Mini-language for creating random text generators, inspired by the Dada Engine.

Introduction

This repo contains a Jison-based parser for the Baba language, and a compiler for outputting JS modules. The compiler outputs JS modules that may be imported and used in the browser or Node.js.

Usage

Install baba with npm:

npm install -g baba-core

Pass your grammar file to baba to receive your text generator as a JS module:

echo "@export('test', [foo, bar, baz])" > my-grammar.baba

baba my-grammar.baba > my-grammar.js

Run baba --help for more information about its arguments.

You may now import my-grammar.js and use it in your project. The generated file doesn't have any dependencies and works standalone:

import myGrammar from './my-grammar';

const generator = myGrammar();

console.log(generator.test());
// Outputs "foo", "bar" or "baz"

You may also generate test output from all exported identifiers:

baba my-grammar.baba --test-output

# Example output:
# git-verb
#   → stash
#   → reset
#   → index
#   → annotate

Resources

• Vim syntax
• AUR package

Examples

• Git man page generator

User guide

Creating your first grammar

The Baba language

Comments

Baba supports one-line comments, prefixed with #. Comments may appear anywhere. The parser will ignore anything from the comment prefix to the next token.

Example

# This is a comment

Whitespace

Whitespace characters (tabs, spaces, newlines) are ignored, except inside strings.

Whitespace surrounding unquoted list elements is removed, but whitespace inside unquoted list elements (i.e. between words) is preserved.

Identifiers

An identifier is any sequence of letters, digits, underscores, hyphens and periods, and starts with an underscore or a letter. Periods have a special meaning in identifiers, and are used to refer to scoped blocks.

Variable identifiers follow the same rules as other identifiers, and are prefixed with $.

Example

this-is-an-identifier
scope.subscope.identifier
_43baz
$my-variable

Syntax

var-identifier = "$", identifier ;
identifier     = string, { string | number | special } ;
string         = ? [a-zA-Z]+ ? | "_" ;
number         = ? [0-9]+ ? ;
special        = "-" | "." ;

Blocks

A Baba grammar is composed of blocks. A block is a structure identified by an identifier which returns text. You may refer to a block by its identifier anywhere in your grammar.

The following elements are valid block structures:

• Scope
• List
• Tag
• String

Syntax

block = identifier, ( scope | list | tag | string ) ;

Scopes

Scoping is useful to structure a grammar in a hierarchy. Baba grammars always begin in an unnamed root scope. Scopes cannot be exported.

Scope blocks may be nested, and each scope may contain any number of meta statements, blocks, mappings and functions.

Nested scope blocks must be referred to with the full scope path, with levels separated by .:

a { b { c [ ... ] } }
# The innermost scope `c` must be referred to with the identifier a.b.c

Syntax

baba-grammar  = scope-element, ? EOF ? ;

scope         = "{", { scope-element }, "}" ;
scope-element = meta-statement | block | mapping | function;

Lists

Lists are collections of one or more strings. When evaluated, a random list element is returned. Lists may be exported.

Strings may be either quoted or unquoted. List elements are separated by ,. Whitespace surrounding the list delimiters and list separators is removed.

Example

[ separated, list, element ] # -> ['separated', 'list', 'element']
[ "quoted", 'quoted', unquoted ] # -> ['quoted', 'quoted', 'unquoted']
[ symbols like \, must be escaped in unquoted elements ] # -> ['symbols like , must be...']

Syntax

list         = "[", { list-element, [ "," ] }, "]" ;
list-element = quoted-string | literal ;

Tags

Tags are collections of one or more tag elements and expressions. When evaluated, a tag returns a concatenated string of its contents. Tags may be exported.

Consecutive tag elements without a separator will be concatenated.

Tag elements may act as a list by separating each element with |. This will cause a random element to be returned. The | operator has presedence over concatenation.

Tags may contain tag expressions.

Tags may be nested. This is useful for grouping tag elements.

A tag may have a quantifier. ? will insert the tag 0 or 1 times ("optional"). * will insert the tag 0 or more times. + will insert the tag 1 or more times.

Examples

<a b c d|e|f g h i> # -> (a + b + c) + (d OR e OR f) + (g + h + i)
<a' 'b c>           # -> a + ' ' + b + c
<a?><b?>            # -> (a OR '') + (b OR '')
<a' '?>             # -> (a + ' ') OR ''
<<a b|c>|d e>       # -> (a + (b OR c)) OR (d + e)

Syntax

tag                = "<", tag-element-concat, [ tag-quantifier ], ">" ;
tag-quantifier     = "?" | "+" | "*" ;
tag-element-concat = ( tag-element-concat, tag-element-choice )
                   | tag-element-choice ;
tag-element-choice = ( tag-element-choice, "|", tag-element )
                   | tag-element ;
tag-element        = transform-expr | tag ;

Tag expressions

Tag expressions provide advanced functionality like variable assignment, transforms and function calls.

Variables

Variables may be assigned values inside tags with a variable assign expression. Currently only identifiers can be assigned to variables.

