Reference

To use lexy, you need three things:

Define a grammar using the rule DSL and callbacks.
Create an input object that represents the input you want to parse.
Call an action that will parse the grammar on the input.

lexy is designed to work with your own types and data structures. As such, its usage can be hidden away in the implementation of a parse function whose interface does not mention lexy specific types. Nevertheless, lexy defines some infrastructure types that can be used as vocabulary types in your project interfaces.

Infrastructure

lexy/code_point.hpp: A Unicode code point, and related algorithms.
lexy/lexeme.hpp: A lexeme, i.e. a subrange of the input.
lexy/token.hpp: Identify and store tokens, i.e. concrete realization of token rules.
lexy/parse_tree.hpp: A parse tree.
lexy/error.hpp: The parse errors.
lexy/input_location.hpp: Compute human readable line/column numbers for a position of the input.
lexy/visualize.hpp: Visualize the data structures.

Inputs and Encodings

template <typename T>
concept reader = …;

template <typename T>
concept input = requires(const T& obj) {
  { obj.reader() } -> reader;
};

An input defines the input that will be parsed by lexy. It has a corresponding encoding that controls, among other things, its character type and whether certain rules are available. The input itself is unchanging and it produces a reader which remembers the current position of the input during parsing.

The supported encodings of lexy/encoding.hpp:

lexy::default_encoding: An unknown single byte encoding.
lexy::ascii_encoding: ASCII
lexy::utf8_encoding, lexy::utf16_encoding, lexy::utf32_encoding: UTF-8, UTF-16, UTF-32
lexy::byte_encoding: Bytes, not text.

The pre-defined inputs:

lexy/range_input.hpp: Use a generic iterator range as input.
lexy/string_input.hpp: Use a string as input.
lexy/buffer.hpp: Create a buffer that contains the input.
lexy/file.hpp: Use a file as input.
lexy/argv_input.hpp: Use the command-line arguments as input.
lexy/lexeme_input.hpp: Use a subset of an existing input while computing correct line/column information.

The grammar DSL

template <typename T>
concept production = requires {
      { T::production } -> rule;
      { T::whitespace } -> rule;        // optional
      { T::value } -> callback-or-sink; // optional
};

The grammar is specified by productions: classes with a ::rule member that specifies the rule. They can optionally have a ::whitespace member that controls automatic whitespace skipping. Both of those are specified in a C++ DSL. The action lexy::parse also needs a ::value member that controls the value produced by parsing the production. It is specified using callbacks, special function objects, and sinks.

lexy/grammar.hpp: Type traits for defining and interacting with the grammar.
lexy/dsl.hpp: The DSL for specifying parse rules.
lexy/callback.hpp: The predefined callbacks and sinks for specifying the value.

Tip	It is a recommended to put all the productions into a separate namespace.

Actions

Actions take a grammar and an input, and do something with the grammar on that input.

They also optionally take a parse state argument. If provided, it will be forwarded as state parameter to the callbacks, and to rules such as lexy::dsl::scan. It can be used to pass additional meta data or allocators etc. to the grammar.

lexy/action/match.hpp: Matches a grammar on an input and return a true/false result.
lexy/action/validate.hpp: Validates that a grammar matches on an input, and returns the errors if it does not.
lexy/action/parse.hpp: Parses a grammar on an input and returns its value.
lexy/action/parse_as_tree.hpp: Parses a grammar on an input and returns the parse tree.
lexy/action/scan.hpp: Parses a grammar manually by dispatching to other rules.
lexy/action/trace.hpp: Traces parse events to visualize and debug the parsing process.