To learn some Prolog (I'm using GNU Prolog) and grok its parsing abilities, I am starting by writing a Lisp (or S-expression, if I'm being exact) tokenizer, which given a set of tokens like ['(', 'f', 'o', 'o', ')'] should produce ['(', 'foo', ')']. It's not working as expected, which is why I'm here! I thought my thought process shined through in my pseudocode:
tokenize([current | rest], buffer, tokens):
if current is '(' or ')',
Tokenize the rest,
And the output will be the current token buffer,
Plus the parenthesis and the rest.
if current is ' ',
Tokenize the rest with a clean buffer,
And the output will be the buffer plus the rest.
if the tail is empty,
The output will be a one-element list containing the buffer.
otherwise,
Add the current character to the buffer,
And the output will be the rest tokenized, with a bigger buffer.
I translated that to Prolog like this:
tokenize([Char | Chars], Buffer, Tokens) :-
((Char = '(' ; Char = ')') ->
tokenize(Chars, '', Tail_Tokens),
Tokens is [Buffer, Char | Tail_Tokens];
Char = ' ' ->
tokenize(Chars, '', Tail_Tokens),
Tokens is [Buffer | Tail_Tokens];
Chars = [] -> Tokens is [Buffer];
atom_concat(Buffer, Char, New_Buffer),
tokenize(Chars, New_Buffer, Tokens)).
print_tokens([]) :- write('.').
print_tokens([T | N]) :- write(T), write(', '), print_tokens(N).
main :-
% tokenize(['(', 'f', 'o', 'o', '(', 'b', 'a', 'r', ')', 'b', 'a', 'z', ')'], '', Tokens),
tokenize(['(', 'f', 'o', 'o', ')'], '', Tokens),
print_tokens(Tokens).
When running the result, below, like this: gprolog --consult-file lisp_parser.pl it just tells me no. I traced main, and it gave me the stack trace below. I do not understand why tokenize fails for the empty case. I see that the buffer is empty since it was cleared with the previous ')', but even if Tokens is empty at that point in time, wouldn't Tokens accumulate a larger result recursively? Can someone who is good with Prolog give me a few tips here?
| ?- main.
no
| ?- trace.
The debugger will first creep -- showing everything (trace)
(1 ms) yes
{trace}
| ?- main.
1 1 Call: main ?
2 2 Call: tokenize(['(',f,o,o,')'],'',_353) ?
3 3 Call: tokenize([f,o,o,')'],'',_378) ?
4 4 Call: atom_concat('',f,_403) ?
4 4 Exit: atom_concat('',f,f) ?
5 4 Call: tokenize([o,o,')'],f,_429) ?
6 5 Call: atom_concat(f,o,_454) ?
6 5 Exit: atom_concat(f,o,fo) ?
7 5 Call: tokenize([o,')'],fo,_480) ?
8 6 Call: atom_concat(fo,o,_505) ?
8 6 Exit: atom_concat(fo,o,foo) ?
9 6 Call: tokenize([')'],foo,_531) ?
10 7 Call: tokenize([],'',_556) ?
10 7 Fail: tokenize([],'',_544) ?
9 6 Fail: tokenize([')'],foo,_519) ?
7 5 Fail: tokenize([o,')'],fo,_468) ?
5 4 Fail: tokenize([o,o,')'],f,_417) ?
3 3 Fail: tokenize([f,o,o,')'],'',_366) ?
2 2 Fail: tokenize(['(',f,o,o,')'],'',_341) ?
1 1 Fail: main ?
(1 ms) no
{trace}
| ?-
How about this. I think that's what you want to do, but let's use Definite Clause Grammars (which are just horn clauses with :- replaced by --> and two elided arguments holding the input character list and remaining character list. An example DCG rule:
rule(X) --> [c], another_rule(X), {predicate(X)}.
List processing rule rule//1 says: When you find character c in the input list, then continue list processing with another_rule//1, and when that worked out, call predicate(X) as normal.
Then:
% If we encounter a separator symbol '(' or ')', we commit to the
% clause using '!' (no point trying anything else, in particular
% not the clause for "other characters", tokenize the rest of the list,
% and when we have done that decide whether 'MaybeToken', which is
% "part of the leftmost token after '(' or ')'", should be retained.
% it is dropped if it is empty. The caller is then given an empty
% "part of the leftmost token" and the list of tokens, with '(' or ')'
% prepended: "tokenize('', [ '(' | MoreTokens] ) -->"
tokenize('', [ '(' | MoreTokens] ) -->
['('],
!,
tokenize(MaybeToken,Tokens),
{drop_empty(MaybeToken,Tokens,MoreTokens)}.
tokenize('',[')'|MoreTokens]) -->
[')'],
!,
tokenize(MaybeToken,Tokens),
{drop_empty(MaybeToken,Tokens,MoreTokens)}.
% No more characters in the input list (that's what '--> []' says).
% We succeed, with an empty token list and an empty buffer fro the
% leftmost token.
tokenize('',[]) --> [].
% If we find a 'Ch' that is not '(' or ')', then tokenize
% more of the list via 'tokenize(MaybeToken,Tokens)'. On
% returns 'MaybeToken' is a piece of the leftmost token found
% in that list, so we have to stick 'Ch' onto its start.
tokenize(LargerMaybeToken,Tokens) -->
[Ch],
tokenize(MaybeToken,Tokens),
{atom_concat(Ch,MaybeToken,LargerMaybeToken)}.
% ---
% This drops an empty "MaybeToken". If "MaybeToken" is
% *not* empty, it is actually a token and prepended to the list "Tokens"
% ---
drop_empty('',Tokens,Tokens) :- !.
drop_empty(MaybeToken,Tokens,[MaybeToken|Tokens]).
% -----------------
% Call the DCG using phrase/2
% -----------------
tokenize(Text,Result) :-
phrase( tokenize(MaybeToken,Tokens), Text ),
drop_empty(MaybeToken,Tokens,Result),!.
And so:
?- tokenize([h,e,l,l,o],R).
R = [hello].
?- tokenize([h,e,l,'(',l,')',o],R).
R = [hel,(,l,),o].
?- tokenize([h,e,l,'(',l,l,')',o],R).
R = [hel,(,ll,),o].
I think in GNU Prolog, the notation `hello` generates [h,e,l,l,o] directly.