@tikoci/centrs 0.1.3 → 0.1.4

package/src/explain/args.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,1403 @@
+/**
+ * Statement-scope ARGUMENT lexing for `explain` (#202c).
+ *
+ * Phase 0.5 promoted nine analyzers that answer where a statement STARTS, where
+ * its menu ends and its verb begins — and stop there. `structure.statements[]`
+ * has carried `path` + `verb` and no arguments since #202a, with the gap
+ * written down (`commands/explain/README.md` → *What phase 1 offline actually
+ * emits*): splitting one statement's arguments needs a lexer for quoted values,
+ * `[…]` selectors and `?` queries at statement scope, and it was parked until
+ * `--curl` made it load-bearing. This is that lexer.
+ *
+ * ## It abstains for the WHOLE statement, never per token
+ *
+ * The consumer is a REST mapping that renders a runnable `curl` body. A
+ * partially-read argument list is worse there than no list at all: dropping one
+ * token silently changes what the rendered command DOES, which is the
+ * fabrication the fail-closed floor exists to prevent. So every token must be
+ * decided, or {@link lexArguments} decides nothing and says why. The price is
+ * measured rather than assumed — see the abstention rates in the #202c PR body.
+ *
+ * ## What it refuses, and why each refusal is a fact rather than a gap
+ *
+ *   - **A value that is not a literal.** `[…]` command substitution, `(…)`
+ *     expression, `$var`, `{…}` array — the token's VALUE is whatever RouterOS
+ *     computes at run time, so offline has no value to send. (`canonicalize
+ *     ExecuteCommand` takes the same line for `[`/`]` and falls back to script
+ *     mode, `src/execute.ts`.)
+ *   - **An escape inside a quoted value.** `\n`/`\xHH`/`\"` need a decoder to
+ *     turn source bytes into the value the device receives, and a decoder that
+ *     is wrong about one escape corrupts a write. Decoding is grounded work
+ *     (#225's probe matrix territory), not something to guess at here.
+ *   - **A name that is not a name.** `{a=1;b=2}` fuses an array literal into
+ *     what looks like `name=value`, which the phase-0 Q0 catalog measured as the
+ *     IL oracle's own worst confusion (383 corpus hits). A token whose left side
+ *     is not a bare RouterOS name is not read as an attribute.
+ *   - **A `\<newline>` continuation.** The bytes of a continued value are not
+ *     contiguous, so a `valueSpan` over them would be a lie. `verbsplit.ts`'s
+ *     word scanner handles continuations for the run END; a VALUE needs its
+ *     interior, which is exactly what a continuation breaks.
+ *
+ * ## It emits no defects
+ *
+ * Every defect class this scan could raise (`unterminated-string`,
+ * `bad-escape`, `unclosed`) is already located document-wide by `segment.ts` and
+ * `symbols.ts`, whose regions are the ratified ones. Re-raising them here with
+ * statement-relative regions would double-report the same byte range under two
+ * spans, which `attributeDefects` (`src/explain.ts`) cannot de-duplicate because
+ * the regions differ. A defect the caller can see is not this module's to
+ * re-announce; the abstention reason names it instead.
+ */
+
+import { isScopeBrace } from "./blocks.ts";
+import { braceSlotAcceptsBrace, braceSlotTakesArray } from "./brace-slots.ts";
+import { braceStartsStatements } from "./scope-brace.ts";
+import { maskComments, scanQuotedString } from "./segment.ts";
+
+/** A RouterOS argument name: bare word, optionally dotted (`.id`, `.proplist`). */
+const ARGUMENT_NAME = /^\.?[A-Za-z][A-Za-z0-9._-]*$/;
+
+/** What one argument token is. */
+export type ArgumentKind = "attribute" | "positional" | "query";
+
+/**
+ * One argument token, located in the text it was lexed from.
+ *
+ * The ordered list is the primary shape and the object view is derived from it
+ * (the phase-0 normal form: "an ordered token/argument list with spans, never a
+ * pre-reduced args object"). Order and multiplicity are observable here and are
+ * flattened by {@link ArgumentReading.args}, so a consumer that needs to know a
+ * name was given twice still can.
+ */
+export interface Argument {
+	kind: ArgumentKind;
+	/** The whole token, in the coordinate space of the text passed to the lexer. */
+	span: { start: number; end: number };
+	/** Attribute name / query word. Absent on a positional. */
+	name?: string;
+	/**
+	 * The token's LITERAL value, quotes removed — for an attribute the part after
+	 * `=`, for a positional the whole token.
+	 *
+	 * **Absent means there is no literal value**, whatever the kind: the source
+	 * spells a substitution, an expression, or an escape this phase does not
+	 * decode. A consumer rendering a runnable command must read this field, not
+	 * `text`, and must treat absence as "not renderable" — `text` is the source
+	 * bytes, which are not the value the device would receive. A query is always
+	 * absent: `?` words are a grammar of their own and splitting them is not this
+	 * lexer's claim to make.
+	 */
+	value?: string;
+	/** Where the value sits, quotes INCLUDED. Absent whenever `value` is. */
+	valueSpan?: { start: number; end: number };
+	/** The token verbatim, for a positional and for rendering. */
+	text: string;
+}
+
+/** Internal token classification; quote state is stripped from the REST view. */
+interface ReadArgument extends Argument {
+	literalQuoted?: boolean;
+	/** A located structured literal that the strict REST view still refuses. */
+	sourceShape?: "array";
+}
+
+/** Every token decided. */
+export interface ArgumentsRead {
+	read: true;
+	tokens: Argument[];
+	/**
+	 * The derived object view: attribute names to values, LAST occurrence winning
+	 * — the reading `canonicalizeExecuteCommand` already applies to a repeated
+	 * name (`src/execute.ts`), so the gate and the analysis cannot disagree about
+	 * a duplicate. `tokens` is where multiplicity survives.
+	 */
+	args: Record<string, string>;
+	/** `?`-prefixed query words, in order, verbatim. */
+	queries: string[];
+	/**
+	 * Bare tokens, in order — an id (`*1`), a `where`, a `find` operand — as
+	 * SOURCE text. A consumer needing the value reads `tokens` (see
+	 * {@link Argument.value}); this list exists so the common "is there an id"
+	 * question needs no walk.
+	 */
+	positional: string[];
+}
+
+/** Nothing decided, and the reason. */
+export interface ArgumentsUnread {
+	read: false;
+	/** Why the lexer refused. Rendered into the transport basis, never dropped. */
+	why: string;
+}
+
+export type ArgumentReading = ArgumentsRead | ArgumentsUnread;
+
+/** What a located value IS: a command's argument, or one array member. */
+export type ValueAnchorKind = Exclude<ArgumentKind, "query"> | "element";
+
+/** One safely located value shape, before any later unreadable token. */
+export interface ValueAnchor {
+	kind: ValueAnchorKind;
+	/** The whole argument token, or the whole member run including its key. */
+	tokenSpan: { start: number; end: number };
+	/** Attribute name, or an array member's key; absent on a positional. */
+	name?: string;
+	/** The literal's source bytes, quotes included. */
+	valueSpan: { start: number; end: number };
+	/**
+	 * Decoded scalar value, or exact source spelling when `sourceShape` is set.
+	 *
+	 * `str` is the exception in both directions: the leftover of a `{a=}` member
+	 * is the DECODED name (`{"a b"=}` carries `a b`), because the bytes that
+	 * spell it are the key's, not a value's.
