Parsing

Parsing, syntax analysis, or syntactic analysis is a process of analyzing a <a href="/facts/String_(computer_science)/4ChJu5WS">string</a> of <a href="/facts/Symbol_(formal)/NS2oUqEk">symbols</a>, either in <a href="/facts/Natural_language/B4gLS7Kd">natural language</a>, <a href="/facts/Computer_languages/n3L56qdP">computer languages</a> or <a href="/facts/Data_structure/yNsNvL1I">data structures</a>, conforming to the rules of a <a href="/facts/Formal_grammar/QLxaQNAz">formal grammar</a> by breaking it into parts. The term parsing comes from Latin pars (orationis), meaning <a href="/facts/Part_of_speech/WbQ89MHX">part (of speech)</a>.
The term has slightly different meanings in different branches of <a href="/facts/Linguistics/oQuamvf2">linguistics</a> and <a href="/facts/Computer_science/lN3pEyPz">computer science</a>. Traditional <a href="/facts/Sentence_(linguistics)/GhKKkcm2">sentence</a> parsing is often performed as a method of understanding the exact meaning of a sentence or word, sometimes with the aid of devices such as <a href="/facts/Sentence_diagram/Xy83yEFx">sentence diagrams</a>. It usually emphasizes the importance of grammatical divisions such as <a href="/facts/Subject_(grammar)/h5M1cQJ2">subject</a> and <a href="/facts/Predicate_(grammar)/v1hK1EL2">predicate</a>.
Within <a href="/facts/Computational_linguistics/XmegJ6LC">computational linguistics</a> the term is used to refer to the formal analysis by a computer of a sentence or other string of words into its constituents, resulting in a <a href="/facts/Parse_tree/FeBEtXcz">parse tree</a> showing their syntactic relation to each other, which may also contain <a href="/facts/Semantics/1L4WwLAP">semantic</a> information. Some parsing algorithms generate a parse forest or list of parse trees from a string that is <a href="/facts/Syntactic_ambiguity/xPxLnwxt">syntactically ambiguous</a>.
The term is also used in <a href="/facts/Psycholinguistics/6fGeNXHU">psycholinguistics</a> when describing language comprehension. In this context, parsing refers to the way that human beings analyze a sentence or phrase (in spoken language or text) "in terms of grammatical constituents, identifying the parts of speech, syntactic relations, etc." This term is especially common when discussing which linguistic cues help speakers interpret <a href="/facts/Garden_path_sentence/u6rdkv8X">garden-path sentences</a>.
Within computer science, the term is used in the analysis of <a href="/facts/Computer_languages/n3L56qdP">computer languages</a>, referring to the syntactic analysis of the input code into its component parts in order to facilitate the writing of <a href="/facts/Compilers/WNfCDFJe">compilers</a> and <a href="/facts/Interpreter_(computing)/JB85fbyb">interpreters</a>. The term may also be used to describe a split or separation.
In data analysis, the term is often used to refer to a process extracting desired information from data, e.g., creating a <a href="/facts/Time_series/fSXPR817">time series</a> signal from a <a href="/facts/XML/clNgUfWk">XML</a> document.

Parsing open-in-new

Parsing