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diff --git a/doc/docs/lexerdevelopment.rst b/doc/docs/lexerdevelopment.rst new file mode 100644 index 00000000..fd6e76b9 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/docs/lexerdevelopment.rst @@ -0,0 +1,689 @@ +.. -*- mode: rst -*- + +.. highlight:: python + +==================== +Write your own lexer +==================== + +If a lexer for your favorite language is missing in the Pygments package, you +can easily write your own and extend Pygments. + +All you need can be found inside the :mod:`pygments.lexer` module. As you can +read in the :doc:`API documentation <api>`, a lexer is a class that is +initialized with some keyword arguments (the lexer options) and that provides a +:meth:`.get_tokens_unprocessed()` method which is given a string or unicode +object with the data to lex. + +The :meth:`.get_tokens_unprocessed()` method must return an iterator or iterable +containing tuples in the form ``(index, token, value)``. Normally you don't +need to do this since there are base lexers that do most of the work and that +you can subclass. + + +RegexLexer +========== + +The lexer base class used by almost all of Pygments' lexers is the +:class:`RegexLexer`. This class allows you to define lexing rules in terms of +*regular expressions* for different *states*. + +States are groups of regular expressions that are matched against the input +string at the *current position*. If one of these expressions matches, a +corresponding action is performed (such as yielding a token with a specific +type, or changing state), the current position is set to where the last match +ended and the matching process continues with the first regex of the current +state. + +Lexer states are kept on a stack: each time a new state is entered, the new +state is pushed onto the stack. The most basic lexers (like the `DiffLexer`) +just need one state. + +Each state is defined as a list of tuples in the form (`regex`, `action`, +`new_state`) where the last item is optional. In the most basic form, `action` +is a token type (like `Name.Builtin`). That means: When `regex` matches, emit a +token with the match text and type `tokentype` and push `new_state` on the state +stack. If the new state is ``'#pop'``, the topmost state is popped from the +stack instead. To pop more than one state, use ``'#pop:2'`` and so on. +``'#push'`` is a synonym for pushing the current state on the stack. + +The following example shows the `DiffLexer` from the builtin lexers. Note that +it contains some additional attributes `name`, `aliases` and `filenames` which +aren't required for a lexer. They are used by the builtin lexer lookup +functions. :: + + from pygments.lexer import RegexLexer + from pygments.token import * + + class DiffLexer(RegexLexer): + name = 'Diff' + aliases = ['diff'] + filenames = ['*.diff'] + + tokens = { + 'root': [ + (r' .*\n', Text), + (r'\+.*\n', Generic.Inserted), + (r'-.*\n', Generic.Deleted), + (r'@.*\n', Generic.Subheading), + (r'Index.*\n', Generic.Heading), + (r'=.*\n', Generic.Heading), + (r'.*\n', Text), + ] + } + +As you can see this lexer only uses one state. When the lexer starts scanning +the text, it first checks if the current character is a space. If this is true +it scans everything until newline and returns the data as a `Text` token (which +is the "no special highlighting" token). + +If this rule doesn't match, it checks if the current char is a plus sign. And +so on. + +If no rule matches at the current position, the current char is emitted as an +`Error` token that indicates a lexing error, and the position is increased by +one. + + +Adding and testing a new lexer +============================== + +Using a lexer that is not part of Pygments can be done via the Python API. You +can import and instantiate the lexer, and pass it to :func:`pygments.highlight`. + +To prepare your new lexer for inclusion in the Pygments distribution, so that it +will be found when passing filenames or lexer aliases from the command line, you +have to perform the following steps. + +First, change to the current directory containing the Pygments source code. You +will need to have either an unpacked source tarball, or (preferably) a