+	 */
+	value: string;
+	/** True only when one quoted run encloses the whole scalar value. */
+	quoted: boolean;
+	/**
+	 * Present only when the SOURCE proves the type, rather than scalar decoding.
+	 *
+	 * `array` is proved by the delimiters. The other two are proved by an `=`
+	 * that does not bind a key (#258): with an empty right side the device drops
+	 * the sign and keeps the name as a `str`, and with a left side that is not a
+	 * name the sign COMPARES, which returns `bool` whatever the operands hold.
+	 * None of the three survives {@link valueShapeHints}, which reads a decoded
+	 * scalar and cannot see the sign.
+	 */
+	sourceShape?: "array" | "str" | "bool";
+	/**
+	 * Index, in this same list, of the array literal this member belongs to.
+	 *
+	 * An index rather than a nested list because the list stays ONE ordered
+	 * sequence of located values — the phase-0 normal form — and because a
+	 * consumer that only wants spans should not have to walk a tree. Members
+	 * follow their container immediately, so a parent index is always smaller.
+	 */
+	parent?: number;
+}
+
+/** Prefix-safe value anchoring; `complete: false` explains where scanning stopped. */
+export type ValueAnchorReading =
+	| { complete: true; anchors: ValueAnchor[] }
+	| { complete: false; anchors: ValueAnchor[]; why: string };
+
+/** A refusal, carrying the reason a consumer quotes instead of a bare `unknown`. */
+function unread(why: string): ArgumentsUnread {
+	return { read: false, why };
+}
+
+interface WalkOptions {
+	/** Locate `{…}`/`(…)` literals instead of refusing the statement at one. */
+	allowArrayValues?: boolean;
+	/**
+	 * The root scripting directive whose slots decide whether a `{…}` here is an
+	 * array literal, or undefined when this statement has none.
+	 *
+	 * A command argument never takes one. On CHR 7.23.3 `/console/inspect`
+	 * classes the `{` byte `error` and `:parse` refuses the statement for
+	 * `/ip/route/add comment={1;2}`, `/ip/dns/set servers={1.1.1.1;8.8.8.8}`
+	 * (a LIST-typed attribute, which rules out a schema-shaped reading),
+	 * `/interface/print .proplist={name;comment}`,
+	 * `/ip/route/print where comment={1;2}`, the relative spelling
+	 * `ip route add comment={1;2}`, and `:log info message={1;2}`. A `(…)`
+	 * array is accepted in every one of those positions, so only the brace is
+	 * gated.
+	 *
+	 * Being a directive is necessary but NOT sufficient — `:delay {1;2}` and
+	 * `:local name={1;2}` are syntax errors too — so which slot it is decides:
+	 * see {@link braceSlotTakesArray}.
+	 */
+	directiveVerb?: string;
+}
+
+/** How deep member scanning descends before it stops and keeps only the shape. */
+const MAX_MEMBER_DEPTH = 8;
+
+/**
+ * The argument name whose value the brace at `at` opens, `null` when the brace
+ * IS the token (a positional value), or undefined when it opens neither.
+ */
+function braceValueOwner(
+	text: string,
+	tokenStart: number,
+	at: number,
+): string | null | undefined {
+	if (at === tokenStart) return null;
+	if (text[at - 1] !== "=") return undefined;
+	const name = text.slice(tokenStart, at - 1);
+	return ARGUMENT_NAME.test(name) ? name.toLowerCase() : undefined;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Whether a `{` at `at` may open an array literal in this statement.
+ *
+ * `positionalIndex` is how many positionals the walk has already read, which is
+ * this token's own index if it turns out to be one. Position is load-bearing:
+ * `:local {1;2}` puts the literal in the NAME slot and does not parse, while
+ * `:local z {1;2}` puts it in the VALUE slot and does.
+ */
+function braceOpensArray(
+	text: string,
+	tokenStart: number,
+	at: number,
+	positionalIndex: number,
+	options: WalkOptions,
+): boolean {
+	const verb = options.directiveVerb;
+	if (verb === undefined) return false;
+	const owner = braceValueOwner(text, tokenStart, at);
+	if (owner === undefined) return false;
+	return braceSlotTakesArray(
+		verb,
+		owner === null ? `#${positionalIndex}` : owner,
+	);
+}
+
+/**
+ * The ONE argument token walk, shared by both readings.
+ *
+ * Yields each decided token in order, or one refusal string and stops. The
+ * strict {@link lexArguments} discards everything on that refusal while
+ * {@link lexValueAnchors} keeps the prefix — but they must never disagree about
+ * where a token starts, ends, or becomes unreadable, so the boundary rules live
+ * here once.
+ */
+function* walkArguments(
+	text: string,
+	from: number,
+	options: WalkOptions = {},
+): Generator<ReadArgument | string> {
+	const structural = maskComments(text);
+	let i = Math.max(0, from);
+	// How many positionals have been read, which is the NEXT positional's index.
+	let positionals = 0;
+	while (i < text.length) {
+		// The MASKED view decides whitespace, because `maskComments` blanks a
+		// continuation comment that `text` still spells with a `#`. Reading `text`
+		// here left the walk and `scanToken` disagreeing about the same byte: the
+		// scan broke on the masked space and returned a zero-length token, so
+		// `readToken` emitted an empty positional and `i` never advanced — an
+		// `explain` that never returns on `list={1;2} \<nl># c<nl> in=foo`. The
+		// strict view uses the same mask: a real continuation comment is whitespace,
+		// not positional arguments. Found in review of #243/#245.
+		const c = structural[i] as string;
+		if (c === " " || c === "\t" || c === "\r" || c === "\n") {
+			i++;
+			continue;
+		}
+		// A continuation between tokens is harmless — it is whitespace RouterOS
+		// removes — but one INSIDE a token breaks the value's contiguity, which
+		// `scanToken` reports.
+		const continuation = continuationLength(text, i);
+		if (continuation > 0) {
+			i += continuation;
+			continue;
+		}
+		const token = scanToken(text, structural, i, positionals, options);
+		if (typeof token === "string") {
+			yield token;
+			return;
+		}
+		const read = readToken(text, structural, i, token.end, options);
+		if (typeof read === "string") {
+			yield read;
+			return;
+		}
+		if (read.kind === "positional") positionals++;
+		yield read;
+		i = token.end;
+	}
+}
+
+/**
+ * Lex the arguments of ONE statement, starting at `from`.
+ *
+ * `text` is the statement, `from` is where its leading run ended
+ * (`VerbSplitCommandReading.argsAt`). Offsets in the result are relative to
+ * `text`, so a caller rebases them by the statement's own span; it never throws.
+ *
+ * Only ASCII text may be passed. The analyzed surface is ASCII by construction
+ * (`coordinates.ts` stands one byte in for every non-ASCII one), and a caller
+ * that hands over the ORIGINAL text of a non-ASCII statement would get spans
+ * that do not map back — `src/explain.ts` verifies the two agree before calling.
+ */
+export function lexArguments(text: string, from: number): ArgumentReading {
+	const tokens: Argument[] = [];
+	for (const step of walkArguments(text, from)) {
+		if (typeof step === "string") return unread(step);
+		const publicToken = { ...step };
+		delete publicToken.literalQuoted;
+		tokens.push(publicToken);
+	}
+
+	const args: Record<string, string> = {};
+	const queries: string[] = [];
+	const positional: string[] = [];
+	for (const token of tokens) {
+		if (token.kind === "attribute" && token.name !== undefined)
+			args[token.name] = token.value ?? "";
+		else if (token.kind === "query") queries.push(token.text);
+		else if (token.kind === "positional") positional.push(token.text);
+	}
+	return { read: true, tokens, args, queries, positional };
+}
+
+/**
+ * Length of the `\<newline>` continuation at `at`, or 0 — the ONE boundary rule
+ * this module and `verbsplit.ts`'s word scanner share.
