Parsing Expression Grammar vs. regexes: Building Org parser in Lisp that exports to HTML (via SXML)

A developer shares OrgWebAlchemy, a Guile Scheme library that parses Org-mode documents into an AST using Parsing Expression Grammars via the (ice-9 peg) module, then renders the result to HTML through SXML. The post explains why regex-based parsing broke down for Org's nested lists, inline markup, blocks, and tables, and how PEGs let the grammar read like documentation. It covers supported constructs (headings, lists with nesting, tables, source/example/quote/export blocks, links), customizable HTML output via Guile parameters, and open issues like mixed nested list types. The project is LGPL v3+, hosted on Codeberg, and slated for future Guix packaging.

Source: https://jointhefreeworld.org/blog/articles/lisps/parsing-expression-grammar-lisp-org-convert-to-html/index.html. 8 Sync News only summarizes and links out; content copyright belongs to the authors and original sources.