This is a fork of the (incredibly awesome) Bible Passage Reference Parser project by openbibleinfo that adds the functionality for parsing "headless" verse references. An example would be:
One vital item of recovery to which we are committed is the experience of Christ as life. In the writings of John there are many striking statements that reveal the Lord Himself as life and His intention that His believers know Him as life: “I am the way and the reality and the life” (John 14:6), “I am the resurrection and the life” (11:25), “I have come that they may have life” (10:10), and “He who has the Son has the life” (1 John 5:12), to cite just a few. The “life” spoken of by both John and the Lord Jesus is the very uncreated, divine life of God (Eph. 4:18), the eternal life of the Triune God (John 3:15-16), that is embodied in Christ and was lived out through Him while He was on the earth. It is life of another kind, of a source other than our mere human life. It is the life that is imparted into all believers at their regeneration, that is, when they are born again (v. 6). It is the life meant to be experienced and enjoyed by God’s people for their full salvation (Rom. 5:10). It is only by this life and the experience of the unsearchable riches of Christ that the church can manifest and express Christ as a living reality (Eph. 3:8, 10). In the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, this life is the basis for all genuine Christian experience. Throughout their writings the eternal, uncreated life of God is made known, made practical, and made experiential. There is no greater need among God’s people, and no matter more crucial, than the experience of Christ as life. (taken from http://an-open-letter.org/)
The bolded references, John 11:25, John 10:10, and John 3:6, are examples of "headless" verse references, references that do not include the book name or sometimes the chapter number. (I don't know if there's an official term for this). This case is not handled by the official Bible Passage Reference Parser, so that's why this fork exists.
All the credit for the code belongs to openbibleinfo, I've simply packaged the functionality into the original library, since it doesn't seem like this feature will make it into the main codebase (see discussion here)
This is my first stab at working with CoffeeScript, so if there are obvious errors/inefficiencies (there probably are) please let me know or submit a pull request.
(in your javascript console)
js> load("path/to/en_bcv_parser.js")
js> bcv = new bcv_parser()
js> s = "string you want to parse"
js> bcv.headless(s)
- add test cases for parsing headless references
- add flag for parsing headless reference by default
Below is the original documentation reproduced in its entirety:
Try a demo of the Bible passage reference parser.
This project is a Coffeescript implementation of a Bible-passage reference parser (e.g., seeing John 3:16 and both understanding that it's a Bible reference and converting it into a form that computers can process). It parses Bible Books, Chapters, and Verses—thus the file names involving "BCV Parser."
Its primary use is to interpret query strings for use in a Bible application. It can extract BCVs from text but may be too aggressive for some uses. (See "Caveats" below.)
It should be fairly speedy, taking under a millisecond to parse short strings of around 100 bytes each.
The code occupies about 133KB minified and 23KB gzipped.
This project also provides extensively commented code and 460,000 real-world strings that you can use as a starting point to build your own BCV parser.
For English, include js/en_bcv_parser.min.js in your project. For other languages, include the relevant js/*_bcv_parser.js.
These usage examples are in Javascript. You can also use Coffeescript, of course.
<script src="/path/js/en_bcv_parser.min.js"></script>
<script>
var bcv = new bcv_parser;
</script>var bcv_parser = require("/path/js/en_bcv_parser.min.js").bcv_parser;
var bcv = new bcv_parser;Assuming you have an object named bcv:
This function does the parsing. It returns the bcv object and is suitable for chaining.
bcv.parse("John 3:16"); // Returns the `bcv` object.This function returns a single OSIS for the entire input, ignoring translations.
bcv.parse("John 3:16 NIV").osis(); // "John.3.16"
bcv.parse("John 3:16-17").osis(); // "John.3.16-John.3.17"
bcv.parse("John 3:16,18").osis(); // "John.3.16,John.3.18"
bcv.parse("John 3:16,18. ### Matthew 1 (NIV, ESV)").osis(); // "John.3.16,John.3.18,Matt.1"This function returns an array. Each element in the array is an [OSIS, Translation] pair (both are strings).
