Parse partial syntax

[tpluscode]

Could it be possible to expose utils to parse portions of SPARQL? This would help working with sparqljs where I need to generate some JS representation programmatically but the code becomes quite verbose.

For example, I want to create a BindExpression for this snippet

BIND(IF(REGEX(str(?res), ?resourcePattern), ?pagePattern, 1/0) as ?page)

is create like

const expression = {
                        type: 'bind',
                        variable: { termType: 'Variable', value: 'page' },
                        expression: {
                            type: 'operation',
                            operator: 'if',
                            args: [
                                {
                                    type: 'operation',
                                    operator: 'regex',
                                    args: [
                                        {
                                            type: 'operation',
                                            operator: 'str',
                                            args: [
                                                { termType: 'Variable', value: 'res' }
                                            ]
                                        },
                                        this.factory.variable('resourcePattern'),
                                    ]
                                },
                                this.factory.variable('pagePattern'),
                                {
                                    type: 'operation',
                                    operator: '/',
                                    args: [
                                        toRdf(1),
                                        toRdf(0),
                                    ]
                                }
                            ]
                        }
                    }

It would be much more efficient to write something like

let parser

parser.parseBindExpression('BIND(IF(REGEX(str(?res), ?resourcePattern), ?pagePattern, 1/0) as ?page)')

Combined with @tpluscode/sparql-builder, I could also interpolate RDF/JS terms

import { sparql } from '@tpluscode/sparql-builder'
import rdf from '@rdfjs/data-model'

let parser

let pageVar = rdf.variable('page')

parser.parseBindExpression(sparql`BIND(IF(REGEX(str(?res), ?resourcePattern), ?pagePattern, 1/0) as ${pageVar})`)

[RubenVerborgh]

Do check with @jitsedesmet; we are retiring SPARQL.js in favor of https://github.com/comunica/traqula, you might want to reuse directly from there.

[tpluscode]

I did not see that coming. Will this be backwards compatible?

[rubensworks]

We're still working on a proper deprecation announcement: comunica/traqula#83
But here's some background in the meantime: https://comunica.dev/blog/2026-01-07-release_5_0/#---modularized-query-parsing-and-algebra-with-traqula

[jitsedesmet]

Hey, good and bad news.

BAD: It will not be entirely backwards compatible.
GOOD: it does solve your problem.

More on why breaking:

1. The AST generated by SPRARQL.js is sometimes rather weird (I do not know an example any more, since this has been a year now)
2. The AST contrasted with another feature we wanted to support, namely round tripping generation.

Not that it matters here maybe but: Traqula would also deprecate SPARQLAlgebra.js and there the changes have been much less breaking.

[jitsedesmet]

@tpluscode I recently added a migration guide to Traqula's docs in case you are interested.