+ *
+ * A lone `\r` is deliberately NOT a continuation. Accepting one and then
+ * skipping three bytes ate the following character, so an argument the source
+ * spells `x` + `comment=2` lexed as plain `comment=2` — a token whose reported
+ * name is not the one in the source.
+ * That is a silent misread rather than a refusal, which is the one failure this
+ * module must not have — and the two scanners disagreeing about where a
+ * continuation ends is exactly how `argsAt` and the token stream come to
+ * describe different text. Found in review of #202c-1; `\<CR>` alone now falls
+ * through to the invalid-escape refusal below.
+ */
+function continuationLength(text: string, at: number): 0 | 2 | 3 {
+	if (text[at] !== "\\") return 0;
+	if (text[at + 1] === "\n") return 2;
+	if (text[at + 1] === "\r" && text[at + 2] === "\n") return 3;
+	return 0;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Find where the token starting at `start` ends, or return the reason it is not
+ * lexable. A quoted run is skipped by the ONE shared string scanner (#199), so a
+ * `"` inside this statement is read exactly as the segmenter read it.
+ */
+function scanToken(
+	text: string,
+	structural: string,
+	start: number,
+	positionalIndex: number,
+	options: WalkOptions,
+): { end: number } | string {
+	let i = start;
+	while (i < text.length) {
+		const c = structural[i] as string;
+		if (c === " " || c === "\t" || c === "\r" || c === "\n") break;
+		if (c === '"') {
+			const scan = scanQuotedString(structural, i);
+			if (!scan.closed) return "unterminated string in an argument";
+			i = scan.end;
+			continue;
+		}
+		if (c === "[") return "a substitution or expression value";
+		if (c === "(" || c === "{") {
+			if (!options.allowArrayValues)
+				return c === "("
+					? "a substitution or expression value"
+					: "an array or block value";
+			if (c === "{" && isScopeBrace(text, i)) return "a scope block value";
+			if (
+				c === "{" &&
+				!braceOpensArray(text, start, i, positionalIndex, options)
+			)
+				return "a brace value RouterOS does not read as an array here";
+			const end = delimitedEnd(structural, i);
+			if (end === null) return "an unclosed structured argument value";
+			if (hasUnquotedHash(structural, i, end))
+				return "an invalid hash in a structured argument value";
+			i = end;
+			const next = nextNonWhitespace(structural, i);
+			if (continuesExpression(structural, i, next))
+				return "an expression continuing after a structured value";
+			continue;
+		}
+		if (c === "$") return "a variable value";
+		if (c === "\\") {
+			if (continuationLength(text, i) > 0)
+				return "a line continuation inside an argument";
+			// The #201 rule: in code a backslash is valid only before whitespace.
+			// `symbols.ts` already located the defect; refusing is enough here.
+			if (text[i + 1] !== " " && text[i + 1] !== "\t")
+				return "an invalid escape in an argument";
+			i += 2;
+			continue;
+		}
+		if (c === ";") return "a statement separator inside an argument";
+		i++;
+	}
+	return { end: i };
+}
+
+/**
+ * RouterOS rejects an unquoted `#` inside array/group expressions (#245) — but
+ * only where the expression role actually reaches the hash.
+ *
+ * A `[…]` substitution nested in an array RE-ENTERS a statement context, and
+ * the device keeps the hash there as a value. A flat scan cannot tell the two
+ * apart, so carry the same delimiter roles `segment.ts` and `symbols.ts` use.
+ * Grounded on CHR 7.23.3 `/console/inspect request=highlight`, class at the `#`:
+ *
+ *   `:local z {[:put #test]}`      `none`   — bracket restores statements
+ *   `:local z {1;[:put #test]}`    `none`
+ *   `:local z {[:put {#test}]}`    `error`  — array again inside the bracket
+ *   `:local z {[:put (1,#test)]}`  `error`  — group again inside the bracket
+ *   `:local z {#test}`             `error`  — the plain array case
+ *
+ * Skipping whole `[…]` regions instead would wrongly accept rows 3 and 4.
+ */
+function hasUnquotedHash(text: string, start: number, end: number): boolean {
+	// `start` is the `{`/`(` of an array-or-group value: not a statement context.
+	const statements: boolean[] = [false];
+	for (let i = start + 1; i < end - 1; i++) {
+		const c = text[i];
+		if (c === '"') {
+			i = scanQuotedString(text, i).end - 1;
+			continue;
+		}
+		const enclosing = statements[statements.length - 1] === true;
+		if (c === "[") statements.push(true);
+		else if (c === "{")
+			// Only a brace whose enclosing context ALREADY bears statements can be a
+			// scope; nested in an array it is another array, so the role is known
+			// without the reverse-prefix scan. The short-circuit is what keeps this
+			// O(1) per brace on the deep-nesting inputs `explain-write` and Q17 pin.
+			statements.push(enclosing && braceStartsStatements(text, i));
+		else if (c === "(") statements.push(false);
+		else if (c === "]" || c === "}" || c === ")") {
+			if (statements.length > 1) statements.pop();
+		} else if (c === "#" && statements[statements.length - 1] === false)
+			return true;
+	}
+	return false;
+}
+
+function nextNonWhitespace(text: string, from: number): number {
+	let i = from;
+	while (
+		text[i] === " " ||
+		text[i] === "\t" ||
+		text[i] === "\r" ||
+		text[i] === "\n"
+	)
+		i++;
+	return i;
+}
+
+function startsDottedArgument(text: string, at: number): boolean {
+	const match = text.slice(at).match(/^(\.[A-Za-z][A-Za-z0-9._-]*)=/);
+	return match !== null && ARGUMENT_NAME.test(match[1] as string);
+}
+
+/** Operators that prove a closed group is only the left side of an expression. */
+function continuesExpression(
+	text: string,
+	structuredEnd: number,
+	at: number,
+): boolean {
+	const c = text[at];
+	// A space separates RouterOS arguments. Dotted names are legal arguments,
+	// so `{1;2} .proplist=.id` is not the `.` operator. Without the separation,
+	// `{1;2}.proplist=...` remains one expression token and must be refused.
