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+
+ <section id="running-multiple-parsers-on-an-input-file">
+<span id="multiple-parsers"></span><h1>Running multiple parsers on an input file<a class="headerlink" href="#running-multiple-parsers-on-an-input-file" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
+<p>Universal Ctags provides parser developers two ways, <em>guest parser</em> (guest/host)
+and <em>subparser</em> (sub/base), to run multiple parsers for an input file.</p>
+<p>This section shows concepts behind the running multiple parsers and real
+examples.</p>
+<section id="guest-parser-applying-a-parser-to-specified-areas-of-input-file">
+<span id="host-guest-parsers"></span><h2>Guest parser: Applying a parser to specified areas of input file<a class="headerlink" href="#guest-parser-applying-a-parser-to-specified-areas-of-input-file" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
+<p><em>Guest parser</em> (guest/host) considers the case that an input file has areas
+written in languages different from the language for the input file.</p>
+<p>A <em>host parser</em> parses the input file and detects the areas.
+The host parser schedules <em>guest parsers</em> parsing the areas.
+The guest parsers parse the areas.</p>
+<figure class="align-default">
+<a class="reference internal image-reference" href="_images/area-and-parsers.svg"><img alt="_images/area-and-parsers.svg" src="_images/area-and-parsers.svg" /></a>
+</figure>
+<section id="command-line-interface">
+<h3>Command line interface<a class="headerlink" href="#command-line-interface" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
+<p>Running guest parser can be controlled with guest (<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">g</span></code>) extras flag.
+By default it is disabled. To turning on the feature running
+guest parser, specify <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">--extras=+g</span></code>.</p>
+<p>If <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">--fields=+E</span></code> is given, all tags generated by a guest parser is marked
+<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">guest</span></code> in their <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">extras:</span></code> fields.</p>
+</section>
+<section id="examples-of-guest-parser">
+<h3>Examples of guest parser<a class="headerlink" href="#examples-of-guest-parser" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
+<section id="css-javascript-html-parser-combination">
+<h4>{CSS,JavaScript}/HTML parser combination<a class="headerlink" href="#css-javascript-html-parser-combination" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h4>
+<p>For an HTML file, you may want to run HTML parser, of course. The
+HTML file may have CSS areas and JavaScript areas. In other hand
+Universal Ctags has both CSS and JavaScript parsers. Don’t you
+think it is useful if you can apply these parsers to the areas?</p>
+<p>In this case, HTML has responsible to detect the CSS and
+JavaScript areas and record the positions of the areas.
+The HTML parser schedules delayed invocations of CSS and
+JavaScript parsers on the area with promise API.</p>
+<p>Here HTML parser is a <em>host parser</em>. CSS and JavaScript parsers
+are <em>guest parsers</em>.</p>
+<p>See “<a class="reference internal" href="parser-html.html#html"><span class="std std-ref">The new HTML parser</span></a>” and “<a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/universal-ctags/ctags/blob/master/parsers/html.c">parsers/html.c</a>”.</p>
+</section>
+<section id="c-yacc-parser-combination">
+<h4>C/Yacc parser combination<a class="headerlink" href="#c-yacc-parser-combination" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h4>
+<p>A yacc file has some areas written in C. Universal Ctags has both YACC
+and C parsers. You may want to run C parser for the areas from YACC
+parser.</p>
+<p>Here YACC parser is a host parser. C parser is a guest parser.
+See “<a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/universal-ctags/ctags/blob/master/parsers/yacc.c">parsers/yacc.c</a>”.</p>
+</section>
+<section id="pod-perl-parser-combination">
+<h4>Pod/Perl parser combination<a class="headerlink" href="#pod-perl-parser-combination" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h4>
+<p>Pod (Plain Old Documentation) is a language for documentation. The language
+can be used not only in a stand alone file but also it can be
+used inside a Perl script.</p>
+<p>Universal Ctags has both parsers for Perl and Pod.
