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blue_lang_syntax/
lex.rs

1//! The blue lexer.
2//!
3//! Blue's surface is Ruby/Elixir-shaped, so the lexer's job is different
4//! from an s-expression reader's: it must distinguish `foo` the send from
5//! `foo(x)` the call, keep `:sym` distinct from `a ? b : c`, and record
6//! enough position to point a diagnostic at the byte the human typed.
7//!
8//! Two decisions here are load-bearing downstream and are made once:
9//!
10//! 1. **Every token carries a byte span.** `theory/BLUE.md` §0 requires
11//!    total provenance — every node in an expanded program traceable to the
12//!    source that caused it — and provenance cannot be recovered later if
13//!    the lexer drops it.
14//! 2. **Trivia is a token, not a skip.** Comments and newlines are emitted
15//!    rather than discarded, because a canonical formatter and an LSP both
16//!    need a lossless stream. The measured failure this avoids is
17//!    tatara-lisp's own reader, which discards trivia at tokenize time and
18//!    thereby makes a comment-preserving formatter unbuildable on top of it.
19//!    Callers that do not want trivia filter it; callers that need it
20//!    cannot conjure it back.
21
22use std::fmt;
23
24/// A half-open byte range into the source.
25#[derive(Clone, Copy, Debug, PartialEq, Eq)]
26pub struct Span {
27    pub start: usize,
28    pub end: usize,
29}
30
31impl Span {
32    pub fn new(start: usize, end: usize) -> Self {
33        Self { start, end }
34    }
35}
36
37#[derive(Clone, Debug, PartialEq)]
38pub enum TokenKind {
39    // literals
40    Int(i64),
41    Float(f64),
42    Str(String),
43    /// An interpolated string: alternating literal and expression parts.
44    ///
45    /// `"a#{x}b"` lexes to `["a", "b"]` literals with `["x"]` between them —
46    /// the expression is kept as SOURCE TEXT and parsed by the parser, which
47    /// already knows how to parse an expression. Re-implementing expression
48    /// lexing inside the string lexer would be a second parser, and the two
49    /// would drift.
50    InterpolatedStr {
51        /// `parts.len() == exprs.len() + 1`, always — the literal before each
52        /// expression, plus the tail. An empty literal is kept rather than
53        /// dropped so that invariant holds for `"#{a}#{b}"` too.
54        parts: Vec<String>,
55        exprs: Vec<String>,
56    },
57    /// `:name` — a Ruby symbol, which lowers to a tatara-lisp keyword.
58    Sym(String),
59    True,
60    False,
61    Nil,
62
63    /// An identifier, or a keyword-like head (`if`, `do`, `end`, …).
64    /// The parser decides which; the lexer does not need to know.
65    Ident(String),
66
67    // punctuation
68    LParen,
69    RParen,
70    LBracket,
71    RBracket,
72    LBrace,
73    RBrace,
74    Comma,
75    Dot,
76    /// `:` in a hash literal (`foo: 1`) is folded into `Label`; a bare
77    /// colon is retained for anything else.
78    Colon,
79    /// `foo:` — a hash-literal label. Lexing this as one token is what
80    /// makes `{foo: 1}` and `{:foo => 1}` distinguishable at the parser
81    /// without lookahead games.
82    Label(String),
83    /// `=>` — the "rocket".
84    Rocket,
85    /// `|>` — the pipeline operator.
86    Pipe,
87
88    /// Any operator run: `+ - * / == != < <= > >= && || = ! %`.
89    Op(String),
90
91    // trivia — emitted, never skipped
92    Comment(String),
93    Newline,
94
95    Eof,
96}
97
98#[derive(Clone, Debug, PartialEq)]
99pub struct Token {
100    pub kind: TokenKind,
101    pub span: Span,
102}
103
104impl Token {
105    /// Is this token trivia (a comment or a newline)?