+	if (c === "." && at > structuredEnd && startsDottedArgument(text, at))
+		return false;
+	if (c !== undefined && ".,+-*/%&|^~<>=!".includes(c)) return true;
+	return /^(?:and|or|in)(?=[ \t\r\n(])/.test(text.slice(at).toLowerCase());
+}
+
+/** One balanced `(...)`/`{...}` run, including nested groups and strings. */
+function delimitedEnd(text: string, start: number): number | null {
+	const stack: string[] = [];
+	for (let i = start; i < text.length; i++) {
+		const c = text[i] as string;
+		if (c === '"') {
+			const scan = scanQuotedString(text, i);
+			if (!scan.closed) return null;
+			i = scan.end - 1;
+			continue;
+		}
+		if (c === "(" || c === "[" || c === "{") stack.push(c);
+		else if (c === ")" || c === "]" || c === "}") {
+			const want = c === ")" ? "(" : c === "]" ? "[" : "{";
+			if (stack.pop() !== want) return null;
+			if (stack.length === 0) return i + 1;
+		}
+	}
+	return null;
+}
+
+/** Whether an exact structured source run is an array literal, not grouping. */
+function isArraySource(
+	text: string,
+	structural: string,
+	start: number,
+	end: number,
+): boolean {
+	const open = text[start];
+	if (open !== "(" && open !== "{") return false;
+	if (delimitedEnd(structural, start) !== end) return false;
+	if (open === "{")
+		return (
+			!isScopeBrace(text, start) &&
+			structural.slice(start + 1, end - 1).trim().length > 0
+		);
+
+	let depth = 0;
+	let memberStart = start + 1;
+	let sawComma = false;
+	for (let i = start + 1; i < end - 1; i++) {
+		const c = structural[i] as string;
+		if (c === '"') {
+			i = scanQuotedString(structural, i).end - 1;
+			continue;
+		}
+		if (c === "(" || c === "[" || c === "{") depth++;
+		else if (c === ")" || c === "]" || c === "}") depth--;
+		else if (c === "," && depth === 0) {
+			if (structural.slice(memberStart, i).trim().length === 0) return false;
+			sawComma = true;
+			memberStart = i + 1;
+		}
+	}
+	return sawComma && structural.slice(memberStart, end - 1).trim().length > 0;
+}
+
+function startsStructuredSource(text: string, start: number): boolean {
+	return text[start] === "(" || text[start] === "{";
+}
+
+/** Classify one already-bounded token, or say why it cannot be read. */
+function readToken(
+	text: string,
+	structural: string,
+	start: number,
+	end: number,
+	options: WalkOptions,
+): ReadArgument | string {
+	const raw = text.slice(start, end);
+	const span = { start, end };
+	if (raw.startsWith("?")) {
+		const divergent = queryDisagreement(raw);
+		return divergent ?? { kind: "query", span, name: raw.slice(1), text: raw };
+	}
+	if (options.allowArrayValues && startsStructuredSource(text, start)) {
+		if (isArraySource(text, structural, start, end))
+			return {
+				kind: "positional",
+				span,
+				valueSpan: span,
+				sourceShape: "array",
+				text: raw,
+			};
+		return "a grouped or expression value";
+	}
+
+	const eq = unquotedEquals(text, start, end);
+	if (eq === null) {
+		// A positional: an id, a `where`, a `find` operand, a `:log info` message.
+		// It carries a literal `value` under exactly the same rule an attribute
+		// does, and NOTHING where that rule refuses — `"…$[:tostr $x]"` is a
+		// located token whose value only the device knows. That uniformity is the
+		// contract a consumer reads: **`value === undefined` means there is no
+		// literal value here**, whatever the token's kind. Refusing the statement
+		// instead would be wrong — the token IS decided; only its value is not,
+		// and a `print` positional never needed one.
+		const positional = literalValue(text, start, end);
+		return typeof positional === "string"
+			? { kind: "positional", span, text: raw }
+			: {
+					kind: "positional",
+					span,
+					value: positional.value,
+					valueSpan: span,
+					literalQuoted: positional.quoted,
+					text: raw,
+				};
+	}
+	const name = text.slice(start, eq);
+	if (!ARGUMENT_NAME.test(name))
+		return `\`${name}=\` is not a RouterOS argument name`;
+	if (options.allowArrayValues && startsStructuredSource(text, eq + 1)) {
+		if (isArraySource(text, structural, eq + 1, end))
+			return {
+				kind: "attribute",
+				span,
+				name,
+				valueSpan: { start: eq + 1, end },
+				sourceShape: "array",
+				text: raw,
+			};
+		return "a grouped or expression value";
+	}
+	// An empty value is LEGAL (`comment=` clears it), so `literalValue` reports a
+	// refusal as a `string` and a decided value — empty included — as an object.
+	// Two different types rather than a sentinel string, which `""` would collide
+	// with.
+	const value = literalValue(text, eq + 1, end);
+	if (typeof value === "string") return value;
+	return {
+		kind: "attribute",
+		span,
+		name,
+		value: value.value,
+		valueSpan: { start: eq + 1, end },
+		literalQuoted: value.quoted,
+		text: raw,
+	};
+}
+
+/** Offset of the first `=` outside a quoted run, or null. */
+function unquotedEquals(
+	text: string,
+	start: number,
+	end: number,
+): number | null {
+	let i = start;
+	while (i < end) {
+		const c = text[i] as string;
+		if (c === '"') {
+			i = scanQuotedString(text, i).end;
+			continue;
+		}
+		if (c === "=") return i;
+		if (c === "\\") {
+			i += 2;
+			continue;
+		}
+		i++;
+	}
+	return null;
+}
+
+/**
+ * The literal value in `[start,end)`, or the reason there is no literal one.
+ *
+ * Two shapes are literal: a bare run, and a run that is ONE fully-enclosing
+ * quoted string. Anything else — a partly-quoted value (`a"b"`), or a quoted
+ * value carrying an escape — needs a decoder this phase does not have, and a
+ * decoder that is wrong about one escape corrupts a write.
+ */
+function literalValue(
+	text: string,
+	start: number,
+	end: number,
+): { value: string; quoted: boolean } | string {
+	if (start >= end) return { value: "", quoted: false };
+	if ((text[start] as string) === '"') {
+		const scan = scanQuotedString(text, start);
+		if (!scan.closed) return "unterminated string in an argument value";
+		if (scan.end !== end) return "a partly-quoted argument value";
+		const body = text.slice(start + 1, end - 1);
+		if (body.includes("\\")) return "an escape in a quoted argument value";
+		if (body.includes("$")) return "a substitution in a quoted argument value";
+		return { value: body, quoted: true };
+	}
+	const body = text.slice(start, end);
+	if (body.includes('"')) return "a partly-quoted argument value";
+	// An UNQUOTED escape needs decoding just as much as a quoted one:
+	// `comment=a\ b` is the value `a b` on the device, and returning the source
+	// run would send the backslash. `scanToken` accepts `\ `/`\\t` as part of a
+	// token (it is legal RouterOS), so the refusal has to happen here — the token
+	// is decided, its literal value is not. Found in review of #202c-1.
+	if (body.includes("\\")) return "an escape in an argument value";
+	const disagreement = gateDisagreement(body);
+	if (disagreement !== null) return disagreement;
+	return { value: body, quoted: false };
+}
+
+/**
+ * The same guard for a `?query` word — which is where the first two versions of
+ * it did NOT reach, because the query branch of {@link readToken} returns before
+ * any value is read (found by review of #202c-1, twice: the fix was written at
+ * the value level and one of the three token kinds has no value).
+ *
+ * A query is kept VERBATIM: `ArgumentsRead.queries` is source text, and a query
+ * word's `?` forms (`?>`, `?#|`, existence tests) are a grammar this lexer does
+ * not split. So the check is not about values but about whether the gate's
+ * tokenizer would produce the same STRING — and it is the identity only on a run
+ * with no quote, escape, or `\s`-but-not-ASCII-whitespace byte in it:
+ *
+ *   - `'` and `\f`/`\v` — the two disagreements above, unchanged in cause.
+ *   - `"` — the gate STRIPS quotes, so `?comment="lan uplink"` is the word
+ *     `?comment=lan uplink` there and the source text here.
+ *   - `\` — the gate consumes it as an escape, so `?comment=a\ b` is
+ *     `?comment=a b` there and `?comment=a\ b` here.
+ *
+ * What survives is exactly the shape on which the gate's tokenizer is a no-op,
+ * which is what makes `arguments.queries` and `canonical.queries` comparable at
+ * all — and that comparison is now an anchored test rather than an assumption.
