The term 'parser' can be used in several, related, senses. In natural language processing a parser is the code that execute during syntactic analysis to match the gramamr of the language. The term is also used in pattern matching systems, for example, in entity recognition used in data preparation or data detectors to match particular kinds of data such as serial numbers, addresses or formulae. It can also be used in compilers and interpreters of programming languages when matching code to the formal grammar of the language.
Used on pages 291, 297, 300