ANTLR grammar for reStructuredText (rule priorities)

Question

First question stream

Hello everyone,

This could be a follow-up on this question: Antlr rule priorities

I'm trying to write an ANTLR grammar for the reStructuredText markup language.

The main problem I'm facing is : "How to match any sequence of characters (regular text) without masking other grammar rules?"

Let's take an example with a paragraph with inline markup:

In `Figure 17-6`_, we have positioned ``before_ptr`` so that it points to the element 
*before* the insert point. The variable ``after_ptr`` points to the element *after* the 
insert. In other words, we are going to put our new element **in between** ``before_ptr`` 
and ``after_ptr``.

I thought that writing rules for inline markup text would be easy. So I wrote a simple grammar:

grammar Rst;

options {
    output=AST;
    language=Java;
    backtrack=true;
    //memoize=true;
}

@members {
boolean inInlineMarkup = false;
}

// PARSER

text
    : inline_markup (WS? inline_markup)* WS? EOF
    ;


inline_markup
@after {
inInlineMarkup = false;
}
    : {!inInlineMarkup}? (emphasis|strong|litteral|link)
    ;

emphasis
@init {
inInlineMarkup = true;
}
    : '*' (~'*')+ '*' {System.out.println("emphasis: " + $text);}
    ;

strong
@init {
inInlineMarkup = true;
}
    : '**' (~'*')+ '**' {System.out.println("bold: " + $text);}
    ;

litteral
@init {
inInlineMarkup = true;
}
    : '``' (~'`')+ '``' {System.out.println("litteral: " + $text);}
    ;

link
@init {
inInlineMarkup = true;
}
    : inline_internal_target
    | footnote_reference
    | hyperlink_reference
    ;

inline_internal_target
    : '_`' (~'`')+ '`' {System.out.println("inline_internal_target: " + $text);}
    ;

footnote_reference
    : '[' (~']')+ ']_' {System.out.println("footnote_reference: " + $text);}
    ;


hyperlink_reference
    : ~(' '|'\t'|'\u000C'|'_')+ '_' {System.out.println("hyperlink_reference: " + $text);}
    |   '`' (~'`')+ '`_' {System.out.println("hyperlink_reference (long): " + $text);}
    ;

// LEXER

WS  
  : (' '|'\t'|'\u000C')+
  ; 

NEWLINE
  : '\r'? '\n'
  ;

This simple grammar doesn't work. And I didn't even try to match regular text...

My questions:

• Could someone point to my errors and maybe give me a hint on how to match regular text?
• Is there a way to set priority on the grammar rules? Maybe this could be a lead.

Thanks in advance for your help :-)

Robin

---

Second question stream

Thank you very much for your help! I would have had a hard time figuring my errors... I'm not writing that grammar (only) to learn ANTLR, I'm trying to code an IDE plugin for eclipse. And for that, I need a grammar ;)

I managed to go further in the grammar and wrote a text rule:

grammar Rst;

options {
    output=AST;
    language=Java;
}



@members {
boolean inInlineMarkup = false;
}

//////////////////
// PARSER RULES //
//////////////////

file
  : line* EOF
  ;


line
  : text* NEWLINE
  ;

text
    : inline_markup
    | normal_text
    ;

inline_markup
@after {
inInlineMarkup = false;
}
    : {!inInlineMarkup}? {inInlineMarkup = true;} 
  (
  | STRONG
  | EMPHASIS
  | LITTERAL
  | INTERPRETED_TEXT
  | SUBSTITUTION_REFERENCE
  | link
  )
    ;


link
    : INLINE_INTERNAL_TARGET
    | FOOTNOTE_REFERENCE
    | HYPERLINK_REFERENCE
    ;

normal_text
  : {!inInlineMarkup}? 
   ~(EMPHASIS
      |SUBSTITUTION_REFERENCE
      |STRONG
      |LITTERAL
      |INTERPRETED_TEXT
      |INLINE_INTERNAL_TARGET
      |FOOTNOTE_REFERENCE
      |HYPERLINK_REFERENCE
      |NEWLINE
      )
  ;
//////////////////
// LEXER TOKENS //
//////////////////

EMPHASIS
    : STAR ANY_BUT_STAR+ STAR {System.out.println("EMPHASIS: " + $text);}
    ;

SUBSTITUTION_REFERENCE
  : PIPE ANY_BUT_PIPE+ PIPE  {System.out.println("SUBST_REF: " + $text);}
  ;

STRONG
    : STAR STAR ANY_BUT_STAR+ STAR STAR {System.out.println("STRONG: " + $text);}
    ;

