apache / apache/datafusion-sqlparser-rs

Eliminating whitespace from the parser logic

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Rust
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Description

Hi,

At this time, whitespace tokens are stored in the parser, and are then filtered out in several distinct points in the parser logic, such as:

* https://github.com/apache/datafusion-sqlparser-rs/blob/67684c84d4c2589356c411ea4917dcf1defcd77c/src/parser/mod.rs#L4032-L4049
* https://github.com/apache/datafusion-sqlparser-rs/blob/67684c84d4c2589356c411ea4917dcf1defcd77c/src/parser/mod.rs#L4055-L4069
* https://github.com/apache/datafusion-sqlparser-rs/blob/67684c84d4c2589356c411ea4917dcf1defcd77c/src/parser/mod.rs#L4077-L4094
* https://github.com/apache/datafusion-sqlparser-rs/blob/67684c84d4c2589356c411ea4917dcf1defcd77c/src/parser/mod.rs#L4149-L4160
* https://github.com/apache/datafusion-sqlparser-rs/blob/67684c84d4c2589356c411ea4917dcf1defcd77c/src/parser/mod.rs#L4183-L4202

and many more.

SQL, as far as I know, is not a language that cares about spaces like Python - it should be safe to remove all concepts of whitespaces after [the tokenization process](https://github.com/apache/datafusion-sqlparser-rs/blob/67684c84d4c2589356c411ea4917dcf1defcd77c/src/tokenizer.rs#L937-L942) is complete, and this should:

* Reduce memory requirements, as whitespace tokens would not be stored anymore
* Significantly simplify parser logic by removing all of the whitespace-related logic from the parser
* Move the parser closer to a streaming logic, but that will require many more PRs

Since such a PR would require quite a bit of effort on my part, I would appreciate some feedback on it before moving forward with it.

@iffyio do you happen to have any opinion regarding such a refactoring?

Ciao,
Luca

Contributor guide

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Research direction

Start by reading the linked tokenizer section in src/tokenizer.rs and the whitespace-handling examples in src/parser/mod.rs. Trace how whitespace tokens move from tokenization into parser filtering, then review related parser tests if found. Done means the proposed whitespace-handling refactor is consistently defined and its parser behavior remains covered.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust, sql
Domain
compilers, databases
Issue type
Refactor
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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