Regular variable assignment uses the = operator, and will always assign the value.

Optional variable assignment uses the ?= operator, and will assign the value only if the variable hasn't been assigned a value yet.

Transforms

Identifiers in tags may be transformed by external functions with a transform expression. When a transform is applied, the transform function is called with the evaluated identifier value (a string) as its only argument. The transform function must return a string.

Functions

Tags may also include function expressions. Function expressions call external functions which must return a function which is evaluated at runtime. The returned function must return a string.

Examples

<a:b:c>       # -> c(b(a))
<a:b(c)>      # -> b(c)(a)
<a:b(c):d(e)> # -> d(e)(b(c)(a))
<$a=b><$a>    # -> Assign b to $a, then output $a + b (= b + b)
<a()>         # -> Return the output from external function a()
<$a=b:c()>    # -> Assign the raw value of b to $a, then transform b as c()(b)

Syntax

transform-expr   = transform-expr, ":", function-expr
                 | function-expr ;
function-expr    = ( var-assign-expr, argument-list )
                 | var-assign-expr ;
var-assign-expr  = ( var-assign-expr, ( "?=" | "=" ), var-assign-value )
                 | var-assign-value ;
var-assign-value = identifier
                 | quoted-string ;

argument-list         = "(", [ argument-list-body ], ")" ;
argument-list-body    = argument-list-element, [ { ",", argument-list-element } ] ;
argument-list-element = identifier | quoted-string | tag | list ;

Strings

Baba supports literal strings (enclosed by single quotes), and interpolated strings (enclosed by double quotes). Strings may be exported.

Literal strings will be returned verbatim.

Interpolated strings may contain tags. They may also be weighted by appending + and a number indicating its weight. This effectively duplicates the string in its containing list, making it more likely to be returned.

Strings may span multiple lines, and may contain any character (some characters may need to be escaped depending on the string type).

Baba supports unquoted literal strings in lists. Unquoted strings provide superior readability for lists containing short, plain text elements. They may contain any character, but the characters in the list below must be escaped. Because of this restriction unquoted strings are most useful for simple word lists.

Special characters

The characters listed below must be escaped with \, e.g. a double quote in a double quoted string must be escaped as \".

String type	Special characters
Literal string	\ '
Interpolated string	\ "
Unquoted string	\ ' " , [ <

Examples

'A "literal string"'
"An \"interpolated string\" which may contain <tag>s"

Syntax

string                = literal-string | interp-string ;
literal-string        = "'", { ? string literal ? }, "'" ;
interp-string         = '"', { interp-string-element }, '"', [ interp-string-weight ] ;
interp-string-weight  = "+", ? number ? ;
interp-string-element = ? string literal ? | tag ;

Functions

Functions are inline JS functions that may be used in tag expressions. Functions may receive any type and number of arguments, including tags and identifiers.

Functions must be valid JS. Behind the scenes functions are parsed by Babylon and the resulting AST is inserted into the grammar AST as arrow function expressions.

Because of identifier mangling applied internally by Baba, you cannot reference other Baba functions inside a function body.

Examples

uppercase(str) {
    return str.toUpperCase();
}
demo-function(arg) {
    return element => element + '-' + arg;
}
@export('demo', <'a':demo-function(<'b'|'c'>):uppercase>)
# -> demo = "A-B" OR "A-C"

Syntax

function = identifier, argument-list, "{", ? function body ?, "}";

Mappings

Mappings are used to transform a string into another string. Mappings support regular expression or literal string replacement. They are applied on the resulting string of a tag expression.

Mappings may be bidirectional. One-directional mappings are separated with ->, bidirectional mappings are separated with <->.

Examples

pluralize {
    /(.*)/i -> '$1s'
}
# Note: there's a better version available in baba-grammar-common
# <'word':pluralize> => "words"

size-swap {
    'large' <-> 'small'
}
# <'large':size-swap> => "small"
# <'small':size-swap> => "large"
# <'medium':size-swap> => "medium"

color-transform {
    'blue'   -> 'red'
    'yellow' -> 'purple'
}
# <'blue':color-transform> => "red"
# <'yellow':color-transform> => "purple"
# <'brown':color-transform> => "brown"

Syntax

mapping           = mapping-from, mapping-direction, mapping-to;
mapping-from      = literal-string | ? regular expression ? ;
mappnig-to        = literal-string;
mapping-direction = "->" | "<->" ;

Meta statements

Meta statements provide information about the grammar, e.g. which data should be exported.

Examples

# Import verb transforms and make them available in the `verb` scope
@import('baba-grammar-common/transforms/verb', verb)

# Export an identifier - makes `myList` callable in the exported grammar object
@export('myList', my-list)

# Export an anonymous list that returns a random literal string
@export('myList', [ foo, bar, baz ])

Syntax

meta-statement = "@", identifier, argument-list ;

export(key: string, value: ( identifier | list | tag | string ))

Adds a key/value pair to the exported module object.

import(file: string, scope: identifier)

Imports a Baba file into a scope.

Compilation process

TODO