grammar.md

RON grammar

This file describes the structure of a RON file in EBNF notation. If extensions are enabled, some rules will be replaced. For that, see the extensions document which describes all extensions and what they override.

RON file

RON = [extensions], ws, value, ws;

Whitespace and comments

ws = { ws_single | comment };
ws_single = "\n" | "\t" | "\r" | " " | U+000B | U+000C | U+0085 | U+200E | U+200F | U+2028 | U+2029;
comment = ["//", { no_newline }, "\n"] | ["/*", nested_block_comment, "*/"];
nested_block_comment = { ? any characters except "/*" or "*/" ? }, [ "/*", nested_block_comment, "*/", nested_block_comment ];

Commas

comma = ws, ",", ws;

Extensions

extensions = { "#", ws, "!", ws, "[", ws, extensions_inner, ws, "]", ws };
extensions_inner = "enable", ws, "(", extension_name, { comma, extension_name }, [comma], ws, ")";

For the extension names see the extensions.md document.

Value

value = integer | byte | float | string | byte_string | char | bool | option | list | map | tuple | struct | enum_variant;

Numbers

digit = "0" | "1" | "2" | "3" | "4" | "5" | "6" | "7" | "8" | "9";
digit_binary = "0" | "1";
digit_octal = "0" | "1" | "2" | "3" | "4" | "5" | "6" | "7";
digit_hexadecimal = digit | "A" | "a" | "B" | "b" | "C" | "c" | "D" | "d" | "E" | "e" | "F" | "f";

integer = ["+" | "-"], unsigned, [integer_suffix];
integer_suffix = ("i", "u"), ("8", "16", "32", "64", "128");

unsigned = unsigned_binary | unsigned_octal | unsigned_hexadecimal | unsigned_decimal;
unsigned_binary = "0b", digit_binary, { digit_binary | "_" };
unsigned_octal = "0o", digit_octal, { digit_octal | "_" };
unsigned_hexadecimal = "0x", digit_hexadecimal, { digit_hexadecimal | "_" };
unsigned_decimal = digit, { digit | "_" };

byte = "b", "'", byte_content, "'";
byte_content = ascii | ("\\", (escape_ascii | escape_byte));

float = ["+" | "-"], ("inf" | "NaN" | float_num), [float_suffix];
float_num = (float_int | float_std | float_frac), [float_exp];
float_int = digit, { digit | "_" };
float_std = digit, { digit | "_" }, ".", [digit, { digit | "_" }];
float_frac = ".", digit, { digit | "_" };
float_exp = ("e" | "E"), ["+" | "-"], { digit | "_" }, digit, { digit | "_" };
float_suffix = "f", ("32", "64");

Note: ascii refers to any ASCII character, i.e. any byte in range 0x00 ..= 0x7F.

String

string = string_std | string_raw;
string_std = "\"", { no_double_quotation_marks | string_escape }, "\"";
string_escape = "\\", (escape_ascii | escape_byte | escape_unicode);
string_raw = "r", string_raw_content;
string_raw_content = ("#", string_raw_content, "#") | "\"", { unicode_non_greedy }, "\"";

escape_ascii = "'" | "\"" | "\\" | "n" | "r" | "t" | "0";
escape_byte = "x", digit_hexadecimal, digit_hexadecimal;
escape_unicode = "u", digit_hexadecimal, [digit_hexadecimal, [digit_hexadecimal, [digit_hexadecimal, [digit_hexadecimal, [digit_hexadecimal]]]]];

Note: Raw strings start with an r, followed by n #s and a quotation mark ". They may contain any characters or escapes (except the end sequence). A raw string ends with a quotation mark ("), followed by n #s. n may be any number, including zero. Example:

r##"This is a "raw string". It can contain quotations or
backslashes (\)!"##

Raw strings cannot be written in EBNF, as they are context-sensitive. Also see the Rust document about context-sensitivity of raw strings.

Byte String

byte_string = byte_string_std | byte_string_raw;
byte_string_std = "b\"", { no_double_quotation_marks | string_escape }, "\"";
byte_string_raw = "br", string_raw_content;

Note: Byte strings are similar to normal strings but are not required to contain only valid UTF-8 text. RON's byte strings follow the updated Rust byte string literal rules as proposed in [RFC #3349], i.e. byte strings allow the exact same characters and escape codes as normal strings.

RFC #3349

Note: Raw byte strings start with an br prefix and follow the same rules as raw strings, which are outlined above.

Char

char = "'", (no_apostrophe | "\\\\" | "\\'"), "'";

Boolean

bool = "true" | "false";

Optional

option = "None" | option_some;
option_some = "Some", ws, "(", ws, value, ws, ")";

List

list = "[", [value, { comma, value }, [comma]], "]";

Map

map = "{", [map_entry, { comma, map_entry }, [comma]], "}";
map_entry = value, ws, ":", ws, value;

Tuple

tuple = "(", [value, { comma, value }, [comma]], ")";

Struct

struct = unit_struct | tuple_struct | named_struct;
unit_struct = ident | "()";
tuple_struct = [ident], ws, tuple;
named_struct = [ident], ws, "(", ws, [named_field, { comma, named_field }, [comma]], ")";
named_field = ident, ws, ":", ws, value;

Enum

enum_variant = enum_variant_unit | enum_variant_tuple | enum_variant_named;
enum_variant_unit = ident;
enum_variant_tuple = ident, ws, tuple;
enum_variant_named = ident, ws, "(", [named_field, { comma, named_field }, [comma]], ")";

Identifier

ident = ident_std | ident_raw;
ident_std = ident_std_first, { ident_std_rest };
ident_std_first = XID_Start | "_";
ident_std_rest = XID_Continue;
ident_raw = "r", "#", ident_raw_rest, { ident_raw_rest };
ident_raw_rest = ident_std_rest | "." | "+" | "-";

Note: XID_Start and XID_Continue refer to Unicode character sets.