bcv.parse("John 3:16 NIV").osis_and_translations(); // [["John.3.16", "NIV"]]
bcv.parse("John 3:16-17").osis_and_translations(); // [["John.3.16-John.3.17", ""]]
bcv.parse("John 3:16,18").osis_and_translations(); // [["John.3.16,John.3.18", ""]]
bcv.parse("John 3:16,18. ### Matthew 1 (NIV, ESV)").osis_and_translations(); // [["John.3.16,John.3.18", ""], ["Matt.1", "NIV,ESV"]]This function returns an array. Each element in the array is an object with osis (a string), translations (an array of translation identifiers—an empty string unless a translation is specified), and indices (the start and end position in the string). The indices key is designed to be consistent with Twitter's implementation (the first character in a string has indices [0, 1]).
bcv.parse("John 3:16 NIV").osis_and_indices(); // [{"osis": "John.3.16", "translations": ["NIV"], "indices": [0, 13]}]
bcv.parse("John 3:16-17").osis_and_indices(); // [{"osis": "John.3.16-John.3.17", "translations": [""], "indices": [0, 12]}]
bcv.parse("John 3:16,18").osis_and_indices(); // [{"osis": "John.3.16,John.3.18", "translations": [""], "indices": [0, 12]}]
bcv.parse("John 3:16,18. ### Matthew 1 (NIV, ESV)").osis_and_indices(); // [{"osis": "John.3.16,John.3.18", "translations": [""], "indices":[0, 12]}, {"osis": "Matt.1", "translations": ["NIV","ESV"], "indices": [18, 38]}]If you want to know a lot about how the BCV parser handled the input string, use this function. It can include messages if it adjusted the input or had trouble parsing it (e.g., if given an invalid reference).
This function returns an array with a fairly complicated structure. The entities key can contain nested entities if you're parsing a sequence of references.
bcv.set_options({"invalid_passage_strategy": "include", "invalid_sequence_strategy": "include"});
bcv.parse("John 3, 99").parsed_entities();
/*
[{ "osis": "John.3",
"indices": [0, 10],
"translations": [""],
"entity_id": 0,
"entities": [
{ "osis": "John.3",
"type": "bc",
"indices": [0, 6],
"translations": [""],
"start": { "b": "John", "c": 3, "v": 1 },
"end": { "b": "John", "c": 3, "v": 36 },
"enclosed_indices": [-1, -1],
"entity_id": 0,
"entities": [{
"start": { "b": "John", "c": 3, "v": 1 },
"end": { "b": "John", "c": 3, "v": 36 },
"valid": { "valid": true, "messages": {} },
"type": "bc",
"absolute_indices": [0, 6],
"enclosed_absolute_indices": [-1, -1]
}]
},
{ "osis": "",
"type": "integer",
"indices": [8, 10],
"translations": [""],
"start": { "b": "John", "c": 99 },
"end": { "b": "John", "c": 99 },
"enclosed_indices": [-1, -1],
"entity_id": 0,
"entities": [{
"start": { "b": "John", "c": 99 },
"end": { "b": "John", "c": 99 },
"valid": { "valid": false, "messages": { "start_chapter_not_exist": 21 } },
"type": "integer",
"absolute_indices": [8, 10],
"enclosed_absolute_indices": [-1, -1]
}]
}
]
}]
*/You may also see an alternates object if you provide an ambiguous book abbreviation (Ph 2 could mean "Phil.2" or "Phlm.1.2").
This function takes a single Boolean value (true or false). If true, it tries to find the following books in the Apocrypha (or Deuterocanonicals): Tob, Jdt, GkEsth, Wis, Sir, Bar, PrAzar, Sus, Bel, SgThree, EpJer, 1Macc, 2Macc, 3Macc, 4Macc, 1Esd, 2Esd, PrMan, Ps151. Your canon may vary in the number of books, their order, or the number of verses in each chapter. If you set the value to false (the default behavior), it ignores books in the Apocrypha.
bcv.parse("Tobit 1").osis(); // ""
bcv.include_apocrypha(true);
bcv.parse("Tobit 1").osis(); // "Tob.1"You shouldn't call include_apocrypha() between calling parse() and one of the output functions—the output reflects the value of include_apocrypha() that was active during the call to parse(). You probably also don't want to call it every time you call parse()—it will slow down execution.