copy +cloned from BitBucket. + +.. code-block:: console + + $ cd .../pygments-main + +Select a matching module under ``pygments/lexers``, or create a new module for +your lexer class. + +Next, make sure the lexer is known from outside of the module. All modules in +the ``pygments.lexers`` package specify ``__all__``. For example, +``esoteric.py`` sets:: + + __all__ = ['BrainfuckLexer', 'BefungeLexer', ...] + +Add the name of your lexer class to this list (or create the list if your lexer +is the only class in the module). + +Finally the lexer can be made publicly known by rebuilding the lexer mapping: + +.. code-block:: console + + $ make mapfiles + +To test the new lexer, store an example file with the proper extension in +``tests/examplefiles``. For example, to test your ``DiffLexer``, add a +``tests/examplefiles/example.diff`` containing a sample diff output. + +Now you can use pygmentize to render your example to HTML: + +.. code-block:: console + + $ ./pygmentize -O full -f html -o /tmp/example.html tests/examplefiles/example.diff + +Note that this explicitly calls the ``pygmentize`` in the current directory +by preceding it with ``./``. This ensures your modifications are used. +Otherwise a possibly already installed, unmodified version without your new +lexer would have been called from the system search path (``$PATH``). + +To view the result, open ``/tmp/example.html`` in your browser. + +Once the example renders as expected, you should run the complete test suite: + +.. code-block:: console + + $ make test + +It also tests that your lexer fulfills the lexer API and certain invariants, +such as that the concatenation of all token text is the same as the input text. + + +Regex Flags +=========== + +You can either define regex flags locally in the regex (``r'(?x)foo bar'``) or +globally by adding a `flags` attribute to your lexer class. If no attribute is +defined, it defaults to `re.MULTILINE`. For more information about regular +expression flags see the page about `regular expressions`_ in the Python +documentation. + +.. _regular expressions: http://docs.python.org/library/re.html#regular-expression-syntax + + +Scanning multiple tokens at once +================================ + +So far, the `action` element in the rule tuple of regex, action and state has +been a single token type. Now we look at the first of several other possible +values. + +Here is a more complex lexer that highlights INI files. INI files consist of +sections, comments and ``key = value`` pairs:: + + from pygments.lexer import RegexLexer, bygroups + from pygments.token import * + + class IniLexer(RegexLexer): + name = 'INI' + aliases = ['ini', 'cfg'] + filenames = ['*.ini', '*.cfg'] + + tokens = { + 'root': [ + (r'\s+', Text), + (r';.*?$', Comment), + (r'\[.*?\]$', Keyword), + (r'(.*?)(\s*)(=)(\s*)(.*?)$', + bygroups(Name.Attribute, Text, Operator, Text, String)) + ] + } + +The lexer first looks for whitespace, comments and section names. Later it +looks for a line that looks like a key, value pair, separated by an ``'='`` +sign, and optional whitespace. + +The `bygroups` helper yields each capturing group in the regex with a different +token type. First the `Name.Attribute` token, then a `Text` token for the +optional whitespace, after that a `Operator` token for the equals sign. Then a +`Text` token for the whitespace again. The rest of the line is returned as +`String`. + +Note that for this to work, every part of the match must be inside a capturing +group (a ``(...)``), and there must not be any nested capturing groups. If you +nevertheless need a group, use a non-capturing group defined using this syntax: +``(?:some|words|here)`` (note the ``?:`` after the beginning parenthesis). + +If you find yourself needing a capturing group inside the regex which shouldn't +be part of the output but is used in the regular expressions for backreferencing +(eg: ``r'(<(foo|bar)>)(.*?)