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Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +00001% libparser.tex
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Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +00003% Copyright 1995 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
4% and Fred L. Drake, Jr. This copyright notice must be distributed on
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6% of the Python distribution. No fee may be charged for this document
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11
12\section{Built-in Module \sectcode{parser}}
13\bimodindex{parser}
14
Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +000015The \code{parser} module provides an interface to Python's internal
16parser and byte-code compiler. The primary purpose for this interface
17is to allow Python code to edit the parse tree of a Python expression
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +000018and create executable code from this. This is better than trying
19to parse and modify an arbitrary Python code fragment as a string
20because parsing is performed in a manner identical to the code
21forming the application. It is also faster.
Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +000022
23There are a few things to note about this module which are important
24to making use of the data structures created. This is not a tutorial
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +000025on editing the parse trees for Python code, but some examples of using
26the \code{parser} module are presented.
Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +000027
28Most importantly, a good understanding of the Python grammar processed
29by the internal parser is required. For full information on the
30language syntax, refer to the Language Reference. The parser itself
31is created from a grammar specification defined in the file
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +000032\file{Grammar/Grammar} in the standard Python distribution. The parse
Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +000033trees stored in the ``AST objects'' created by this module are the
34actual output from the internal parser when created by the
35\code{expr()} or \code{suite()} functions, described below. The AST
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +000036objects created by \code{sequence2ast()} faithfully simulate those
37structures. Be aware that the values of the sequences which are
38considered ``correct'' will vary from one version of Python to another
39as the formal grammar for the language is revised. However,
40transporting code from one Python version to another as source text
41will always allow correct parse trees to be created in the target
42version, with the only restriction being that migrating to an older
43version of the interpreter will not support more recent language
44constructs. The parse trees are not typically compatible from one
45version to another, whereas source code has always been
46forward-compatible.
Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +000047
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +000048Each element of the sequences returned by \code{ast2list} or
49\code{ast2tuple()} has a simple form. Sequences representing
50non-terminal elements in the grammar always have a length greater than
51one. The first element is an integer which identifies a production in
52the grammar. These integers are given symbolic names in the C header
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +000053file \file{Include/graminit.h} and the Python module
Fred Drakee061a511997-10-06 21:40:20 +000054\code{symbol}. Each additional element of the sequence represents
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +000055a component of the production as recognized in the input string: these
56are always sequences which have the same form as the parent. An
57important aspect of this structure which should be noted is that
58keywords used to identify the parent node type, such as the keyword
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +000059\code{if} in an \code{if_stmt}, are included in the node tree without
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +000060any special treatment. For example, the \code{if} keyword is
Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +000061represented by the tuple \code{(1, 'if')}, where \code{1} is the
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +000062numeric value associated with all \code{NAME} tokens, including
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +000063variable and function names defined by the user. In an alternate form
64returned when line number information is requested, the same token
65might be represented as \code{(1, 'if', 12)}, where the \code{12}
66represents the line number at which the terminal symbol was found.
Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +000067
68Terminal elements are represented in much the same way, but without
69any child elements and the addition of the source text which was
70identified. The example of the \code{if} keyword above is
71representative. The various types of terminal symbols are defined in
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +000072the C header file \file{Include/token.h} and the Python module
Fred Drakee061a511997-10-06 21:40:20 +000073\code{token}.
Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +000074
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +000075The AST objects are not required to support the functionality of this
76module, but are provided for three purposes: to allow an application
77to amortize the cost of processing complex parse trees, to provide a
78parse tree representation which conserves memory space when compared
79to the Python list or tuple representation, and to ease the creation
80of additional modules in C which manipulate parse trees. A simple
81``wrapper'' class may be created in Python to hide the use of AST
82objects; the \code{AST} library module provides a variety of such
83classes.
Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +000084
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +000085The \code{parser} module defines functions for a few distinct
86purposes. The most important purposes are to create AST objects and
87to convert AST objects to other representations such as parse trees
88and compiled code objects, but there are also functions which serve to
89query the type of parse tree represented by an AST object.
Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +000090
Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +000091\renewcommand{\indexsubitem}{(in module parser)}
92
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +000093
94\subsection{Creating AST Objects}
95
96AST objects may be created from source code or from a parse tree.
97When creating an AST object from source, different functions are used
98to create the \code{'eval'} and \code{'exec'} forms.
99
100\begin{funcdesc}{expr}{string}
101The \code{expr()} function parses the parameter \code{\var{string}}
102as if it were an input to \code{compile(\var{string}, 'eval')}. If
103the parse succeeds, an AST object is created to hold the internal
104parse tree representation, otherwise an appropriate exception is
105thrown.
106\end{funcdesc}
107
108\begin{funcdesc}{suite}{string}
109The \code{suite()} function parses the parameter \code{\var{string}}
110as if it were an input to \code{compile(\var{string}, 'exec')}. If
111the parse succeeds, an AST object is created to hold the internal
112parse tree representation, otherwise an appropriate exception is
113thrown.
114\end{funcdesc}
115
116\begin{funcdesc}{sequence2ast}{sequence}
117This function accepts a parse tree represented as a sequence and
118builds an internal representation if possible. If it can validate
119that the tree conforms to the Python grammar and all nodes are valid
120node types in the host version of Python, an AST object is created
121from the internal representation and returned to the called. If there
122is a problem creating the internal representation, or if the tree
123cannot be validated, a \code{ParserError} exception is thrown. An AST
124object created this way should not be assumed to compile correctly;
125normal exceptions thrown by compilation may still be initiated when
126the AST object is passed to \code{compileast()}. This may indicate
127problems not related to syntax (such as a \code{MemoryError}
128exception), but may also be due to constructs such as the result of
129parsing \code{del f(0)}, which escapes the Python parser but is
130checked by the bytecode compiler.
131
132Sequences representing terminal tokens may be represented as either
133two-element lists of the form \code{(1, 'name')} or as three-element
134lists of the form \code{(1, 'name', 56)}. If the third element is
135present, it is assumed to be a valid line number. The line number
136may be specified for any subset of the terminal symbols in the input
137tree.
138\end{funcdesc}
139
140\begin{funcdesc}{tuple2ast}{sequence}
141This is the same function as \code{sequence2ast()}. This entry point
142is maintained for backward compatibility.
143\end{funcdesc}
144
145
146\subsection{Converting AST Objects}
147
148AST objects, regardless of the input used to create them, may be
149converted to parse trees represented as list- or tuple- trees, or may
150be compiled into executable code objects. Parse trees may be
151extracted with or without line numbering information.
152
153\begin{funcdesc}{ast2list}{ast\optional{\, line_info\code{ = 0}}}
Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +0000154This function accepts an AST object from the caller in
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000155\code{\var{ast}} and returns a Python list representing the
156equivelent parse tree. The resulting list representation can be used
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000157for inspection or the creation of a new parse tree in list form. This
158function does not fail so long as memory is available to build the
159list representation. If the parse tree will only be used for
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000160inspection, \code{ast2tuple()} should be used instead to reduce memory
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000161consumption and fragmentation. When the list representation is
162required, this function is significantly faster than retrieving a
163tuple representation and converting that to nested lists.
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000164
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000165If \code{\var{line_info}} is true, line number information will be
166included for all terminal tokens as a third element of the list
Fred Drake9abe64a1996-12-05 22:28:43 +0000167representing the token. Note that the line number provided specifies
168the line on which the token \emph{ends\/}. This information is
169omitted if the flag is false or omitted.
Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +0000170\end{funcdesc}
171
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000172\begin{funcdesc}{ast2tuple}{ast\optional{\, line_info\code{ = 0}}}
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000173This function accepts an AST object from the caller in
174\code{\var{ast}} and returns a Python tuple representing the
175equivelent parse tree. Other than returning a tuple instead of a
176list, this function is identical to \code{ast2list()}.
Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +0000177
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000178If \code{\var{line_info}} is true, line number information will be
179included for all terminal tokens as a third element of the list
180representing the token. This information is omitted if the flag is
181false or omitted.
