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Jexl

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Javascript Expression Language: Powerful context-based expression parser and evaluator

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# Jexl [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/TomFrost/Jexl.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/TomFrost/Jexl)

Javascript Expression Language: Powerful context-based expression parser and evaluator

## Quick start

Use it with promises or synchronously:

```javascript
const context = {
  name: { first: 'Sterling', last: 'Archer' },
  assoc: [
    { first: 'Lana', last: 'Kane' },
    { first: 'Cyril', last: 'Figgis' },
    { first: 'Pam', last: 'Poovey' }
  ],
  age: 36
}

// Filter an array asynchronously...
await const res = jexl.eval('assoc[.first == "Lana"].last', context)
console.log(res) // Output: Kane

// Or synchronously!
console.log(jexl.evalSync('assoc[.first == "Lana"].last')) // Output: Kane

// Do math
await jexl.eval('age * (3 - 1)', context)
// 72

// Concatenate
await jexl.eval('name.first + " " + name["la" + "st"]', context)
// "Sterling Archer"

// Compound
await jexl.eval(
  'assoc[.last == "Figgis"].first == "Cyril" && assoc[.last == "Poovey"].first == "Pam"',
  context
)
// true

// Use array indexes
await jexl.eval('assoc[1]', context)
// { first: 'Cyril', last: 'Figgis' }

// Use conditional logic
await jexl.eval('age > 62 ? "retired" : "working"', context)
// "working"

// Transform
jexl.addTransform('upper', (val) => val.toUpperCase())
await jexl.eval('"duchess"|upper + " " + name.last|upper', context)
// "DUCHESS ARCHER"

// Transform asynchronously, with arguments
jexl.addTransform('getStat', async (val, stat) => dbSelectByLastName(val, stat))
try {
  const res = await jexl.eval('name.last|getStat("weight")', context)
  console.log(res) // Output: 184
} catch (e) {
  console.log('Database Error', e.stack)
}

// Functions too, sync or async, args or no args
jexl.addFunction('getOldestAgent', () => db.getOldestAgent())
await jexl.eval('age == getOldestAgent().age', context)
// false

// Add your own (a)synchronous operators
// Here's a case-insensitive string equality
jexl.addBinaryOp(
  '_=',
  20,
  (left, right) => left.toLowerCase() === right.toLowerCase()
)
await jexl.eval('"Guest" _= "gUeSt"')
// true

// Compile your expression once, evaluate many times!
const { expr } = jexl
const danger = expr`"Danger " + place` // Also: jexl.compile('"Danger " + place')
danger.evalSync({ place: 'zone' }) // Danger zone
danger.evalSync({ place: 'ZONE!!!' }) // Danger ZONE!!! (Doesn't recompile the expression!)
```

## Play with it

- [Jexl Playground](https://czosel.github.io/jexl-playground/) - An interactive Jexl sandbox by Christian Zosel [@czosel](https://github.com/czosel).
- [Jexl on RunKit](https://npm.runkit.com/jexl) - JS sandbox with Jexl preloaded. Special thanks to Mike Cunneen [@cunneen](https://github.com/cunneen).

## Installation

Jexl works on the backend, and on the frontend if bundled using a bundler like Parcel or Webpack.

Install from npm:

npm install jexl --save

or yarn:

yarn add jexl

and use it:

const jexl = require('jexl')

## Async vs Sync: Which to use

There is little performance difference between `eval` and `evalSync`. The functional
difference is that, if `eval` is used, Jexl can be customized with asynchronous operators,
transforms, and even wait for unresolved promises in the context object with zero additional
overhead or handling on the programmer's part. `evalSync` eliminates those advantages,
exposing the expression to raw Promise objects if any are returned as the result of a
custom transform or operator. However, if your application doesn't require async methods,
the `evalSync` API can be simpler to use.

## All the details

### Unary Operators

| Operation | Symbol |
| --------- | :----: |
| Negate    |   !    |

### Binary Operators

| Operation        |    Symbol    |
| ---------------- | :----------: |
| Add, Concat      |      +       |
| Subtract         |      -       |
| Multiply         |      \*      |
| Divide           |      /       |
| Divide and floor |      //      |
| Modulus          |      %       |
| Power of         |      ^       |
| Logical AND      |      &&      |
| Logical OR       | &#124;&#124; |

### Comparisons

| Comparison                 | Symbol |
| -------------------------- | :----: |
| Equal                      |   ==   |
| Not equal                  |   !=   |
| Greater than               |   >    |
| Greater than or equal      |   >=   |
| Less than                  |   <    |
| Less than or equal         |   <=   |
| Element in array or string |   in   |

#### A note about `in`

The `in` operator can be used to check for a substring:
`"Cad" in "Ron Cadillac"`, and it can be used to check for an array element:
`"coarse" in ['fine', 'medium', 'coarse']`. However, the `==` operator is used
behind-the-scenes to search arrays, so it should not be used with arrays of
objects. The following expression returns false: `{a: 'b'} in [{a: 'b'}]`.