+The Perl parser recognizes the area where Pod document is
+embedded in a Perl script and schedules applying pod parser
+as a guest parser on the area.</p>
+</section>
+</section>
+</section>
+<section id="subparser-tagging-definitions-of-higher-upper-level-language">
+<span id="base-sub-parsers"></span><h2>Subparser: Tagging definitions of higher (upper) level language<a class="headerlink" href="#subparser-tagging-definitions-of-higher-upper-level-language" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
+<section id="background">
+<h3>Background<a class="headerlink" href="#background" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
+<p>Consider an application written in language X. The application has
+its domain own concepts. Developers of the application may try to
+express the concepts in the syntax of language X.</p>
+<p>In language X level, the developer can define functions, variables, types, and
+so on. Further more, if the syntax of X allows, the developers want to
+define higher level (= application level) things for implementing the
+domain own concepts.</p>
+<p>Let me show the part of source code of SPY-WARS, an imaginary game application.
+It is written in scheme language, a dialect of lisp.
+(Here <a class="reference external" href="https://practical-scheme.net/gauche/index.html">gauche</a> is considered
+as the implementation of scheme interpreter).</p>
+<div class="highlight-scheme notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="p">(</span><span class="k">define </span><span class="nv">agent-tables</span> <span class="p">(</span><span class="nf">make-hash-table</span><span class="p">))</span>
+<span class="p">(</span><span class="nf">define-class</span> <span class="nv">&lt;agent&gt;</span> <span class="p">()</span>
+ <span class="p">((</span><span class="nf">rights</span> <span class="nv">:init-keyword</span> <span class="nv">:rights</span><span class="p">)</span>
+ <span class="p">(</span><span class="nf">responsibilities</span> <span class="nv">:init-keyword</span> <span class="nv">:responsibilities</span><span class="p">)))</span>
+
+<span class="p">(</span><span class="nf">define-macro</span> <span class="p">(</span><span class="nf">define-agent</span> <span class="nv">name</span> <span class="nv">rights</span> <span class="nv">responsibilities</span><span class="p">)</span>
+ <span class="o">`</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="nf">hash-table-put!</span> <span class="nv">agent-tables</span> <span class="ss">&#39;,name</span>
+ <span class="p">(</span><span class="nf">make</span> <span class="nv">&lt;agent&gt;</span>
+ <span class="nv">:rights</span> <span class="ss">&#39;,rights</span>
+ <span class="nv">:responsibilities</span> <span class="ss">&#39;,responsibilities</span><span class="p">)))</span>
+
+<span class="p">(</span><span class="nf">define-agent</span> <span class="nv">Bond</span> <span class="p">(</span><span class="nf">kill</span> <span class="o">...</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="o">...</span><span class="p">)</span>
+<span class="p">(</span><span class="nf">define-agent</span> <span class="nv">Bourne</span> <span class="o">...</span><span class="p">)</span>
+
+<span class="o">...</span>
+</pre></div>
+</div>
+<p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">define</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">define-class</span></code>, and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">define-macro</span></code> are keywords of scheme
+for defining a variable, class and macro. Therefore scheme parser of
+ctags should make tags for <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">agent-tables</span></code> with variable kind,
+<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">&lt;agent&gt;</span></code> with class kind, and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">define-agent</span></code> with macro kind.
+There is no discussion here.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<div><p>NOTE: To be exactly <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">define-class</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">define-macro</span></code> are not the part
+of scheme language. They are part of gauche. That means three parsers
+are stacked: scheme, gosh, and SPY-WARS.</p>
+</div></blockquote>
+<p>The interesting things here are <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Bond</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Bourne</span></code>.</p>
+<div class="highlight-scheme notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="p">(</span><span class="nf">define-agent</span> <span class="nv">Bond</span> <span class="p">(</span><span class="nf">kill</span> <span class="o">...</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="o">...</span><span class="p">)</span>
+<span class="p">(</span><span class="nf">define-agent</span> <span class="nv">Bourne</span> <span class="o">...</span><span class="p">)</span>
+</pre></div>
+</div>
+<p>In scheme parser level, the two expressions define nothing; the two
+expressions are just macro (<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">define-agent</span></code>) expansions.</p>
+<p>However, in the application level, they define agents as the
+macro name shown. In this level Universal Ctags should capture
+<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Bond</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Bourne</span></code>. The question is which parser should
+capture them? scheme parser should not; define-agent is not part of
+scheme language. Newly defined SPY-WARS parser is the answer.</p>
+<p>Though <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">define-agent</span></code> is just a macro in scheme parser level,
+it is keyword in SPY-WARS parser. SPY-WARS parser makes a
+tag for a token next to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">define-agent</span></code>.</p>
+<p>The above example illustrates levels of language in an input
+file. scheme is used as the base language. With the base language we
+can assume an imaginary higher level language named SPY-WARS is used
+to write the application. To parse the source code of the application
+written in two stacked language, ctags uses the two stacked parsers.</p>
+<p>Making higher level language is very popular technique in the
+languages of lisp family (see “<a class="reference external" href="http://www.paulgraham.com/onlisp.html">On Lisp</a>” for more details).
