semantica/docs/reference/parse.md

---
title: "Parse Module"
description: "Document parsing and text extraction — DocumentParser for standard formats and DoclingParser for complex layouts."
icon: "file-lines"
---

`semantica.parse` extracts structured text, layout, tables, and metadata from unstructured documents. `DocumentParser` handles clean machine-readable files; `DoclingParser` handles complex layouts, scanned PDFs, and multi-column documents.

## Getting Started

### Installation

The parse module works out of the box for standard formats:

```python
from semantica.parse import DocumentParser

parser = DocumentParser()
result = parser.parse("document.pdf")
print(result["full_text"])  # Extracted text content
```

For enhanced table extraction and complex layouts, install the Docling dependency:

```bash
pip install docling
```

```python
from semantica.parse import DoclingParser

parser = DoclingParser(export_format="markdown")
result = parser.parse("document.pdf", extract_tables=True)
print(result["tables"])  # Enhanced table extraction
```

### First Document Parsing

```python
from semantica.parse import DocumentParser

# Parse any supported format
parser = DocumentParser()
result = parser.parse("annual_report.pdf")

# Access extracted content
text = result["full_text"]           # Complete document text
metadata = result["metadata"]        # Document properties
pages = result.get("pages", [])      # Page-level content

print(f"Extracted {len(text)} characters from {metadata.get('page_count', 0)} pages")
```

## Parser Selection Guide

### DocumentParser
- **Best for**: Clean PDFs, Word docs, HTML, plain text
- **Formats**: PDF, DOCX, HTML, TXT, JSON, CSV, PPTX, XLSX
- **Strengths**: Fast processing, broad format support, no dependencies

### DoclingParser  
- **Best for**: Complex layouts, merged-cell tables, scanned documents
- **Formats**: PDF, DOCX, PPTX, XLSX, HTML, images
- **Strengths**: Superior table extraction, OCR support, multi-column handling
- **Requirements**: `pip install docling`

**Simple rule**: Start with `DocumentParser`. Use `DoclingParser` when you need better table extraction or handle complex document layouts.

## Common Workflows

### Single Document Parsing

```python
from semantica.parse import DocumentParser

parser = DocumentParser()
result = parser.parse("contract.pdf")

# Check what was extracted
print(f"Text length: {len(result['full_text'])}")
print(f"Metadata: {result['metadata']}")
if "tables" in result:
    print(f"Tables found: {len(result['tables'])}")
```

### Batch Document Processing

```python
from semantica.parse import DocumentParser

parser = DocumentParser()
files = ["doc1.pdf", "doc2.docx", "doc3.html"]

# Process multiple files
results = parser.parse_batch(files, continue_on_error=True)

print(f"Successfully parsed: {results['success_count']}/{results['total']}")
for item in results["successful"]:
    file_path = item["file_path"]
    content = item["result"]["full_text"]
    print(f"{file_path}: {len(content)} characters")
```

### Enhanced Table Extraction

```python
from semantica.parse import DoclingParser

parser = DoclingParser(export_format="markdown")
result = parser.parse(
    "financial_report.pdf",
    extract_tables=True,
    extract_text=True
)

# Access structured table data
for i, table in enumerate(result["tables"]):
    print(f"Table {i+1}: {table['row_count']} rows, {table['col_count']} columns")
    print(f"Page: {table['page_number']}")
    
    # Table data is in rows format
    for row in table["rows"][:3]:  # First 3 rows
        print(" | ".join(row))
```

## Exported Classes

| Class | Role |
| --- | --- |
| `DocumentParser` | Auto-detects format — delegates to format-specific parser (PDF, DOCX, HTML, JSON, CSV, ...) |
| `DoclingParser` | Complex layouts, merged-cell tables, multi-column PDFs, and OCR (`pip install docling`) |
| `DoclingMetadata` | Document metadata from Docling parsing |
| `PDFParser` | PDF text and metadata extraction |
| `WebParser` | URL fetch + HTML parsing |
| `EmailParser` | `.eml` / `.msg` email files with attachment extraction |
| `CodeParser` | Source code files with syntax-aware block detection |

## DocumentParser

Standard parser for clean, machine-readable documents:

```python
from semantica.parse import DocumentParser

parser = DocumentParser()
result = parser.parse("data/report.pdf")

print(result["full_text"])      # Complete extracted text
print(result["metadata"])       # Document properties (title, author, page_count, etc.)
if "pages" in result:           # Page-level content (when available)
    print(f"Pages: {len(result['pages'])}")
```

Supported formats: PDF, DOCX, HTML, TXT, JSON, CSV, PPTX, XLSX.