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000182\end{funcdesc}
183
184\begin{funcdesc}{compileast}{ast\optional{\, filename\code{ = '<ast>'}}}
Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +0000185The Python byte compiler can be invoked on an AST object to produce
186code objects which can be used as part of an \code{exec} statement or
187a call to the built-in \code{eval()} function. This function provides
188the interface to the compiler, passing the internal parse tree from
189\code{\var{ast}} to the parser, using the source file name specified
190by the \code{\var{filename}} parameter. The default value supplied
191for \code{\var{filename}} indicates that the source was an AST object.
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000192
193Compiling an AST object may result in exceptions related to
194compilation; an example would be a \code{SyntaxError} caused by the
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000195parse tree for \code{del f(0)}: this statement is considered legal
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000196within the formal grammar for Python but is not a legal language
197construct. The \code{SyntaxError} raised for this condition is
198actually generated by the Python byte-compiler normally, which is why
199it can be raised at this point by the \code{parser} module. Most
200causes of compilation failure can be diagnosed programmatically by
201inspection of the parse tree.
Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +0000202\end{funcdesc}
203
204
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000205\subsection{Queries on AST Objects}
Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +0000206
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000207Two functions are provided which allow an application to determine if
208an AST was create as an expression or a suite. Neither of these
209functions can be used to determine if an AST was created from source
210code via \code{expr()} or \code{suite()} or from a parse tree via
211\code{sequence2ast()}.
Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +0000212
213\begin{funcdesc}{isexpr}{ast}
214When \code{\var{ast}} represents an \code{'eval'} form, this function
215returns a true value (\code{1}), otherwise it returns false
216(\code{0}). This is useful, since code objects normally cannot be
217queried for this information using existing built-in functions. Note
218that the code objects created by \code{compileast()} cannot be queried
219like this either, and are identical to those created by the built-in
220\code{compile()} function.
221\end{funcdesc}
222
223
224\begin{funcdesc}{issuite}{ast}
225This function mirrors \code{isexpr()} in that it reports whether an
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000226AST object represents an \code{'exec'} form, commonly known as a
227``suite.'' It is not safe to assume that this function is equivelent
228to \code{not isexpr(\var{ast})}, as additional syntactic fragments may
229be supported in the future.
Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +0000230\end{funcdesc}
231
232
Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +0000233\subsection{Exceptions and Error Handling}
234
235The parser module defines a single exception, but may also pass other
236built-in exceptions from other portions of the Python runtime
237environment. See each function for information about the exceptions
238it can raise.
239
240\begin{excdesc}{ParserError}
241Exception raised when a failure occurs within the parser module. This
242is generally produced for validation failures rather than the built in
243\code{SyntaxError} thrown during normal parsing.
244The exception argument is either a string describing the reason of the
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000245failure or a tuple containing a sequence causing the failure from a parse
246tree passed to \code{sequence2ast()} and an explanatory string. Calls to
247\code{sequence2ast()} need to be able to handle either type of exception,
Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +0000248while calls to other functions in the module will only need to be
249aware of the simple string values.
250\end{excdesc}
251
252Note that the functions \code{compileast()}, \code{expr()}, and
253\code{suite()} may throw exceptions which are normally thrown by the
254parsing and compilation process. These include the built in
255exceptions \code{MemoryError}, \code{OverflowError},
256\code{SyntaxError}, and \code{SystemError}. In these cases, these
257exceptions carry all the meaning normally associated with them. Refer
258to the descriptions of each function for detailed information.
259
Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +0000260
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000261\subsection{AST Objects}
262
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000263AST objects returned by \code{expr()}, \code{suite()}, and
264\code{sequence2ast()} have no methods of their own.
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000265Some of the functions defined which accept an AST object as their
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000266first argument may change to object methods in the future. The type
267of these objects is available as \code{ASTType} in the module.
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000268
269Ordered and equality comparisons are supported between AST objects.