106    pub fn is_trivia(&self) -> bool {
107        matches!(self.kind, TokenKind::Comment(_) | TokenKind::Newline)
108    }
109}
110
111#[derive(Clone, Debug, PartialEq)]
112pub struct LexError {
113    pub message: String,
114    pub span: Span,
115}
116
117impl fmt::Display for LexError {
118    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result {
119        write!(
120            f,
121            "{} at {}..{}",
122            self.message, self.span.start, self.span.end
123        )
124    }
125}
126
127impl std::error::Error for LexError {}
128
129/// Characters that may begin or continue an operator run.
130const OP_CHARS: &str = "+-*/=<>!%&|";
131
132/// Tokenize `src`, including trivia.
133pub fn lex(src: &str) -> Result<Vec<Token>, LexError> {
134    Lexer::new(src).run()
135}
136
137struct Lexer<'a> {
138    src: &'a str,
139    bytes: &'a [u8],
140    pos: usize,
141    out: Vec<Token>,
142}
143
144impl<'a> Lexer<'a> {
145    fn new(src: &'a str) -> Self {
146        Self {
147            src,
148            bytes: src.as_bytes(),
149            pos: 0,
150            out: Vec::new(),
151        }
152    }
153
154    /// Decode the whole UTF-8 character at the cursor, with its byte width.
155    ///
156    /// The lexer scans bytes because that is right for ASCII, which is all of
157    /// blue's structure. This is the seam where it stops being right: a
158    /// character outside ASCII has to be decoded before anything can classify
159    /// it, and the previous approach — treating every byte >= 0x80 as a letter
160    /// — could not tell `≠` from `文`, so an operator was unreachable and a
161    /// malformed sequence became a silent identifier.
162    fn decode_char(&self) -> Option<(char, usize)> {
163        let rest = self.src.get(self.pos..)?;
164        let ch = rest.chars().next()?;
165        Some((ch, ch.len_utf8()))
166    }
167
168    fn peek(&self) -> Option<u8> {
169        self.bytes.get(self.pos).copied()
170    }
171
172    fn peek_at(&self, n: usize) -> Option<u8> {
173        self.bytes.get(self.pos + n).copied()
174    }
175
176    fn push(&mut self, kind: TokenKind, start: usize) {
177        self.out.push(Token {
178            kind,
179            span: Span::new(start, self.pos),
180        });
181    }
182
183    fn err(&self, message: impl Into<String>, start: usize) -> LexError {
184        LexError {
185            message: message.into(),
186            span: Span::new(start, self.pos.max(start + 1)),
187        }
188    }
189
190    fn run(mut self) -> Result<Vec<Token>, LexError> {
191        while let Some(c) = self.peek() {
192            let start = self.pos;
193            match c {
194                b'\n' => {
195                    self.pos += 1;
196                    self.push(TokenKind::Newline, start);
197                }
198                // Horizontal whitespace carries no meaning in blue and is
199                // reconstructed by the formatter, so it is the one thing
200                // dropped. Newlines are kept: they are statement separators.
201                b' ' | b'\t' | b'\r' => {
202                    self.pos += 1;
203                }
204                b'#' => {
205                    while let Some(c) = self.peek() {
206                        if c == b'\n' {
207                            break;
208                        }
209                        self.pos += 1;
210                    }
211                    let text = self.src[start..self.pos].to_string();
212                    self.push(TokenKind::Comment(text), start);
213                }
214                b'"' => self.lex_string(start)?,
215                b'0'..=b'9' => self.lex_number(start)?,
216                b':' => self.lex_colon(start),
217                b'(' => self.one(TokenKind::LParen, start),
218                b')' => self.one(TokenKind::RParen, start),
219                b'[' => self.one(TokenKind::LBracket, start),
220                b']' => self.one(TokenKind::RBracket, start),
221                b'{' => self.one(TokenKind::LBrace, start),
222                b'}' => self.one(TokenKind::RBrace, start),
223                b',' => self.one(TokenKind::Comma, start),
224                b'.' => self.one(TokenKind::Dot, start),
225                // Non-ASCII goes through the UTF-8 layer, which decodes a
226                // whole CHARACTER and asks `kigou` what it means. This must
227                // precede the ident branch: a symbol like `≠` is an operator,
228                // not the first letter of a name.
