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<title>Chapter 23. Boost.Metaparse</title>
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<div class="chapter">
<div class="titlepage"><div>
<div><h2 class="title">
<a name="metaparse"></a>Chapter 23. Boost.Metaparse</h2></div>
<div><div class="author"><h3 class="author">
<span class="firstname">Abel</span> <span class="surname">Sinkovics</span>
</h3></div></div>
<div><p class="copyright">Copyright © 2015 Abel Sinkovics</p></div>
<div><div class="legalnotice">
<a name="metaparse.legal"></a><p>
Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. (See accompanying
file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at <a href="http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt" target="_top">http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt</a>)
</p>
</div></div>
</div></div>
<div class="toc">
<p><b>Table of Contents</b></p>
<dl class="toc">
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse.html#metaparse.description">Description</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/related_publications_and_blogs.html">Related publications
and blogs</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/preface.html">Preface</a></span></dt>
<dd><dl>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/preface.html#metaparse.preface.description">Description</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/preface.html#metaparse.preface.scope">Scope</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/preface.html#metaparse.preface.advantages_of_using_this_library">Advantages
of using this library</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/preface.html#metaparse.preface.cost_of_using_metaparse">Cost of using
Metaparse</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/preface.html#metaparse.preface.supported_platforms">Supported platforms</a></span></dt>
</dl></dd>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/getting_started_with_boost_metap.html">Getting
started with Boost.Metaparse</a></span></dt>
<dd><dl>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/getting_started_with_boost_metap.html#metaparse.getting_started_with_boost_metap.1_introduction">1.
Introduction</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/getting_started_with_boost_metap.html#metaparse.getting_started_with_boost_metap.2_the_text_to_parse">2.
The text to parse</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/getting_started_with_boost_metap.html#metaparse.getting_started_with_boost_metap.3_creating_a_simple_parser">3.
Creating a simple parser</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/getting_started_with_boost_metap.html#metaparse.getting_started_with_boost_metap.4_parsing_simple_expressions">4.
Parsing simple expressions</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/getting_started_with_boost_metap.html#metaparse.getting_started_with_boost_metap.5_parsing_longer_expressions">5.
Parsing longer expressions</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/getting_started_with_boost_metap.html#metaparse.getting_started_with_boost_metap.6_adding_support_for_other_opera">6.
Adding support for other operators</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/getting_started_with_boost_metap.html#metaparse.getting_started_with_boost_metap.7_dealing_with_precedence">7.
Dealing with precedence</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/getting_started_with_boost_metap.html#metaparse.getting_started_with_boost_metap.8_dealing_with_associativity">8.
Dealing with associativity</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/getting_started_with_boost_metap.html#metaparse.getting_started_with_boost_metap.9_dealing_with_unary_operators">9.
Dealing with unary operators</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/getting_started_with_boost_metap.html#metaparse.getting_started_with_boost_metap.10_dealing_with_parens">10.
Dealing with parens</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/getting_started_with_boost_metap.html#metaparse.getting_started_with_boost_metap.11_dealing_with_invalid_input">11.
Dealing with invalid input</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/getting_started_with_boost_metap.html#metaparse.getting_started_with_boost_metap.12_summary">12.
