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 functions to

trace which rules are attempted to match where, and whether they succeed or fail,
customise which exceptions are thrown in case of errors,
customise how actions' apply() and apply0() methods are called,
customise how rules' match() methods are called.

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&&... )
   {
      throw parse_error( "parse error matching " +
                         internal::demangle< Rule >(), in );
   }

   template< template< typename... > class Action,
             typename Input,
             typename... States >
   static void apply0( const Input&, States&&... st )
   {
      Action< Rule >::apply0( st... );
   }

   template< template< typename... > class Action,
             typename Iterator,
             typename Input,
             typename... States >
   static void apply( const Iterator& begin, const Input& in, States&&... st )
   {
      using action_t = typename Input::action_t;
      const action_t action_input( begin, in );
      Action< Rule >::apply( action_input, st... );
   }

   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 )
   {
      constexpr bool use_control = !internal::skip_control< Rule >::value;
      constexpr bool use_action = use_control && ( A == apply_mode::ACTION ) && ( !is_nothing< Action, Rule >::value );
      constexpr bool use_apply0 = use_action && internal::has_apply0< Action< Rule >, internal::type_list< States... > >::value;
      constexpr dusel_mode mode = static_cast< dusel_mode >( static_cast< char >( use_control ) + static_cast< char >( use_action ) + static_cast< char >( use_apply0 ) );
      return internal::duseltronik< Rule, A, M, Action, Control, mode >::match( in, st... );
   }
};

The start(), success() and failure()-functions can be used to debug a grammar by using them to provide insight into what exactly is going on during a parsing run.

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

The apply() and apply0()-functions can customise how actions with, and without, receiving the matched input are called, respectively.

The match-function wraps the actual matching duseltronik and chooses the correct one based on whether control is enabled for Rule, and whether the current action is enabled and has an apply() or apply0()-function.

Control Functions

For debugging a grammar and tracing exactly what happens during a parsing run, the control class methods 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 its match()-function, then C< R >::failure() is called; a failed match is not allowed to 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, actions are enabled, and A< R > is not derived from tao::pegtl::nothing, where A is the current action class template:

If A< R >::apply0() exists, then C< R >::apply0() is called with the current state arguments.
If A< R >::apply() exists, then C< R >::apply() is called with the matched input and the current state arguments.

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

In case of actions that return bool, i.e. actions whose apply0() or apply() function returns bool, the C< R >::success() function 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 pratical 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 raise()-control-hook-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 template's match()-function is the first, or outside-most, function that is called in the flow that eventually leads to calling a rule's match()-function.

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

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

Changing Control

Just like the action class template, a custom control class template can be used by either

supplying it as explicit template argument to the parse()-functions, or
setting it for a portion of the grammar with the tao::pegtl::control combinator.

source-git / PEGTL

Source Code

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