Ripper is a Ruby script parser.
You can get information from the parser with event-based style. Information such as abstract syntax trees or simple lexical analysis of the Ruby program.
Ripper provides an easy interface for parsing your program into a symbolic expression tree (or S-expression).
Understanding the output of the parser may come as a challenge, it's recommended you use PP to format the output for legibility.
require 'ripper'
require 'pp'
pp Ripper.sexp('def hello(world) "Hello, #{world}!"; end')
  #=> [:program,
       [[:def,
         [:@ident, "hello", [1, 4]],
         [:paren,
          [:params, [[:@ident, "world", [1, 10]]], nil, nil, nil, nil, nil, nil]],
         [:bodystmt,
          [[:string_literal,
            [:string_content,
             [:@tstring_content, "Hello, ", [1, 18]],
             [:string_embexpr, [[:var_ref, [:@ident, "world", [1, 27]]]]],
             [:@tstring_content, "!", [1, 33]]]]],
          nil,
          nil,
          nil]]]]
You can see in the example above, the expression starts with :program.
From here, a method definition at :def, followed by the method's identifier :@ident. After the method's identifier comes the parentheses :paren and the method parameters under :params.
Next is the method body, starting at :bodystmt (stmt meaning statement), which contains the full definition of the method.
In our case, we're simply returning a String, so next we have the :string_literal expression.
Within our :string_literal you'll notice two @tstring_content, this is the literal part for Hello,  and !. Between the two @tstring_content statements is a :string_embexpr, where embexpr is an embedded expression. Our expression consists of a local variable, or var_ref, with the identifier (@ident) of world.
ruby 1.9 (support CVS HEAD only)
bison 1.28 or later (Other yaccs do not work)
Ruby License.
Minero Aoki
aamine@loveruby.net
This array contains name of all ripper events.
newline significant, +/- is an operator.
equals to (EXPR_ARG | EXPR_CMDARG)
ignore newline, +/- is a sign.
equals to (EXPR_BEG | EXPR_MID | EXPR_CLASS)
immediate after `class', no here document.
newline significant, +/- is an operator.
', no reserved words.
newline significant, +/- is an operator.
ditto, and unbound braces.
ditto, and unbound braces.
equals to (EXPR_END | EXPR_ENDARG | EXPR_ENDFN)
symbol literal as FNAME.
ignore newline, no reserved words.
flag bit, label is allowed.
flag bit, just after a label.
newline significant, +/- is an operator.
equals to EXPR_BEG
This array contains name of parser events.
This array contains name of scanner events.
version of Ripper
 
               static VALUE
parser_dedent_string(VALUE self, VALUE input, VALUE width)
{
    int wid, col;
    StringValue(input);
    wid = NUM2UINT(width);
    col = dedent_string(input, wid);
    return INT2NUM(col);
}
             
            Tokenizes the Ruby program and returns an array of an array, which is formatted like [[lineno, column], type, token, state].
require 'ripper'
require 'pp'
pp Ripper.lex("def m(a) nil end")
#=> [[[1,  0], :on_kw,     "def", Ripper::EXPR_FNAME                   ],
     [[1,  3], :on_sp,     " ",   Ripper::EXPR_FNAME                   ],
     [[1,  4], :on_ident,  "m",   Ripper::EXPR_ENDFN                   ],
     [[1,  5], :on_lparen, "(",   Ripper::EXPR_LABEL | Ripper::EXPR_BEG],
     [[1,  6], :on_ident,  "a",   Ripper::EXPR_ARG                     ],
     [[1,  7], :on_rparen, ")",   Ripper::EXPR_ENDFN                   ],
     [[1,  8], :on_sp,     " ",   Ripper::EXPR_BEG                     ],
     [[1,  9], :on_kw,     "nil", Ripper::EXPR_END                     ],
     [[1, 12], :on_sp,     " ",   Ripper::EXPR_END                     ],
     [[1, 13], :on_kw,     "end", Ripper::EXPR_END                     ]]
            