270
271
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000272\subsection{Examples}
Fred Drake4b3f0311996-12-13 22:04:31 +0000273\nodename{AST Examples}
Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +0000274
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000275The parser modules allows operations to be performed on the parse tree
276of Python source code before the bytecode is generated, and provides
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000277for inspection of the parse tree for information gathering purposes.
278Two examples are presented. The simple example demonstrates emulation
279of the \code{compile()} built-in function and the complex example
280shows the use of a parse tree for information discovery.
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000281
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000282\subsubsection{Emulation of \sectcode{compile()}}
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000283
284While many useful operations may take place between parsing and
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000285bytecode generation, the simplest operation is to do nothing. For
286this purpose, using the \code{parser} module to produce an
287intermediate data structure is equivelent to the code
288
Guido van Rossume47da0a1997-07-17 16:34:52 +0000289\bcode\begin{verbatim}
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000290>>> code = compile('a + 5', 'eval')
291>>> a = 5
292>>> eval(code)
29310
Guido van Rossume47da0a1997-07-17 16:34:52 +0000294\end{verbatim}\ecode
295%
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000296The equivelent operation using the \code{parser} module is somewhat
297longer, and allows the intermediate internal parse tree to be retained
298as an AST object:
Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +0000299
Guido van Rossume47da0a1997-07-17 16:34:52 +0000300\bcode\begin{verbatim}
Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +0000301>>> import parser
302>>> ast = parser.expr('a + 5')
303>>> code = parser.compileast(ast)
304>>> a = 5
305>>> eval(code)
30610
Guido van Rossume47da0a1997-07-17 16:34:52 +0000307\end{verbatim}\ecode
308%
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000309An application which needs both AST and code objects can package this
310code into readily available functions:
311
Guido van Rossume47da0a1997-07-17 16:34:52 +0000312\bcode\begin{verbatim}
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000313import parser
314
315def load_suite(source_string):
316 ast = parser.suite(source_string)
317 code = parser.compileast(ast)
318 return ast, code
319
320def load_expression(source_string):
321 ast = parser.expr(source_string)
322 code = parser.compileast(ast)
323 return ast, code
Guido van Rossume47da0a1997-07-17 16:34:52 +0000324\end{verbatim}\ecode
325%
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000326\subsubsection{Information Discovery}
327
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000328Some applications benefit from direct access to the parse tree. The
329remainder of this section demonstrates how the parse tree provides
330access to module documentation defined in docstrings without requiring
331that the code being examined be loaded into a running interpreter via
332\code{import}. This can be very useful for performing analyses of
333untrusted code.
Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +0000334
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000335Generally, the example will demonstrate how the parse tree may be
336traversed to distill interesting information. Two functions and a set
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000337of classes are developed which provide programmatic access to high
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000338level function and class definitions provided by a module. The
339classes extract information from the parse tree and provide access to
340the information at a useful semantic level, one function provides a
341simple low-level pattern matching capability, and the other function
342defines a high-level interface to the classes by handling file
343operations on behalf of the caller. All source files mentioned here
344which are not part of the Python installation are located in the
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000345\file{Demo/parser/} directory of the distribution.
Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +0000346
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000347The dynamic nature of Python allows the programmer a great deal of
348flexibility, but most modules need only a limited measure of this when
349defining classes, functions, and methods. In this example, the only
350definitions that will be considered are those which are defined in the
351top level of their context, e.g., a function defined by a \code{def}
352statement at column zero of a module, but not a function defined
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000353within a branch of an \code{if} ... \code{else} construct, though
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000354there are some good reasons for doing so in some situations. Nesting
355of definitions will be handled by the code developed in the example.
356
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000357To construct the upper-level extraction methods, we need to know what
358the parse tree structure looks like and how much of it we actually
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000359need to be concerned about. Python uses a moderately deep parse tree
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000360so there are a large number of intermediate nodes. It is important to
361read and understand the formal grammar used by Python. This is
362specified in the file \file{Grammar/Grammar} in the distribution.
