[ Scripted Compiler :: Lexing C :: --> Parsing C ]
An important part of any Scripted Compiler is the ability actually process the system language underlying the scripting language. In the case of Tcl this is the C Language.
The first step is always to separate the input stream into tokens, each representing one semantic atom. In compiler speak, lexing.
The following script lexes a string containing C source into a list of tokens. It assumes that the sources are free of preprocessor statements like "#include", "#define", etc.
Also note that the script is built upon the base package provided in Scripted Lexing. While this means the code shown here is quite tailored to parsing for a compiler the general principle used is broad enough to allow for many variations. Examples:
The next step will be parsing, i.e. adding structure to the token stream under control of a grammar. An existing tool for that is Yeti. See the C Language for grammar references.
I believe that the method I have used below can be used to lex any system language currently in use today, Pascal, Modula, FORTRAN, C++, ... Again this is something of interest to Source Navigator.
Notes
The lexer base from Scripted Lexing is possibly not optimal, but fairly ok in my book so far. Example result:
[andreask@pliers trans]$ ./driver -noraw -notoken tclIO.c __________________________________________________ tclIO.c: 242918 characters Lexing in 13446065 microseconds = 13.446065 seconds = 55.35227937 usec/char __________________________________________________
Not bad for a lexer written in a scripting language IMHO.
TODO
clex.tcl (The code, finally :)
# -*- tcl -*- # Lexing C package require lexbase package provide clex 2.0 namespace eval clex { # Define the lexer symbols for the language 'C', as an example. namespace import ::lexbase::* DefStart DefP ( LPAREN ; DefP ) RPAREN ; DefP -> DEREF DefP < LT ; DefP <= LE ; DefP == EQ DefP > GT ; DefP >= GE ; DefP != NE DefP \[ LBRACKET ; DefP \] RBRACKET ; DefP = ASSIGN DefP \{ LBRACE ; DefP \} RBRACE ; DefP *= MUL_ASSIGN DefP . DOT ; DefP , COMMA ; DefP /= DIV_ASSIGN DefP ++ INCR_OP ; DefP -- DECR_OP ; DefP %= REM_ASSIGN DefP & ADDR_BITAND ; DefP * MULT_STAR ; DefP += PLUS_ASSIGN DefP + PLUS ; DefP - MINUS ; DefP -= MINUS_ASSIGN DefP ~ BITNOT ; DefP ! LOGNOT ; DefP <<= LSHIFT_ASSIGN DefP / DIV ; DefP % REM ; DefP >>= RSHIFT_ASSIGN DefP << LSHIFT ; DefP >> RSHIFT ; DefP &= BITAND_ASSIGN DefP ^ BITEOR ; DefP && LOGAND ; DefP ^= BITEOR_ASSIGN DefP | BITOR ; DefP || LOGOR ; DefP |= BITOR_ASSIGN DefP ? QUERY ; DefP : COLON ; DefP \; SEMICOLON DefP ... ELLIPSIS ; DefP ~= BITNOT_ASSIGN DefK typedef ; DefK extern ; DefK static ; DefK auto ; DefK register DefK void ; DefK char ; DefK short ; DefK int ; DefK long DefK float ; DefK double ; DefK signed ; DefK unsigned DefK goto ; DefK continue ; DefK break ; DefK return DefK case ; DefK default ; DefK switch DefK struct ; DefK union ; DefK enum DefK while ; DefK do ; DefK for DefK const ; DefK volatile DefK if ; DefK else DefK sizeof DefM COMMENT ::clex::C_comment_begin ::clex::C_comment_end DefM COMMENT ::clex::C99_comment_begin ::clex::C99_comment_end DefM STRING_LITERAL ::clex::C_string_begin ::clex::C_string_end DefM STRING_LITERAL ::clex::C_char_begin ::clex::C_char_end # Floats containing '.'s have to be matched early because the '.' # is later seen as punctuation. DefM CONSTANT ::clex::C_floatA_begin ::clex::C_floatA_end DefM CONSTANT ::clex::C_floatB_begin ::clex::C_floatB_end DefI IDENT DefWS {[ \t\v\f\r\n]+} DefRxM {^0x[[:xdigit:]]+} CONSTANT DefRxM {^\d+} CONSTANT DefEnd } proc ::clex::C_comment_begin {string start} { return [string first "/*" $string $start] } proc ::clex::C_comment_end {string start} { incr start 2 ; # Skip behind /* set stop [string first "*/" $string $start] incr stop 1 ; # Skip to / return $stop } proc ::clex::C99_comment_begin {string start} { string first // $string $start } proc ::clex::C99_comment_end {string start} { regexp -indices -start $start {//(?:\\.