            
             
               # File ripper/lib/ripper/lexer.rb, line 44
def Ripper.lex(src, filename = '-', lineno = 1)
  Lexer.new(src, filename, lineno).lex
end
             
             
               static VALUE
ripper_lex_state_name(VALUE self, VALUE state)
{
    return rb_parser_lex_state_name(NUM2INT(state));
}
             
            Create a new Ripper object. src must be a String, an IO, or an Object which has gets method.
This method does not starts parsing. See also Ripper#parse and Ripper.parse.
 
               static VALUE
ripper_initialize(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE self)
{
    struct parser_params *parser;
    VALUE src, fname, lineno;
    TypedData_Get_Struct(self, struct parser_params, &parser_data_type, parser);
    rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "12", &src, &fname, &lineno);
    if (RB_TYPE_P(src, T_FILE)) {
        lex_gets = ripper_lex_io_get;
    }
    else if (rb_respond_to(src, id_gets)) {
        lex_gets = ripper_lex_get_generic;
    }
    else {
        StringValue(src);
        lex_gets = lex_get_str;
    }
    lex_input = src;
    parser->eofp = 0;
    if (NIL_P(fname)) {
        fname = STR_NEW2("(ripper)");
        OBJ_FREEZE(fname);
    }
    else {
        StringValueCStr(fname);
        fname = rb_str_new_frozen(fname);
    }
    parser_initialize(parser);
    ruby_sourcefile_string = fname;
    ruby_sourcefile = RSTRING_PTR(fname);
    ruby_sourceline = NIL_P(lineno) ? 0 : NUM2INT(lineno) - 1;
    return Qnil;
}
             
            Parses the given Ruby program read from src. src must be a String or an IO or a object with a gets method.
 
               # File ripper/lib/ripper/core.rb, line 18
def Ripper.parse(src, filename = '(ripper)', lineno = 1)
  new(src, filename, lineno).parse
end
             
            Parses src and create S-exp tree. Returns more readable tree rather than Ripper.sexp_raw. This method is mainly for developer use.
require 'ripper'
require 'pp'
pp Ripper.sexp("def m(a) nil end")
  #=> [:program,
       [[:def,
        [:@ident, "m", [1, 4]],
        [:paren, [:params, [[:@ident, "a", [1, 6]]], nil, nil, nil, nil]],
        [:bodystmt, [[:var_ref, [:@kw, "nil", [1, 9]]]], nil, nil, nil]]]]
 
               # File ripper/lib/ripper/sexp.rb, line 31
def Ripper.sexp(src, filename = '-', lineno = 1)
  builder = SexpBuilderPP.new(src, filename, lineno)
  sexp = builder.parse
  sexp unless builder.error?
end
             
            Parses src and create S-exp tree. This method is mainly for developer use.
require 'ripper'
require 'pp'
pp Ripper.sexp_raw("def m(a) nil end")
  #=> [:program,
       [:stmts_add,
        [:stmts_new],
        [:def,
         [:@ident, "m", [1, 4]],
         [:paren, [:params, [[:@ident, "a", [1, 6]]], nil, nil, nil]],
         [:bodystmt,
          [:stmts_add, [:stmts_new], [:var_ref, [:@kw, "nil", [1, 9]]]],
          nil,
          nil,
          nil]]]]
 
               # File ripper/lib/ripper/sexp.rb, line 57
def Ripper.sexp_raw(src, filename = '-', lineno = 1)
  builder = SexpBuilder.new(src, filename, lineno)
  sexp = builder.parse
  sexp unless builder.error?
end
             
            Parses src and return a string which was matched to pattern. pattern should be described as Regexp.
require 'ripper' p Ripper.slice('def m(a) nil end', 'ident') #=> "m" p Ripper.slice('def m(a) nil end', '[ident lparen rparen]+') #=> "m(a)" p Ripper.slice("<<EOS\nstring\nEOS", 'heredoc_beg nl $(tstring_content*) heredoc_end', 1) #=> "string\n"
 