+However, it is not special to lisp.</p>
+<p>Following code is taken from linux kernel written in C:</p>
+<div class="highlight-C notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">DEFINE_EVENT</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">mac80211_msg_event</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">mac80211_info</span><span class="p">,</span>
+ <span class="n">TP_PROTO</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="k">struct</span> <span class="nc">va_format</span> <span class="o">*</span><span class="n">vaf</span><span class="p">),</span>
+ <span class="n">TP_ARGS</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">vaf</span><span class="p">)</span>
+<span class="p">);</span>
+</pre></div>
+</div>
+<p>There is no concept EVENT in C language, however it make sense in the
+source tree of linux kernel. So we can consider linux parser, based on
+C parser, which tags <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">mac80211_msg_event</span></code> as <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">event</span></code> kind.</p>
+</section>
+<section id="terms">
+<h3>Terms<a class="headerlink" href="#terms" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
+<section id="base-parser-and-subparser">
+<h4>Base parser and subparser<a class="headerlink" href="#base-parser-and-subparser" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h4>
+<p>In the context of the SPY-WARS example, scheme parser is called a <em>base
+parser</em>. The SPY-WARS is called a <em>subparser</em>. A base parser tags
+definitions found in lower level view. A subparser on the base parser tags
+definitions found in higher level view. This relationship can be nested.
+A subparser can be a base parser for another subparser.</p>
+<figure class="align-default">
+<a class="reference internal image-reference" href="_images/stack-and-parsers.svg"><img alt="_images/stack-and-parsers.svg" src="_images/stack-and-parsers.svg" /></a>
+</figure>
+<p>At a glance the relationship between two parsers are similar to the
+relationship guest parser and host parser description in
+“<a class="reference internal" href="#host-guest-parsers"><span class="std std-ref">Guest parser: Applying a parser to specified areas of input file</span></a>”.
+However, they are different. Though a guest
+parser can run stand-alone, a subparser cannot; a subparser needs help
+from base parser to work.</p>
+</section>
+<section id="top-down-parser-choice-and-bottom-up-parser-choice">
+<h4>Top down parser choice and bottom up parser choice<a class="headerlink" href="#top-down-parser-choice-and-bottom-up-parser-choice" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h4>
+<p>There are two ways to run a subparser: <em>top down</em> or <em>bottom up</em> parser
+choices.</p>
+<p>Universal Ctags can chose a subparser <a class="reference internal" href="man/ctags.1.html#guessing"><span class="std std-ref">automatically</span></a>.
+Matching file name patterns and extensions are the typical ways for
+choosing. A user can choose a subparser with <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">--language-force=</span></code> option.
+Choosing a parser in these deterministic way is called <em>top down</em>.