+ */
+function queryDisagreement(raw: string): string | null {
+	const found = gateDisagreement(raw);
+	if (found !== null) return found;
+	if (raw.includes('"'))
+		return "a quoted query word, which centrs's execute gate unquotes and this reading keeps verbatim";
+	if (raw.includes("\\"))
+		return "an escape in a query word, which centrs's execute gate decodes and this reading keeps verbatim";
+	return null;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Characters an UNQUOTED value may not contain, because centrs's two readers
+ * genuinely disagree about them — so phase 1 publishes neither reading.
+ *
+ * Both cases were found by review of #202c-1, and neither is reachable from the
+ * corpus:
+ *
+ *   - **`'`** — RouterOS does not use it as a string delimiter; it is an
+ *     ordinary character, which is what this lexer reads. But
+ *     `canonicalizeExecuteCommand`'s tokenizer DOES treat it as a quote
+ *     (`src/execute.ts`), so `comment='lan uplink'` is `{comment: "lan uplink"}`
+ *     to the gate and `{comment: "'lan"}` + a positional here, and
+ *     `comment=it's` is `its` there and `it's` here.
+ *   - **`\f` / `\v`** — the gate splits tokens on JavaScript `\s`, which
+ *     includes them; every `explain` module splits on ASCII whitespace (space,
+ *     tab, CR, LF), which does not. So `comment=x\fdisabled=no` is two
+ *     arguments to the gate and one value here.
+ *
+ * **Refusing is not a claim that the gate is right.** The device-correct reading
+ * is this module's in both cases, and the gate is locked — widening or
+ * correcting it is a product regression (`docs/CONSTITUTION.md`). What is
+ * refused is putting a SECOND confident value in the same result, which is the
+ * contradiction `command.args` beside `canonical.args` must never contain.
+ *
+ * Two boundaries this deliberately does NOT cross:
+ *
+ *   - **Only unquoted values.** Inside a `"…"` run the gate treats all three as
+ *     content exactly as this lexer does, so the two agree and refusing there
+ *     would cost real readings.
+ *   - **Only these two control characters, not the gate's whole `\s` class.**
+ *     Adopting `\s` here would put this scanner at odds with `verbsplit.ts` and
+ *     `segment.ts` about where a token ends — two scanners disagreeing about a
+ *     boundary is the failure the shared `continuationLength` above exists to
+ *     prevent. The rest of `\s` is non-ASCII and never reaches this module
+ *     as itself: `coordinates.ts` normalization stands a placeholder in, so the
+ *     statement fails the addressability check in `src/explain.ts` first
+ *     (verified for NBSP, U+2028, U+FEFF and U+3000).
+ */
+function gateDisagreement(body: string): string | null {
+	if (body.includes("'"))
+		return "a single quote in an unquoted value, which centrs's execute gate and RouterOS read differently";
+	if (body.includes("\f") || body.includes("\v"))
+		return "a form feed or vertical tab in an unquoted value, which centrs's execute gate treats as a token boundary and RouterOS does not";
+	return null;
+}
+
+/** Trim ASCII whitespace off a range, returning the tightened bounds. */
+function trimRange(
+	text: string,
+	start: number,
+	end: number,
+): { start: number; end: number } {
+	let from = start;
+	let to = end;
+	while (from < to && " \t\r\n".includes(text[from] as string)) from++;
+	while (to > from && " \t\r\n".includes(text[to - 1] as string)) to--;
+	return { start: from, end: to };
+}
+
+/**
+ * Split `[from,to)` on depth-0 `separator`, or null when the device would call
+ * the literal a syntax error.
+ *
+ * On CHR 7.23.3 an empty member is fatal — `{;}`, `{;1}`, `{1;;2}` and `(1,)`
+ * are all `syntax error` — with exactly one exception: a brace array tolerates
+ * ONE trailing separator (`{1;}` is a one-member array, `{1;2;}` a two-member
+ * one). Returning null rather than "no members" matters, because the enclosing
+ * `array` shape is wrong too when the literal does not parse.
+ */
+function splitMembers(
+	structural: string,
+	from: number,
+	to: number,
+	separator: ";" | ",",
+): { start: number; end: number }[] | null {
+	const runs: { start: number; end: number }[] = [];
+	let memberStart = from;
+	for (const at of depthZeroOffsets(structural, from, to, separator)) {
+		runs.push({ start: memberStart, end: at });
+		memberStart = at + 1;
+	}
+	runs.push({ start: memberStart, end: to });
+	const trimmed = runs.map((run) => trimRange(structural, run.start, run.end));
+	const trailingEmpty =
+		separator === ";" &&
+		trimmed.length > 1 &&
+		(trimmed[trimmed.length - 1] as { start: number; end: number }).start ===
+			(trimmed[trimmed.length - 1] as { start: number; end: number }).end;
+	const members = trailingEmpty ? trimmed.slice(0, -1) : trimmed;
+	if (members.some((run) => run.start === run.end)) return null;
+	return members;
+}
+
+/** Why a located array literal was withdrawn; each is a device syntax error. */
+const EMPTY_MEMBER = "an array literal with an empty member";
+const EMPTY_GROUP = "an array member that is an empty group";
+const DEPTH_BOUND_REACHED =
+	"an array literal nested deeper than this phase reads";
+const UNPARSEABLE_MEMBER =
+	"an array member RouterOS rejects at its first character";
+const HALF_COMPARISON =
+	"an array member whose `=` is missing one of its operands";
+
+/**
+ * Why a `(…)` member cannot stand where it is, or null when it can.
+ *
+ * A parenthesis inside a literal is either a GROUP — `{(1)}` is the one-member
+ * array `1` — or a comma array, and {@link isArraySource} only recognizes the
+ * second. That left the first sharing the fallback branch with every other
+ * expression, which is an abstention, so a group the device REJECTS kept the
+ * enclosing `array` shape instead of withdrawing it (found in review).
+ *
+ * On CHR 7.23.3 an empty group (`{()}`, `{a=()}`) and an empty comma member
+ * (`{(1,)}`, `{(,)}`, `{1;(2,)}`, `(1,(2,))`) are syntax errors at every
+ * nesting depth, while `{(1)}`, `{a=(1)}` and `{1;(2)}` all parse — so the
+ * check has to name the fault rather than refuse every parenthesis.
+ *
+ * `highlight` is not the oracle here: it accepts `{1;2,}`, `{2,}` and
+ * `{(1,2),}`, all of which `:parse` rejects.
+ */
+function parenMemberFault(
+	text: string,
+	structural: string,
+	start: number,
+	end: number,
+): string | null {
+	if (text[start] !== "(") return null;
+	if (delimitedEnd(structural, start) !== end) return null;
+	if (structural.slice(start + 1, end - 1).trim().length === 0)
+		return EMPTY_GROUP;
+	return splitMembers(structural, start + 1, end - 1, ",") === null
+		? EMPTY_MEMBER
+		: null;
+}
+
+/** Characters that cannot OPEN an array member; see {@link pushArrayMembers}. */
+function leadsInvalidMember(c: string | undefined): boolean {
+	return c === "*" || c === "+";
+}
+
+/**
+ * A member key: a bare word or one fully-enclosing quoted run.
+ *
+ * The bare spelling is {@link MEMBER_NAME}, which is NOT the identifier grammar
+ * and was measured rather than assumed — see that constant. Review caught the
+ * first version of this rejecting `.id`, which the fixture itself held as a
+ * valid key.
