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Not all parsers adopt this two-steps schema: some parsers do not depend on a lexer. Structure Of A ParserДЄ parser is usually composed of two parts: a lexer, also known as scanner or tokenizer, and the proper parser. We are not trying to give you formal explanations, but practical ones. To make sure that these list is accessible to all programmers we have prepared a short explanation for terms and concepts that you may encounter searching for a parser. By concentrating on one programming language we can provide an apples-to-apples comparison and help you choose one option for your project. That is because there will be simple too many options and we would all get lost in them. To list all possible tools and libraries parser for all languages would be kind of interesting, but not that useful. This also means that (usually) the parser itself will be written in Java. We are also concentrating on one target language: Java. That is why we have prepared a list of the best known of them, with a short introduction for each of them.

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Parser generators (or parser combinators) are not trivial: you need some time to learn how to use them and not all types of parser generators are suitable for all kinds of languages. Libraries that create parsers are known as parser combinators.

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Tools that can be used to generate the code for a parserВ are called parser generators or compiler compiler.

tools that can generate parsers usable from Java (and possibly from other languages).

Powered by ConvertKit Tools To Create Parsers I'd like to learn more about parsing and language engineering If you fill this in, you will be marked as a spammer. Note: text in blockquote describing a program comes from the respective documentation That is why on this article we concentrate on the tools and libraries that correspond to this option.

In all other cases the thirdВ option should be the default one, because is the one that is most flexible and has the shorter development time. For instance, because you need the best possible performance or a deep integration between different components. Both in the sense that the language you need to parse cannot be parsed with traditional parser generators, or you have specific requirements that you cannot satisfy using a typical parser generator.

You may need to pick the secondВ option if you have particular needs. The problem is thatВ such libraries are not so common and they support only the most common languages. This is typically more of what you get from a basic parser. A good library usually include also API to programmatically build and modify documents in that language. The first option is the best for well known and supported languages, like XML or HTML.

a tool or library to generate a parser: for example ANTLR, that you can use to build parsers for any language.

building your own custom parser by hand.

use an existing libraryВ supporting that specific language: for example a library to parse XML.

If you need to parse a language, or document, from Java there are fundamentally three ways to solve the problem:

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