Control and Debug

Beyond the top-level grammar rule, which has to be supplied to a parsing run, and an action class template, which can be supplied to a parsing run, a third customisation point within the PEGTL allows the user to provide a control class to a parsing run.

(Actually the control class is a class template which takes a parsing rule as template argument, however in many cases there will be no specialisations, wherefore we will drop the distinction and pretend here that it is simply a class.)

Functions from the control class are called in strategic places during a parsing run and can be used to customise internal behaviour of the PEGTL and/or as debug aids. More precisely, the control class has static member functions to

1. trace which rules are attempted to match where, and whether they succeed or fail,
2. customise which exceptions are thrown in case of errors,
3. customise how an action's apply() or apply0() is called,
4. customise how a rule's match() is called.

Contents

• Normal Control
• Control Functions
• Exception Throwing
• Advanced Control
• Changing Control

Normal Control

The normal control class template included with the PEGTL is used by default and shows which hook functions there are.

template< typename Rule >
struct normal
{
   template< typename Input,
             typename... States >
   static void start( const Input&, States&&... );

   template< typename Input,
             typename... States >
   static void success( const Input&, States&&... );

   template< typename Input,
             typename... States >
   static void failure( const Input&, States&&... );

   template< typename Input,
             typename... States >
   static void raise( const Input& in, States&&... );

   template< template< typename... > class Action,
             typename Iterator,
             typename Input,
             typename... States >
   static auto apply( const Iterator& begin, const Input& in, States&&... st )
      -> decltype( ... );

   template< template< typename... > class Action,
             typename Input,
             typename... States >
   static auto apply0( const Input&, States&&... st )
      -> decltype( ... );

   template< apply_mode A,
             rewind_mode M,
             template< typename... > class Action,
             template< typename... > class Control,
             typename Input,
             typename... States >
   static bool match( Input& in, States&&... st );
};

The static member functions start(), success() and failure() can be used to debug a grammar by using them to provide insight into what exactly is going on during a parsing run, or to construct a parse tree, etc.

The static member function raise() is used to create a global error, and any replacement should again throw an exception, or abort the application.

The static member functions apply() and apply0() can customise how actions with, and without, receiving the matched input are called, respectively. Note that these functions should only exist or be visible when an appropriate apply() or apply0 exists in the action class template. This can be achieved via SFINAE, e.g. with a trailing return type as shown above.

The static member function match() by default checks if there exists a suitable match() in the action class template for the current rule. If so, it is called, otherwise it calls the main tao::pegtl::match() function.

Control Functions

For debugging a grammar and tracing exactly what happens during a parsing run, the control class' start(), success() and failure() can be used. In addition, apply() and apply0() can be used to see which actions are invoked.

Before attempting to match a rule R, the PEGTL calls C< R >::start() where C is the current control class template.

Depending on what happens during the attempt to match R, one of the other three functions might be called.

• If R succeeds, then C< R >::success() is called; compared to the call to C< R >::start(), the input will have consumed whatever the successful match of R consumed.

• If R finishes with a failure, i.e. a return value of false from match(), then C< R >::failure() is called; a failed match must not consume input.

• If R is wrapped in must< R >, a global failure is generated by calling C< R >::raise() to throw some exception as is expected by the PEGTL in this case.

• If a sub-rule of R finishes with a global failure, and the exception is not caught by a try_catch or similar combinator, then no other function of C< R > is called after C< R >::start().

Additionally, if matching R was successful and actions are enabled:

• If C< R >::apply() exists, then C< R >::apply() is called with the matched input and the current state arguments.

• If C< R >::apply0() exists, then C< R >::apply0() is called with the current state arguments.

It is an error when both C< R >::apply() and C< R >::apply0() exist.

Note that the default C< R >::apply() is SFINAE-enabled if A< R >::apply() exists (where A is the current action class template) and calls the latter. A control class might modify state, etc.

In case of actions that return bool, i.e. actions where apply() or apply0() return bool, C< R >::success() is only called when both the rule and the action succeed. If either produce a (local) failure then C< R >::failure() is called.

In all cases where an action is called, the success or failure hooks are invoked after the action returns.

The included class tao::pegtl::tracer in <tao/pegtl/contrib/tracer.hpp> gives a practical example that can be used as control class to debug grammars. When an instance of class tao::pegtl::trace_state is used as single state in a parsing run with the tracer-control then the debug output contains a line number and rule number as additional information.

Exception Throwing

The control-hook, the raise() static member function, must throw an exception. For most parts of the PEGTL the exception class is irrelevant and any user-defined data type can be thrown by a user-defined control hook.

The try_catch rule only catches exceptions of type tao::pegtl::parse_error!

When custom exception types are used then try_catch_type must be used with the custom exception class that they are supposed to catch as first template argument.

Advanced Control

The control's match() is the first, outer-most function in the call-chain that eventually calls the rule's match().

For advanced use cases, it is possible to create a custom control class with a custom match() that can change "everything" before calling the rule's match().

Similarly, the control's apply() and apply0() can customise action invocation; in particular apply() can change how the matched portion of the input is passed to the action.

Changing Control

Just like the action class template, a custom control class template can be used (or changed) by either

1. supplying it as explicit template argument to the parse() functions, or
2. setting it as control class with the tao::pegtl::control combinator, or
3. setting it as control class with the change_control action.

The latter requires the use of a custom action. Deriving the specialisation of the custom action for my_rule from tao::pegtl::change_control< my_control > will switch the current control to my_control before attempting to match my_rule.

Copyright (c) 2014-2020 Dr. Colin Hirsch and Daniel Frey