prod_op : term prod_op_[ $item[1] ] prod_op_ : PROD term prod_op_[ [ $item[1], $arg[0], $item[2] ] ] | { $arg[0] } #### prod_op : term prod_op_[ $item[1] ] prod_op_ : PROD term prod_op_[ [ $item[1], $arg[0], $item[2] ] ] | | { $arg[0] } #### 4 * 5 >> match ===== {201({2}} ERROR (line 1): GRRRRRRRRRRRR >> no match ===== 4 * {201({2}} ERROR (line 1): GRRRRRRRRRRRR ERROR (line 1): Expecting term following operator >> no match #### use strict; use warnings; use Parse::RecDescent qw( ); { my $grammar = <<'__EOI__'; { use strict; use warnings; } parse : prod_op /^\Z/ prod_op : term prod_op_[ $item[1] ] prod_op_ : PROD term prod_op_[ [ $item[1], $arg[0], $item[2] ] ] | | { $arg[0] } term : NUMBER | abstraction abstraction : '{' NUMBER '(' NUMBER ')' '}' | '{' NUMBER '}' | PROD : '*' NUMBER : /[+-]?(?:\d+\.?\d*|\.\d+)/ __EOI__ my $parser = Parse::RecDescent->new($grammar) or die; # $::RD_TRACE = 'defined'; my $not_first; foreach my $text ( '4 * 5', '{201({2}}', '4 * {201({2}}', ) { print("\n=====\n\n") if $not_first++; print("$text\n"); print("\n>> ", defined($parser->parse($text)) ? 'match' : 'no match', "\n"); } }