Yuras/scanner

Fast non-backtracking incremental combinator parsing for bytestrings

Haskell

46

38 commits

updated Jul 31, 2026

See the code

README

scanner

Fast non-backtracking incremental combinator parsing for bytestrings

Build Status

On hackage: http://hackage.haskell.org/package/scanner

On stackage: https://www.stackage.org/package/scanner

It is often convinient to use backtracking to parse some sophisticated input. Unfortunately it kills performance, so usually you should avoid backtracking.

Often (actually always, but it could be too hard sometimes) you can implement your parser without any backtracking. It that case all the bookkeeping usuall parser combinators do becomes unnecessary. The scanner library is designed for such cases. It is often 2 times faster then attoparsec.

As an example, please checkout redis protocol parser included into the repo, both using attoparsec and scanner libraries: https://github.com/Yuras/scanner/tree/master/examples/Redis

Benchmark results:

Bechmark results

But if you really really really need backtracking, then you can just inject attoparsec parser into a scanner: http://hackage.haskell.org/package/scanner-attoparsec

Contributors

Yuras

32 commits

informatikr

1 commits

L0neGamer

1 commits

expipiplus1

1 commits

Languages

Haskell

100.0%

Yuras/scanner

Fast non-backtracking incremental combinator parsing for bytestrings

Haskell

46

38 commits

updated Jul 31, 2026

See the code

README

scanner

Fast non-backtracking incremental combinator parsing for bytestrings

Build Status

On hackage: http://hackage.haskell.org/package/scanner

On stackage: https://www.stackage.org/package/scanner

It is often convinient to use backtracking to parse some sophisticated input. Unfortunately it kills performance, so usually you should avoid backtracking.

Often (actually always, but it could be too hard sometimes) you can implement your parser without any backtracking. It that case all the bookkeeping usuall parser combinators do becomes unnecessary. The scanner library is designed for such cases. It is often 2 times faster then attoparsec.

As an example, please checkout redis protocol parser included into the repo, both using attoparsec and scanner libraries: https://github.com/Yuras/scanner/tree/master/examples/Redis

Benchmark results:

Bechmark results

But if you really really really need backtracking, then you can just inject attoparsec parser into a scanner: http://hackage.haskell.org/package/scanner-attoparsec

Contributors

Yuras

32 commits

informatikr

1 commits

L0neGamer

1 commits

expipiplus1

1 commits

Languages

Haskell

100.0%