Generate syntax tree for simple math operations

I am trying to generate a syntax tree, for a given string with simple math operators (+, -, *, /, and parenthesis). Given the string “1 + 2 * 3”:

It should return an array like this:

["+",
 [1,
  ["*",
   [2,3]
  ]
 ]
]

I made a function to transform “1 + 2 * 3″ in [1,”+”,2,”*”,3].

The problem is: I have no idea to give priority to certain operations.

My code is:

function isNumber(ch){
    switch (ch) {
        case '0':
        case '1':
        case '2':
        case '3':
        case '4':
        case '5':
        case '6':
        case '7':
        case '8':
        case '9':
        case '.':
            return true;
        break;
        default:
            return false;
            break;
    }
}

function generateSyntaxTree(text){
    if (typeof text != 'string') return [];
    var code = text.replace(new RegExp("[ trnvf]", "gm"), "");
    var codeArray = [];
    var syntaxTree = [];

    // Put it in its on scope
    (function(){
        var lastPos = 0;
        var wasNum = false;
        for (var i = 0; i < code.length; i++) {
            var cChar = code[i];
            if (isNumber(cChar)) {
                if (!wasNum) {
                    if (i != 0) {
                        codeArray.push(code.slice(lastPos, i));
                    }
                    lastPos = i;
                    wasNum = true;
                }
            } else {
                if (wasNum) {
                    var n = Number(code.slice(lastPos, i));
                    if (isNaN(n)) {
                        throw new Error("Invalid Number");
                        return [];
                    } else {
                        codeArray.push(n);
                    }
                    wasNum = false;
                    lastPos = i;
                }
            }
        }
        if (wasNum) {
            var n = Number(code.slice(lastPos, code.length));
            if (isNaN(n)) {
                throw new Error("Invalid Number");
                return [];
            } else {
                codeArray.push(n);
            }
        }
    })();

    // At this moment, codeArray = [1,"+",2,"*",3]

    return syntaxTree;
}

alert('Returned: ' + generateSyntaxTree("1 + 2 * 3"));

Answer

The way to do a top down parser, if not using FLEX/BISON or any other similar package is to first write a tokenizer that can parse input and serve tokens.

Basically you need a tokenizer that provides getNextToken, peekNextToken and skipNextToken.

Then you work your way down using this structure.

// parser.js
var input, currToken, pos;

var TOK_OPERATOR = 1;
var TOK_NUMBER = 2;
var TOK_EOF = 3;

function nextToken() {
  var c, tok = {};

  while(pos < input.length) {
    c = input.charAt(pos++);
    switch(c) {
      case '+':
      case '-':
      case '*':
      case '/':
      case '(':
      case ')':
    tok.op = c;
    tok.type = TOK_OPERATOR;
    return tok;

      case '0':
      case '1':
      case '2':
      case '3':
      case '4':
      case '5':
      case '6':
      case '7':
      case '8':
      case '9':
    tok.value = c;
    tok.type = TOK_NUMBER;
    return tok;

      default:
    throw "Unexpected character: " + c;
    }
  }
  tok.type = TOK_EOF;
  return tok;
}

function getNextToken() {
  var ret;

  if(currToken)
    ret = currToken;
  else
    ret = nextToken();

  currToken = undefined;

  return ret;
}

function peekNextToken() {
  if(!currToken)
    currToken = nextToken();

  return currToken;
}

function skipNextToken() {
  if(!currToken)
    currToken = nextToken();
  currToken = undefined;
}

function parseString(str) {
  input = str;
  pos = 0;

  return expression();
}


function expression() {
  return additiveExpression();
}

function additiveExpression() {
  var left = multiplicativeExpression();
    var tok = peekNextToken();
    while(tok.type == TOK_OPERATOR && (tok.op == '+' || tok.op == '-') ) {
        skipNextToken();
        var node = {};
        node.op = tok.op;
        node.left = left;
        node.right = multiplicativeExpression();
        left = node;
    tok = peekNextToken();
    }
    return left;
}

function multiplicativeExpression() {
  var left = primaryExpression();
    var tok = peekNextToken();
    while(tok.type == TOK_OPERATOR &&  (tok.op == '*' || tok.op == '/') ) {
        skipNextToken();
        var node = {};
        node.op = tok.op;
        node.left = left;
        node.right = primaryExpression();
        left = node;
    tok = peekNextToken();
    }
    return left;
}

