USFM Grammar

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An elegant USFM parser (or validator) that uses a parsing expression grammar to model USFM. The grammar is written using ohm. Supports USFM 3.x.

The parsed USFM is an intuitive and easy to manipulate JSON structure that allows for painless extraction of scripture and other content from the markup. USFM Grammar is also capable of reconverting the generated JSON back to USFM.

Currently, the parser is implemented in JavaScript. But it is possible to re-use the grammar and port this library into other programming languages too. Contributions are welcome!

Note: Refer the docs for more information like the disclaimer, release notes, etc.

Features

• USFM validation
• USFM to JSON convertor with 2 different levels of strictness
• JSON to USFM convertor
• CSV/TSV converter for both USFM and JSON
• Command Line Interface (CLI)

Try it out!

Try out the usfm-grammar based online convertor: https://usfm-grammar-revant.netlify.app/

Example

Input USFM	Parsed JSON Output	Parsed JSON with only filtered Scripture Content
\id hab 45HABGNT92.usfm, Good News Translation, June 2003 \c 3 \s1 A Prayer of Habakkuk \p \v 1 This is a prayer of the prophet Habakkuk: \b \q1 \v 2 O \nd Lord\nd*, I have heard of what you have done, \q2 and I am filled with awe. \q1 Now do again in our times \q2 the great deeds you used to do. \q1 Be merciful, even when you are angry.	{ "book": { "bookCode": "HAB", "description": "45HABGNT92.usfm, Good News Translation, June 2003" }, "chapters": [ {"chapterNumber": "3", "contents": [ [ { "s1": "A Prayer of Habakkuk" } ], { "p": null }, { "verseNumber": "1", "verseText": "This is a prayer of the prophet Habakkuk:", "contents": [ "This is a prayer of the prophet Habakkuk:", { "b": null }, { "q1": null } ] }, { "verseNumber": "2", "verseText": "O Lord , I have heard of what you have done, and I am filled with awe. Now do again in our times the great deeds you used to do. Be merciful, even when you are angry.", "contents": [ "O", { "nd": [ "Lord" ], "closing": "\\nd*" }, ", I have heard of what you have done,", { "q2": null }, "and I am filled with awe.", { "q1": null }, "Now do again in our times", { "q2": null }, "the great deeds you used to do.", { "q1": null }, "Be merciful, even when you are angry." ] } ] } ], "_messages": { "_warnings": [ "Book code is in lowercase." ] } }	{ "book": { "bookCode": "HAB", "description": "45HABGNT92.usfm, Good News Translation, June 2003" }, "chapters": [ { "chapterNumber": "3", "contents": [ { "verseNumber": "1", "verseText": "This is a prayer of the prophet Habakkuk:" }, { "verseNumber": "2", "verseText": "O Lord , I have heard of what you have done, and I am filled with awe. Now do again in our times the great deeds you used to do. Be merciful, even when you are angry." } ] } ], "_messages": { "_warnings": [ "Book code is in lowercase. " ] } }

The converted JSON structure adheres to the JSON Schema defined here.

The converted JSON uses USFM marker names as its property names along with the following additional names:
book, bookCode, description, meta, chapters, contents, verseNumber, verseText, attributes, defaultAttribute, closing, footnote, endnote, extended-footnote, cross-ref, extended-cross-ref, caller (used within notes), list, table, header (used within table), milestone and namespace.

Installation

The parser is available on NPM and can be installed by:

npm install usfm-grammar

Usage

Command Line Interface (CLI)

To use this tool from the command line install it globally like:

npm install -g usfm-grammar

Then from the command line (terminal) to convert a valid USFM file into JSON (on stdout) run:

usfm-grammar /path/to/file.usfm

$ usfm-grammar -h
usfm-grammar <file>

Parse/validate USFM 3.x to/from JSON.

Positionals:
  file  The path of the USFM or JSON file to be parsed and/or converted. By
        default, auto-detects input USFM and converts it into JSON and
        vice-versa.