|[^\n\\])*(?:\n|$)} $string range lindex $range 1 } proc ::clex::C_string_begin {string start} { return [string first "\"" $string $start] } proc ::clex::C_string_end {string start} { # The next vari-sized thing is a "-quoted string. # Finding its end is bit more difficult, because we have # to accept \" as one character inside of the string. " set from $start while 1 { incr from set stop [string first "\"" $string $from] # Note that we do not use [string first] to look for a \", # but simply check the preceding character. That is less # expensive than possibly running through the whole string. incr stop -1 if {[string equal [string index $string $stop] "\\"]} { incr stop 2 set from $stop continue } incr stop break } return $stop } proc ::clex::C_char_begin {string start} { return [string first "'" $string $start] } proc ::clex::C_char_end {string start} { # The next vari-sized thing is a '-quoted string. # Finding its end is bit more difficult, because we have # to accept \' as one character inside of the string. " set from $start while 1 { incr from set stop [string first "'" $string $from] # Note that we do not use [string first] to look for a \", # but simply check the preceding character. That is less # expensive than possibly running through the whole string. incr stop -1 if {[string equal [string index $string $stop] "\\"]} { incr stop 2 set from $stop continue } incr stop break } return $stop } proc ::clex::C_floatA_begin {string start} { upvar stash stash if {[regexp -indices -start $start {\W([0-9]*\.[0-9]+([eEdD][+-]?[0-9]+)?)\W} $string -> match]} { #puts a==[string range $string [lindex $match 0] [lindex $match 1]] set stash(float-a) [lindex $match 1] return [lindex $match 0] } return -1 } proc ::clex::C_floatA_end {string start} { upvar stash stash return $stash(float-a) } proc ::clex::C_floatB_begin {string start} { upvar stash stash if {[regexp -indices -start $start {\W([0-9]+\.[0-9]*([eEdD][+-]?[0-9]+)?)\W} $string -> match]} { #puts b==[string range $string [lindex $match 0] [lindex $match 1]] set stash(float-b) [lindex $match 1] return [lindex $match 0] } return -1 } proc ::clex::C_floatB_end {string start} { upvar stash stash return $stash(float-b) return -1 }
driver
#!/usr/bin/env tclsh # -*- tcl -*- set time 1 set token 1 set raw 1 while {1} { switch -exact -- [lindex $argv 0] { -notime {set time 0} -notoken {set token 0} -noraw {set raw 0} default {break} } set argv [lrange $argv 1 end] } source lexbase.tcl source clex.tcl # Read file, lex it, time the execution to measure performance set data [read [set fh [open [set fname [lindex $argv 0]]]]][close $fh] set len [string length $data] set usec [lindex [time {set res [lexbase::lex $data]}] 0] foreach {sym attr} $res break foreach {aidx aval} $attr break if {$time} { # Write performance statistics. puts __________________________________________________ puts "$fname:" puts "\t$len characters" puts "\tLexing in $usec microseconds" puts "\t = [expr {double($usec)/1000000}] seconds" puts "\t = [expr {double($usec)/$len}] usec/char" } if {$token} { # Generate tokenized listing of the input, using the lexing results as input. puts __________________________________________________ set av 0 foreach s $sym { switch -glob -- $s { *- {puts "$s <<[lindex $aval [lindex $aidx $av]]>>" ; incr av} * {puts "$s"} } } } if {$raw} { # Dump the raw lexer result. puts __________________________________________________ puts Symbols___________________________________________ puts $sym puts "" puts Attribute-Indices_________________________________ puts $aidx puts "" puts Attribute-Data____________________________________ puts \{[join $aval "\} \{"]\} puts "" puts __________________________________________________ } puts __________________________________________________
AMG: Here's another lexer (I say "scanner") for C that uses ylex:
