You have some excellent advice above on how to use Parse::RecDescent. My advice to you, however, is not to use it at all.

A recursive descent parser can deal with very complicated grammars, but the one you're dealing with is very simple. As a matter of fact, it looks like you could write a loop that reads a line, then dispatches based on its first three characters. Using a full-blown recursive descent parser in this situation is like swatting a fly with a sledgehammer. (Unless the grammar above is just an illustration and the real one is more complicated.)

As for maintainability: if the code can really be as simple as I've outlined above, then I'd say the simplicity would make a greater contribution to maintainability than the use of a standard module would. In other words, I think reading through a simple read/dispatch loop with four clauses -- HDR, TLR, ADD, DEL -- is as simple (if not simpler) than digesting the grammar above. And simplicity is one of the keys to maintainability.

In reply to Re: advice with Parse::RecDescent by VSarkiss
in thread advice with Parse::RecDescent by demerphq

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