+When a parser is chosen as a subparser in the top down way, the
+subparser must call its base parser. The base parser may call methods
+defined in the subparser.</p>
+<p>Universal Ctags uses <em>bottom up</em> choice when the top down way
+doesn’t work; a given file name doesn’t match any patterns and
+extensions of subparsers and the user doesn’t specify
+<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">--language-force=</span></code> explicitly. In choosing a subparser bottom up way
+it is assumed that a base parser for the subparser can be chosen
+by top down way. During a base parser running, the base parser tries
+to detect use of higher level languages in the input file. As shown
+later in this section, the base parser utilizes methods defined in its
+subparsers for the detection. If the base parser detects the use of a
+higher level language, a subparser for the higher level language is
+chosen. Choosing a parser in this non-deterministic way (dynamic way)
+is called <em>bottom up</em>.</p>
+<table class="docutils align-default">
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 64%" />
+<col style="width: 36%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="row-odd"><th class="head"><p>input file</p></th>
+<th class="head"><p>subparser choices</p></th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="row-even"><td><p><em>&lt;SUB_LANG&gt;</em> (<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">input.sub</span></code>)</p></td>
+<td><p>top down</p></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="row-odd"><td><p><em>&lt;BASE_LANG&gt;</em> (<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">input.base</span></code>)</p></td>
+<td><p>bottom up</p></td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<p>Here is an example. Universal Ctags has both m4 parser and Autoconf
+parser. The m4 parser is a base parser. The Autoconf parser is a
+subparser based on the m4 parser. If <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">configure.ac</span></code> is given as an
+input file, Autoconf parser is chosen automatically because the
+Autoconf parser has <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">configure.ac</span></code> in its patterns list. Based on the
+pattern matching, Universal Ctags chooses the Autoconf parser
+automatically (top down choice).</p>
+<p>If <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">input.m4</span></code> is given as an input file, the Autoconf parser is
+not chosen. Instead the m4 parser is chosen automatically because
+the m4 parser has <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.m4</span></code> in its extension list. The m4 parser passes
+every token finding in the input file to the
+Autoconf parser. The Autoconf parser gets the chance to probe
+whether the Autoconf parser itself can handle the input or not; if
+a token name is started with <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">AC_</span></code>, the Autoconf parser
+reports “this is Autoconf input though its file extension
+is <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.m4</span></code>” to the m4 parser. As the result the Autoconf parser is
+chosen (bottom up choice).</p>
+<p>Some subparsers can be chosen both top down and bottom up ways. Some
+subparser can be chosen only top down way or bottom up ways.</p>
+</section>
+<section id="direction-flags">
+<span id="multiple-parsers-directions"></span><h4>Direction flags<a class="headerlink" href="#direction-flags" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h4>
+<p><em>Direction flags</em> specify how a base parser and a subparser work together. You
+can choose directions by putting a long flag after
+<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">--langdef=&lt;SUB_LANG&gt;{base=&lt;BASE_LANG&gt;}</span></code>.</p>
+<p>The following three direction flags are available;</p>
+<dl>
+<dt><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">shared</span></code> (default):</dt><dd><p>For an input file of <em>&lt;BASE_LANG&gt;</em> (ex. <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">input.base</span></code>), tags captured by
+both <em>&lt;BASE_LANG&gt;</em> and <em>&lt;SUB_LANG&gt;</em> parser are recorded to tags file.</p>
+<p>For an input file of <em>&lt;SUB_LANG&gt;</em> (ex. <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">input.sub</span></code>), tags captured by only
+<em>&lt;SUB_LANG&gt;</em> parser are recorded to tags file.</p>
+<table class="docutils align-default">
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 26%" />
+<col style="width: 36%" />
+<col style="width: 38%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="row-odd"><th class="head"><p>input file</p></th>
+<th class="head"><p>tags of <em>&lt;BASE_LANG&gt;</em></p></th>
+<th class="head"><p>tags of <em>&lt;SUB_LANG&gt;</em></p></th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="row-even"><td><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">input.base</span></code></p></td>
+<td><p>recorded</p></td>
+<td><p>recorded</p></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="row-odd"><td><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">input.sub</span></code></p></td>
+<td><p>---</p></td>
+<td><p>recorded</p></td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+</dd>
+<dt><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">dedicated</span></code>:</dt><dd><p>For an input file of <em>&lt;BASE_LANG&gt;</em> (ex. <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">input.base</span></code>), tags captured by
+only <em>&lt;BASE_LANG&gt;</em> parser are recorded to tags file.</p>