This function takes an object that sets parsing and output options. See "Options" below for available keys and values. This function doesn't enforce valid values, but using values other than the ones described in "Options" will lead to unexpected behavior.
bcv.set_options({"osis_compaction_strategy": "bcv"});
bcv.parse("Genesis 1").osis(); // "Gen.1.1-Gen.1.31"consecutive_combination_strategy: "combine"combine: "Matt 5, 6, 7" → "Matt.5-Matt.7".separate: "Matt 5, 6, 7" → "Matt.5,Matt.6,Matt.7".
osis_compaction_strategy: "b"b: OSIS refs get reduced to the shortest possible. "Gen.1.1-Gen.50.26" and "Gen.1-Gen.50" → "Gen", while "Gen.1.1-Gen.2.25" → "Gen.1-Gen.2".bc: OSIS refs get reduced to complete chapters if possible, but not whole books. "Gen.1.1-Gen.50.26" → "Gen.1-Gen.50".bcv: OSIS refs always include the full book, chapter, and verse. "Gen.1" → "Gen.1.1-Gen.1.31".
book_sequence_strategy: "ignore"ignore: ignore any books on their own in sequences ("Gen Is 1" → "Isa.1").include: any books that appear on their own get parsed according tobook_alone_strategy("Gen Is 1" means "Gen.1-Gen.50,Isa.1" ifbook_alone_strategyisfullorignore, or "Gen.1,Isa.1" if it'sfirst_chapter).
invalid_sequence_strategy: "ignore"ignore: "Matt 99, Gen 1" sequence index starts at the validGen 1.include: "Matt 99, Gen 1" sequence index starts at the invalidMatt 99.
sequence_combination_strategy: "combine"combine: sequential references in the text are combined into a single OSIS list: "Gen 1, 3" → "Gen.1,Gen.3".separate: sequential references in the text are separated into their component parts: "Gen 1, 3" → "Gen.1" and "Gen.3".
invalid_passage_strategy: "ignore"ignore: Don't include invalid passages in@parsed_entities().include: Include invalid passages in@parsed_entities()(they still don't have OSIS values).
zero_chapter_strategy: "error"error: zero chapters ("Matthew 0") are invalid.upgrade: zero chapters are upgraded to 1: "Matthew 0" → "Matt.1".- Unlike
zero_verse_strategy, chapter 0 isn't allowed.
zero_verse_strategy: "error"error: zero verses ("Matthew 5:0") are invalid.upgrade: zero verses are upgraded to 1: "Matthew 5:0" → "Matt.5.1".allow: zero verses are kept as-is: "Matthew 5:0" → "Matt.5.0". Some traditions use 0 for Psalm titles.
non_latin_digits_strategy: "ignore"ignore: treat non-Latin digits the same as any other character.replace: replace non-Latin (0-9) numeric digits with Latin digits. This replacement occurs before any book substitution.
book_alone_strategy: "ignore"ignore: any books that appear on their own don't get parsed as books ("Gen saw" doesn't trigger a match, but "Gen 1" does).full: any books that appear on their own get parsed as the complete book ("Gen" means "Gen.1-Gen.50").first_chapter: any books that appear on their own get parsed as the first chapter ("Gen" means "Gen.1").
captive_end_digits_strategy: "delete"delete: remove any digits at the end of a sequence that are preceded by spaces and immediately followed by a\w: "Matt 5 1Hi" → "Matt.5". This is better for text extraction.include: keep any digits at the end of a sequence that are preceded by spaces and immediately followed by a\w: "Matt 5 1Hi" → "Matt.5.1". This is better for query parsing.
end_range_digits_strategy: "verse"verse: treat "Jer 33-11" as "Jer.33.11" (end before start) and "Heb 13-15" as "Heb.13.15" (end range too high).sequence: treat them as sequences.
ps151_strategy: "c"c: treat references to Psalm 151 (if using the Apocrypha) as a chapter: "Psalm 151:1" → "Ps.151.1"b: treat references to Psalm 151 (if using the Apocrypha) as a book: "Psalm 151:1" → "Ps151.1.1". Be aware that for ranges starting or ending in Psalm 151, you'll get two OSISes, regardless of thesequence_combination_strategy: "Psalms 149-151" → "Ps.149-Ps.150,Ps151.1". Setting this option tobis the only way to correctly parse OSISes that treatPs151as a book.
versification_system: "default"default: the default ESV-style versification. Also used in AMP and NASB.ceb: use CEB versification, which varies mostly in the Apocrypha.kjv: use KJV versification, with one fewer verse in 3John. Also used in NIV and NKJV.nab: use NAB versification, which generally follows the Septuagint.nlt: use NLT versification, with one extra verse in Rev. Also used in NCV.nrsv: use NRSV versification.vulgate: use Vulgate numbering for the Psalms.
case_sensitive: "none"none: All matches are case-insensitive.books: Book names are case-sensitive. Everything else is still case-insensitive.