229                c if c >= 0x80 => {
230                    let Some((ch, width)) = self.decode_char() else {
231                        self.pos += 1;
232                        return Err(self.err("invalid UTF-8 in source", start));
233                    };
234                    match crate::kigou::classify(ch) {
235                        crate::kigou::Class::Operator(op) => {
236                            self.pos += width;
237                            self.push(TokenKind::Op(op.to_owned()), start);
238                        }
239                        crate::kigou::Class::Word => self.lex_ident(start),
240                        crate::kigou::Class::Reject => {
241                            self.pos += width;
242                            return Err(self.err(
243                                format!(
244                                    "the character {ch:?} (U+{:04X}) is not legal in blue source \
245                                     outside a string — invisible and control characters are \
246                                     rejected because source that looks correct and is not costs \
247                                     far more than a clear error here",
248                                    ch as u32
249                                ),
250                                start,
251                            ));
252                        }
253                    }
254                }
255                c if is_ident_start(c) => self.lex_ident(start),
256                c if OP_CHARS.as_bytes().contains(&c) => self.lex_op(start),
257                _ => {
258                    self.pos += 1;
259                    return Err(self.err(format!("unexpected character {:?}", c as char), start));
260                }
261            }
262        }
263        let end = self.pos;
264        self.out.push(Token {
265            kind: TokenKind::Eof,
266            span: Span::new(end, end),
267        });
268        Ok(self.out)
269    }
270
271    fn one(&mut self, kind: TokenKind, start: usize) {
272        self.pos += 1;
273        self.push(kind, start);
274    }
275
276    fn lex_string(&mut self, start: usize) -> Result<(), LexError> {
277        self.pos += 1; // opening quote
278        let mut buf = String::new();
279        // Interpolation state. `parts` collects the literal run before each
280        // `#{…}`; `exprs` collects the raw source between the braces.
281        let mut parts: Vec<String> = Vec::new();
282        let mut exprs: Vec<String> = Vec::new();
283        loop {
284            // `#{` opens an interpolation. A bare `#` is just a character — a
285            // string full of `#` comments would otherwise be unwritable.
286            if self.peek() == Some(b'#') && self.src.as_bytes().get(self.pos + 1) == Some(&b'{') {
287                self.pos += 2;
288                let expr_start = self.pos;
289                // Track nesting so `"#{ {a: 1} }"` closes on the right brace.
290                let mut depth = 1usize;
291                while let Some(c) = self.peek() {
292                    match c {
293                        b'{' => depth += 1,
294                        b'}' => {
295                            depth -= 1;
296                            if depth == 0 {
297                                break;
298                            }
299                        }
300                        _ => {}
301                    }
302                    self.pos += 1;
303                }
304                if self.peek() != Some(b'}') {
305                    return Err(self.err("unterminated `#{` interpolation", start));
306                }
307                exprs.push(self.src[expr_start..self.pos].to_string());
308                self.pos += 1; // past '}'
309                parts.push(std::mem::take(&mut buf));
310                continue;
311            }
312            match self.peek() {
313                None => return Err(self.err("unterminated string literal", start)),
314                Some(b'"') => {
315                    self.pos += 1;
316                    break;
317                }
318                Some(b'\\') => {
319                    self.pos += 1;
320                    let esc = self
321                        .peek()
322                        .ok_or_else(|| self.err("unterminated escape", start))?;
323                    let ch = match esc {
324                        b'n' => '\n',
325                        b't' => '\t',
326                        b'r' => '\r',
327                        b'\\' => '\\',
328                        b'"' => '"',
329                        b'0' => '\0',
330                        // `\u{...}` — a Unicode scalar by codepoint. Ruby and
331                        // Elixir both have it, and without it a blue source
332                        // file can only carry a non-ASCII character literally,
333                        // which is exactly the case where an explicit escape
334                        // matters most (combining marks, zero-width joiners,
335                        // anything invisible in an editor).