+<p>For an input file of <em>&lt;SUB_LANG&gt;</em> (ex. <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">input.sub</span></code>), tags captured by both
+<em>&lt;BASE_LANG&gt;</em> and <em>&lt;SUB_LANG&gt;</em> parser are recorded to tags file.</p>
+<table class="docutils align-default">
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 26%" />
+<col style="width: 36%" />
+<col style="width: 38%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="row-odd"><th class="head"><p>input file</p></th>
+<th class="head"><p>tags of <em>&lt;BASE_LANG&gt;</em></p></th>
+<th class="head"><p>tags of <em>&lt;SUB_LANG&gt;</em></p></th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="row-even"><td><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">input.base</span></code></p></td>
+<td><p>recorded</p></td>
+<td><p>---</p></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="row-odd"><td><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">input.sub</span></code></p></td>
+<td><p>recorded</p></td>
+<td><p>recorded</p></td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+</dd>
+<dt><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">bidirectional</span></code>:</dt><dd><p>For an input file of both <em>&lt;BASE_LANG&gt;</em> (ex. <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">input.base</span></code>) and
+<em>&lt;SUB_LANG&gt;</em> (ex. <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">input.sub</span></code>), tags captured by both <em>&lt;BASE_LANG&gt;</em> and
+&lt;SUB_LANG&gt; parser are recorded to tags file.</p>
+<table class="docutils align-default">
+<colgroup>
+<col style="width: 26%" />
+<col style="width: 36%" />
+<col style="width: 38%" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr class="row-odd"><th class="head"><p>input file</p></th>
+<th class="head"><p>tags of <em>&lt;BASE_LANG&gt;</em></p></th>
+<th class="head"><p>tags of <em>&lt;SUB_LANG&gt;</em></p></th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr class="row-even"><td><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">input.base</span></code></p></td>
+<td><p>recorded</p></td>
+<td><p>recorded</p></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="row-odd"><td><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">input.sub</span></code></p></td>
+<td><p>recorded</p></td>
+<td><p>recorded</p></td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+<p>If no direction flag is specified, it implies <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">{shared}</span></code>.</p>
+<p>See “<a class="reference internal" href="optlib.html#optlib-directions"><span class="std std-ref">Direction flags</span></a>” in “<a class="reference internal" href="optlib.html#optlib"><span class="std std-ref">Extending ctags with Regex parser (optlib)</span></a>” for examples of using the
+direction flags.</p>
+</section>
+</section>
+<section id="listing-subparsers">
+<h3>Listing subparsers<a class="headerlink" href="#listing-subparsers" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
+<p>Subparsers can be listed with <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">--list-subparser</span></code>:</p>
+<div class="highlight-console notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">$ </span>ctags --options<span class="o">=</span>./linux.ctags --list-subparsers<span class="o">=</span>C
+<span class="gp">#</span>NAME BASEPARSER DIRECTION
+<span class="go">linux C base =&gt; sub {shared}</span>
+</pre></div>
+</div>
+</section>
+<section id="id1">
+<h3>Command line interface<a class="headerlink" href="#id1" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
+<p>Running subparser can be controlled with subparser (<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">s</span></code>) extras flag.
+By default it is enabled. To turning off the feature running
+subparser, specify <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">--extras=-s</span></code>.</p>
+</section>
+<section id="examples-of-subparser">
+<h3>Examples of subparser<a class="headerlink" href="#examples-of-subparser" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
+<section id="automake-make-parser-combination">
+<h4>Automake/Make parser combination<a class="headerlink" href="#automake-make-parser-combination" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h4>
+<p>Simply to say the syntax of Automake is the subset of Make. However,
+the Automake parser has interests in Make macros having special
+suffixes: <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">_PROGRAMS</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">_LTLIBRARIES</span></code>, and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">_SCRIPTS</span></code> so on.</p>
+<p>Here is an example of input for Automake:</p>
+<div class="highlight-Make notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nv">bin_PROGRAMS</span> <span class="o">=</span> ctags
+<span class="nv">ctags_CPPFLAGS</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="se">\</span>
+ -I. <span class="se">\</span>
+ -I<span class="k">$(</span>srcdir<span class="k">)</span> <span class="se">\</span>
+ -I<span class="k">$(</span>srcdir<span class="k">)</span>/main
+</pre></div>
+</div>
+<p>From the point of the view of the Make parser, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">bin_PROGRAMS</span></code> is a just
+a macro; the Make parser tags <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">bin_PROGRAMS</span></code> as a macro. The Make parser
+doesn’t tag <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ctags</span></code> being right side of ‘<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">=</span></code>’ because it is not a new
+name: just a value assigned to bin_PROGRAMS. However, for the Automake