If you're calling parsed_entities() directly, the following keys can appear in messages; they don't always indicate an invalid reference; they may just indicate the chosen parsing strategy.
start_book_not_exist:trueif the given book doesn't exist in the translation. A book has to have an entry in the language'sregexps.coffeefile for this message to appear.start_chapter_is_zero:1if the requested start chapter is 0.start_chapter_not_exist: The value is the last valid chapter in the book.start_chapter_not_exist_in_single_chapter_book:1if wanting, say,Philemon 2. It is reparsed as a verse (Philemon 1:2).start_chapter_not_numeric:trueif the start chapter isn't a number. You should never see this message.start_verse_is_zero:1if the requested start verse is 0.start_verse_not_exist: The value is the last valid verse in the chapter.start_verse_not_numeric:trueif the start verse isn't a number. You should never see this message.
end_book_before_start:trueif the end book is before the start book (the order is controlled in the language'stranslations.coffee). E.g.,Exodus-Genesis.end_book_not_exist:trueif the given book doesn't exist in the translation. A book has to have an entry in the language'sregexps.coffeefor this message to appear.end_chapter_before_start:trueif the end chapter is before the start chapter in the same book.end_chapter_is_zero:1if the requested end chapter is0. The1indicates the first valid chapter.end_chapter_not_exist: The value is the last valid chapter in the book.end_chapter_not_exist_in_single_chapter_book:1if wanting, say,Philemon 2-3. It is reparsed as a verse (Philemon 1:2-3).end_chapter_not_numeric:trueif the end chapter isn't a number. You should never see this message.end_verse_before_start:trueif the end verse is before the start verse in the same book and chapter.end_verse_is_zero:1if the requested end verse is0. The1indicates the first valid verse.end_verse_not_exist: The value is the last valid verse in the chapter.end_verse_not_numeric:trueif the end verse isn't a number. You should never see this message.
translation_invalid:trueif an invalid translation sequence appears.translation_unknown: The translation is unknown. If you see this message, a translation exists inbcv_parser::regexps.translationsbut not inbcv_parser::translations.
The parser is quite aggressive in identifying text as Bible references; if you just hand it raw text, you will probably encounter false positives, where the parser identifies text as Bible references even when it isn't. For example, in the string she is 2 cool, the is 2 becomes Isa.2.
The parser spends most of its time doing regular expressions and manipulating strings. If you give it a very long string full of Bible references, it could block your main event loop. Depending on your performance requirements, parsing large numbers of even short strings could saturate your CPU and lead to problems.
In addition, a number of the tests in the "real-world" section of src/core/spec.coffee have comments describing limitations of the parser. Unfortunately, it's hard to solve them without incorrectly parsing other cases—one person intends Matt 1, 3 to mean Matt.1,Matt.3, while another intends it to mean Matt.1.3.
One of the hardest parts of building a BCV parser is finding data to test it on to tease out corner cases. The file src/core/spec.coffee has a few hundred tests that tripped up this parser at various points in development.
In addition, the file test/tests.zip has 460,000 tests drawn from 115 million real-world tweets and Facebook posts. These tests reflect the most-popular ways of identifying passages—each entry in the Text column occurs in ten or more tweets or posts. (The total number of unique passage strings in the corpus is six million, with the vast majority occurring fewer than ten times.)
The tests are arranged in three columns:
Popularityis the number of times the text appears in the corpus. You can use this column as a way to prioritize how to handle corner cases.Textis the raw text of the reference. Tabs and newline characters ([\t\r\n]) are converted to spaces; otherwise they appear unaltered from their source.OSISis the OSIS value of the text as parsed by this BCV Parser. If one or more translations appears, it precedes a colon at the start of the string. For example:Matt 5, 7, NIV, ESVhas an OSIS value ofNIV,ESV:Matt.5,Matt.7. Otherwise, the OSIS consists only of OSIS references separated by commas. You may choose to interpret certain cases differently to suit your needs, but this column gives you a reasonable starting point from which to validate your parser.
This dataset has a few limitations:
- It's self-selecting in that it only includes content that this BCV parser understands.
- It doesn't include as many misspellings as you'd expect because the queries used to retrieve the data only use correct spellings. Misspellings that do occur are incidental—they're part of content that otherwise includes a non-misspelled book name.