336                        b'u' => {
337                            self.pos += 1; // past 'u'
338                            if self.peek() != Some(b'{') {
339                                return Err(self.err("expected `{` after \\u", start));
340                            }
341                            self.pos += 1; // past '{'
342                            let hex_start = self.pos;
343                            while self.peek().is_some_and(|c| c != b'}') {
344                                self.pos += 1;
345                            }
346                            if self.peek() != Some(b'}') {
347                                return Err(self.err("unterminated \\u{...} escape", start));
348                            }
349                            let hex = &self.src[hex_start..self.pos];
350                            let code = u32::from_str_radix(hex, 16).map_err(|_| {
351                                self.err(format!("`{hex}` is not hexadecimal"), start)
352                            })?;
353                            // A surrogate or out-of-range value is REJECTED, not
354                            // replaced with U+FFFD: silently substituting a
355                            // different character is how a codepoint typo
356                            // becomes a rendering mystery.
357                            let ch = char::from_u32(code).ok_or_else(|| {
358                                self.err(format!("`{hex}` is not a Unicode scalar value"), start)
359                            })?;
360                            buf.push(ch);
361                            self.pos += 1; // past '}'
362                            continue;
363                        }
364                        other => {
365                            return Err(
366                                self.err(format!("unknown escape \\{}", other as char), start)
367                            )
368                        }
369                    };
370                    buf.push(ch);
371                    self.pos += 1;
372                }
373                Some(_) => {
374                    let ch = self.src[self.pos..]
375                        .chars()
376                        .next()
377                        .expect("peek said there is a byte");
378                    buf.push(ch);
379                    self.pos += ch.len_utf8();
380                }
381            }
382        }
383        if exprs.is_empty() {
384            self.push(TokenKind::Str(buf), start);
385        } else {
386            parts.push(buf);
387            self.push(TokenKind::InterpolatedStr { parts, exprs }, start);
388        }
389        Ok(())
390    }
391
392    fn lex_number(&mut self, start: usize) -> Result<(), LexError> {
393        while matches!(self.peek(), Some(b'0'..=b'9' | b'_')) {
394            self.pos += 1;
395        }
396        // A `.` is a decimal point only when a digit follows; otherwise it
397        // is the method-call dot and belongs to the next token. This is why
398        // `1.foo` sends `foo` to `1` rather than failing to lex.
399        let is_float = self.peek() == Some(b'.') && matches!(self.peek_at(1), Some(b'0'..=b'9'));
400        if is_float {
401            self.pos += 1;
402            while matches!(self.peek(), Some(b'0'..=b'9' | b'_')) {
403                self.pos += 1;
404            }
405        }
406        let text: String = self.src[start..self.pos]
407            .chars()
408            .filter(|c| *c != '_')
409            .collect();
410        if is_float {
411            let v: f64 = text
412                .parse()
413                .map_err(|_| self.err(format!("invalid float literal {text:?}"), start))?;
414            self.push(TokenKind::Float(v), start);
415        } else {
416            let v: i64 = text
417                .parse()
418                .map_err(|_| self.err(format!("integer literal out of range: {text:?}"), start))?;
419            self.push(TokenKind::Int(v), start);
420        }
421        Ok(())
422    }
423
424    fn lex_colon(&mut self, start: usize) {
425        // `:name` is a symbol; a bare `:` is punctuation.
