Allow bareword keys in nested action-arg hashes#78
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jrfaeder merged 1 commit intoMay 11, 2026
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BNGL inherits Perl's `=>` fat-comma semantics, so action arguments like
`generate_network({overwrite=>1,max_stoich=>{R=>6}})` are syntactically
valid even though the inner hash key `R` is unquoted. The pyparsing
grammar in `ActionList.define_parser()` required `quote_word` for
nested-curly keys, so any model that relied on bareword keys (notably
`max_stoich=>{<molecule>=><N>}`) failed at parse time before BNG2.pl
was ever invoked.
Accept either bareword or quoted keys inside nested hashes:
curly_arg_token = (base_name ^ quote_word) + "=>" + arg_type_int
The existing dict-handling path in `BNGParser._parse_action_line` rebuilds
the literal substring verbatim, so round-trip via `Action.gen_string()`
is unchanged.
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Summary
BNGL inherits Perl's `=>` fat-comma semantics, so action arguments like `generate_network({overwrite=>1,max_stoich=>{R=>6}})` are syntactically valid even though the inner hash key `R` is unquoted (the `=>` auto-quotes its left operand).
The pyparsing grammar in `ActionList.define_parser()` (`bionetgen/core/utils/utils.py`) requires `quote_word` for nested-curly keys, so any model that uses bareword keys — notably `max_stoich=>{=>}` — fails at parse time before BNG2.pl is ever invoked.
Fix
Accept either bareword or quoted keys inside nested hashes:
```python
curly_arg_token = (base_name ^ quote_word) + "=>" + arg_type_int
```
The existing dict-handling path in `BNGParser._parse_action_line` rebuilds the literal substring verbatim, so round-trip via `Action.gen_string()` is unchanged.
Test plan