+ */
+function memberKey(
+	text: string,
+	structural: string,
+	start: number,
+	end: number,
+): string | null {
+	if (start >= end) return null;
+	if (text[start] === '"') {
+		const scan = scanQuotedString(structural, start);
+		if (!scan.closed || scan.end !== end) return null;
+		const body = text.slice(start + 1, end - 1);
+		return body.includes("\\") || body.includes("$") ? null : body;
+	}
+	const raw = text.slice(start, end);
+	return MEMBER_NAME.test(raw) ? raw : null;
+}
+
+/**
+ * A bare array-member key, as the device spells one on 7.23.3 (#258).
+ *
+ * Swept character by character rather than borrowed from the identifier rules,
+ * because the two disagree in both directions. `.`, `-` and `/` are ordinary
+ * name bytes ANYWHERE, including alone and repeated: `{.id=1}`, `{..id=1}`,
+ * `{.=1}`, `{-=1}`, `{--=1}`, `{/=1}`, `{a/b=1}` and `{-.1=1}` all bind the key
+ * spelled exactly that way. But `_` does NOT: `{_a=1}` and `{a_b=1}` lower to
+ * `(= $_a 1)` and `(= $a_b 1)`, comparisons — even though `$a_b` is a perfectly
+ * good variable. Neither do `: * ~ % > < + ! @ #`.
+ *
+ * The review that caught `.id` is the reason this is a named constant with its
+ * own evidence: a key reader that quietly disagrees with the device about what
+ * a name IS makes every rule built on top of it wrong in the same direction.
+ */
+const MEMBER_NAME = /^[A-Za-z0-9./-]+$/;
+
+/**
+ * Characters the device proved cannot appear in a bare member key (#258).
+ *
+ * Used only to say a left side is POSITIVELY an expression, never to say it is
+ * a name. That asymmetry is the fix for the `.id` defect: an unrecognized
+ * spelling that is merely not in {@link MEMBER_NAME} abstains, while only a
+ * spelling holding one of these bytes is treated as a comparison and can
+ * withdraw its literal. Each byte is a syntax error with an empty right side
+ * (`{_a=}`, `{a:b=}`, `{a*b=}`, `{a~b=}`, `{a>b=}`, `{a%b=}`, `{1+1=}`,
+ * `{a<=}`, `{a b=}`, `{a,b=}`, `{$a=}`, `{(a)=}`, `{[:len 1]=}`, `{{1;2}=}`)
+ * or an operator in the IL of the same member with one.
+ */
+const NOT_IN_MEMBER_NAME = /[\s,$([{"'+*<>!~%:_@#=]/;
+
+/**
+ * Whether `[start,end)` ends on an operator with no right operand (#258).
+ *
+ * A member and a comparison's left side are both runs the device lexes on
+ * their own, so both carry this fault: `{-}`, `{--}`, `{a-}`, `{$a-}` and
+ * `{$a-;1}` are syntax errors, and so are `{a- =1}` and `{$a-=1}` where the
+ * dangling run is only the left side. The trailing-dot half is narrower and
+ * the asymmetry is the device's: `{$a.}` and `{$a.=1}` are refused while
+ * `{a.}`, `{.}`, `{/}`, `{a/}` and `{a. =1}` all parse as variable references
+ * — a bare name absorbs the dot into itself, a `$` name does not.
+ *
+ * A KEY is not an operand and does not carry it: `{a-=1}` binds the key `a-`
+ * and `{a-=}` is the string `a-`, so this is only asked where the sign failed
+ * to bind.
+ */
+function danglesOperator(text: string, start: number, end: number): boolean {
+	if (start >= end) return false;
+	const last = text[end - 1];
+	if (last === "-") return true;
+	return last === "." && text[start] === "$";
+}
+
+/**
+ * Whether `[start,end)` is ONE complete operand, so a following `=` is the
+ * member's top-level operator (#258).
+ *
+ * This is the whole difference between a member that is provably `bool` and one
+ * that must abstain. `=` returns `bool` for any pair of operands, so `{$a=1}`,
+ * `{(a)=1}`, `{[:timestamp]=1}` and `{{1;2}=1}` are all `bool` — but only
+ * because the `=` is on top. `{a b=1}` lowers to `(  $a (= $b 1))`, where the
+ * top operator is the space and the type is its operands', and `{$a=1,2}`
+ * lowers to `(, (= $a 1) 2)`, an `array` whose FIRST ELEMENT is the comparison.
+ * Both were device-typed `bool` under the bindings a probe happened to use, so
+ * the shape of the left side — not the observed type — has to decide.
+ *
+ * A bare name is included because it only reaches here when whitespace kept it
+ * from binding a key (`{a =1}` compares, `{a=1}` does not) — but OPERAND
+ * position is stricter than key position, so it is not simply
+ * {@link memberKey}: `{a-=1}` binds the key `a-`, while `{a- =1}` does not
+ * parse at all. Both classes therefore end on an alphanumeric here.
+ *
+ * The class is narrower than RouterOS's operand grammar on purpose, and the
+ * gap is all abstention: `{a_b=1}`, `{:a=1}`, `{1+1=2}` and `{$a/b=1}` are
+ * `bool` on the device and silent here. Widening it means proving the `=`
+ * stays on top for the new spelling, which is exactly what {@link MEMBER_NAME}
+ * had to be measured for.
+ */
+function isSingleOperand(
+	text: string,
+	structural: string,
+	start: number,
+	end: number,
+): boolean {
+	if (start >= end) return false;
+	const open = text[start];
+	if (open === "(" || open === "[" || open === "{")
+		return delimitedEnd(structural, start) === end;
+	// A `$` name is NOT the member-key name, and review's suggestion to widen it
+	// was the wrong direction: `$:a`, `$_a`, `$/a` and `$.id` are all syntax
+	// errors, so the byte after the `$` must be alphanumeric, and `$a-`/`$a.`
+	// are errors too, so the last byte must be as well. In between, `.` and `-`
+	// join operands (`{$a-b=1}` is `(= (- $a $b) 1)`) and the `=` stays on top,
+	// while `_` and `:` end the name and start a SPACE-concat whose type is its
+	// operands' (`{$a_b=1}` is `(  $a (= $_b 1))`).
+	if (open === "$")
+		return /^\$[A-Za-z0-9]+(?:[.-]+[A-Za-z0-9]+)*$/.test(
+			text.slice(start, end),
+		);
+	return (
+		memberKey(text, structural, start, end) !== null &&
+		/[A-Za-z0-9]$/.test(text.slice(start, end))
+	);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Every offset of `needle` at depth 0 in `[start,end)`, strings skipped.
+ *
+ * Member splitting, the key split, and the nested-comma test are the same walk
+ * asked three questions, so they share it: this module's standing failure mode
+ * is two scanners disagreeing about one byte (see {@link continuationLength}).
+ */
+function depthZeroOffsets(
+	structural: string,
+	start: number,
+	end: number,
+	needle: string,
+): number[] {
+	const found: number[] = [];
+	let depth = 0;
+	for (let i = start; i < end; i++) {
+		const c = structural[i] as string;
+		if (c === '"') {
+			i = scanQuotedString(structural, i).end - 1;
+			continue;
+		}
+		if (c === "(" || c === "[" || c === "{") depth++;
+		else if (c === ")" || c === "]" || c === "}") depth--;
+		else if (c === needle && depth === 0) found.push(i);
+	}
+	return found;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Append the members of one array literal, depth first (#225 V1 interior).
+ *
+ * Returns null when every member was read, or the REASON the literal does not
+ * parse on the device — the caller withdraws the enclosing `array` shape and
+ * publishes that reason, so a consumer is never told "empty member" about a
+ * literal whose actual fault was something else (found in review).
