php-parser/grammar

What do all those files mean?

• zend_language_parser.y: Original PHP grammer this parser is based on
• zend_language_parser.phpy: PHP grammer written in a pseudo language
• analyze.php: Analyzes the .phpy-grammer and outputs some info about it
• rebuildParser.php: Preprocesses the .phpy-grammar and builds the parser using kmyacc
• kmyacc.php.parser: A kmyacc parser prototype file for PHP

.phpy pseudo language

The .phpy file is a normal grammer in kmyacc (yacc) style, with some transformations applied to it:

• Nodes are created using the syntax Name[..., ...]. This is transformed into new PHPParser_Node_Name(..., ..., $attributes)
• Name::abc is transformed to PHPParser_Node_Name::abc
• Some function-like constructs are resolved (see rebuildParser.php for a list)
• Associative arrays are written as [key: value, ...], which is transformed to array('key' => value, ...)

Building the parser

In order to rebuild the parser, you need moriyoshi's fork of kmyacc. After you compiled/installed it, run the rebuildParser.php script.

By default only the Parser.php is built. If you want to build the Parser/Debug.php and the y.output run the script with --debug. If you want to retain the preprocessed grammar pass --keep-tmp-grammar.