astextract converts a given go file to its ast representation.
This is useful for easliy writing typesafe go generate
tools, which don't concatenate strings for generating code.
The output of astextract is 100% valid go, so it can be used in go code directly without any modifications.
All zero/null value struct fields are ommited for a more compact ast representation.
Absolute Position info is stripped, because positions change if you add any dynamic content to the ast.
I already wrote binclude a tool for resource embedding with the help of astextraxt, and added string obfuscation to garble.
Web app
astextract be used as a Web app: https://lu4p.github.io/astextract/
The Web app was created using the amazing go-app package.
Install
GO111MODULE=on go get -u github.com/lu4p/astextract/cmd/astextract
Usage
astextract [flags] file
See astextract -h
for up to date usage information.
Example
main.go:
package main
func main() {
println("Hello, World!")
}
Command: astextract main.go
Output:
&ast.File {
Package: 1,
Name: &ast.Ident {
Name: "main",
},
Decls: []ast.Decl {
&ast.FuncDecl {
Name: &ast.Ident {
Name: "main",
},
Type: &ast.FuncType {
Params: &ast.FieldList {},
},
Body: &ast.BlockStmt {
List: []ast.Stmt {
&ast.ExprStmt {
X: &ast.CallExpr {
Fun: &ast.Ident {
Name: "println",
},
Args: []ast.Expr {
&ast.BasicLit {
Kind: token.STRING,
Value: "\"Hello, World!\"",
},
},
},
},
},
},
},
},
}
How to convert go/ast back to go
Example taken from binclude generateFile()
bincludeFile := &ast.File{
Doc: &ast.CommentGroup{
List: []*ast.Comment{
{
Slash: 1,
Text: "// Code generated by binclude; DO NOT EDIT.",
},
},
},
Package: 45,
Name: pkgName,
Decls: []ast.Decl{
&ast.GenDecl{
Tok: token.IMPORT,
Specs: imports,
},
&ast.GenDecl{
Tok: token.VAR,
Specs: astVars,
},
},
}
f, err := os.OpenFile("binclude.go", os.O_CREATE|os.O_WRONLY|os.O_TRUNC, 0644)
if err != nil {
return err
}
defer f.Close()
err = printer.Fprint(f, fset, bincludeFile)
if err != nil {
return err
}
astextract -out=filename main.go
generates a go file containing the ast of main.go
and an example on how to generate go code from the ast.
Alternatives
- go2ast: only converts a single line and doesn't support top level definitions.
- go/ast Print: prints a representation which is unsuitable for usage in code generation
From the go/ast documentation:
This example shows what an AST looks like when printed for debugging.
Code:
// src is the input for which we want to print the AST.
src := `
package main
func main() {
println("Hello, World!")
}
`
// Create the AST by parsing src.
fset := token.NewFileSet() // positions are relative to fset
f, err := parser.ParseFile(fset, "", src, 0)
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
// Print the AST.
ast.Print(fset, f)
Output:
0 *ast.File {
1 . Package: 2:1
2 . Name: *ast.Ident {
3 . . NamePos: 2:9
4 . . Name: "main"
5 . }
6 . Decls: []ast.Decl (len = 1) {
7 . . 0: *ast.FuncDecl {
8 . . . Name: *ast.Ident {
9 . . . . NamePos: 3:6
10 . . . . Name: "main"
11 . . . . Obj: *ast.Object {
12 . . . . . Kind: func
13 . . . . . Name: "main"
14 . . . . . Decl: *(obj @ 7)
15 . . . . }
16 . . . }
17 . . . Type: *ast.FuncType {
18 . . . . Func: 3:1
19 . . . . Params: *ast.FieldList {
20 . . . . . Opening: 3:10
21 . . . . . Closing: 3:11
22 . . . . }
23 . . . }
24 . . . Body: *ast.BlockStmt {
25 . . . . Lbrace: 3:13
26 . . . . List: []ast.Stmt (len = 1) {
27 . . . . . 0: *ast.ExprStmt {
28 . . . . . . X: *ast.CallExpr {
29 . . . . . . . Fun: *ast.Ident {
30 . . . . . . . . NamePos: 4:2
31 . . . . . . . . Name: "println"
32 . . . . . . . }
33 . . . . . . . Lparen: 4:9
34 . . . . . . . Args: []ast.Expr (len = 1) {
35 . . . . . . . . 0: *ast.BasicLit {
36 . . . . . . . . . ValuePos: 4:10
37 . . . . . . . . . Kind: STRING
38 . . . . . . . . . Value: "\"Hello, World!\""
39 . . . . . . . . }
40 . . . . . . . }
41 . . . . . . . Ellipsis: -
42 . . . . . . . Rparen: 4:25
43 . . . . . . }
44 . . . . . }
45 . . . . }
46 . . . . Rbrace: 5:1
47 . . . }
48 . . }
49 . }
50 . Scope: *ast.Scope {
51 . . Objects: map[string]*ast.Object (len = 1) {
52 . . . "main": *(obj @ 11)
53 . . }
54 . }
55 . Unresolved: []*ast.Ident (len = 1) {
56 . . 0: *(obj @ 29)
57 . }
58 }