426        if matches!(self.peek_at(1), Some(c) if is_ident_start(c)) {
427            self.pos += 1;
428            let s = self.pos;
429            while matches!(self.peek(), Some(c) if is_ident_continue(c)) {
430                self.pos += 1;
431            }
432            let name = self.src[s..self.pos].to_string();
433            self.push(TokenKind::Sym(name), start);
434        } else {
435            self.one(TokenKind::Colon, start);
436        }
437    }
438
439    fn lex_ident(&mut self, start: usize) {
440        while matches!(self.peek(), Some(c) if is_ident_continue(c)) {
441            self.pos += 1;
442        }
443
444        // A TRAILING `?` or `!` is part of the name, as in Ruby.
445        //
446        // Without this, four builtins the runtime registers — `contains?`,
447        // `starts_with?`, `ends_with?` and `to_int!` — were unreachable from
448        // every blue program ever written: dead code in the runtime and a
449        // silent capability gap that made `moji` reimplement three of them by
450        // hand.
451        //
452        // The `=` guard is what keeps `!=` working. `a != b` is safe either way
453        // (the `!` follows a space), but `a!=b` is not: without the lookahead
454        // the `!` would be eaten into the identifier and the comparison would
455        // vanish. So a trailing `!` joins the name only when what follows is
456        // NOT `=`.
457        if matches!(self.peek(), Some(b'?'))
458            || (matches!(self.peek(), Some(b'!')) && !matches!(self.peek_at(1), Some(b'=')))
459        {
460            self.pos += 1;
461        }
462        // Ruby's trailing `?` and `!` are part of the name.
463        if matches!(self.peek(), Some(b'?') | Some(b'!')) {
464            self.pos += 1;
465        }
466        let name = self.src[start..self.pos].to_string();
467
468        // `foo:` is a hash label — one token, so `{foo: 1}` needs no
469        // lookahead in the parser. Not folded when followed by `:`, which
470        // would be `foo::bar`.
471        if self.peek() == Some(b':') && self.peek_at(1) != Some(b':') {
472            self.pos += 1;
473            self.push(TokenKind::Label(name), start);
474            return;
475        }
476
477        let kind = match name.as_str() {
478            "true" => TokenKind::True,
479            "false" => TokenKind::False,
480            "nil" => TokenKind::Nil,
481            _ => TokenKind::Ident(name),
482        };
483        self.push(kind, start);
484    }
485
486    fn lex_op(&mut self, start: usize) {
487        while matches!(self.peek(), Some(c) if OP_CHARS.as_bytes().contains(&c)) {
488            self.pos += 1;
489        }
490        let text = self.src[start..self.pos].to_string();
491        let kind = match text.as_str() {
492            "=>" => TokenKind::Rocket,
493            "|>" => TokenKind::Pipe,
494            _ => TokenKind::Op(text),
495        };
496        self.push(kind, start);
497    }
498}
499
500// An identifier may be written in ANY script, not only Latin.
501//
502// The lexer works on bytes, and the rule that makes that safe is a property of
503// UTF-8 rather than a trick: every byte of a multi-byte character is >= 0x80,
504// and every character blue gives structural meaning — operators, delimiters,
505// quotes, `#` — is ASCII, hence < 0x80. So "byte >= 0x80 is part of an
506// identifier" consumes each multi-byte character whole, leaves every ASCII
507// decision untouched, and keeps `src[start..pos]` on a char boundary.
508//
509// Without this the `yakugo` language packs cannot exist at all: `définir` died
510// on 'Ã' and `定義` on 'å' — a UTF-8 continuation byte reported as a character,
511// which is the diagnostic a byte-oriented lexer gives for text it was never
512// built to read.
513//
514// PERMISSIVE, deliberately and worth stating: this admits any non-ASCII byte,
515// so an emoji or a lone combining mark is a legal identifier. Enforcing
516// XID_Start/XID_Continue would need real char decoding through the whole
517// lexer. Accepting too much is a surface question; rejecting every non-Latin
518// script was a correctness one.