### Ternary operator

Conditional expressions check to see if the first segment evaluates to a truthy
value. If so, the consequent segment is evaluated. Otherwise, the alternate
is. If the consequent section is missing, the test result itself will be used
instead.

| Expression                        | Result |
| --------------------------------- | ------ |
| "" ? "Full" : "Empty"             | Empty  |
| "foo" in "foobar" ? "Yes" : "No"  | Yes    |
| {agent: "Archer"}.agent ?: "Kane" | Archer |

### Native Types

| Type     |            Examples            |
| -------- | :----------------------------: |
| Booleans |        `true`, `false`         |
| Strings  | "Hello \"user\"", 'Hey there!' |
| Numerics |      6, -7.2, 5, -3.14159      |
| Objects  |       {hello: "world!"}        |
| Arrays   |      ['hello', 'world!']       |

### Groups

Parentheses work just how you'd expect them to:

| Expression                          | Result |
| ----------------------------------- | :----- |
| (83 + 1) / 2                        | 42     |
| 1 < 3 && (4 > 2 &#124;&#124; 2 > 4) | true   |

### Identifiers

Access variables in the context object by just typing their name. Objects can
be traversed with dot notation, or by using brackets to traverse to a dynamic
property name.

Example context:

```javascript
{
  name: {
    first: "Malory",
    last: "Archer"
  },
  exes: [
    "Nikolai Jakov",
    "Len Trexler",
    "Burt Reynolds"
  ],
  lastEx: 2
}
```

| Expression        | Result        |
| ----------------- | ------------- |
| name.first        | Malory        |
| name['la' + 'st'] | Archer        |
| exes[2]           | Burt Reynolds |
| exes[lastEx - 1]  | Len Trexler   |

### Collections

Collections, or arrays of objects, can be filtered by including a filter
expression in brackets. Properties of each collection can be referenced by
prefixing them with a leading dot. The result will be an array of the objects
for which the filter expression resulted in a truthy value.

Example context:

```javascript
{
    employees: [
        {first: 'Sterling', last: 'Archer', age: 36},
        {first: 'Malory', last: 'Archer', age: 75},
        {first: 'Lana', last: 'Kane', age: 33},
        {first: 'Cyril', last: 'Figgis', age: 45},
        {first: 'Cheryl', last: 'Tunt', age: 28}
    ],
    retireAge: 62
}
```

| Expression                                    | Result                                                                                |
| --------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| employees[.first == 'Sterling']               | [{first: 'Sterling', last: 'Archer', age: 36}]                                        |
| employees[.last == 'Tu' + 'nt'].first         | Cheryl                                                                                |
| employees[.age >= 30 && .age < 40]            | [{first: 'Sterling', last: 'Archer', age: 36},{first: 'Lana', last: 'Kane', age: 33}] |
| employees[.age >= 30 && .age < 40][.age < 35] | [{first: 'Lana', last: 'Kane', age: 33}]                                              |
| employees[.age >= retireAge].first            | Malory                                                                                |

### Transforms

The power of Jexl is in transforming data, synchronously or asynchronously.
Transform functions take one or more arguments: The value to be transformed,
followed by anything else passed to it in the expression. They must return
either the transformed value, or a Promise that resolves with the transformed
value. Add them with `jexl.addTransform(name, function)`.

```javascript
jexl.addTransform('split', (val, char) => val.split(char))
jexl.addTransform('lower', (val) => val.toLowerCase())
```

| Expression                                 | Result                |
| ------------------------------------------ | --------------------- |
| "Pam Poovey"&#124;lower&#124;split(' ')[1] | poovey                |
| "password==guest"&#124;split('=' + '=')    | ['password', 'guest'] |

#### Advanced Transforms

Using Transforms, Jexl can support additional string formats like embedded
JSON, YAML, XML, and more. The following, with the help of the
[xml2json](https://github.com/buglabs/node-xml2json) module, allows XML to be
traversed just as easily as plain javascript objects:

```javascript
const xml2json = require('xml2json')

jexl.addTransform('xml', (val) => xml2json.toJson(val, { object: true }))

const context = {
  xmlDoc: `
    <Employees>
      <Employee>
        <FirstName>Cheryl</FirstName>
        <LastName>Tunt</LastName>
      </Employee>
      <Employee>
        <FirstName>Cyril</FirstName>
        <LastName>Figgis</LastName>
      </Employee>
    </Employees>`
}

var expr = 'xmlDoc|xml.Employees.Employee[.LastName == "Figgis"].FirstName'

jexl.eval(expr, context).then(console.log) // Output: Cyril
```

### Functions

While Transforms are the preferred way to change one value into another value,
Jexl also allows top-level expression functions to be defined. Use these to
provide access to functions that either don't require an input, or require
multiple equally-important inputs. They can be added with
`jexl.addFunction(name, function)`. Like transforms, functions can return a
value, or a Promise that resolves to the resulting value.

```javascript
jexl.addFunction('min', Math.min)
jexl.addFunction('expensiveQuery', async () => db.runExpensiveQuery())
```

| Expression                                    | Result                    |
| --------------------------------------------- | ------------------------- |
| min(4, 2, 19)                                 | 2                         |
| counts.missions &#124;&#124; expensiveQuery() | Query only runs if needed |

### Context

Variable contexts are straightforward Javascript objects that can be accessed
in the expression, but they have a hidden feature: they can include a Promise
object, and when that property is used, Jexl will wait for the Promise to
resolve and use that value!

