ANTLR v4 is a powerful tool used for building new programming languages and processing/translating structured text or binary files. ANTLR uses a grammar you create to generate a parser which can build and traverse a parse tree (or abstract syntax tree, AST). The parser consists of output files in a target language that you specify. ANTLR v4 supports several targets including: Java, C#, JavaScript, Python2, and Python3. Support for C++ is being worked on. For working in GUI IDEs, there are plug-ins for Visual Studio, Intellij, NetBeans, and Eclipse.

For general information, visit the ANTLR website. To get serious about ANTLR, check out the highly recommended book written by Terrence Parr (the guy who created ANTLR) The Definitive ANTLR 4 Reference.

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Significant Version Info

• 4.5: 01/22/15 - Added JavaScript target and upgraded C# target. 4.5 Release Notes
• 4.4: 07/16/14 - Added Python2 and Python3 as targets. 4.4 Release Notes
• 4.3: 06/18/14 - Major bug fixes; prepared for adding new targets. 4.3 Release Notes
• 4.2: 02/04/14 - Improved syntax for selecting/matching parse trees. 4.2 Release Notes
• 4.1: 06/30/13 - Improved parsing performance; export ASTs to PNG. 4.1 Release Notes
• 4.0: 01/21/13 - Initial release.

ANTLR (ANother Tool for Language Recognition) is a powerful parser generator for reading, processing, executing, or translating structured text or binary files. It's widely used to build languages, tools, and frameworks. From a grammar, ANTLR generates a parser that can build and walk parse trees.

• Official antlr website (always points to the latest version)

Antlr Versions
Antlr is separated in two big parts, the grammar (grammar files) and the generated code files, which derive from the grammar based on target language. The antlr versions are in the format of V1.V2.V3 :

• V1: Change in V1 means that new syntax of features were introduced in grammar files
• V2: Change in V2 means that new features or major fixes were introduced in the generated files (e.g addition of new functions)
• V3: stands for bug fixes or minor improvements

Runtime Libraries and Code Generation Targets
The Antlr tool is written in Java, however it is able to generate parsers and lexers in various languages. To run the parser and lexer you will also need having the runtime library of antlr alongside with the parser and lexer code. The supported target language (and runtime libraries) are the following:

• Java

• C#

• Python (2 and 3)

• JavaScript