Is it possible to create a very permissive grammar using Menhir? - parsing

Question

I'm trying to parse some bits and pieces of Verilog - I'm primarily interested in extracting module definitions and instantiations.
In verilog a module is defined like:
module foo ( ... ) endmodule;
And a module is instantiated in one of two different possible ways:
foo fooinst ( ... );
foo #( ...list of params... ) fooinst ( .... );
At this point I'm only interested in finding the name of the defined or instantiated module; 'foo' in both cases above.
Given this menhir grammar (verParser.mly):
%{
type expr = Module of expr
| ModInst of expr
| Ident of string
| Int of int
| Lparen
| Rparen
| Junk
| ExprList of expr list
%}
%token <string> INT
%token <string> IDENT
%token LPAREN RPAREN MODULE TICK OTHER HASH EOF
%start expr2
%type <expr> mod_expr
%type <expr> expr1
%type <expr list> expr2
%%
mod_expr:
| MODULE IDENT LPAREN { Module ( Ident $2) }
| IDENT IDENT LPAREN { ModInst ( Ident $1) }
| IDENT HASH LPAREN { ModInst ( Ident $1) };
junk:
| LPAREN { }
| RPAREN { }
| HASH { }
| INT { };
expr1:
| junk* mod_expr junk* { $2 } ;
expr2:
| expr1* EOF { $1 };
When I try this out in the menhir interpretter it works fine extracting the module instantion:
MODULE IDENT LPAREN
ACCEPT
[expr2:
[list(expr1):
[expr1:
[list(junk):]
[mod_expr: MODULE IDENT LPAREN]
[list(junk):]
]
[list(expr1):]
]
EOF
]
It works fine for the single module instantiation:
IDENT IDENT LPAREN
ACCEPT
[expr2:
[list(expr1):
[expr1:
[list(junk):]
[mod_expr: IDENT IDENT LPAREN]
[list(junk):]
]
[list(expr1):]
]
EOF
]
But of course, if there is an IDENT that appears prior to any of these it will REJECT:
IDENT MODULE IDENT LPAREN IDENT IDENT LPAREN
REJECT
... and of course there will be identifiers in an actual verilog file prior to these defs.
I'm trying not to have to fully specify a Verilog grammar, instead I want to build the grammar up slowly and incrementally to eventually parse more and more of the language.
If I add IDENT to the junk rule, that fixes the problem above, but then the module instantiation rule doesn't work because now the junk rule is capturing the IDENT.
Is it possible to create a very permissive rule that will bypass stuff I don't want to match, or is it generally required that you must create a complete grammar to actually do something like this?
Is it possible to create a rule that would let me match:
MODULE IDENT LPAREN stuff* RPAREN ENDMODULE
where "stuff*" initially matches everything but RPAREN?
Something like :
stuff:
| !RPAREN { } ;
I've used PEG parsers in the past which would allow constructs like that.

Answer 1

I've decided that PEG is a better fit for a permissive, non-exhaustive grammar. Took a look at peg/leg and was able to very quickly put together a leg grammar that does what I need to do:
start = ( comment | mod_match | char)
line = < (( '\n' '\r'* ) | ( '\r' '\n'* )) > { lines++; chars += yyleng; }
module_decl = module modnm:ident lparen ( !rparen . )* rparen { chars += yyleng; printf("Module decl: <%s>\n",yytext);}
module_inst = modinstname:ident ident lparen { chars += yyleng; printf("Module Inst: <%s>\n",yytext);}
|modinstname:ident hash lparen { chars += yyleng; printf("Module Inst: <%s>\n",yytext);}
mod_match = ( module_decl | module_inst )
module = 'module' ws { modules++; chars +=yyleng; printf("Module: <%s>\n", yytext); }
endmodule = 'endmodule' ws { endmodules++; chars +=yyleng; printf("EndModule: <%s>\n", yytext); }
kwd = (module|endmodule)
ident = !kwd<[a-zA-z][a-zA-Z0-9_]+>- { words++; chars += yyleng; printf("Ident: <%s>\n", yytext); }
char = . { chars++; }
lparen = '(' -
rparen = ')' -
hash = '#'
- = ( space | comment )*
ws = space+
space = ' ' | '\t' | EOL
comment = '//' ( !EOL .)* EOL
| '/*' ( !'*/' .)* '*/'
EOF = !.
EOL = '\r\n' | '\n' | '\r'
Aurochs is possibly also an option, but I have concerns about speed and memory usage of an Aurochs generated parser. peg/leg produce a parser in C which should be quite speedy.