## API

### Jexl

#### jexl.Jexl

A reference to the Jexl constructor. To maintain separate instances of Jexl
with each maintaining its own set of transforms, simply re-instantiate with
`new jexl.Jexl()`.

#### jexl.addBinaryOp(_{string} operator_, _{number} precedence_, _{function} fn_, _{boolean} [manualEval]_)

Adds a binary operator to the Jexl instance. A binary operator is one that
considers the values on both its left and right, such as "+" or "==", in order
to calculate a result. The precedence determines the operator's position in the
order of operations (please refer to `lib/grammar.js` to see the precedence of
existing operators). The provided function will be called with two arguments:
a left value and a right value. It should return either the resulting value,
or a Promise that resolves to the resulting value.

If `manualEval` is true, the `left` and `right` arguments will be wrapped in
objects with an `eval` function. Calling `left.eval()` or `right.eval()` will
return a promise that resolves to that operand's actual value. This is useful to
conditionally evaluate operands, and is how `&&` and `||` work.

#### jexl.addUnaryOp(_{string} operator_, _{function} fn_)

Adds a unary operator to the Jexl instance. A unary operator is one that
considers only the value on its right, such as "!", in order to calculate a
result. The provided function will be called with one argument: the value to
the operator's right. It should return either the resulting value, or a Promise
that resolves to the resulting value.

#### jexl.addFunction(_{string} name_, \_{function} func)

Adds an expression function to this Jexl instance. See the **Functions**
section above for information on the structure of an expression function.

#### jexl.addFunctions(_{{}} map_)

Adds multiple functions from a supplied map of function name to expression
function.

#### jexl.addTransform(_{string} name_, _{function} transform_)

Adds a transform function to this Jexl instance. See the **Transforms**
section above for information on the structure of a transform function.

#### jexl.addTransforms(_{{}} map_)

Adds multiple transforms from a supplied map of transform name to transform
function.

#### jexl.compile(_{string} expression_)

Constructs an Expression object around the given Jexl expression string.
Expression objects allow a Jexl expression to be compiled only once but
evaluated many times. See the Expression API below. Note that the only
difference between this function and `jexl.createExpression` is that this
function will immediately compile the expression, and throw any errors
associated with invalid expression syntax.

#### jexl.createExpression(_{string} expression_)

Constructs an Expression object around the given Jexl expression string.
Expression objects allow a Jexl expression to be compiled only once but
evaluated many times. See the Expression API below.

#### jexl.getTransform(_{string} name_)

**Returns `{function|undefined}`.** Gets a previously set transform function,
or `undefined` if no function of that name exists.

#### jexl.eval(_{string} expression_, _{{}} [context]_)

**Returns `{Promise<*>}`.** Evaluates an expression. The context map is optional.

#### jexl.evalSync(_{string} expression_, _{{}} [context]_)

**Returns `{*}`.** Evaluates an expression and returns the result. The context map
is optional.

#### jexl.expr: _tagged template literal_

A convenient bit of syntactic sugar for `jexl.createExpression`

```javascript
const someNumber = 10
const expression = jexl.expr`5 + ${someNumber}`
console.log(expression.evalSync()) // 15
```

Note that `expr` will stay bound to its associated Jexl instance even if it's
pulled out of context:

```javascript
const { expr } = jexl
jexl.addTransform('double', (val) => val * 2)
const expression = expr`2|double`
console.log(expression.evalSync()) // 4
```

#### jexl.removeOp(_{string} operator_)

Removes a binary or unary operator from the Jexl instance. For example, "^" can
be passed to eliminate the "power of" operator.

### Expression

Expression objects are created via `jexl.createExpression`, `jexl.compile`, or
`jexl.expr`, and are a convenient way to ensure jexl expressions compile only
once, even if they're evaluated multiple times.

#### expression.compile()

**Returns self `{Expression}`.** Forces the expression to compile, even if it
was compiled before. Note that each compile will happen with the latest grammar
and transforms from the associated Jexl instance.

#### expression.eval(_{{}} [context]_)

**Returns `{Promise<*>}`.** Evaluates the expression. The context map is
optional.

#### expression.evalSync(_{{}} [context]_)

**Returns `{*}`.** Evaluates the expression and returns the result. The context
map is optional.

## Other implementations

[PyJEXL](https://github.com/mozilla/pyjexl) - A Python-based JEXL parser and evaluator.

## License

Jexl is licensed under the MIT license. Please see `LICENSE.txt` for full details.

## Credits

Created by [Tom Shawver](https://github.com/TomFrost) in 2015 and contributed to by [these great people](https://github.com/TomFrost/Jexl/graphs/contributors).

Jexl was originally created at [TechnologyAdvice](http://technologyadvice.com) in Nashville, TN.

Jexl

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