\chapter{Isar Document Syntax}
We give a complete reference of all basic syntactic entities underlying the
Isabelle/Isar document syntax. Actual theory and proof commands will be
introduced later on.
\medskip
In order to get started with writing well-formed Isabelle/Isar documents, the
most important aspect to be noted is the difference of \emph{inner} versus
\emph{outer} syntax. Inner syntax is that of Isabelle types and terms of the
logic, while outer syntax is that of Isabelle/Isar theories (and proofs). As
a general rule, inner syntax entities may occur only as \emph{atomic entities}
within outer syntax. Thus, string \texttt{"x + y"} and identifier \texttt{z}
are legal term specifications, while \texttt{x + y} is not.
\begin{warn}
Note that Isabelle theories used to fake parts of the inner type syntax,
with complicated rules when quotes may be omitted. Despite the minor
drawback of requiring quotes more often, Isabelle/Isar is simpler and more
robust in that respect.
\end{warn}
\section{Lexical matters}\label{sec:lex-syntax}
The Isabelle/Isar outer syntax provides token classes as presented below.
Note that some of these coincide (by full intention) with inner lexical syntax
as given in \cite{isabelle-ref}. These different levels of syntax should not
be confused, though.
%FIXME keyword, command
\begin{matharray}{rcl}
ident & = & letter~quasiletter^* \\
longident & = & ident\verb,.,ident~\dots~ident \\
symident & = & sym^+ \\
nat & = & digit^+ \\
var & = & \verb,?,ident ~|~ \verb,?,ident\verb,.,nat \\
textvar & = & \verb,??,ident \\
typefree & = & \verb,',ident \\
typevar & = & \verb,?,typefree ~|~ \verb,?,typefree\verb,.,nat \\
string & = & \verb,", ~\dots~ \verb,", \\
verbatim & = & \verb,{*, ~\dots~ \verb,*}, \\
\end{matharray}
\begin{matharray}{rcl}
letter & = & \verb,a, ~|~ \dots ~|~ \verb,z, ~|~ \verb,A, ~|~ \dots ~|~ \verb,Z, \\
digit & = & \verb,0, ~|~ \dots ~|~ \verb,9, \\
quasiletter & = & letter ~|~ digit ~|~ \verb,_, ~|~ \verb,', \\
sym & = & \verb,!, ~|~ \verb,#, ~|~ \verb,$, ~|~ \verb,%, ~|~ \verb,&, ~|~ %$
\verb,*, ~|~ \verb,+, ~|~ \verb,-, ~|~ \verb,/, ~|~ \verb,:, ~|~
\verb,<, ~|~ \verb,=, ~|~ \verb,>, ~|~ \verb,?, ~|~ \mathtt{\at} ~|~ \\
& & \verb,^, ~|~ \verb,_, ~|~ \verb,`, ~|~ \verb,|, ~|~ \verb,~, \\
\end{matharray}
The syntax of \texttt{string} admits any characters, including newlines;
\verb|"| and \verb|\| have to be escaped by a backslash, though. Note that
ML-style control character notation is not supported. The body of
\texttt{verbatim} may consist of any text not containing \verb|*}|.
Comments take the form \texttt{(*~\dots~*)} and may be nested, just as in
ML.\footnote{Proof~General may get confused by nested comments, though.} Note
that these are \emph{source} comments only, which are stripped after lexical
analysis of the input. The Isar document syntax also provides several
elements of \emph{formal comments} that are actually part of the text (see
\S\ref{sec:comments}, \S\ref{sec:formal-cmt-thy}, \S\ref{sec:formal-cmt-prf}).
\section{Common syntax entities}
Subsequently, we introduce several basic syntactic entities, such as names,
terms, theorem specifications, which have been factored out of the actual Isar
language elements to be described later.
Note that some of the basic syntactic entities introduced below act much like
tokens rather than nonterminals, especially for the sake of error messages.
E.g.\ syntax elements such as $\CONSTS$ referring to \railqtoken{name} or
\railqtoken{type} would really report a missing name or type rather than any
of the constituent primitive tokens such as \railtoken{ident} or
\railtoken{string}.
\subsection{Names}
Entity \railqtoken{name} usually refers to any name of types, constants,
theorems etc.\ that are to be \emph{declared} or \emph{defined} (so qualified
identifiers are excluded). Quoted strings provide an escape for
non-identifier names or those ruled out by outer syntax keywords (e.g.\
\verb|"let"|). Already existing objects are usually referenced by
\railqtoken{nameref}.
\indexoutertoken{name}\indexoutertoken{parname}\indexoutertoken{nameref}
\begin{rail}
name: ident | symident | string
;
parname: '(' name ')'
;
nameref: name | longident
;
\end{rail}
\subsection{Comments}\label{sec:comments}
Large chunks of plain \railqtoken{text} are usually given
\railtoken{verbatim}, i.e.\ enclosed in \verb|{*|\dots\verb|*}|. For
convenience, any of the smaller text units conforming to \railqtoken{nameref}
are admitted as well. Almost any of the Isar commands may be annotated by
some marginal \railnonterm{comment} of the form \texttt{--} \railqtoken{text}.
Note that this kind of comment is actually part of the language, while source
level comments \verb|(*|\dots\verb|*)| are stripped at the lexical level. A
few commands such as $\PROOFNAME$ admit additional markup with a ``level of
interest'': \texttt{\%} followed by an optional number $n$ (default $n = 1$)
indicates that the respective part of the document becomes $n$ levels more
obscure; \texttt{\%\%} means that interest drops by $\infty$ --- abandon every
hope, who enter here.