+ *
+ * Every rule below is a CHR 7.23.3 reading, taken from each member's own
+ * `:typeof` under `:foreach k,v` and the statement's `:parse` IL:
+ *
+ *   - the separator is the DELIMITER's, not a choice: `{1;2}` has two members
+ *     while `{1,2}` has ONE (`(, 1 2)`, a nested array), and `(1;2)` is a
+ *     syntax error;
+ *   - `=` binds a key only in the brace form, and only where a NAME touches the
+ *     sign (`{a=1}` -> key `a`, value `num`); anywhere else it COMPARES, so
+ *     `{a =1}`, `{$a=1}` and `(a=1,b=2)` are `bool` members and not keys;
+ *   - a key whose right side is EMPTY is not an empty-valued key: the device
+ *     drops the sign and keeps the name as a positional `str` (`{a=}` -> `a`),
+ *     while an empty side anywhere else is a syntax error;
+ *   - a member that is itself `{…}`/`(…)`, or a brace member carrying a depth-0
+ *     comma, is an array and is descended into;
+ *   - everything else is offered to the literal reader, and what it refuses is
+ *     a variable reference or an expression on the device — which is exactly
+ *     what an abstention should mean.
+ */
+function pushArrayMembers(
+	anchors: ValueAnchor[],
+	text: string,
+	structural: string,
+	parent: number,
+	contentStart: number,
+	contentEnd: number,
+	separator: ";" | ",",
+	depth: number,
+): string | null {
+	// Past the bound the interior is UNVERIFIED, and an unverified interior can
+	// hold a fault that makes the whole statement a syntax error — `:parse`
+	// rejects a `(1,)` buried nine levels deep exactly as it rejects a shallow
+	// one. Returning null here called those bytes an array anyway, so the bound
+	// withdraws instead. Deepest member in the 948-script corpus is 6, so this
+	// costs nothing that has ever been seen.
+	if (depth >= MAX_MEMBER_DEPTH) return DEPTH_BOUND_REACHED;
+	const members = splitMembers(structural, contentStart, contentEnd, separator);
+	if (members === null) return EMPTY_MEMBER;
+	for (const member of members) {
+		let valueStart = member.start;
+		let valueEnd = member.end;
+		let name: string | undefined;
+		let sourceShape: "str" | "bool" | undefined;
+		let decoded: string | undefined;
+		let quoted = false;
+		// A member may not OPEN with `*` or `+`: `{*1}`, `{ *1 }`, `(*1,2)`,
+		// `{a=*1}` and `{+1}` are all syntax errors on 7.23.3, even though `*1` is
+		// a perfectly good value one position out (`:local x *1` is typed `id`).
+		// Only the first byte is read, because both characters are ordinary
+		// operators between operands — `{2*3}` is `num` 6 and `{1+1}` is 2 — and
+		// unary minus is fine either way (`{-1}` is `num` -1).
+		if (leadsInvalidMember(text[member.start])) return UNPARSEABLE_MEMBER;
+		// `@` is not a member character ANYWHERE, unlike `*`/`+` which are only
+		// fatal at the front: `{a@b}`, `{@a}`, `{a@}`, `{1;a@b}`, `(a@b,2)` and
+		// `{a@b=1}` are all syntax errors, while the same bytes one slot out are
+		// fine (`:local z a@b` parses). Quoted runs keep it — `{"a@b"}` parses —
+		// which is why this is a depth-zero scan and not a substring test.
+		if (depthZeroOffsets(structural, member.start, member.end, "@").length > 0)
+			return UNPARSEABLE_MEMBER;
+		// A `$` takes an alphanumeric or a QUOTE and nothing else: `$.id`, `$_a`,
+		// `$:a`, `$/a`, `$$a`, `$(x)`, `$[:len 1]` and a bare `$` are all syntax
+		// errors, while `$"a b"` is a good quoted variable name — so "alphanumeric"
+		// alone would withdraw a literal the device accepts.
+		for (const at of depthZeroOffsets(
+			structural,
+			member.start,
+			member.end,
+			"$",
+		))
+			if (!/[A-Za-z0-9"]/.test(text[at + 1] ?? "")) return UNPARSEABLE_MEMBER;
+		if (danglesOperator(text, member.start, member.end))
+			return UNPARSEABLE_MEMBER;
+		const eq = depthZeroOffsets(structural, member.start, member.end, "=")[0];
+		if (eq !== undefined) {
+			const left = trimRange(structural, member.start, eq);
+			const right = trimRange(structural, eq + 1, member.end);
+			// A key binds only in the brace form, and only where the NAME TOUCHES
+			// the sign: `{a=1}` is the key `a`, `{a =1}` is the comparison
+			// `(= $a 1)`, and one byte of space is the whole difference (#258).
+			const key =
+				separator === ";" && eq === left.end
+					? memberKey(text, structural, left.start, left.end)
+					: null;
+			// An empty LEFT side is a syntax error in both forms and at any
+			// position: `{=}`, `{=1}`, `{ =1 }`, `(=1,2)`, `(1,=2)`.
+			if (left.start === left.end) return HALF_COMPARISON;
+			if (key === null && right.start === right.end) {
+				// An empty RIGHT side is a syntax error too — but ONLY once the left
+				// side is known not to be a name, because a name means the sign is
+				// dropped instead (`{a=}`). Review found the first version of this
+				// asking `memberKey` that question, which withdrew `{.id=}`: a
+				// literal the device accepts, whose member is the string `.id`. So
+				// the fault now needs POSITIVE evidence of an expression, and a
+				// spelling this reader simply does not recognize abstains.
+				//
+				// The paren form needs no such evidence: `=` never binds a key
+				// there, so an empty right side is always a comparison missing an
+				// operand (`(a=)`, `(a=,2)`).
+				//
+				// The span read here is the RAW one, not the trimmed `left`: the
+				// whitespace between a name and the sign is itself the evidence
+				// (`{a =}` and `{.id =}` are syntax errors while `{a=}` and
+				// `{.id=}` are not), and trimming it away hides exactly that.
+				if (
+					separator === "," ||
+					NOT_IN_MEMBER_NAME.test(text.slice(member.start, eq))
+				)
+					return HALF_COMPARISON;
+				continue;
+			}
+			if (key !== null && right.start === right.end) {
+				// `{a=}` is not an empty-valued key: the device DROPS the sign and
+				// keeps the name as a positional `str` — `{1.1=}` is the string
+				// `1.1`, not the address, so no member lexicon runs on it either.
+				sourceShape = "str";
+				decoded = key;
+				quoted = text[left.start] === '"';
+				valueStart = left.start;
+				valueEnd = left.end;
+			} else if (key !== null) {
+				if (leadsInvalidMember(text[right.start])) return UNPARSEABLE_MEMBER;
+				// A value that OPENS with the sign is an `=` with nothing on its
+				// left, which is the same syntax error one level down: `{a==}` is
+				// rejected exactly as `{=1}` is.
+				if (text[right.start] === "=") return HALF_COMPARISON;
+				name = key;
+				valueStart = right.start;
+			} else if (danglesOperator(text, left.start, left.end)) {
+				// The sign's left operand is itself incomplete: `{a- =1}` and
+				// `{$a-=1}` are refused exactly as the bare `{a-}` is.
+				return UNPARSEABLE_MEMBER;
+			} else if (
+				isSingleOperand(text, structural, left.start, left.end) &&
+				depthZeroOffsets(structural, member.start, member.end, ",").length === 0
+			) {
+				// The left operand is a member in its own right, so it carries the
+				// same faults: `{()=1}` is rejected exactly as `{()}` is, and being
+				// on the left of a comparison does not excuse it.