363Consider the simplest case of interest when searching for docstrings:
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000364a module consisting of a docstring and nothing else. (See file
365\file{docstring.py}.)
Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +0000366
Guido van Rossume47da0a1997-07-17 16:34:52 +0000367\bcode\begin{verbatim}
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000368"""Some documentation.
369"""
Guido van Rossume47da0a1997-07-17 16:34:52 +0000370\end{verbatim}\ecode
371%
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000372Using the interpreter to take a look at the parse tree, we find a
373bewildering mass of numbers and parentheses, with the documentation
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000374buried deep in nested tuples.
Guido van Rossum4b73a061995-10-11 17:30:04 +0000375
Guido van Rossume47da0a1997-07-17 16:34:52 +0000376\bcode\begin{verbatim}
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000377>>> import parser
378>>> import pprint
379>>> ast = parser.suite(open('docstring.py').read())
380>>> tup = parser.ast2tuple(ast)
381>>> pprint.pprint(tup)
382(257,
383 (264,
384 (265,
385 (266,
386 (267,
387 (307,
388 (287,
389 (288,
390 (289,
391 (290,
392 (292,
393 (293,
394 (294,
395 (295,
396 (296,
397 (297,
398 (298,
399 (299,
400 (300, (3, '"""Some documentation.\012"""'))))))))))))))))),
401 (4, ''))),
402 (4, ''),
403 (0, ''))
Guido van Rossume47da0a1997-07-17 16:34:52 +0000404\end{verbatim}\ecode
405%
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000406The numbers at the first element of each node in the tree are the node
407types; they map directly to terminal and non-terminal symbols in the
408grammar. Unfortunately, they are represented as integers in the
409internal representation, and the Python structures generated do not
410change that. However, the \code{symbol} and \code{token} modules
411provide symbolic names for the node types and dictionaries which map
412from the integers to the symbolic names for the node types.
413
414In the output presented above, the outermost tuple contains four
415elements: the integer \code{257} and three additional tuples. Node
416type \code{257} has the symbolic name \code{file_input}. Each of
417these inner tuples contains an integer as the first element; these
418integers, \code{264}, \code{4}, and \code{0}, represent the node types
419\code{stmt}, \code{NEWLINE}, and \code{ENDMARKER}, respectively.
420Note that these values may change depending on the version of Python
421you are using; consult \file{symbol.py} and \file{token.py} for
422details of the mapping. It should be fairly clear that the outermost
423node is related primarily to the input source rather than the contents
424of the file, and may be disregarded for the moment. The \code{stmt}
425node is much more interesting. In particular, all docstrings are
426found in subtrees which are formed exactly as this node is formed,
427with the only difference being the string itself. The association
428between the docstring in a similar tree and the defined entity (class,
429function, or module) which it describes is given by the position of
430the docstring subtree within the tree defining the described
431structure.
432
433By replacing the actual docstring with something to signify a variable
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000434component of the tree, we allow a simple pattern matching approach to
435check any given subtree for equivelence to the general pattern for
436docstrings. Since the example demonstrates information extraction, we
437can safely require that the tree be in tuple form rather than list
438form, allowing a simple variable representation to be
439\code{['variable_name']}. A simple recursive function can implement
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000440the pattern matching, returning a boolean and a dictionary of variable
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000441name to value mappings. (See file \file{example.py}.)
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000442
Guido van Rossume47da0a1997-07-17 16:34:52 +0000443\bcode\begin{verbatim}
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000444from types import ListType, TupleType
445
446def match(pattern, data, vars=None):
447 if vars is None:
448 vars = {}
449 if type(pattern) is ListType:
450 vars[pattern[0]] = data
451 return 1, vars
452 if type(pattern) is not TupleType:
453 return (pattern == data), vars
454 if len(data) != len(pattern):
455 return 0, vars
456 for pattern, data in map(None, pattern, data):
457 same, vars = match(pattern, data, vars)
458 if not same:
459 break
460 return same, vars
Guido van Rossume47da0a1997-07-17 16:34:52 +0000461\end{verbatim}\ecode
462%
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000463Using this simple representation for syntactic variables and the symbolic
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000464node types, the pattern for the candidate docstring subtrees becomes
465fairly readable. (See file \file{example.py}.)