519fn is_ident_start(c: u8) -> bool {
520    c.is_ascii_alphabetic() || c == b'_'
521}
522
523fn is_ident_continue(c: u8) -> bool {
524    c.is_ascii_alphanumeric() || c == b'_' || c >= 0x80
525}
526
527#[cfg(test)]
528mod tests {
529    use super::*;
530
531    fn kinds(src: &str) -> Vec<TokenKind> {
532        lex(src)
533            .expect("lex")
534            .into_iter()
535            .filter(|t| !t.is_trivia() && t.kind != TokenKind::Eof)
536            .map(|t| t.kind)
537            .collect()
538    }
539
540    #[test]
541    fn lexes_integers_and_floats() {
542        assert_eq!(
543            kinds("1 2.5 1_000"),
544            vec![
545                TokenKind::Int(1),
546                TokenKind::Float(2.5),
547                TokenKind::Int(1000),
548            ]
549        );
550    }
551
552    /// `1.foo` is a send, not a malformed float. The decimal point is a
553    /// decimal point only when a digit follows it.
554    #[test]
555    fn a_dot_after_a_digit_is_a_send_unless_a_digit_follows() {
556        assert_eq!(
557            kinds("1.foo"),
558            vec![
559                TokenKind::Int(1),
560                TokenKind::Dot,
561                TokenKind::Ident("foo".into()),
562            ]
563        );
564    }
565
566    #[test]
567    fn lexes_symbols_and_labels_distinctly() {
568        assert_eq!(kinds(":foo"), vec![TokenKind::Sym("foo".into())]);
569        assert_eq!(kinds("foo:"), vec![TokenKind::Label("foo".into())]);
570    }
571
572    #[test]
573    fn ruby_predicate_and_bang_suffixes_are_part_of_the_name() {
574        assert_eq!(
575            kinds("empty? save!"),
576            vec![
577                TokenKind::Ident("empty?".into()),
578                TokenKind::Ident("save!".into()),
579            ]
580        );
581    }
582
583    #[test]
584    fn lexes_strings_with_escapes() {
585        assert_eq!(kinds(r#""a\nb""#), vec![TokenKind::Str("a\nb".into())]);
586    }
587
588    #[test]
589    fn unterminated_string_is_an_error_with_a_span() {
590        let e = lex("\"oops").expect_err("must fail");
591        assert!(e.message.contains("unterminated"), "{}", e.message);
592        assert_eq!(e.span.start, 0);
593    }
594
595    /// Trivia is EMITTED, not skipped. A formatter and an LSP both need a
596    /// lossless stream, and neither can recover what the lexer discarded.
597    #[test]
598    fn comments_and_newlines_are_emitted_as_trivia() {
599        let toks = lex("1 # hi\n2").expect("lex");
600        assert!(
601            toks.iter()
602                .any(|t| matches!(&t.kind, TokenKind::Comment(c) if c == "# hi")),
603            "comment was dropped: {toks:?}"
604        );
605        assert!(
606            toks.iter().any(|t| t.kind == TokenKind::Newline),
607            "newline was dropped"
608        );
609    }
610
611    /// Anti-vacuity for the span claim: spans must be real byte offsets
612    /// into the source, not placeholders.
613    #[test]
614    fn spans_point_at_the_actual_bytes() {
615        let src = "foo + 1";
616        let toks = lex(src).expect("lex");
617        let first = &toks[0];
618        assert_eq!(&src[first.span.start..first.span.end], "foo");
619        let last_int = toks
620            .iter()
621            .find(|t| matches!(t.kind, TokenKind::Int(_)))
622            .expect("an int token");
623        assert_eq!(&src[last_int.span.start..last_int.span.end], "1");
624    }
625
626    #[test]
627    fn lexes_pipeline_and_rocket() {
628        assert_eq!(kinds("|> =>"), vec![TokenKind::Pipe, TokenKind::Rocket]);
629    }
630}