- Its coverage of Deuterocanonical books is very limited; as with misspellings, the queries used to retrieve the data don't include books from the Apocrypha.
- It doesn't include context that could change the interpretation of the string.
- Sequences interrupted by translation identifiers are separated: the parsing of
Matt 1 NIV Matt 2 KJVappears in two separate lines. - It reflects the most-popular passages, but corner cases drive most of the complexity in a BCV parser.
OSIS is a system for marking up Bibles in XML. The BCV parser only borrows the OSIS system for book abbreviations and references. You can control the OSIS specificity using the osis_compaction_strategy option.
The parser emits GkEsth for Greek Esther rather than just Esth. It can include Ps151 as part of the Psalms (Ps.151.1)—the default—or as its own book (Ps151.1.1), depending on the ps151_strategy option.
| Input | OSIS |
|---|---|
John | John or John.1-John.21 or John.1.1-John.21.25 |
John-Acts | John-Acts or John.1-Acts.28 or John.1.1-Acts.28.31 |
John 3 | John.3 or John.3.1-John.3.36 |
John 3:16 | John.3.16 |
John 3:16-17 | John.3.16-John.3.17 |
John 3:16-4:1 and 4:2-5a | John.3.16-John.4.1,John.4.2-John.4.5 |
This section describes the parsing of a typical string:
bcv = new bcv_parser; // Declare the object
bcv.parse("John 3:16"); // Do the parsing
console.log(bcv.osis()); // "John.3.16"The bcv.parse() function accepts a string. It first replaces any reserved characters that we're going to need later in the program without affecting any of the character indices.
Then it runs through all the regexps for Bible books (@match_books()). In this case, it matches the John part of the string and replaces it with the characters \x1f0\x1f. The two \x1f characters provide boundaries for the match, and the 0 matches an index in the @books array we're using to keep track of the original string and some metadata. (If there were more books, they would be \x1f1\x1f, \x1f2\x1f, etc.) These books aren't necessarily replaced in the order they appear in the string, but rather in the precedence order specified in @regexps.books—we want to parse 1 John before John so that program doesn't interpret the John in 1 John as being a separate book. In other words, match longer books first.
Once it has matched all the possible books in the string, we call @match_passages() to identify complete passages—we want to be sure to treat strings like John 3:16, 17 as a single sequence. The @regexps.escaped_passage used for these matches is fairly complicated. It looks for some unusual cases (chapter 23 of Matthew) first, but it pivots around the escaped book sequence from @match_books(): it tries to find numbers and other characters that can comprise a valid sequence after a book (including other books). We know that we'll probably have to trim some of what it finds later; at this point, we want to be as comprehensive as possible.
For each match, we trim some unnecessary parts from the end of it and then run it through the grammar file that identifies the components of the string (in this case, John 3:16 fits the pattern of a bcv, or book-chapter-verse). The grammar uses PEG.js, a parsing expression grammar with a DSL that compiles to Javascript. A PEG provides predictable performance, especially for shorter strings like Bible references. The grammar identifies components in the match and, importantly, records the indices of where each component starts and ends in the string. PEG.js's built-in extension mechanism provides an easy way to output the necessary data. The tradeoff of using a PEG arrives in the form of increased code size: more than half the code in the minified file comes from the auto-generated grammar.
We also look here for a corner case of the format 1-2 Samuel, where the book range precedes the book name. If it exists, we construct an object to use later.
After the regexp has found all the matches in the string (and the grammar has taken a pass at them), we return to @parse, which loops through the results, sending each one in turn to the bcv_passage object.
The bcv_passage object is responsible for the bulk of the heavy lifting in interpreting the output of the grammar. Most of its functions correspond to types (such as bcv) returned from the grammar. These functions accept three arguments: a passage that reflects the output from the grammar, an accum that reflects the processing results thus far, and a context that reflects the current processing state—if a function sees a 16 and knows that the context is John.3, it can interpret the 16 as a verse number rather than, say, John.16. These functions don't alter global state and are safe to run any number of times over the content, a situation that can happen if the initial parsing strategy doesn't work out.
In the case of a bcv, the passage object consists of two values: a bc (the book-chapter combination) and a v (the verse number). Since a new book renders any existing context unnecessary, we first get rid of the existing context. We then loop through the possible book values—usually there's only one, but an ambiguous book abbreviation like Ph (Phil or Phlm) can have more than one—to find valid references. For example, given Ph 20, we know that only Philemon fits the bill (Phlm.1.20) since there's no chapter 20 in Philippians. Much of the logic in functions dealing with books revolves around this process of identifying valid passages.