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000466
Guido van Rossume47da0a1997-07-17 16:34:52 +0000467\bcode\begin{verbatim}
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000468import symbol
469import token
470
471DOCSTRING_STMT_PATTERN = (
472 symbol.stmt,
473 (symbol.simple_stmt,
474 (symbol.small_stmt,
475 (symbol.expr_stmt,
476 (symbol.testlist,
477 (symbol.test,
478 (symbol.and_test,
479 (symbol.not_test,
480 (symbol.comparison,
481 (symbol.expr,
482 (symbol.xor_expr,
483 (symbol.and_expr,
484 (symbol.shift_expr,
485 (symbol.arith_expr,
486 (symbol.term,
487 (symbol.factor,
488 (symbol.power,
489 (symbol.atom,
490 (token.STRING, ['docstring'])
491 )))))))))))))))),
492 (token.NEWLINE, '')
493 ))
Guido van Rossume47da0a1997-07-17 16:34:52 +0000494\end{verbatim}\ecode
495%
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000496Using the \code{match()} function with this pattern, extracting the
497module docstring from the parse tree created previously is easy:
498
Guido van Rossume47da0a1997-07-17 16:34:52 +0000499\bcode\begin{verbatim}
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000500>>> found, vars = match(DOCSTRING_STMT_PATTERN, tup[1])
501>>> found
5021
503>>> vars
504{'docstring': '"""Some documentation.\012"""'}
Guido van Rossume47da0a1997-07-17 16:34:52 +0000505\end{verbatim}\ecode
506%
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000507Once specific data can be extracted from a location where it is
508expected, the question of where information can be expected
509needs to be answered. When dealing with docstrings, the answer is
510fairly simple: the docstring is the first \code{stmt} node in a code
511block (\code{file_input} or \code{suite} node types). A module
512consists of a single \code{file_input} node, and class and function
513definitions each contain exactly one \code{suite} node. Classes and
514functions are readily identified as subtrees of code block nodes which
515start with \code{(stmt, (compound_stmt, (classdef, ...} or
516\code{(stmt, (compound_stmt, (funcdef, ...}. Note that these subtrees
517cannot be matched by \code{match()} since it does not support multiple
518sibling nodes to match without regard to number. A more elaborate
519matching function could be used to overcome this limitation, but this
520is sufficient for the example.
521
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000522Given the ability to determine whether a statement might be a
523docstring and extract the actual string from the statement, some work
524needs to be performed to walk the parse tree for an entire module and
525extract information about the names defined in each context of the
526module and associate any docstrings with the names. The code to
527perform this work is not complicated, but bears some explanation.
528
529The public interface to the classes is straightforward and should
530probably be somewhat more flexible. Each ``major'' block of the
531module is described by an object providing several methods for inquiry
532and a constructor which accepts at least the subtree of the complete
533parse tree which it represents. The \code{ModuleInfo} constructor
534accepts an optional \code{\var{name}} parameter since it cannot
535otherwise determine the name of the module.
536
537The public classes include \code{ClassInfo}, \code{FunctionInfo},
538and \code{ModuleInfo}. All objects provide the
539methods \code{get_name()}, \code{get_docstring()},
540\code{get_class_names()}, and \code{get_class_info()}. The
541\code{ClassInfo} objects support \code{get_method_names()} and
542\code{get_method_info()} while the other classes provide
543\code{get_function_names()} and \code{get_function_info()}.
544
545Within each of the forms of code block that the public classes
546represent, most of the required information is in the same form and is
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000547accessed in the same way, with classes having the distinction that
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000548functions defined at the top level are referred to as ``methods.''
549Since the difference in nomenclature reflects a real semantic
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000550distinction from functions defined outside of a class, the
551implementation needs to maintain the distinction.