+				const leftFault = parenMemberFault(
+					text,
+					structural,
+					left.start,
+					left.end,
+				);
+				if (leftFault !== null) return leftFault;
+				// The `=` is on top, so the member is `bool` whatever it compares.
+				sourceShape = "bool";
+			} else {
+				// A left side that is not one operand, or a depth-zero comma that
+				// outranks the sign: the device has a member, but its type is its
+				// operands' and offline cannot read those.
+				continue;
+			}
+		}
+		const anchor: ValueAnchor = {
+			kind: "element",
+			tokenSpan: { start: member.start, end: member.end },
+			...(name === undefined ? {} : { name }),
+			valueSpan: { start: valueStart, end: valueEnd },
+			value: decoded ?? text.slice(valueStart, valueEnd),
+			quoted,
+			parent,
+		};
+		if (sourceShape !== undefined) {
+			anchors.push({ ...anchor, sourceShape });
+			continue;
+		}
+		const fault = parenMemberFault(text, structural, valueStart, member.end);
+		if (fault !== null) return fault;
+		if (isArraySource(text, structural, valueStart, member.end)) {
+			const at = anchors.length;
+			anchors.push({ ...anchor, sourceShape: "array" });
+			const nested = pushArrayMembers(
+				anchors,
+				text,
+				structural,
+				at,
+				valueStart + 1,
+				member.end - 1,
+				text[valueStart] === "{" ? ";" : ",",
+				depth + 1,
+			);
+			if (nested !== null) return nested;
+			continue;
+		}
+		if (
+			separator === ";" &&
+			depthZeroOffsets(structural, valueStart, member.end, ",").length > 0
+		) {
+			// `{1;2,3}` is two members, the second a comma array carrying no
+			// delimiters of its own — IL `1;(, 2 3)`. It splits on commas.
+			const at = anchors.length;
+			anchors.push({ ...anchor, sourceShape: "array" });
+			const nested = pushArrayMembers(
+				anchors,
+				text,
+				structural,
+				at,
+				valueStart,
+				member.end,
+				",",
+				depth + 1,
+			);
+			if (nested !== null) return nested;
+			continue;
+		}
+		const literal = literalValue(text, valueStart, member.end);
+		if (typeof literal === "string") continue;
+		anchors.push({ ...anchor, value: literal.value, quoted: literal.quoted });
+	}
+	return null;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Locate the literal-value prefix of one statement's arguments (#225 V1).
+ *
+ * {@link lexArguments} remains all-or-nothing because its consumer may render a
+ * runnable REST request. Hints are different: an unreadable later expression
+ * must not erase an earlier, independently bounded literal. This scan therefore
+ * reuses the exact same token and literal readers, returns every safe anchor
+ * before the first refusal, and stops there. The one V2 extension is an exact
+ * array literal: braces, or parentheses with a depth-zero comma, are locatable
+ * without evaluating their contents. Other expressions, including `.` concat,
+ * still stop the scan. The strict REST reading remains unchanged.
+ *
+ * A located array is then DESCENDED into, so each member is anchored in its own
+ * right ({@link pushArrayMembers}); a member that does not parse withdraws the
+ * whole literal, since the device rejects the statement in that case.
+ */
+export function lexValueAnchors(
+	text: string,
+	from: number,
+	options: { directiveVerb?: string } = {},
+): ValueAnchorReading {
+	const anchors: ValueAnchor[] = [];
+	const structural = maskComments(text);
+	for (const read of walkArguments(text, from, {
+		allowArrayValues: true,
+		...(options.directiveVerb === undefined
+			? {}
+			: { directiveVerb: options.directiveVerb }),
+	})) {
+		if (typeof read === "string")
+			return { complete: false, anchors, why: read };
+		if (read.kind !== "query" && read.valueSpan !== undefined) {
+			if (read.sourceShape !== undefined) {
+				const at = anchors.length;
+				anchors.push({
+					kind: read.kind,
+					tokenSpan: read.span,
+					...(read.name === undefined ? {} : { name: read.name }),
+					valueSpan: read.valueSpan,
+					value: text.slice(read.valueSpan.start, read.valueSpan.end),
+					sourceShape: read.sourceShape,
+					quoted: false,
+				});
+				const unparsed = pushArrayMembers(
+					anchors,
+					text,
+					structural,
+					at,
+					read.valueSpan.start + 1,
+					read.valueSpan.end - 1,
+					text[read.valueSpan.start] === "{" ? ";" : ",",
+					0,
+				);
+				if (unparsed !== null) {
+					anchors.length = at;
+					return { complete: false, anchors, why: unparsed };
+				}
+				continue;
+			}
+			if (read.value === undefined) continue;
+			anchors.push({
+				kind: read.kind,
+				tokenSpan: read.span,
+				...(read.name === undefined ? {} : { name: read.name }),
+				valueSpan: read.valueSpan,
+				value: read.value,
+				quoted: read.literalQuoted ?? false,
+			});
+		}
+	}
+	return { complete: true, anchors };
+}
+
+/**
+ * Locate top-level `{...}` values that RouterOS rejects in command arguments.
+ *
+ * Parentheses and substitutions restore expression context, where a brace
+ * literal is legal. Stored-script attributes are also excluded: their brace is
+ * a script body, not an array. The caller applies this only to non-root
+ * commands; root scripting directives use the `(verb, slot)` table instead.
+ */
+export function invalidCommandBraceOffsets(
+	text: string,
+	from: number,
+	directiveVerb?: string,
+): number[] {
+	const structural = maskComments(text);
+	const offsets: number[] = [];
+	const stack: string[] = [];
+	let i = Math.max(0, from);
+	let tokenStart: number | null = null;
+	let positionals = 0;
+	while (i < structural.length) {
+		const c = structural[i] as string;
+		if (
+			stack.length === 0 &&
+			(c === " " || c === "\t" || c === "\r" || c === "\n")
+		) {
+			if (tokenStart !== null) {
+				const token = structural.slice(tokenStart, i);
+				if (
+					!token.startsWith("?") &&
+					unquotedEquals(token, 0, token.length) === null
+				)
+					positionals++;
+				tokenStart = null;
+			}
+			i++;
+			continue;
+		}
+		if (stack.length === 0 && tokenStart === null) tokenStart = i;
+		if (c === '"') {
+			i = scanQuotedString(structural, i).end;
+			continue;
+		}
+		if (c === "[" || c === "(") {
+			stack.push(c);
+			i++;
+			continue;
+		}
+		if (c === "]" || c === ")") {
+			const want = c === "]" ? "[" : "(";
+			if (stack.at(-1) === want) stack.pop();
+			i++;
+			continue;
+		}
+		if (c !== "{" || stack.length > 0) {
+			i++;
+			continue;
+		}
+
+		const end = delimitedEnd(structural, i);
+		const owner =
+			tokenStart === null
+				? undefined
+				: braceValueOwner(structural, tokenStart, i);
+		const slot = owner === null ? `#${positionals}` : owner;
+		if (
+			braceStartsStatements(structural, i) ||
+			(directiveVerb !== undefined &&
+				slot !== undefined &&
+				braceSlotAcceptsBrace(directiveVerb, slot))
+		) {
+			i = end ?? structural.length;
+			continue;
+		}
+		offsets.push(i);
+		i = end ?? i + 1;
+	}
+	return offsets;
+}