Options:
  -l, --level    Level of strictness in parsing. This defaults to `strict`.
                                                            [choices: "relaxed"]
      --filter   Filter out content from input USFM. Not applicable for input
                 JSON or for CSV/TSV output.              [choices: "scripture"]
  -o, --output   The output format to convert input into.
                                         [choices: "csv", "tsv", "usfm", "json"]
  -h, --help     Show help                                             [boolean]
  -v, --version  Show version number                                   [boolean]

The options -l (--level) and --filter do not have any effect if used for JSON to USFM conversion.

JavaScript APIs

USFM to JSON

1. USFMParser.toJSON()
2. USFMParser.toJSON(grammar.FILTER.SCRIPTURE)

const grammar = require('usfm-grammar');

var input = '\\id PSA\n\\c 1\n\\p\n\\v 1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,';

const myUsfmParser = new grammar.USFMParser(input);

// Returns JSON representation of a valid input USFM string
var jsonOutput = myUsfmParser.toJSON();

// Returns a simplified (scripture-only) JSON representation while excluding other USFM content
var scriptureJsonOutput = myUsfmParser.toJSON(grammar.FILTER.SCRIPTURE);

Note
If you intend to re-convert a USFM from the generated JSON, we recommend using .toJSON() without the grammar.FILTER.SCRIPTURE option in order to retain all information of the original USFM file.

relaxed Mode
There is high chance that a USFM file you encounter in the wild is not fully valid according to the specifications. In order to accomodate such cases and provide a parse-able output to work with we created a relaxed mode. This maybe used as shown:

const myRelaxedUsfmParser = new grammar.USFMParser(input, grammar.LEVEL.RELAXED);
var jsonOutput = myRelaxedUsfmParser.toJSON();

The relaxed mode provides relaxation from checking several rules in the USFM specifcation. It tries hard to accomodate non-standard USFM markup and attempts to generate a JSON output for it. Only the most important markers are checked for, like the \id at the start, presence of \c and \v markers. Though all the markers in the input USFM file are preserved in the generated JSON output, their syntax or their positions in the file is not verified for correctness. Even misspelled markers would be accepted!

Caution: Errors may go unnoticed that might lead to loss of information when using the relaxed mode. For example, if the input USFM has erroneously does not have a space between the verse marker and the verse number (e.g. \v3) the parser in relaxed mode would treat it as a separate marker (v3 as opposed to v) and fail to recognise it is a verse. The right (or the hard) thing to do is fix the markup according to the specification. We generally recommend using the grammar in the default mode.

Validate USFM

3. USFMParser.validate()

// Returns a Boolean indicating whether the input USFM text satisfies the grammar or not. 
// This method is available in both default and relaxed modes.
var isUsfmValid = myUsfmParser.validate();

JSON to USFM

Note

• The input JSON should have been generated by usfm-grammar (or in the same format).
• If a USFM file is converted to JSON and then back to USFM, the re-created USFM will have the same contents but spacing and new-lines will be normalized.

4. JSONParser.toUSFM()

const myJsonParser = new grammar.JSONParser(jsonOutput);

// Returns the original USFM that was previously converted to JSON
let reCreatedUsfm = myJsonParser.toUSFM();

This method works with JSON output created with or without the grammar.FILTER.SCRIPTURE option.

Validate JSON

5. JSONParser.validate()

// Returns a Boolean indicating whether the input JSON confines to grammar.JSONSchemaDefinition. 
var isJsonValid = myJsonParser.validate();

USFM/JSON to CSV/TSV

6. USFMParser.toCSV()

7. JSONParser.toCSV()

8. USFMParser.toTSV()

9. JSONParser.toTSV()

// Example usage:
// Returns CSV and TSV from a USFM, respectively
var csvString = myUsfmParser.toCSV();
var tsvString = myUsfmParser.toTSV();

The toCSV() and toTSV() methods return a tabular representation of the verses in the format:

<BOOK, CHAPTER, VERSE-NUMBER, VERSE-TEXT>