\indexoutertoken{text}\indexouternonterm{comment}\indexouternonterm{interest}
\begin{rail}
text: verbatim | nameref
;
comment: '--' text
;
interest: percent nat? | ppercent
;
\end{rail}
\subsection{Type classes, sorts and arities}
The syntax of sorts and arities is given directly at the outer level. Note
that this is in contrast to types and terms (see \ref{sec:types-terms}).
\indexouternonterm{sort}\indexouternonterm{arity}\indexouternonterm{simplearity}
\indexouternonterm{classdecl}
\begin{rail}
classdecl: name ('<' (nameref + ','))?
;
sort: nameref | lbrace (nameref * ',') rbrace
;
arity: ('(' (sort + ',') ')')? sort
;
simplearity: ('(' (sort + ',') ')')? nameref
;
\end{rail}
\subsection{Types and terms}\label{sec:types-terms}
The actual inner Isabelle syntax, that of types and terms of the logic, is far
too advanced in order to be modelled explicitly at the outer theory level.
Basically, any such entity has to be quoted here to turn it into a single
token (the parsing and type-checking is performed later). For convenience, a
slightly more liberal convention is adopted: quotes may be omitted for any
type or term that is already \emph{atomic} at the outer level. E.g.\ one may
write just \texttt{x} instead of \texttt{"x"}.
\indexoutertoken{type}\indexoutertoken{term}\indexoutertoken{prop}
\begin{rail}
type: nameref | typefree | typevar
;
term: nameref | var | textvar | nat
;
prop: term
;
\end{rail}
Type declarations and definitions usually refer to \railnonterm{typespec} on
the left-hand side. This models basic type constructor application at the
outer syntax level. Note that only plain postfix notation is available here,
but no infixes.
\indexouternonterm{typespec}
\begin{rail}
typespec: (() | typefree | '(' ( typefree + ',' ) ')') name
;
\end{rail}
\subsection{Term patterns}\label{sec:term-pats}
Assumptions and goal statements usually admit automatic binding of schematic
text variables by giving (optional) patterns of the form $\IS{p@1 \dots p@n}$.
There are separate versions available for \railqtoken{term}s and
\railqtoken{prop}s. The latter provides a $\CONCLNAME$ part with patterns
referring the (atomic) conclusion of a rule.
\indexouternonterm{termpat}\indexouternonterm{proppat}
\begin{rail}
termpat: '(' ('is' term +) ')'
;
proppat: '(' (('is' prop +) | 'concl' ('is' prop +) | ('is' prop +) 'concl' ('is' prop +)) ')'
;
\end{rail}
\subsection{Mixfix annotations}
Mixfix annotations specify concrete \emph{inner} syntax of Isabelle types and
terms. Some commands such as $\TYPES$ admit infixes only, while $\CONSTS$ and
$\isarkeyword{syntax}$ support the full range of general mixfixes and binders.
\indexouternonterm{infix}\indexouternonterm{mixfix}
\begin{rail}
infix: '(' ('infixl' | 'infixr') string? nat ')'
;
mixfix: infix | '(' string prios? nat? ')' | '(' 'binder' string prios? nat ')'
;
prios: '[' (nat + ',') ']'
;
\end{rail}
\subsection{Attributes and theorems}\label{sec:syn-att}
Attributes (and proof methods, see \S\ref{sec:syn-meth}) have their own
``semi-inner'' syntax, in the sense that input conforming to
\railnonterm{args} below is parsed by the attribute a second time. The
attribute argument specifications may be any sequence of atomic entities
(identifiers, strings etc.), or properly bracketed argument lists. Below
\railqtoken{atom} refers to any atomic entity, including \railtoken{keyword}s
conforming to \railtoken{symident}.
\indexoutertoken{atom}\indexouternonterm{args}\indexouternonterm{attributes}
\begin{rail}
atom: nameref | typefree | typevar | var | textvar | nat | keyword
;
arg: atom | '(' args ')' | '[' args ']' | lbrace args rbrace
;
args: arg *
;
attributes: '[' (nameref args * ',') ']'
;
\end{rail}
Theorem specifications come in several flavours: \railnonterm{axmdecl} and
\railnonterm{thmdecl} usually refer to axioms, assumptions or results of goal
statements, \railnonterm{thmdef} collects lists of existing theorems.
Existing theorems are given by \railnonterm{thmref} and \railnonterm{thmrefs}
(the former requires an actual singleton result). Any of these theorem
specifications may include lists of attributes both on the left and right hand
sides; attributes are applied to any immediately preceding theorem.
\indexouternonterm{thmdecl}\indexouternonterm{axmdecl}
\indexouternonterm{thmdef}\indexouternonterm{thmrefs}
\begin{rail}
axmdecl: name attributes? ':'
;
thmdecl: thmname ':'
;
thmdef: thmname '='
;
thmref: nameref attributes?
;
thmrefs: thmref +
;
thmname: name attributes | name | attributes
;
\end{rail}
\subsection{Proof methods}\label{sec:syn-meth}
Proof methods are either basic ones, or expressions composed of methods via
``\texttt{,}'' (sequential composition), ``\texttt{|}'' (alternative choices),
``\texttt{?}'' (try), ``\texttt{+}'' (at least once). In practice, proof
methods are usually just a comma separated list of
\railqtoken{nameref}~\railnonterm{args} specifications. Thus the syntax is
similar to that of attributes, with plain parentheses instead of square
brackets. Note that parentheses may be dropped for single method
specifications without arguments.
\indexouternonterm{method}
\begin{rail}
method: (nameref | '(' methods ')') (() | '?' | '+')
;
methods: (nameref args | method) + (',' | '|')
;
\end{rail}
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