Operator Associativity

By default, all binary operators are left associative. That means if you give a string, such as @"1 - 2 - 3", it will be parsed as @"(1 - 2) - 3.

The exception to this is the power operator (**), which has its associativity determined at runtime. The reason for this is that the power operator is supposed to be right associative, but is interpreted by NSPredicate as left associative (rdar://problem/8692313). DDParser performs a test to match the associativity used by NSPredicate.

If you want this operator (or any binary operator) to be parsed with specific associativity, you can do so like this:

DDParser *parser = [DDParser parserWithString:@"2 ** 3 ** 2"];
[parser setPowerAssociativity:DDOperatorAssociativityRight];
NSError *error = nil;
DDExpression *e = [parser parsedExpressionWithError:&error];

All binary operators can have their associativity changed this way. If you want to change the associativity of an operator for all future parsings, you can use the class methods on DDParser to do so. For example:

NSLog(@"%@", [@"1 - 2 - 3" numberByEvaluatingString]); //logs -4
[DDParser setDefaultAdditionAssociativity:DDOperatorAssociativityRight];
NSLog(@"%@", [@"1 - 2 - 3" numberByEvaluatingString]); //logs 2

Changing the default associativity only affects parsers instantiated after the change. It does not affect existing parsers.