Question

Given a string containing a mathematical expression, given a set of functions/commands and given a set of assigned variables, are there tools that .NET provides to quickly build a parser?

I would like to build a simple parser that analyzes an expression and breaks it into its simplest components, for example:

d*(abs(a-b)+sqrt(c))

becomes

1. f = abs(a-b) and g = sqrt(c)
2. e = f + g
3. d*e

Answer 1

Check out veparser as well. Here is a sample code that shows how you can build an expression evaluator( the code parses the expression and directly calculates the output ). This sample can be modified to store the evaluation tree instead of running it.

using System;
using VeParser;

public class MathEvaluator : CharParser
{
    protected override Parser GetRootParser()
    {
        Func<double, double, double> productFunc = (value1, value2) => value1 * value2;
        Func<double, double, double> divideFunc = (value1, value2) => value1 / value2;
        Func<double, double, double> sumFunc = (value1, value2) => value1 + value2;
        Func<double, double, double> subtractFunc = (value1, value2) => value1 - value2;
        Func<double, double> negativeFunc = value => -value;
        Func<double, double> posititveFunc = value => value;


        var dot = token('.');
        var op = token('(');
        var cp = token(')');
        var sumOp = create(sumFunc, token('+'));
        var subtractOp = create(subtractFunc, token('-'));
        var positiveOp = create(posititveFunc, token('+'));
        var negativeOp = create(negativeFunc, token('-'));
        var productOp = create(productFunc, token('*'));
        var divideOp = create(divideFunc, token('/'));

        // Numbers
        var deciamlPlaceValue = 1M;
        var decimalDot = run(() => { deciamlPlaceValue = 1; }, dot);
        var digit = consume((n, d) => n * 10 + char.GetNumericValue(d), keep(Digit));
        var decimalDigit = consume((n, d) => { deciamlPlaceValue = deciamlPlaceValue * 10; return (double)((decimal)n + ((decimal)char.GetNumericValue(d)) / deciamlPlaceValue); }, keep(Digit));
        var number = any(
            /* float */  create(0, seq(zeroOrMore(digit), decimalDot, oneOrMore(decimalDigit))),
            /* int   */  create(0, oneOrMore(digit))
        );

        var expression = createReference();
        var simpleExpression = createReference();
        // Unary
        var unaryOp = any(positiveOp, negativeOp);
        var unaryExpression = update(d => d.action(d.value),
                    createNew(seq(set("action", unaryOp), set("value", expression))));
        // Binary
        var binaryOp = any(sumOp, subtractOp, productOp, divideOp);

        var binaryExpressinoTree = update(x => x.value1, createNew(
            seq(
                set("value1", simpleExpression),
                zeroOrMore(
                    update(d => { var r = base.CreateDynamicObject(); r.value1 = d.action(d.value1, d.value2); return r; },
                        seq(
                            set("action", binaryOp),
                            set("value2", simpleExpression))))
            )));


        var privilegedExpressoin = seq(op, expression, cp);

        setReference(simpleExpression, any(privilegedExpressoin, unaryExpression, number));

        setReference(expression, any(binaryExpressinoTree, simpleExpression));

        return seq(expression, endOfFile());
    }

    public static object Eval(string expression)
    {
        MathEvaluator me = new MathEvaluator();
        var result = me.Parse(expression.ToCharArray());
        return result;
    }
}