Document cuts

combinator.go

@@ -45,13 +45,12 @@ func Any(parsers ...Parserish) Parser {
 		for _, parser := range parserfied {
 			node := parser(ps)
 			if ps.Errored() {
-				if ps.Cut > startpos {
-					longestError = ps.Error
-					break
-				}
 				if ps.Error.pos > longestError.pos {
 					longestError = ps.Error
 				}
+				if ps.Cut > startpos {
+					break
+				}
 				ps.Recover()
 				continue
 			}
@@ -91,7 +90,7 @@ func manyImpl(min int, op Parserish, sep ...Parserish) Parser {
 		for {
 			node := opParser(ps)
 			if ps.Errored() {
-				if len(result.Child) < min {
+				if len(result.Child) < min || ps.Cut > ps.Pos {
 					ps.Pos = startpos
 					return result
 				}
@@ -116,8 +115,9 @@ func Maybe(parser Parserish) Parser {
 	parserfied := Parsify(parser)
 
 	return NewParser("Maybe()", func(ps *State) Result {
+		startpos := ps.Pos
 		node := parserfied(ps)
-		if ps.Errored() {
+		if ps.Errored() && ps.Cut <= startpos {
 			ps.Recover()
 		}
 

combinator_test.go

@@ -163,12 +163,23 @@ func TestBind(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestCut(t *testing.T) {
-	// does backtracking happen anywhere else?
 	t.Run("test any", func(t *testing.T) {
 		_, ps := runParser("var world", Any(Seq("var", Cut, "hello"), "var world"))
 		require.Equal(t, "offset 4: expected hello", ps.Error.Error())
 		require.Equal(t, 0, ps.Pos)
 	})
+
+	t.Run("test many", func(t *testing.T) {
+		_, ps := runParser("hello <world", Many(Any(Seq("<", Cut, Chars("a-z"), ">"), Chars("a-z"))))
+		require.Equal(t, "offset 12: expected >", ps.Error.Error())
+		require.Equal(t, 0, ps.Pos)
+	})
+
+	t.Run("test maybe", func(t *testing.T) {
+		_, ps := runParser("var", Maybe(Seq("var", Cut, "hello")))
+		require.Equal(t, "offset 3: expected hello", ps.Error.Error())
+		require.Equal(t, 0, ps.Pos)
+	})
 }
 
 func TestMerge(t *testing.T) {

debugon.go

@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ type debugParser struct {
 }
 
 func (dp *debugParser) Name() string {
-	if len(activeParsers) > 2 && activeParsers[len(activeParsers)-2].Var == dp.Var {
+	if len(activeParsers) > 1 && activeParsers[len(activeParsers)-2].Var == dp.Var {
 		return dp.Match
 	}
 	return dp.Var

examples_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+package goparsify_test
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+
+	. "github.com/vektah/goparsify"
+)
+
+func ExampleCuts() {
+	// without a cut if the close tag is left out the parser will backtrack and ignore the rest of the string
+	alpha := Chars("a-z")
+	nocut := Many(Any(Seq("<", alpha, ">"), alpha))
+	_, err := Run(nocut, "asdf <foo")
+	fmt.Println(err.Error())
+
+	// with a cut, once we see the open tag we know there must be a close tag that matches it, so the parser will error
+	cut := Many(Any(Seq("<", Cut, alpha, ">"), alpha))
+	_, err = Run(cut, "asdf <foo")
+	fmt.Println(err.Error())
+
+	// Output:
+	// left unparsed: <foo
+	// offset 9: expected >
+}

html/html.go

@@ -42,17 +42,17 @@ var (
 		return Result{Result: attr}
 	})
 
-	tstart = Seq("<", Cut, identifier, attrs, ">")
+	tstart = Seq("<", identifier, Cut, attrs, ">")
 	tend   = Seq("</", Cut, identifier, ">")
 )
 
 func init() {
-	tag = Map(Seq(tstart, elements, tend), func(node Result) Result {
+	tag = Map(Seq(tstart, Cut, elements, tend), func(node Result) Result {
 		openTag := node.Child[0]
 		return Result{Result: Tag{
-			Name:       openTag.Child[2].Token,
+			Name:       openTag.Child[1].Token,
 			Attributes: openTag.Child[3].Result.(map[string]string),
-			Body:       node.Child[1].Result.([]interface{}),
+			Body:       node.Child[2].Result.([]interface{}),
 		}}
 
 	})

readme.md

@@ -7,9 +7,9 @@ A parser-combinator library for building easy to test, read and maintain parsers
 I dont have many benchmarks set up yet, but the json parser is very promising. Nearly keeping up with the stdlib for raw speed:
 ```
 $ go test -bench=. -benchtime=2s -benchmem ./json
-BenchmarkUnmarshalParsec-8         50000             71447 ns/op           50464 B/op       1318 allocs/op
-BenchmarkUnmarshalParsify-8        50000             56414 ns/op           43887 B/op        334 allocs/op
-BenchmarkUnmarshalStdlib-8         50000             50187 ns/op           13949 B/op        262 allocs/op
+BenchmarkUnmarshalParsec-8         20000             65682 ns/op           50460 B/op       1318 allocs/op
+BenchmarkUnmarshalParsify-8        30000             51292 ns/op           45104 B/op        334 allocs/op
+BenchmarkUnmarshalStdlib-8         30000             46522 ns/op           13953 B/op        262 allocs/op
 PASS
 ok      github.com/vektah/goparsify/json        10.840s
 ```
@@ -198,6 +198,23 @@ func init() {
 
 Take a look at [calc](calc/calc.go) for a full example.
 
+### preventing backtracking with cuts
+A cut is a marker that prevents backtracking past the point it was set. This greatly improves error messages when used correctly: 
+```go
+alpha := Chars("a-z")
+
+// without a cut if the close tag is left out the parser will backtrack and ignore the rest of the string
+nocut := Many(Any(Seq("<", alpha, ">"), alpha))
+_, err := Run(nocut, "asdf <foo")
+fmt.Println(err.Error())
+// Outputs: left unparsed: <foo
+
+// with a cut, once we see the open tag we know there must be a close tag that matches it, so the parser will error
+cut := Many(Any(Seq("<", Cut, alpha, ">"), alpha))
+_, err = Run(cut, "asdf <foo")
+fmt.Println(err.Error())
+// Outputs: offset 9: expected >
+```
 
 ### prior art
 

state.go

@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ func (s *State) Get() string {
 
 // Preview of the the next x characters
 func (s *State) Preview(x int) string {
-	if s.Pos > len(s.Input) {
+	if s.Pos >= len(s.Input) {
 		return ""
 	}
 	if len(s.Input)-s.Pos >= x {

state_test.go

@@ -43,3 +43,9 @@ func TestState_Errors(t *testing.T) {
 	require.Equal(t, 2, ps.Error.Pos())
 	require.True(t, ps.Errored())
 }
+
+func TestState_Preview(t *testing.T) {
+	require.Equal(t, "", NewState("").Preview(10))
+	require.Equal(t, "asdf", NewState("asdf").Preview(10))
+	require.Equal(t, "asdfasdfas", NewState("asdfasdfasdf").Preview(10))
+}