function primaryExpression() {
  var tok = peekNextToken();
  if(tok.type == TOK_NUMBER) {
    skipNextToken();
    node = {};
    node.value = tok.value;
    return node;
  }
  else
  if(tok.type == TOK_OPERATOR && tok.op == '(') {
    skipNextToken();
    var node = expression(); // The beauty of recursion
    tok = getNextToken();
    if(tok.type != TOK_OPERATOR || tok.op != ')')
      throw "Error ) expected";
    return node    
  }
  else
    throw "Error " + tok + " not exptected";
}

As you can see, you start by requesting the least privileged operation, which requires the next higher privileged operation as its left and right term and so on. Unary operators has a little different structure. The neat thing is the recursion at the end when a parenthesis is encountered.

Here is a demo page that uses the parser and renders the parse-tree (had the code for it laying around…)

<html>
<head>
<title>tree</title>
<script src="parser.js"></script>
</head>

<body onload="testParser()">

<script>

function createTreeNode(x, y, val, color) {
  var node = document.createElement("div");
  node.style.position = "absolute";
  node.style.left = "" + x;
  node.style.top = "" + y;

  node.style.border= "solid";
  node.style.borderWidth= 1;
  node.style.backgroundColor= color;

  node.appendChild(document.createTextNode(val));

  return node;
};

var yStep = 24;
var width = 800;
var height = 600;

var RED = "#ffc0c0";
var BLUE = "#c0c0ff";

container = document.createElement("div");
container.style.width = width;
container.style.height = height;
container.style.border = "solid";

document.body.appendChild(container);

var svgNS = "http://www.w3.org/2000/svg";

function renderLink(x1, y1, x2, y2)
{
  var left = Math.min(x1,x2);
  var top = Math.min(y1,y2);

  var width = 1+Math.abs(x2-x1);
  var height = 1+Math.abs(y2-y1);

  var svg = document.createElementNS(svgNS, "svg");
  svg.setAttribute("x", left);
  svg.setAttribute("y",  top);
  svg.setAttribute("width", width );
  svg.setAttribute("height", height );

  var line = document.createElementNS(svgNS,"line");

  line.setAttribute("x1", (x1 - left) );
  line.setAttribute("x2", (x2 - left) );
  line.setAttribute("y1", (y1 - top) );
  line.setAttribute("y2", (y2 - top) );
  line.setAttribute("stroke-width",  "1");
  line.setAttribute("stroke",  "black");
  svg.appendChild(line);

  var div = document.createElement("div");
  div.style.position = "absolute";
  div.style.left = left;
  div.style.top = top;
  div.style.width = width;
  div.style.height = height;

  div.appendChild(svg);
  container.appendChild(div);  
}

function getHeight(dom) {
    var h = dom.offsetHeight;
    return h;
}

function getWidth(dom) {
    var w = dom.offsetWidth;
    return w;
}

function renderTree(x, y, node, width, height)
{
    if(height < 1.5*yStep)
    height = 1.5*yStep;

    var val;
    if(node.op) {
      val = node.op;
      color = BLUE;
    }
    else
      if(node.value) {
    val = node.value;
    color = RED;
      }
      else
    val = "?";

    var dom = createTreeNode(x, y, val, color);
    container.appendChild(dom);

    var w = getWidth(dom);
    var h = getHeight(dom);

    var nx, ny;

    var child;

    if(node.left) {
    nx = x - width/2;
    ny = y+height;
    var child = renderTree(nx, ny, node.left, width/2, height/2);
        renderLink(x+w/2, y+h, nx+getWidth(child)/2, ny);
    }

    if(node.right) {
    nx = x + width/2;
    ny = y+height;

    child = renderTree(nx, ny, node.right, width/2, height/2);
        renderLink(x+w/2, y+h, nx+getWidth(child)/2, ny);
    }
    return dom;
}

var root;

function testParser()
{
  var str = "1+2*5-5*(9+2)";

  var exp = document.createElement("div");
  exp.appendChild(document.createTextNode(str));
  container.appendChild(exp);
  var tree = parseString(str);
  renderTree(width/2, 20, tree, width/2, 4*yStep);
}

</script>

</body>
</html>