## DoclingParser

Advanced parser using the Docling backend — handles layouts that `DocumentParser` cannot:

```bash
pip install docling
```

```python
from semantica.parse import DoclingParser

parser = DoclingParser(
    export_format="markdown",      # Export format: "markdown" | "html" | "json"
    enable_ocr=False               # Enable OCR for scanned documents
)

result = parser.parse(
    "data/annual_report.pdf",
    extract_tables=True,           # Extract structured tables
    extract_images=False,          # Extract image regions
    extract_text=True              # Extract text content
)

print(result["full_text"])    # Complete extracted text
print(result["tables"])       # Structured table data
if "pages" in result:         # Page-level content
    print(f"Pages: {len(result['pages'])}")
```

Use `DoclingParser` for:

- Multi-column PDF layouts
- Tables with merged cells or complex headers
- PPTX slides with embedded charts
- XLSX spreadsheets with formulas
- Scanned documents with OCR
- Academic papers and technical reports

## OCR Support

```python
parser = DoclingParser(
    enable_ocr=True,           # Enable OCR via PdfPipelineOptions
    export_format="markdown"
)

result = parser.parse("data/scanned_contract.pdf")
print(result["full_text"])     # OCR-extracted text
```

## Supported Formats

| Format | Extension | Parser Used | Notes |
| ------ | --------- | ----------- | ----- |
| PDF | `.pdf` | `PDFParser` / `DoclingParser` | Text, tables, metadata; Docling adds OCR |
| Word | `.docx` | Built-in | Text, headings, tables, metadata |
| HTML | `.html`, `.htm` | `HTMLParser` / `WebParser` | `WebParser` fetches remote URLs |
| Markdown | `.md` | Built-in | Preserves heading hierarchy |
| Plain text | `.txt` | `TXTParser` | Minimal metadata |
| JSON | `.json` | `JSONParser` | One object per line or array |
| CSV / TSV | `.csv`, `.tsv` | `CSVParser` | Header auto-detected |
| Excel | `.xlsx`, `.xls` | Built-in | Sheet selection supported |
| PowerPoint | `.pptx` | Built-in | `DoclingParser` for embedded charts |
| Email | `.eml`, `.msg` | `EmailParser` | Attachments extracted |
| XML | `.xml` | `XMLIngestor` | XXE-safe, optional XSD validation |
| Archive | `.zip`, `.tar` | `FileIngestor` | Recursive extraction |
| Source code | `.py`, `.js`, `.java`, ... | `CodeParser` | AST-aware block detection |

## Parser Output Structure

Both parsers return dictionaries with the following structure:

```python
result = {
    "full_text": str,              # Complete extracted text
    "metadata": dict,              # Document properties and statistics
    "pages": List[dict],           # Page-level content (when available)
    "tables": List[dict],          # Structured table data (DoclingParser)
    "images": List[dict],          # Image regions (DoclingParser)
    "total_pages": int,            # Total page count
    "export_format": str           # Format used for text extraction (DoclingParser)
}
```

### Metadata Structure

```python
metadata = {
    "file_path": str,              # Source file path
    "page_count": int,             # Number of pages
    "format": str,                 # File format ("pdf", "docx", etc.)
    # Additional fields vary by parser and document type
}
```

## DocumentParser Methods

| Method | Returns | Description |
| ------ | ------- | ----------- |
| `parse(source)` | `dict` | Auto-detect format and extract text, metadata, tables |
| `parse_batch(sources)` | `dict` | Process multiple sources in parallel |
| `extract_text(path)` | `str` | Extract only text content from document |
| `extract_metadata(path)` | `dict` | Extract only metadata from document |

## Integration with FileIngestor

The most common pattern — ingest a directory then parse each source:

```python
from semantica.ingest import FileIngestor
from semantica.parse import DoclingParser

ingestor = FileIngestor()
parser   = DoclingParser(export_format="markdown")

sources = ingestor.ingest("data/reports/")
for source in sources:
    result = parser.parse(source)
    # Access extracted content
    text = result["full_text"]
    tables = result["tables"] 
    metadata = result["metadata"]
```

<Note>
  Docling is an optional dependency. If `docling` is not installed, `DoclingParser` raises an `ImportError` with installation instructions: `pip install docling`. `DocumentParser` is always available and requires no extras.
</Note>

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Ingest" icon="database" href="ingest">
    Load files before parsing.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Split" icon="scissors" href="split">
    Chunk parsed text for embedding and extraction.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Docling Integration" icon="file-pdf" href="../integrations/docling">
    Full Docling integration setup guide.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Semantic Extract" icon="magnifying-glass" href="semantic_extract">
    Extract entities and relations from parsed text.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>