LITTERAL
    : BACKTICK BACKTICK ANY_BUT_BACKTICK+ BACKTICK BACKTICK {System.out.println("LITTERAL: " + $text);}
    ;
INTERPRETED_TEXT
  : BACKTICK ANY_BUT_BACKTICK+ BACKTICK {System.out.println("LITTERAL: " + $text);}
  ;

INLINE_INTERNAL_TARGET
    : UNDERSCORE BACKTICK ANY_BUT_BACKTICK+ BACKTICK {System.out.println("INLINE_INTERNAL_TARGET: " + $text);}
    ;

FOOTNOTE_REFERENCE
    : L_BRACKET ANY_BUT_BRACKET+ R_BRACKET UNDERSCORE {System.out.println("FOOTNOTE_REFERENCE: " + $text);}
    ;


HYPERLINK_REFERENCE
  : BACKTICK ANY_BUT_BACKTICK+ BACKTICK UNDERSCORE {System.out.println("HYPERLINK_REFERENCE (long): " + $text);}
  | ANY_BUT_ENDLINK+ UNDERSCORE {System.out.println("HYPERLINK_REFERENCE (short): " + $text);}
  ;

WS  
  : (' '|'\t')+ {$channel=HIDDEN;}
  ; 

NEWLINE
  : '\r'? '\n' {$channel=HIDDEN;}
  ;


///////////////
// FRAGMENTS //
///////////////

fragment ANY_BUT_PIPE
  : ESC PIPE
  | ~(PIPE|'\n'|'\r')
  ;
fragment ANY_BUT_BRACKET
  : ESC R_BRACKET
  | ~(R_BRACKET|'\n'|'\r')
  ;
fragment ANY_BUT_STAR
  : ESC STAR
  | ~(STAR|'\n'|'\r')
  ;
fragment ANY_BUT_BACKTICK
  : ESC BACKTICK
  | ~(BACKTICK|'\n'|'\r')
  ;
fragment ANY_BUT_ENDLINK
  : ~(UNDERSCORE|' '|'\t'|'\n'|'\r')
  ;



fragment ESC
  : '\\'
  ;
fragment STAR
  : '*'
  ;
fragment BACKTICK
  : '`'
  ;
fragment PIPE
  : '|'
  ;
fragment L_BRACKET
  : '['
  ;
fragment R_BRACKET
  : ']'
  ;
fragment UNDERSCORE
  : '_'
  ;

The grammar is working fine for inline_markup but normal_text is not matched.

Here is my test class:

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.io.Reader;

import org.antlr.runtime.ANTLRStringStream;
import org.antlr.runtime.CommonTokenStream;
import org.antlr.runtime.RecognitionException;
import org.antlr.runtime.tree.Tree;

public class Test {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws RecognitionException, IOException {

        InputStream is = Test.class.getResourceAsStream("test.rst");
        Reader r = new InputStreamReader(is);
        StringBuilder source = new StringBuilder();
        char[] buffer = new char[1024];
        int readLenght = 0;
        while ((readLenght = r.read(buffer)) > 0) {
            if (readLenght < buffer.length) {
                source.append(buffer, 0, readLenght);
            } else {
                source.append(buffer);
            }
        }
        r.close();
        System.out.println(source.toString());

        ANTLRStringStream in = new ANTLRStringStream(source.toString());
        RstLexer lexer = new RstLexer(in);
        CommonTokenStream tokens = new CommonTokenStream(lexer);
        RstParser parser = new RstParser(tokens);
        RstParser.file_return out = parser.file();
        System.out.println(((Tree)out.getTree()).toStringTree());
    }
}

And the input file I use:

In `Figure 17-6`_, we have positioned ``before_ptr`` so that it points to the element 
*before* the insert point. The variable ``after_ptr`` points to the |element| *after* the 
insert. In other words, `we are going`_ to put_ our new element **in between** ``before_ptr`` 
and ``after_ptr``.

And I get this output:

HYPERLINK_REFERENCE (short): 7-6`_
line 1:2 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 1:10 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 1:18 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 1:21 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 1:26 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 1:37 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
LITTERAL: `before_ptr`
line 1:86 no viable alternative at character '\r'
line 1:55 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 1:60 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 1:63 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 1:70 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 1:73 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 1:77 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 1:85 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
EMPHASIS: *before*
line 2:12 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 2:19 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 2:26 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
LITTERAL: `after_ptr`
line 2:30 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 2:39 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 2:90 no viable alternative at character '\r'
line 2:60 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 2:63 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 2:67 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 2:77 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 2:85 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 2:89 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 3:7 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 3:10 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 3:16 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 3:23 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 3:27 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 3:31 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 3:42 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 3:51 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 3:55 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 3:63 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 3:94 mismatched character '\r' expecting '*'
line 4:3 mismatched character ' ' expecting '_'
line 4:18 no viable alternative at character '\r'
line 4:18 mismatched character '\r' expecting '_'
HYPERLINK_REFERENCE (short): oing`_
HYPERLINK_REFERENCE (short): ut_
EMPHASIS: *in between*
LITTERAL: `after_ptr`
BR.recoverFromMismatchedToken
line 0:-1 mismatched input '<EOF>' expecting NEWLINE
null