# cscanner.tcl package require ylex # Create the object used to assemble the scanner. yeti::ylex CScannerFactory -name CScanner # On error, print the filename, line number, and column number. CScannerFactory code error { if {$file ne {}} { puts -nonewline $verbout $file: } puts $verbout "$line:$column: $yyerrmsg" } # Define public variables and methods. CScannerFactory code public { variable file {} ;# Current file name, or empty string if none. variable line 1 ;# Current line number. variable column 1 ;# Current column number. variable typeNames {} ;# List of TYPE_NAME tokens. # addTypeName -- # Adds a typedef name to the list of names treated as TYPE_NAME. method addTypeName {name} { lappend typeNames $name } } # Define internal methods. CScannerFactory code private { # result -- # Common result handler for matches. Updates the line and column counts, # and returns the arguments if provided. method result {args} { set text [string map {\r ""} $yytext] set start 0 while {$start < [string length $text]} { regexp -start $start {([^\n\t]*)([\n\t]?)} $text chunk body space incr column [string length $body] if {$space eq "\n"} { set column 1 incr line } elseif {$space eq "\t"} { set column [expr {(($column + 7) & ~3) + 1}] } incr start [string length $chunk] } if {[llength $args]} { return -level 2 $args } } # lineDirective -- # Processes #line directives. method lineDirective {} { if {[regexp {^\s*#line (\d+)(?: "(.+)")?\n$} $yytext _ line newFile] && $newFile ne ""} { set file [subst -nocommands -novariables $newFile] } } # tokenType -- # Decides if a token is TYPE_NAME or IDENTIFIER according to $typeNames. method tokenType {} { if {$yytext in $typeNames} { return TYPE_NAME } else { return IDENTIFIER } } # scanChar -- # Converts character literals to integers. method scanChar {char} { set char [subst -nocommands -novariables $char] if {[string length $char] != 1} { error "multi-character constants not supported" } scan $char %c } # scanStr -- # Converts string literals to Tcl strings. method scanStr {string} { subst -nocommands -novariables $string } } # Define useful abbreviations for upcoming regular expressions. CScannerFactory macro { C {(?://(?:\\.|[^\n\\])*(?:\n|$))} E {(?:[eE][+-]?\d+)} FS {[fFlL]} IS {(?:[uU]?[lL]{0,2}|[lL]{0,2}[uU]?)} } # Generate a regular expression matching any simple token. The value of such # tokens is the uppercase version of the token string itself. foreach token { auto bool break case char const continue default do double else enum extern float for goto if int long register return short signed sizeof static struct switch typedef union unsigned void volatile while ... >>= <<= += -= *= /= %= &= ^= |= >> << ++ -- -> && || <= >= == != ; \{ \} , : = ( ) [ ] . & ! ~ - + * / % < > ^ | ? } { lappend pattern [regsub -all {[][*+?{}()|.^$]} $token {\\&}] } set pattern (?:[join $pattern |]) # Match simple tokens. CScannerFactory add $pattern {result [string toupper $yytext]} # Match and decode more complex tokens. CScannerFactory add { {[ \t\v\n\f]} {result} {/\*.*?\*/} {result} {<C>} {result} {(?n)^\s*#line[^\n]*\n} {lineDirective} {[a-zA-Z_]\w*\M} {result [tokenType] $yytext} {0[xX]([[:xdigit:]]+)<IS>\M} {result CONSTANT [scan $1 %x]} {0([0-7]+)<IS>\M} {result CONSTANT [scan $1 %o]} {(\d+)<IS>\M} {result CONSTANT [scan $1 %d]} {L?'((?:[^\\']|\\.)+)'} {result CONSTANT [scanChar $1]} {(\d+<E>)<FS>?\M} {result CONSTANT [scan $1 %f]} {(\d*\.\d+<E>?)<FS>?\M} {result CONSTANT [scan $1 %f]} {(\d+\.\d*<E>?)<FS>?\M} {result CONSTANT [scan $1 %f]} {L?"((?:[^\\"]|\\.)+)"} {result STRING_LITERAL [scanStr $1]} {.} {error "invalid character \"$yytext\""} } # Create the CScanner class. You might want to cache the generated script to # avoid dependency on ylex and to improve startup time. eval [CScannerFactory dump] itcl::delete object CScannerFactory
It's quite different than the code given at the top of this page. The primary difference is that it directly uses the various symbols like "+" as the terminal names. Since we're using Tcl, I don't see a problem with this. I find that it makes the grammar much more readable.