+parser <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ctags</span></code> is a new name; the Automake parser tags <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ctags</span></code> with
+kind <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Program</span></code>. The Automake parser can tag it with getting help from
+the Make parser.</p>
+<p>The Automake parser is an exclusive subparser. It is chosen in top
+down way; an input file name <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Makefile.am</span></code> gives enough information for
+choosing the Automake parser.</p>
+<p>To give chances to the Automake parser to capture Automake own
+definitions, The Make parser provides following interface in
+<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">parsers/make.h</span></code>:</p>
+<div class="highlight-C notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="k">struct</span> <span class="nc">sMakeSubparser</span> <span class="p">{</span>
+ <span class="n">subparser</span> <span class="n">subparser</span><span class="p">;</span>
+
+ <span class="kt">void</span> <span class="p">(</span><span class="o">*</span> <span class="n">valueNotify</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="p">(</span><span class="n">makeSubparser</span> <span class="o">*</span><span class="n">s</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="kt">char</span><span class="o">*</span> <span class="n">name</span><span class="p">);</span>
+ <span class="kt">void</span> <span class="p">(</span><span class="o">*</span> <span class="n">directiveNotify</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="p">(</span><span class="n">makeSubparser</span> <span class="o">*</span><span class="n">s</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="kt">char</span><span class="o">*</span> <span class="n">name</span><span class="p">);</span>
+ <span class="kt">void</span> <span class="p">(</span><span class="o">*</span> <span class="n">newMacroNotify</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="p">(</span><span class="n">makeSubparser</span> <span class="o">*</span><span class="n">s</span><span class="p">,</span>
+ <span class="kt">char</span><span class="o">*</span> <span class="n">name</span><span class="p">,</span>
+ <span class="kt">bool</span> <span class="n">withDefineDirective</span><span class="p">,</span>
+ <span class="kt">bool</span> <span class="n">appending</span><span class="p">);</span>
+<span class="p">};</span>
+</pre></div>
+</div>
+<p>The Automake parser defines methods for tagging Automake own definitions
+in a <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">struct</span> <span class="pre">sMakeSubparser</span></code> type variable, and runs the Make parser by
+calling <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">scheduleRunningBaseparser</span></code> function.</p>
+<p>The Make parser tags Make own definitions in an input file. In
+addition Make parser calls the methods during parsing the input file.</p>
+<div class="highlight-console notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">$ </span>ctags --fields<span class="o">=</span>+lK --extras<span class="o">=</span>+r -o - Makefile.am
+<span class="go">bin Makefile.am /^bin_PROGRAMS = ctags$/;&quot; directory language:Automake</span>
+<span class="go">bin_PROGRAMS Makefile.am /^bin_PROGRAMS = ctags$/;&quot; macro language:Make</span>
+<span class="go">ctags Makefile.am /^bin_PROGRAMS = ctags$/;&quot; program language:Automake directory:bin</span>
+<span class="go">ctags_CPPFLAGS Makefile.am /^ctags_CPPFLAGS = \\$/;&quot; macro language:Make</span>
+</pre></div>
+</div>
+<p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">bin_PROGRAMS</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ctags_CPPFLAGS</span></code> are tagged as macros of Make.
+In addition <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">bin</span></code> is tagged as directory, and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ctags</span></code> as program of Automake.</p>
+<p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">bin</span></code> is tagged in a callback function assigned to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">newMacroFound</span></code> method.
+<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ctags</span></code> is tagged in a callback function assigned to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">valuesFound</span></code> method.</p>
+<p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">--extras=+r</span></code> is used in the example. Reference (<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">r</span></code>) extra is needed to
+tag <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">bin</span></code>. <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">bin</span></code> is not defined in the line, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">bin_PROGRAMS</span> <span class="pre">=</span></code>.
+<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">bin</span></code> is referenced as a name of directory where programs are
+stored. Therefore <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">r</span></code> is needed.</p>
+<p>For tagging <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ctags</span></code>, the Automake parser must recognize
+<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">bin</span></code> in <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">bin_PROGRAMS</span></code> first. <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ctags</span></code> is tagged
+because it is specified as a value for <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">bin_PROGRAMS</span></code>.