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000552Hence, most of the functionality of the public classes can be
553implemented in a common base class, \code{SuiteInfoBase}, with the
554accessors for function and method information provided elsewhere.
555Note that there is only one class which represents function and method
Fred Drake43d287a1997-01-22 14:25:21 +0000556information; this parallels the use of the \code{def} statement to
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000557define both types of elements.
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000558
559Most of the accessor functions are declared in \code{SuiteInfoBase}
560and do not need to be overriden by subclasses. More importantly, the
561extraction of most information from a parse tree is handled through a
562method called by the \code{SuiteInfoBase} constructor. The example
563code for most of the classes is clear when read alongside the formal
564grammar, but the method which recursively creates new information
565objects requires further examination. Here is the relevant part of
566the \code{SuiteInfoBase} definition from \file{example.py}:
567
Guido van Rossume47da0a1997-07-17 16:34:52 +0000568\bcode\begin{verbatim}
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000569class SuiteInfoBase:
570 _docstring = ''
571 _name = ''
572
573 def __init__(self, tree = None):
574 self._class_info = {}
575 self._function_info = {}
576 if tree:
577 self._extract_info(tree)
578
579 def _extract_info(self, tree):
580 # extract docstring
581 if len(tree) == 2:
582 found, vars = match(DOCSTRING_STMT_PATTERN[1], tree[1])
583 else:
584 found, vars = match(DOCSTRING_STMT_PATTERN, tree[3])
585 if found:
586 self._docstring = eval(vars['docstring'])
587 # discover inner definitions
588 for node in tree[1:]:
589 found, vars = match(COMPOUND_STMT_PATTERN, node)
590 if found:
591 cstmt = vars['compound']
592 if cstmt[0] == symbol.funcdef:
593 name = cstmt[2][1]
594 self._function_info[name] = FunctionInfo(cstmt)
595 elif cstmt[0] == symbol.classdef:
596 name = cstmt[2][1]
597 self._class_info[name] = ClassInfo(cstmt)
Guido van Rossume47da0a1997-07-17 16:34:52 +0000598\end{verbatim}\ecode
599%
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000600After initializing some internal state, the constructor calls the
601\code{_extract_info()} method. This method performs the bulk of the
602information extraction which takes place in the entire example. The
603extraction has two distinct phases: the location of the docstring for
604the parse tree passed in, and the discovery of additional definitions
605within the code block represented by the parse tree.
606
607The initial \code{if} test determines whether the nested suite is of
608the ``short form'' or the ``long form.'' The short form is used when
609the code block is on the same line as the definition of the code
610block, as in
611
Guido van Rossume47da0a1997-07-17 16:34:52 +0000612\bcode\begin{verbatim}
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000613def square(x): "Square an argument."; return x ** 2
Guido van Rossume47da0a1997-07-17 16:34:52 +0000614\end{verbatim}\ecode
615%
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000616while the long form uses an indented block and allows nested
617definitions:
618
Guido van Rossume47da0a1997-07-17 16:34:52 +0000619\bcode\begin{verbatim}
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000620def make_power(exp):
621 "Make a function that raises an argument to the exponent `exp'."
622 def raiser(x, y=exp):
623 return x ** y
624 return raiser
Guido van Rossume47da0a1997-07-17 16:34:52 +0000625\end{verbatim}\ecode
626%
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000627When the short form is used, the code block may contain a docstring as
628the first, and possibly only, \code{small_stmt} element. The
629extraction of such a docstring is slightly different and requires only
630a portion of the complete pattern used in the more common case. As
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000631implemented, the docstring will only be found if there is only
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000632one \code{small_stmt} node in the \code{simple_stmt} node. Since most
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000633functions and methods which use the short form do not provide a
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000634docstring, this may be considered sufficient. The extraction of the
635docstring proceeds using the \code{match()} function as described
636above, and the value of the docstring is stored as an attribute of the
637\code{SuiteInfoBase} object.