(</\2>)'``), you can pass `None` to the bygroups +function and that group will be skipped in the output. + + +Changing states +=============== + +Many lexers need multiple states to work as expected. For example, some +languages allow multiline comments to be nested. Since this is a recursive +pattern it's impossible to lex just using regular expressions. + +Here is a lexer that recognizes C++ style comments (multi-line with ``/* */`` +and single-line with ``//`` until end of line):: + + from pygments.lexer import RegexLexer + from pygments.token import * + + class CppCommentLexer(RegexLexer): + name = 'Example Lexer with states' + + tokens = { + 'root': [ + (r'[^/]+', Text), + (r'/\*', Comment.Multiline, 'comment'), + (r'//.*?$', Comment.Singleline), + (r'/', Text) + ], + 'comment': [ + (r'[^*/]', Comment.Multiline), + (r'/\*', Comment.Multiline, '#push'), + (r'\*/', Comment.Multiline, '#pop'), + (r'[*/]', Comment.Multiline) + ] + } + +This lexer starts lexing in the ``'root'`` state. It tries to match as much as +possible until it finds a slash (``'/'``). If the next character after the slash +is an asterisk (``'*'``) the `RegexLexer` sends those two characters to the +output stream marked as `Comment.Multiline` and continues lexing with the rules +defined in the ``'comment'`` state. + +If there wasn't an asterisk after the slash, the `RegexLexer` checks if it's a +Singleline comment (i.e. followed by a second slash). If this also wasn't the +case it must be a single slash, which is not a comment starter (the separate +regex for a single slash must also be given, else the slash would be marked as +an error token). + +Inside the ``'comment'`` state, we do the same thing again. Scan until the +lexer finds a star or slash. If it's the opening of a multiline comment, push +the ``'comment'`` state on the stack and continue scanning, again in the +``'comment'`` state. Else, check if it's the end of the multiline comment. If +yes, pop one state from the stack. + +Note: If you pop from an empty stack you'll get an `IndexError`. (There is an +easy way to prevent this from happening: don't ``'#pop'`` in the root state). + +If the `RegexLexer` encounters a newline that is flagged as an error token, the +stack is emptied and the lexer continues scanning in the ``'root'`` state. This +can help producing error-tolerant highlighting for erroneous input, e.g. when a +single-line string is not closed. + + +Advanced state tricks +===================== + +There are a few more things you can do with states: + +- You can push multiple states onto the stack if you give a tuple instead of a + simple string as the third item in a rule tuple. For example, if you want to + match a comment containing a directive, something like: + + .. code-block:: text + + /* <processing directive> rest of comment */ + + you can use this rule:: + + tokens = { + 'root': [ + (r'/\* <', Comment, ('comment', 'directive')), + ... + ], + 'directive': [ + (r'[^>]*', Comment.Directive), + (r'>', Comment, '#pop'), + ], + 'comment': [ + (r'[^*]+', Comment), + (r'\*/', Comment, '#pop'), + (r'\*', Comment), + ] + } + + When this encounters the above sample, first ``'comment'`` and ``'directive'`` + are pushed onto the stack, then the lexer continues in the directive state + until it finds the closing ``>``, then it continues in the comment state until + the closing ``*/``. Then, both states are popped from the stack again and + lexing continues in the root state. + + .. versionadded:: 0.9 + The tuple can contain the special ``'#push'`` and ``'#pop'`` (but not + ``'#pop:n'``) directives. + + +- You can include the rules of a state in the definition of another. This is + done by using `include` from `pygments.lexer`:: + + from pygments.lexer import RegexLexer, bygroups, include + from pygments.token import * + + class ExampleLexer(RegexLexer): + tokens = { + 'comments': [ + (r'/\*.*?\*/', Comment), + (r'//.*?