PHPackages nathanntg/lite-lexer - PHPackages - PHPackages [Skip to content](#main-content)[PHPackages](/)[Directory](/)[Categories](/categories)[Trending](/trending)[Leaderboard](/leaderboard)[Changelog](/changelog)[Analyze](/analyze)[Collections](/collections)[Log in](/login)[Sign up](/register) 1. [Directory](/) 2. / 3. [Parsing & Serialization](/categories/parsing) 4. / 5. nathanntg/lite-lexer ActiveLibrary[Parsing & Serialization](/categories/parsing) nathanntg/lite-lexer ==================== A light-weight, relatively fast lexer for use in PHP. Example includes a simple query language. 0.1.0(8y ago)5133[2 issues](https://github.com/nathanntg/lite-lexer/issues)MITPHPPHP >=5.3.0CI failing Since Nov 9Pushed 5y ago1 watchersCompare [ Source](https://github.com/nathanntg/lite-lexer)[ Packagist](https://packagist.org/packages/nathanntg/lite-lexer)[ Docs](https://github.com/nathanntg/lite-lexer)[ RSS](/packages/nathanntg-lite-lexer/feed)WikiDiscussions main Synced 1mo ago READMEChangelog (1)Dependencies (1)Versions (4)Used By (0) lite-lexer ========== [](#lite-lexer) A light-weight PHP-based string lexer. By defining parser blocks, a simple syntax can be defined. The parser will then build a tree representing the parsed string. This can then be interpreted for other uses. I created this for a simple query language to read custom data from a model system, but it can easily be adapted to other syntaxes. It has relatively low overhead, and based on my testing performed fast (enough so for my application). Installation ------------ [](#installation) This package is available via composer and can be added to a project using the command: ``` $ composer require nathanntg/lite-lexer ``` Usage ----- [](#usage) The recommended usage is to subclass `LiteLexer\Parser` to define your own syntax blocks (see the example implementation). Then you can run your parser as follows: ``` $parser = new MyParser(); // parse string $tree = $parser->parseString($string_to_parse); // optional: remove unneeded leaves and branches $tree->prune(); // print debugging tree $tree->debug(); ``` Example Implementation ---------------------- [](#example-implementation) The example folder contains a QueryParser class that implements the parser needed to read a basic query language. Specifically, given an input string like the following: ``` customer.namelast='' AND customer.namefirst = '' OR ( customer.namelast='' AND customer.namefirst='' ) ORDER customer.namelast DESC , customer.namelast LIMIT 2 ``` It will produce the following parse tree: ``` root query conditions_main condition_set_values conditions condition condition_standard column; raw "customer.namelast"; customer.namelast operator unnamed leaf; raw "="; = value value_string; raw "''"; condition_operator unnamed leaf; raw "AND"; AND conditions condition condition_standard column; raw "customer.namefirst"; customer.namefirst operator unnamed leaf; raw "="; = value value_string; raw "''"; condition_operator unnamed leaf; raw "OR"; OR conditions condition_set unnamed leaf; raw "("; ( condition_set_values conditions condition condition_standard column; raw "customer.namelast"; customer.namelast operator unnamed leaf; raw "="; = value value_string; raw "''"; condition_operator unnamed leaf; raw "AND"; AND conditions condition condition_standard column; raw "customer.namefirst"; customer.namefirst operator unnamed leaf; raw "="; = value value_string; raw "''"; unnamed leaf; raw ")"; ) order_by_main unnamed leaf; raw "ORDER"; ORDER order_by_columns order_by_column column; raw "customer.namelast"; customer.namelast order_by_direction unnamed leaf; raw "DESC"; DESC order_by_column column; raw "customer.namelast"; customer.namelast limit_main unnamed leaf; raw "LIMIT"; LIMIT limit_count; raw "2"; 2 ``` Testing ------- [](#testing) You can run the PHPUnit tests using the following command (assuming installed via composer, and includes the developer requirements): ``` $ vendor/bin/phpunit tests ``` ### Health Score 23 — LowBetter than 27% of packages Maintenance12 Infrequent updates — may be unmaintained Popularity14 Limited adoption so far Community7 Small or concentrated contributor base Maturity50 Maturing project, gaining track record Bus Factor1 Top contributor holds 100% of commits — single point of failure How is this calculated?**Maintenance (25%)** — Last commit recency, latest release date, and issue-to-star ratio. Uses a 2-year decay window. **Popularity (30%)** — Total and monthly downloads, GitHub stars, and forks. Logarithmic scaling prevents top-heavy scores. **Community (15%)** — Contributors, dependents, forks, watchers, and maintainers. Measures real ecosystem engagement. **Maturity (30%)** — Project age, version count, PHP version support, and release stability. ### Release Activity Cadence Unknown Total 1 Last Release 3102d ago ### Community Maintainers ![](https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/814add1459d67158a366be384a67f490b20351cc3466c61ac81ad7f52ae3f443?d=identicon)[nathanntg](/maintainers/nathanntg) --- Top Contributors [![nathanntg](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/194728?v=4)](https://github.com/nathanntg "nathanntg (10 commits)") ### Code Quality TestsPHPUnit ### Embed Badge ![Health badge](/badges/nathanntg-lite-lexer/health.svg) ``` [![Health](https://phpackages.com/badges/nathanntg-lite-lexer/health.svg)](https://phpackages.com/packages/nathanntg-lite-lexer) ``` ### Alternatives [mtdowling/jmespath.php Declaratively specify how to extract elements from a JSON document 2.0k472.8M135](/packages/mtdowling-jmespathphp)[opis/closure A library that can be used to serialize closures (anonymous functions) and arbitrary data. 2.6k230.0M283](/packages/opis-closure)[masterminds/html5 An HTML5 parser and serializer. 1.8k242.8M226](/packages/masterminds-html5)[sabberworm/php-css-parser Parser for CSS Files written in PHP 1.8k191.2M63](/packages/sabberworm-php-css-parser)[michelf/php-markdown PHP Markdown 3.5k52.4M343](/packages/michelf-php-markdown)[jms/metadata Class/method/property metadata management in PHP 1.8k152.8M88](/packages/jms-metadata) PHPackages © 2026 [Directory](/)[Categories](/categories)[Trending](/trending)[Changelog](/changelog)[Analyze](/analyze)