EC_PARSE_CHILD(3)

📦
version 0.11.7 · 6 versions
, in fedora 44

💖 EC_PARSE_CHILD — bestie edition 💖

okay so we're in the Libecoli Programmer's Manual today, section 3, and the star of the show is ec_parse_child. grab a lil snack, this one's a bop 🍓

✨ NAME ✨

ec_parse_child — parse a string vector using a grammar tree, from a parent node.

it's giving "the middle-manager of parsing" and honestly? iconic behavior 👑

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <ecoli/parse.h>

int ec_parse_child(
    const struct ec_node     *node,    /* The grammar node. */
    struct ec_pnode          *pstate,  /* The node of the parsing tree. */
    const struct ec_strvec   *strvec   /* The input string vector. */
);

three arguments, no drama, we love a clean signature 🫶

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so here's the vibe. this function is usually called from an intermediate node — think ec_node_seq(), ec_node_or(), you know the ones — and its whole job is to backfill the parsing tree. that tree gets built piece by piece while you're browsing the grammar tree, like a lil puzzle 🧩

and like, here's what actually goes down: ec_parse_child() creates a new child in this parsing tree, and then it calls the parse() method for that child node, with pstate pointing to this new child.

then the moment of truth:

  • if it does not match, the child gets removed from the state 🙈
  • if it matches, the child is kept, along with its possible descendants 💅

that's it. that's the whole function. no cap.

⭐ RETURN VALUE ⭐

okay bestie, pay attention, this part matters:

  • On success: the number of matched elements in the input string vector — and yes, that can totally be 0, zero is a valid slay — or EC_PARSE_NOMATCH (which is a positive value) if the input does not match the grammar.
  • On error: -1 is returned, and errno is set. 😭
lowkey important: EC_PARSE_NOMATCH is positive, so don't go treating it like an error code. it's just the grammar saying "nope, not today."

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

the whole friend group, fr fr — go read these next:

Copyright (C) 2010-2026 Olivier Matz, Robin Jarry.

and that's the whole page, bestie 💜 this has been EC_PARSE_CHILD(3) from libecoli, dated 2026-06-11 — thanks for coming to my ted talk, go forth and parse responsibly, mwah 💅✨🎀🌈

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