\n', Comment), + ], + 'root': [ + include('comments'), + (r'(function )(\w+)( {)', + bygroups(Keyword, Name, Keyword), 'function'), + (r'.', Text), + ], + 'function': [ + (r'[^}/]+', Text), + include('comments'), + (r'/', Text), + (r'\}', Keyword, '#pop'), + ] + } + + This is a hypothetical lexer for a language that consist of functions and + comments. Because comments can occur at toplevel and in functions, we need + rules for comments in both states. As you can see, the `include` helper saves + repeating rules that occur more than once (in this example, the state + ``'comment'`` will never be entered by the lexer, as it's only there to be + included in ``'root'`` and ``'function'``). + +- Sometimes, you may want to "combine" a state from existing ones. This is + possible with the `combined` helper from `pygments.lexer`. + + If you, instead of a new state, write ``combined('state1', 'state2')`` as the + third item of a rule tuple, a new anonymous state will be formed from state1 + and state2 and if the rule matches, the lexer will enter this state. + + This is not used very often, but can be helpful in some cases, such as the + `PythonLexer`'s string literal processing. + +- If you want your lexer to start lexing in a different state you can modify the + stack by overriding the `get_tokens_unprocessed()` method:: + + from pygments.lexer import RegexLexer + + class ExampleLexer(RegexLexer): + tokens = {...} + + def get_tokens_unprocessed(self, text, stack=('root', 'otherstate')): + for item in RegexLexer.get_tokens_unprocessed(text, stack): + yield item + + Some lexers like the `PhpLexer` use this to make the leading ``<?php`` + preprocessor comments optional. Note that you can crash the lexer easily by + putting values into the stack that don't exist in the token map. Also + removing ``'root'`` from the stack can result in strange errors! + +- In some lexers, a state should be popped if anything is encountered that isn't + matched by a rule in the state. You could use an empty regex at the end of + the state list, but Pygments provides a more obvious way of spelling that: + ``default('#pop')`` is equivalent to ``('', Text, '#pop')``. + + .. versionadded:: 2.0 + + +Subclassing lexers derived from RegexLexer +========================================== + +.. versionadded:: 1.6 + +Sometimes multiple languages are very similar, but should still be lexed by +different lexer classes. + +When subclassing a lexer derived from RegexLexer, the ``tokens`` dictionaries +defined in the parent and child class are merged. For example:: + + from pygments.lexer import RegexLexer, inherit + from pygments.token import * + + class BaseLexer(RegexLexer): + tokens = { + 'root': [ + ('[a-z]+', Name), + (r'/\*', Comment, 'comment'), + ('"', String, 'string'), + ('\s+', Text), + ], + 'string': [ + ('[^"]+', String), + ('"', String, '#pop'), + ], + 'comment': [ + ... + ], + } + + class DerivedLexer(BaseLexer): + tokens = { + 'root': [ + ('[0-9]+', Number), + inherit, + ], + 'string': [ + (r'[^"\\]+', String), + (r'\\.', String.Escape), + ('"', String, '#pop'), + ], + } + +The `BaseLexer` defines two states, lexing names and strings. The +`DerivedLexer` defines its own tokens dictionary, which extends the definitions +of the base lexer: + +* The "root" state has an additional rule and then the special object `inherit`, + which tells Pygments to insert the token definitions of the parent class at + that point. + +* The "string" state is replaced entirely, since there is not `inherit` rule. + +* The "comment" state is inherited entirely. + + +Using multiple lexers +===================== + +Using multiple lexers for the same input can be tricky. One of the easiest +combination techniques is shown here: You can replace the action entry in a rule +tuple with a lexer class. The matched text will then be lexed with that lexer, +and the resulting tokens will be yielded. + +For example, look at this stripped-down HTML lexer:: + + from pygments.lexer import RegexLexer, bygroups, using + from pygments.token import * + from pygments.lexers.javascript import JavascriptLexer + + class HtmlLexer(RegexLexer): + name = 'HTML' + aliases = ['html'] + filenames = ['*.html', '*.htm'] + + flags = re.IGNORECASE | re.DOTALL + tokens = { + 'root': [ + ('[^<&]+', Text), + ('&.*?;', Name.Entity), + (r'<\s*script\s*', Name.Tag, ('script-content', 'tag')), + (r'<\s*[a-zA-Z0-9:]+', Name.Tag, 'tag'), + (r'<\s*/\s*[a-zA-Z0-9:]+\s*>', Name.Tag), + ], + 'script-content': [ + (r'(.+?)