcl's builtin command lsort -increasing -dict.

              [2]    The  string  representation of the value is the canonical
                     representation of a Tcl dictionary. I.e. it does not con-
                     tain superfluous whitespace.


   EXAMPLE
       Assuming the following PEG for simple mathematical expressions


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


       then its canonical serialization (except for whitespace) is


       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 {t (} {n Expression} {t )}} {x {n Factor} {* {x {n MulOp} {n Factor}}}}} mode value}
            Factor     {is {x {n Term} {* {x {n AddOp} {n Term}}}}                                        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  {n Number}                                                                    mode value}
           }
           start {n Expression}
       }




PE SERIALIZATION FORMAT

       Here  we specify the format used by the Parser Tools to serialize Pars-
       ing Expressions as immutable values for transport, comparison, etc.

       We distinguish between regular and canonical serializations.   While  a
       parsing  expression  may  have more than one regular serialization only
       exactly one of them will be canonical.

       Regular serialization

              Atomic Parsing Expressions

                     [1]    The string epsilon is an  atomic  parsing  expres-
                            sion. It matches the empty string.

                     [2]    The string dot is an atomic parsing expression. It
                            matches any character.

                     [3]    The string alnum is an atomic parsing  expression.
                            It  matches  any Unicode alphabet or digit charac-
                            ter. This is a custom extension of  PEs  based  on
                            Tcl's builtin command string is.

                     [4]    The  string alpha is an atomic parsing expression.
                            It matches any Unicode alphabet character. This is
                            a  custom  extension of PEs based on Tcl's builtin
                            command string is.

                     [5]    The string ascii 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 string is.

                     [6]    The  string  control  is an atomic parsing expres-
                            sion. It matches any  Unicode  control  character.
                            This  is  a custom extension of PEs based on Tcl's
                            builtin command string is.

                     [7]    The string digit 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 string is.

                     [8]    The string graph 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 string is.

                     [9]    The  string lower is an atomic parsing expression.
                            It matches any Unicode lower-case alphabet charac-
                            ter.  This  is  a custom extension of PEs based on
                            Tcl's builtin command string is.

                     [10]   The string print is an atomic parsing  expression.
                            It matches any Unicode printing character, includ-
                            ing space. This is a custom extension of PEs based
                            on Tcl's builtin command string is.

                     [11]   The  string punct is an atomic parsing expression.
                            It matches any Unicode punctuation character. This
                            is  a  custom  extension  of  PEs  based  on Tcl's
                            builtin command string is.

                     [12]   The string space is an atomic parsing  expression.
                            It  matches any Unicode space character. This is a
                            custom extension of PEs  based  on  Tcl's  builtin
                            command string is.

                     [13]   The  string upper is an atomic parsing expression.
                            It matches any Unicode upper-case alphabet charac-
                            ter.  This  is  a custom extension of PEs based on
                            Tcl's builtin command string is.

                     [14]   The string wordchar is an atomic  parsing  expres-
                            sion.  It matches any Unicode word character. This
                            is any alphanumeric character (see alnum), and any
                            connector  punctuation  characters  (e.g.   under-
                            score). This is a custom extension of PEs based on
                            Tcl's builtin command string is.

                     [15]   The string xdigit is an atomic parsing expression.
                            It matches any hexadecimal digit  character.  This
                            is  a  custom  extension  of  PEs  based  on Tcl's
                            builtin command string is.

                     [16]   The string ddigit is an atomic parsing expression.
                            It  matches any decimal digit character. This is a
                            custom extension of PEs  based  on  Tcl's  builtin
                            command regexp.

                     [17]   The  expression  [list  t  x] is an atomic parsing
                            expression. It matches the terminal string x.

                     [18]   The expression [list n A]  is  an  atomic  parsing
                            expression. It matches the nonterminal A.

              Combined Parsing Expressions

                     [1]    For  parsing expressions e1, e2, ... the result of
                            [list / e1 e2 ... ] is  a  parsing  expression  as
                            well.  This is the ordered choice, aka prioritized
                            choice.

                     [2]    For parsing expressions e1, e2, ... the result  of
                            [list  x  e1  e2  ... ] is a parsing expression as
                            well.  This is the sequence.

                     [3]    For a parsing expression e the result of  [list  *
                            e]  is  a parsing expression as well.  This is the
                            kleene closure, describing zero  or  more  repeti-
                            tions.

                     [4]    For  a  parsing expression e the result of [list +
                            e] is a parsing expression as well.  This  is  the
                            positive  kleene  closure,  describing one or more
                            repetitions.

                     [5]    For a parsing expression e the result of  [list  &
                            e]  is  a parsing expression as well.  This is the
                            and lookahead predicate.

                     [6]    For a parsing expression e the result of  [list  !
                            e]  is  a parsing expression as well.  This is the
                            not lookahead predicate.

                     [7]    For a parsing expression e the result of  [list  ?
                            e]  is  a parsing expression as well.  This is the
                            optional input.

       Canonical serialization
              The canonical serialization of a parsing expression has the for-
              mat  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.

              [1]    The  string  representation of the value is the canonical
                     representation of a pure Tcl list. I.e. it does not  con-
                     tain superfluous whitespace.

              [2]    Terminals  are not encoded as ranges (where start and end
                     of the range are identical).



   EXAMPLE
       Assuming the parsing expression shown on the  right-hand  side  of  the
       rule


           Expression <- '(' Expression ')'
                       / Factor (MulOp Factor)*


       then its canonical serialization (except for whitespace) is


           {/ {x {t (} {n Expression} {t )}} {x {n Factor} {* {x {n MulOp} {n Factor}}}}}




BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK

       This  document,  and the package it describes, will undoubtedly contain
       bugs and other problems.  Please report such in the category pt of  the
       Tcllib  SF  Trackers  [http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=12883].
       Please also report any ideas for enhancements you may have  for  either
       package and/or documentation.


KEYWORDS

       EBNF,  JSON,  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


CATEGORY

       Parsing and Grammars


COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (c) 2009 Andreas Kupries <andreas_kupries@users.sourceforge.net>




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