Can you point to my error(s)? (the parser works for inline markup without errors when I add the filter=true; option to the grammar)

Robin

Answer 1

Here's a quick demo how you could parse this reStructeredText. Note that it just handles a minor set of all available markup-syntax, and by adding more to it, you will affect the existing parser/lexer rules: so there is much, much more work to be done!

Demo

grammar RST;

options {
  output=AST;
  backtrack=true;
  memoize=true;
}

tokens {
  ROOT;
  PARAGRAPH;
  INDENTATION;
  LINE;
  WORD;
  BOLD;
  ITALIC;
  INTERPRETED_TEXT;
  INLINE_LITERAL;
  REFERENCE;
}

parse
  :  paragraph+ EOF -> ^(ROOT paragraph+)
  ;

paragraph
  :  line+ -> ^(PARAGRAPH line+)
  |  Space* LineBreak -> /* omit line-breaks between paragraphs from AST */
  ;

line
  :  indentation text+ LineBreak -> ^(LINE text+)
  ;

indentation
  :  Space* -> ^(INDENTATION Space*)
  ;

text
  :  styledText
  |  interpretedText
  |  inlineLiteral
  |  reference
  |  Space
  |  Star
  |  EscapeSequence
  |  Any
  ;

styledText
  :  bold
  |  italic
  ;

bold
  :  Star Star boldAtom+ Star Star -> ^(BOLD boldAtom+)
  ;  

italic
  :  Star italicAtom+ Star -> ^(ITALIC italicAtom+)
  ;

boldAtom
  :  ~(Star | LineBreak)
  |  italic
  ;

italicAtom
  :  ~(Star | LineBreak)
  |  bold
  ;

interpretedText
  :  BackTick interpretedTextAtoms BackTick -> ^(INTERPRETED_TEXT interpretedTextAtoms)
  ;

interpretedTextAtoms
  :  ~BackTick+
  ;

inlineLiteral
  :  BackTick BackTick inlineLiteralAtoms BackTick BackTick -> ^(INLINE_LITERAL inlineLiteralAtoms)
  ;

inlineLiteralAtoms
  :  inlineLiteralAtom+
  ;

inlineLiteralAtom
  :  ~BackTick
  |  BackTick ~BackTick
  ;

reference
  :  Any+ UnderScore -> ^(REFERENCE Any+)
  ;

UnderScore
  :  '_'
  ;

BackTick
  :  '`'
  ;

Star
  :  '*'
  ;

Space
  :  ' ' 
  |  '\t'
  ;

EscapeSequence
  :  '\\' ('\\' | '*')
  ;

LineBreak
  :  '\r'? '\n'
  |  '\r'
  ;

Any
  :  .
  ;

When you generate a parser and lexer from the above, and let it parse the following input file:

***x*** **yyy** *zz* *
a b c

P2 ``*a*`b`` `q`
Python_

(note the trailing line break!)

the parser will produce the following AST:

EDIT

The graph can be created by running this class:

import org.antlr.runtime.*;
import org.antlr.runtime.tree.*;
import org.antlr.stringtemplate.*;

public class Main {
  public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
    String source =
        "***x*** **yyy** *zz* *\n" +
        "a b c\n" +
        "\n" +
        "P2 ``*a*`b`` `q`\n" +
        "Python_\n";
    RSTLexer lexer = new RSTLexer(new ANTLRStringStream(source));
    RSTParser parser = new RSTParser(new CommonTokenStream(lexer));
    CommonTree tree = (CommonTree)parser.parse().getTree();
    DOTTreeGenerator gen = new DOTTreeGenerator();
    StringTemplate st = gen.toDOT(tree);
    System.out.println(st);
  }
}

or if your source comes from a file, do:

RSTLexer lexer = new RSTLexer(new ANTLRFileStream("test.rst"));

or

RSTLexer lexer = new RSTLexer(new ANTLRFileStream("test.rst", "???"));

where "???" is the encoding of your file.

The class above will print the AST as a DOT file to the console. You can use a DOT viewer to display the AST. In this case, I posted an image created by kgraphviewer. But there are many more viewers around. A nice online one is this one, which appears to be using kgraphviewer under "the hood". Good luck!