(<\s*/\s*script\s*>)', + bygroups(using(JavascriptLexer), Name.Tag), + '#pop'), + ] + } + +Here the content of a ``<script>`` tag is passed to a newly created instance of +a `JavascriptLexer` and not processed by the `HtmlLexer`. This is done using +the `using` helper that takes the other lexer class as its parameter. + +Note the combination of `bygroups` and `using`. This makes sure that the +content up to the ``</script>`` end tag is processed by the `JavascriptLexer`, +while the end tag is yielded as a normal token with the `Name.Tag` type. + +Also note the ``(r'<\s*script\s*', Name.Tag, ('script-content', 'tag'))`` rule. +Here, two states are pushed onto the state stack, ``'script-content'`` and +``'tag'``. That means that first ``'tag'`` is processed, which will lex +attributes and the closing ``>``, then the ``'tag'`` state is popped and the +next state on top of the stack will be ``'script-content'``. + +Since you cannot refer to the class currently being defined, use `this` +(imported from `pygments.lexer`) to refer to the current lexer class, i.e. +``using(this)``. This construct may seem unnecessary, but this is often the +most obvious way of lexing arbitrary syntax between fixed delimiters without +introducing deeply nested states. + +The `using()` helper has a special keyword argument, `state`, which works as +follows: if given, the lexer to use initially is not in the ``"root"`` state, +but in the state given by this argument. This does not work with advanced +`RegexLexer` subclasses such as `ExtendedRegexLexer` (see below). + +Any other keywords arguments passed to `using()` are added to the keyword +arguments used to create the lexer. + + +Delegating Lexer +================ + +Another approach for nested lexers is the `DelegatingLexer` which is for example +used for the template engine lexers. It takes two lexers as arguments on +initialisation: a `root_lexer` and a `language_lexer`. + +The input is processed as follows: First, the whole text is lexed with the +`language_lexer`. All tokens yielded with the special type of ``Other`` are +then concatenated and given to the `root_lexer`. The language tokens of the +`language_lexer` are then inserted into the `root_lexer`'s token stream at the +appropriate positions. :: + + from pygments.lexer import DelegatingLexer + from pygments.lexers.web import HtmlLexer, PhpLexer + + class HtmlPhpLexer(DelegatingLexer): + def __init__(self, **options): + super(HtmlPhpLexer, self).__init__(HtmlLexer, PhpLexer, **options) + +This procedure ensures that e.g. HTML with template tags in it is highlighted +correctly even if the template tags are put into HTML tags or attributes. + +If you want to change the needle token ``Other`` to something else, you can give +the lexer another token type as the third parameter:: + + DelegatingLexer.__init__(MyLexer, OtherLexer, Text, **options) + + +Callbacks +========= + +Sometimes the grammar of a language is so complex that a lexer would be unable +to process it just by using regular expressions and stacks. + +For this, the `RegexLexer` allows callbacks to be given in rule tuples, instead +of token types (`bygroups` and `using` are nothing else but preimplemented +callbacks). The callback must be a function taking two arguments: + +* the lexer itself +* the match object for the last matched rule + +The callback must then return an iterable of (or simply yield) ``(index, +tokentype, value)`` tuples, which are then just passed through by +`get_tokens_unprocessed()`. The ``index`` here is the position of the token in +the input string, ``tokentype`` is the normal token type (like `Name.Builtin`), +and ``value`` the associated part of the input string. + +You can see an example here:: + + from pygments.lexer import RegexLexer + from pygments.token import Generic + + class HypotheticLexer(RegexLexer): + + def headline_callback(lexer, match): + equal_signs = match.group(1) + text = match.group(2) + yield match.start(), Generic.Headline, equal_signs + text + equal_signs + + tokens = { + 'root': [ + (r'(=+)(.*?)