638
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000639After docstring extraction, a simple definition discovery
640algorithm operates on the \code{stmt} nodes of the \code{suite} node. The
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000641special case of the short form is not tested; since there are no
642\code{stmt} nodes in the short form, the algorithm will silently skip
643the single \code{simple_stmt} node and correctly not discover any
644nested definitions.
645
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000646Each statement in the code block is categorized as
647a class definition, function or method definition, or
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000648something else. For the definition statements, the name of the
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000649element defined is extracted and a representation object
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000650appropriate to the definition is created with the defining subtree
651passed as an argument to the constructor. The repesentation objects
652are stored in instance variables and may be retrieved by name using
653the appropriate accessor methods.
654
655The public classes provide any accessors required which are more
656specific than those provided by the \code{SuiteInfoBase} class, but
657the real extraction algorithm remains common to all forms of code
658blocks. A high-level function can be used to extract the complete set
Fred Drake4b7d5a41996-09-11 21:57:40 +0000659of information from a source file. (See file \file{example.py}.)
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000660
Guido van Rossume47da0a1997-07-17 16:34:52 +0000661\bcode\begin{verbatim}
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000662def get_docs(fileName):
663 source = open(fileName).read()
664 import os
665 basename = os.path.basename(os.path.splitext(fileName)[0])
666 import parser
667 ast = parser.suite(source)
668 tup = parser.ast2tuple(ast)
669 return ModuleInfo(tup, basename)
Guido van Rossume47da0a1997-07-17 16:34:52 +0000670\end{verbatim}\ecode
671%
Guido van Rossum8206fb91996-08-26 00:33:29 +0000672This provides an easy-to-use interface to the documentation of a
673module. If information is required which is not extracted by the code
674of this example, the code may be extended at clearly defined points to
675provide additional capabilities.
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000676
677
Fred Drakee061a511997-10-06 21:40:20 +0000678\section{Standard Module \sectcode{symbol}}
679\stmodindex{symbol}
680
681This module provides constants which represent the numeric values of
682internal nodes of the parse tree. Unlike most Python constants, these
683use lower-case names. Refer to the file \file{Grammar/Grammar} in the
684Python distribution for the defintions of the names in the context of
685the language grammar. The specific numeric values which the names map
686to may change between Python versions.
687
688This module also provides one additional data object:
689
Fred Drakee624e0f1997-11-25 04:04:00 +0000690\renewcommand{\indexsubitem}{(in module symbol)}
691
692
Fred Drakee061a511997-10-06 21:40:20 +0000693\begin{datadesc}{sym_name}
694Dictionary mapping the numeric values of the constants defined in this
695module back to name strings, allowing more human-readable
696representation of parse trees to be generated.
697\end{datadesc}
698
699
700\section{Standard Module \sectcode{token}}
701\stmodindex{token}
702
703This module provides constants which represent the numeric values of
704leaf nodes of the parse tree (terminal tokens). Refer to the file
705\file{Grammar/Grammar} in the Python distribution for the defintions
706of the names in the context of the language grammar. The specific
707numeric values which the names map to may change between Python
708versions.
709
710This module also provides one data object and some functions. The
711functions mirror definitions in the Python C header files.
712
Fred Drakee624e0f1997-11-25 04:04:00 +0000713\renewcommand{\indexsubitem}{(in module token)}
714
715
Fred Drakee061a511997-10-06 21:40:20 +0000716\begin{datadesc}{tok_name}
717Dictionary mapping the numeric values of the constants defined in this
718module back to name strings, allowing more human-readable
719representation of parse trees to be generated.
720\end{datadesc}
721
722\begin{funcdesc}{ISTERMINAL}{x}
723Return true for terminal token values.
724\end{funcdesc}
725
726\begin{funcdesc}{ISNONTERMINAL}{x}
727Return true for non-terminal token values.
728\end{funcdesc}
729
730\begin{funcdesc}{ISEOF}{x}
731Return true if \var{x} is the marker indicating the end of input.
732\end{funcdesc}
733
Guido van Rossum47478871996-08-21 14:32:37 +0000734%%
735%% end of file