Once we've identified a viable book, we record the position of the match in the original string, set the context for any future processing, and move on. In the case of John 3:16, we're done and head back up to @parse.
The bcv function is fairly straightforward—the logic doesn't get too convoluted. Much of the processing complexity in the parser arises from dealing with ranges that have errors in them or are ambiguous. The basic principle is that end ranges that go beyond the valid end of a book or a chapter are OK—people are often imprecise when it comes to remembering how many chapters are in a book or verses are in a chapter. Four tricky cases arise fairly often, however.
The first tricky case comes from people who like to use hyphens in ways that don't just indicate ranges. For example, the string Hebrews 13-15 (Hebrews has thirteen chapters) most likely means Hebrews 13:15. In some cases, we can guess that that's the case and correct our interpretation. The algorithm the program uses asks whether the end chapter is too high—and if it is, whether the end chapter could be a valid start verse. If so, it proceeds as though that's the case.
The second tricky case arises from strings like John 10:22-42 vs 27. In this case, the grammar has indicated that 42 vs 27 is a cv, or chapter-verse (in other words, John.10.22-John.42.27). However, when the purported end chapter doesn't exist, it makes more sense to treat it as a sequence: John.10.22-John.10.42,John.10.27.
The third tricky case stems from strings like Psalm 123-24. The grammar output suggests that we should interpret this range as invalid: Ps.123-Ps.24. Instead, we choose to interpret it as Ps.123-Ps.124. This approach can be aggressive at times: does Psalm 15-6 really mean Ps.15-Ps.16?
The fourth tricky case resembles the first one: Jeremiah 33-11 isn't the invalid range Jer.33-Jer.11 but rather the bcv Jer.33.11.
If we still couldn't make sense of the range, then we treat is as a sequence of verses instead of a range: Psalm 120-119 becomes Ps.120,Ps.119.
Translations are complicated because they propagate backward, whereas passage context propagates forward: Matt 2 (KJV), Eph 6 (NIV) means that the KJV should apply to Matthew 2, while the NIV should apply to Ephesians 6.
In theory, some translations could have different books or chapter/verse counts, so if we've made assumptions up to this point that, say, the Apocrypha doesn't exist, we may need to revisit those assumptions. Therefore, we reprocess everything we've already seen.
With the bcv_passage processing complete, we exit the @parse() function; you can now ask for the results in the format that's convenient for you.
All the output functions call @parsed_entities(). This function loops through the results from bcv_passage, constructing an array of objects that other functions can draw from. This function ignores entities you're not interested in and adjusts indices to exclude some entities. For example, you may not want the Ex in Hab 2 Ex. (You can control this behavior using the options.) Most of the logic involves getting the indices right in corner cases.
This function also creates OSIS strings and can combine consecutive references into a single range (e.g., John.1,John.2 becomes John.1-John.2).
You're probably not calling this function directly but instead are using one of the osis*() functions detailed above.
Performance degrades linearly with the number of passages found in a string. Using Node.js 0.10.21, it processes 2,000 tweets per second on a single 2.3 GHz core of an EC2 High-CPU Medium instance.
In the worst case, given a string consisting of almost nothing but Bible passage references, it processes about 50-60 KB of text per second.
The BCV parser supports several versification systems (described above). The appropriate versification system kicks in if the parsed text explicitly mentions a translation with an alternate versification system, or you can use @set_options({"versification_system":"..."}). You can extend the relevant translations.coffee to add additional ones.
The Javascript files that don't start with en provide support for other languages. The js/eu/ files provide support for alternate punctuation: commas rather than colons to separate chapters and verses; periods rather than commas to separate sequences.
Using the files in src/template as a base, you can add support for additional languages; just use the appropriate ISO 639 language prefix. I'm happy to accept pull requests for new languages.
| Prefix | Language |
|---|---|
| de | German |
| el | Greek (mostly ancient) |
| en | English |
| es | Spanish |
| fr | French |
| he | Hebrew |
| it | Italian |
| ja | Japanese |
| ko | Korean |
| la | Latin |
| zh | Chinese (both traditional and simplified) |
When parsing a language that doesn't use Latin-based numbers (0-9), you probably want to set the non_latin_digits_strategy option to replace.