(\1)', headline_callback) + ] + } + +If the regex for the `headline_callback` matches, the function is called with +the match object. Note that after the callback is done, processing continues +normally, that is, after the end of the previous match. The callback has no +possibility to influence the position. + +There are not really any simple examples for lexer callbacks, but you can see +them in action e.g. in the `SMLLexer` class in `ml.py`_. + +.. _ml.py: http://bitbucket.org/birkenfeld/pygments-main/src/tip/pygments/lexers/ml.py + + +The ExtendedRegexLexer class +============================ + +The `RegexLexer`, even with callbacks, unfortunately isn't powerful enough for +the funky syntax rules of languages such as Ruby. + +But fear not; even then you don't have to abandon the regular expression +approach: Pygments has a subclass of `RegexLexer`, the `ExtendedRegexLexer`. +All features known from RegexLexers are available here too, and the tokens are +specified in exactly the same way, *except* for one detail: + +The `get_tokens_unprocessed()` method holds its internal state data not as local +variables, but in an instance of the `pygments.lexer.LexerContext` class, and +that instance is passed to callbacks as a third argument. This means that you +can modify the lexer state in callbacks. + +The `LexerContext` class has the following members: + +* `text` -- the input text +* `pos` -- the current starting position that is used for matching regexes +* `stack` -- a list containing the state stack +* `end` -- the maximum position to which regexes are matched, this defaults to + the length of `text` + +Additionally, the `get_tokens_unprocessed()` method can be given a +`LexerContext` instead of a string and will then process this context instead of +creating a new one for the string argument. + +Note that because you can set the current position to anything in the callback, +it won't be automatically be set by the caller after the callback is finished. +For example, this is how the hypothetical lexer above would be written with the +`ExtendedRegexLexer`:: + + from pygments.lexer import ExtendedRegexLexer + from pygments.token import Generic + + class ExHypotheticLexer(ExtendedRegexLexer): + + def headline_callback(lexer, match, ctx): + equal_signs = match.group(1) + text = match.group(2) + yield match.start(), Generic.Headline, equal_signs + text + equal_signs + ctx.pos = match.end() + + tokens = { + 'root': [ + (r'(=+)(.*?)(\1)', headline_callback) + ] + } + +This might sound confusing (and it can really be). But it is needed, and for an +example look at the Ruby lexer in `ruby.py`_. + +.. _ruby.py: https://bitbucket.org/birkenfeld/pygments-main/src/tip/pygments/lexers/ruby.py + + +Handling Lists of Keywords +========================== + +For a relatively short list (hundreds) you can construct an optimized regular +expression directly using ``words()`` (longer lists, see next section). This +function handles a few things for you automatically, including escaping +metacharacters and Python's first-match rather than longest-match in +alternations. Feel free to put the lists themselves in +``pygments/lexers/_$lang_builtins.py`` (see examples there), and generated by +code if possible. + +An example of using ``words()`` is something like:: + + from pygments.lexer import RegexLexer, words, Name + + class MyLexer(RegexLexer): + + tokens = { + 'root': [ + (words(('else', 'elseif'), suffix=r'\b'), Name.Builtin), + (r'\w+', Name), + ], + } + +As you can see, you can add ``prefix`` and ``suffix`` parts to the constructed +regex. + + +Modifying Token Streams +======================= + +Some languages ship a lot of builtin functions (for example PHP). The total +amount of those functions differs from system to system because not everybody +has every extension installed. In the case of PHP there are over 3000 builtin +functions. That's an incredibly huge amount of functions, much more than you +want to put into a regular expression. + +But because only `Name` tokens can be function names this is solvable by +overriding the ``get_tokens_unprocessed()`` method. The following lexer +subclasses the `PythonLexer` so that it highlights some additional names as +pseudo keywords:: + + from pygments.lexers.python import PythonLexer + from pygments.token import Name, Keyword + + class MyPythonLexer(PythonLexer): + EXTRA_KEYWORDS = set(('foo', 'bar', 'foobar', 'barfoo', 'spam', 'eggs')) + + def get_tokens_unprocessed(self, text): + for index, token, value in PythonLexer.get_tokens_unprocessed(self, text): + if token is Name and value in self.EXTRA_KEYWORDS: + yield index, Keyword.Pseudo, value + else: + yield index, token, value + +The `PhpLexer` and `LuaLexer` use this method to resolve builtin functions. |