Summary</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/getting_started_with_boost_metap.html#metaparse.getting_started_with_boost_metap.copy_paste_friendly_code_example">Copy-paste
friendly code examples</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/getting_started_with_boost_metap.html#metaparse.getting_started_with_boost_metap.definitions_before_each_section">Definitions
before each section</a></span></dt>
</dl></dd>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/user_manual.html">User manual</a></span></dt>
<dd><dl>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/user_manual.html#metaparse.user_manual.what_is_a_parser">What is a parser</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/user_manual.html#metaparse.user_manual.parsing_based_on_constexpr">Parsing
based on <code class="computeroutput"><span class="keyword">constexpr</span></code></a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/user_manual.html#metaparse.user_manual.what_types_of_grammars_can_be_us">What
types of grammars can be used?</a></span></dt>
</dl></dd>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/versioning.html">Versioning</a></span></dt>
<dd><dl>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/versioning.html#metaparse.versioning.template_classes">Template classes</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/versioning.html#metaparse.versioning.macros">Macros</a></span></dt>
</dl></dd>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/performance.html">Performance</a></span></dt>
<dd><dl>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/performance.html#metaparse.performance.benchmarks_of_boost_metaparse_st">Benchmarks
of BOOST_METAPARSE_STRING</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/performance.html#metaparse.performance.measuring_printf">Measuring printf</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/performance.html#metaparse.performance.further_measurements">Further measurements</a></span></dt>
</dl></dd>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/the_design_of_the_library.html">The design of the
library</a></span></dt>
<dd><dl><dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/the_design_of_the_library.html#metaparse.the_design_of_the_library.design_rationale">Design
rationale</a></span></dt></dl></dd>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/reference.html">Reference</a></span></dt>
<dd><dl>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/reference.html#metaparse.reference.parsers_and_combinators_provided">Parsers
and combinators provided by the library</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/reference.html#metaparse.reference.compile_time_data_structures_and">Compile-time
data structures and values</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/reference.html#metaparse.reference.string">String</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/reference.html#metaparse.reference.errors">Errors</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/reference.html#metaparse.reference.tags">Tags</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/reference.html#metaparse.reference.utilities">Utilities</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/reference.html#metaparse.reference.terms_used_by_the_library">Terms
used by the library</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="metaparse/reference.html#metaparse.reference.alphabetical">Alphabetical</a></span></dt>
</dl></dd>
</dl>
</div>
<div class="section">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both">
<a name="metaparse.description"></a><a class="link" href="metaparse.html#metaparse.description" title="Description">Description</a>
</h2></div></div></div>
<p>
Metaparse is a parser generator library for template metaprograms. The purpose
of this library is to support the creation of parsers that parse at compile
time. This library is intended to be used for embedded domain specific language
creation for C++. The input of the generated parser is a compile time string,
see <a class="link" href="metaparse/reference.html#string"><code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">string</span></code></a>.
The result of the parsing process is either an error or any other result the
writer of the parser specifies.
</p>
<p>
The library is similar to Boost.Spirit, however while parsers built with Spirit
parse at run-time, parsers built with Metaparse parse at compile-time. Parsers
built with Metaparse can output:
</p>
<div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; ">
<li class="listitem">
types
</li>
<li class="listitem">
constant values
</li>
<li class="listitem">
objects (types with public static members)
</li>
<li class="listitem">
callable C++ functions (types with public static method)
</li>
<li class="listitem">
template metafunction classes
</li>
</ul></div>
<p>
See section <a class="link" href="metaparse/user_manual.html#result_types">What can be built from a compile-time
string?</a> for further details.
</p>
<p>
Based on C++11 features the library can provide advanced utilities for defining
the input string, the rest of the library works on C++98-based compilers as
well. Note that if you build the tests and examples with Boost.Build using
GCC or Clang, the compiler will not have C++11 (or newer) enabled. To build
the tests and examples in C++11-mode, you need to run <code class="computeroutput"><span class="identifier">b2</span>
<span class="identifier">cxxflags</span><span class="special">=</span><span class="string">"-std=c++11"</span></code>.
</p>
<p>
An external tutorial can be found at <a href="https://github.com/sabel83/metaparse_tutorial#metaparse-tutorial" target="_top">https://github.com/sabel83/metaparse_tutorial#metaparse-tutorial</a>
</p>
</div>
</div>
<table xmlns:rev="http://www.cs.rpi.edu/~gregod/boost/tools/doc/revision" width="100%"><tr>
<td align="left"><p><small>Last revised: December 14, 2017 at 00:06:07 GMT</small></p></td>
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