+As the result <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">r</span></code> is also needed to tag <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ctags</span></code>.</p>
+<p>Only Automake related tags are emitted if Make parser is
+disabled.</p>
+<div class="highlight-console notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">$ </span>ctags --languages<span class="o">=</span>-Make --fields<span class="o">=</span>+lKr --extras<span class="o">=</span>+r -o - Makefile.am
+<span class="go">bin Makefile.am /^bin_PROGRAMS = ctags$/;&quot; directory language:Automake roles:program</span>
+<span class="go">ctags Makefile.am /^bin_PROGRAMS = ctags$/;&quot; program language:Automake directory:bin</span>
+</pre></div>
+</div>
+</section>
+<section id="autoconf-m4-parser-combination">
+<h4>Autoconf/M4 parser combination<a class="headerlink" href="#autoconf-m4-parser-combination" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h4>
+<p>Universal Ctags uses m4 parser as a base parser and Autoconf parse as
+a subparser for <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">configure.ac</span></code> input file.</p>
+<div class="highlight-Autoconf notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>AC_DEFUN([PRETTY_VAR_EXPAND],
+ [$(eval &quot;$as_echo_n&quot; $(eval &quot;$as_echo_n&quot; &quot;${$1}&quot;))])
+</pre></div>
+</div>
+<p>The m4 parser finds no definition here. However, Autoconf parser finds
+<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PRETTY_VAR_EXPAND</span></code> as a macro definition. Syntax like <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">(...)</span></code> is part
+of M4 language. So Autoconf parser is implemented as a subparser of
+m4 parser. The most parts of tokens in input files are handled by
+M4. Autoconf parser gives hints for parsing <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">configure.ac</span></code> and
+registers callback functions to
+Autoconf parser.</p>
+</section>
+</section>
+</section>
+</section>
+
+
+ <div class="clearer"></div>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <div class="sphinxsidebar" role="navigation" aria-label="main navigation">
+ <div class="sphinxsidebarwrapper">
+ <h3><a href="index.html">Table of Contents</a></h3>
+ <ul>
+<li><a class="reference internal" href="#">Running multiple parsers on an input file</a><ul>
+<li><a class="reference internal" href="#guest-parser-applying-a-parser-to-specified-areas-of-input-file">Guest parser: Applying a parser to specified areas of input file</a><ul>
+<li><a class="reference internal" href="#command-line-interface">Command line interface</a></li>
+<li><a class="reference internal" href="#examples-of-guest-parser">Examples of guest parser</a><ul>
+<li><a class="reference internal" href="#css-javascript-html-parser-combination">{CSS,JavaScript}/HTML parser combination</a></li>
+<li><a class="reference internal" href="#c-yacc-parser-combination">C/Yacc parser combination</a></li>
+<li><a class="reference internal" href="#pod-perl-parser-combination">Pod/Perl parser combination</a></li>
+</ul>
+</li>
+</ul>
+</li>
+<li><a class="reference internal" href="#subparser-tagging-definitions-of-higher-upper-level-language">Subparser: Tagging definitions of higher (upper) level language</a><ul>
+<li><a class="reference internal" href="#background">Background</a></li>
+<li><a class="reference internal" href="#terms">Terms</a><ul>
+<li><a class="reference internal" href="#base-parser-and-subparser">Base parser and subparser</a></li>
+<li><a class="reference internal" href="#top-down-parser-choice-and-bottom-up-parser-choice">Top down parser choice and bottom up parser choice</a></li>
+<li><a class="reference internal" href="#direction-flags">Direction flags</a></li>
+</ul>
+</li>
+<li><a class="reference internal" href="#listing-subparsers">Listing subparsers</a></li>
+<li><a class="reference internal" href="#id1">Command line interface</a></li>
+<li><a class="reference internal" href="#examples-of-subparser">Examples of subparser</a><ul>
+<li><a class="reference internal" href="#automake-make-parser-combination">Automake/Make parser combination</a></li>
+<li><a class="reference internal" href="#autoconf-m4-parser-combination">Autoconf/M4 parser combination</a></li>
+</ul>
+</li>
+</ul>
+</li>
+</ul>
+</li>
+</ul>
+
+ <h4>Previous topic</h4>
+ <p class="topless"><a href="output-json.html"
+ title="previous chapter">JSON output</a></p>
+ <h4>Next topic</h4>
+ <p class="topless"><a href="interactive-mode.html"
+ title="next chapter">Interactive mode</a></p>
+<div id="searchbox" style="display: none" role="search">
+ <h3 id="searchlabel">Quick search</h3>
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+ <form class="search" action="search.html" method="get">
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+ </div>
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+ <div class="related" role="navigation" aria-label="related navigation">
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+ <li class="right" >
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+ <li class="nav-item nav-item-0"><a href="index.html">Universal Ctags 0.3.0 documentation</a> &#187;</li>
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+ Last updated on 11 Jun 2021.
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