When using non-English <script>s on the web, be sure to serve the script with the utf-8 character set.
I've specifically tested the following browsers, but it should work in any modern browser. If not, please feel free to open an issue.
- Internet Explorer 6-10. Support for Internet Explorer 6 and 7 is deprecated; PEG.js doesn't officially support these browsers, though all the tests pass.
- Firefox 12+.
- Chrome 19+ and Node 0.10.x.
The BCV Parser uses the following projects (none of them is necessary unless you want to edit the source files or run tests):
- Closure for minifying.
- Coffeescript 1.6.2 for compiling into Javascript.
- Frak for optimizing generated regular expressions.
- Jasmine 1.3.1 for the testing framework. To run tests, install it in the project's
/libfolder. - PEG.js 0.7.0 for the parsing grammar.
The language's grammar file is wrapped into the relevant *_bcv_parser.js file. The space rule is changed to use the \s character class instead of enumerating different space characters. The current version of PEG.js doesn't support the \s character class, so we post-process the output to include it.
- In
src, create a folder named after the ISO 639 code of the desired language. For example:fr. - Create a data.txt file inside that folder. Lines that start with
#are comments. Lines that start with$are variables. Lines that start with an OSIS book name are a tab-separated series of regular expressions (a backtick following an accented character means not to allow the unaccented version of that character). Lines that start with=are the order in which to check the regular expressions (check for "3 John" before "John," for example). Lines that start with*are the preferred long and short names for each OSIS (not used here, but potentially used in a Bible application). - In
bin, run01.add_lang.pl [ISO code]to create thesrcfiles. This file expectsnodeto be available in your$PATH.For example,01.add_lang.pl fr. - In
bin, run02.compile.pl [ISO code]to create the output Javascript files and tests. This file expectspegjsandcoffeeto be available in your$PATH. For example:02.compile.pl fr. - In
bin, run03.run_tests.shto run tests on all the available languages intest/js. It requires jasmine-node. Alternately, visit the relevanttest/[ISO code].htmlfile in a browser (which expects Jasmine to be inlib/jasmine-1.3.1).
You can enable cross-language support using the experimental bin/add_cross_lang.pl full.
This is the fourth complete Bible reference parser that I've written. It's how I try out new programming languages: the first one was in PHP (2002), which saw production usage on a Bible search website from 2002-2011; the second in Perl (2007), which saw production usage on a Bible-related site starting in 2007; and the third in Ruby (2009), which never saw production usage because it was way too slow. This Coffeescript parser (at least on V8) is faster than the Perl one and 100 times faster than the Ruby one.
I chose Coffeescript out of curiosity—does it make Javascript that much more pleasant to work with? From a programming perspective, the easy loops and array comprehensions alone practically justify its use. From a readability perspective, the code is easier to follow (and come back to months later) than the equivalent Javascript—the tests, in particular, are much easier to follow without all the Javascript punctuation.
This code is in production use on a site that indexes Bible verses on Twitter and Facebook.
The code in this project is licensed under the included MIT License except for the bundled, Javscript-compiled version of Frak (bin/js/frak.min.js), which is licensed under the Eclipse Public License. Frak is a dependency only if you're compiling a new language--it's not necessary to run the parser in your project. If you're only parsing content, that usage falls entirely under the MIT License.
November 8, 2013. Recast English as just another language that uses the same build process as all the other languages. Fixed bug with parentheses in sequences. Made specs runnable using jasmine-node. Optimized generated regular expressions for speed using Frak. Added support for German, Greek, Italian, and Latin.
May 1, 2013. Added option to allow case-sensitive book-name matching. Supported parsing Ps151 as a book rather than a chapter for more-complete OSIS coverage. Added Japanese, Korean, and Chinese book names. Added an additional 90,000 real-world strings, sharing actual counts rather than orders of magnitude.
December 30, 2012. Per request, added compile tools and Hebrew support.
November 20, 2012. Improved support for parentheses. Added some alternate versification systems. Added French support. Removed docs folder because it was getting unwieldy; the source itself remains commented. Increased the number of real-world strings from 200,000 to 370,000.
May 16, 2012. Added basic Spanish support. Fixed multiple capital-letter sequences. Upgraded PEG.js and Coffeescript to the latest versions. Deprecated support for IE6 and 7.
November 18, 2011. First commit.
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