               # File ripper/lib/ripper/lexer.rb, line 149
def Ripper.slice(src, pattern, n = 0)
  if m = token_match(src, pattern)
  then m.string(n)
  else nil
  end
end
             
            Tokenizes the Ruby program and returns an array of strings.
p Ripper.tokenize("def m(a) nil end") # => ["def", " ", "m", "(", "a", ")", " ", "nil", " ", "end"]
 
               # File ripper/lib/ripper/lexer.rb, line 21
def Ripper.tokenize(src, filename = '-', lineno = 1)
  Lexer.new(src, filename, lineno).tokenize
end
             
            Return column number of current parsing line. This number starts from 0.
 
               static VALUE
ripper_column(VALUE self)
{
    struct parser_params *parser;
    long col;
    TypedData_Get_Struct(self, struct parser_params, &parser_data_type, parser);
    if (!ripper_initialized_p(parser)) {
        rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "method called for uninitialized object");
    }
    if (NIL_P(parser->parsing_thread)) return Qnil;
    col = parser->tokp - lex_pbeg;
    return LONG2NUM(col);
}
             
            Return encoding of the source.
 
               VALUE
rb_parser_encoding(VALUE vparser)
{
    struct parser_params *parser;
    TypedData_Get_Struct(vparser, struct parser_params, &parser_data_type, parser);
    return rb_enc_from_encoding(current_enc);
}
             
            Return true if parsed source ended by +_END_+.
 
               VALUE
rb_parser_end_seen_p(VALUE vparser)
{
    struct parser_params *parser;
    TypedData_Get_Struct(vparser, struct parser_params, &parser_data_type, parser);
    return ruby__end__seen ? Qtrue : Qfalse;
}
             
            Return true if parsed source has errors.
 
               static VALUE
ripper_error_p(VALUE vparser)
{
    struct parser_params *parser;
    TypedData_Get_Struct(vparser, struct parser_params, &parser_data_type, parser);
    return parser->error_p ? Qtrue : Qfalse;
}
             
            Return current parsing filename.
 
               static VALUE
ripper_filename(VALUE self)
{
    struct parser_params *parser;
    TypedData_Get_Struct(self, struct parser_params, &parser_data_type, parser);
    if (!ripper_initialized_p(parser)) {
        rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "method called for uninitialized object");
    }
    return ruby_sourcefile_string;
}
             
            Return line number of current parsing line. This number starts from 1.
 
               static VALUE
ripper_lineno(VALUE self)
{
    struct parser_params *parser;
    TypedData_Get_Struct(self, struct parser_params, &parser_data_type, parser);
    if (!ripper_initialized_p(parser)) {
        rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "method called for uninitialized object");
    }
    if (NIL_P(parser->parsing_thread)) return Qnil;
    return INT2NUM(ruby_sourceline);
}
             
            Start parsing and returns the value of the root action.
 
               static VALUE
ripper_parse(VALUE self)
{
    struct parser_params *parser;
    TypedData_Get_Struct(self, struct parser_params, &parser_data_type, parser);
    if (!ripper_initialized_p(parser)) {
        rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "method called for uninitialized object");
    }
    if (!NIL_P(parser->parsing_thread)) {
        if (parser->parsing_thread == rb_thread_current())
            rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "Ripper#parse is not reentrant");
        else
            rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "Ripper#parse is not multithread-safe");
    }
    parser->parsing_thread = rb_thread_current();
    rb_ensure(ripper_parse0, self, ripper_ensure, self);
    return parser->result;
}
             
            Return scanner state of current token.
 
               static VALUE
ripper_state(VALUE self)
{
    struct parser_params *parser;
    TypedData_Get_Struct(self, struct parser_params, &parser_data_type, parser);
    if (!ripper_initialized_p(parser)) {
        rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "method called for uninitialized object");
    }
    if (NIL_P(parser->parsing_thread)) return Qnil;
    return INT2NUM(lex_state);
}