diff --git a/c_lexer.rb b/c_lexer.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..42ef6c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/c_lexer.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,365 @@
+def error(msg)
+  puts "ERROR: #{msg}"
+  exit 1
+end
+
+class Program
+  def initialize()
+
+  end
+end
+
+#FunctionHeader + Semicolon = FunctionPrototype
+#FunctionHeader + Bracket = FunctionDeclaration
+#
+#Type + Identifier + [Identifier] + Semicolon = VarDecl
+#Type + Identifier + Equal + Expr = VarDeclWithValue
+
+class Construct
+  def initialize(stream)
+    @stream, @back = stream, []
+  end
+
+  def spit
+    @stream.prepend @back.pop
+  end
+
+  def vomit
+    @back.reverse.each { spit }
+  end
+
+  def bite(flavor)
+    @back << @stream.shift
+    #bite flavor if @back.last.type == :white
+    taste_like? flavor
+  end
+
+  def bite_until(flavor)
+    until bite flavor
+      return if @stream.empty?
+    end
+  end
+
+  def discard_until(flavor)
+    null = nil
+    until null == flavor
+      h = @stream.shift
+      break if h.nil?
+      null = h.type
+    end
+  end
+
+  #lick to get flavor
+  def lick
+    return @stream.first.type if @stream.first.type == Token
+    return @stream.first.class
+  end
+
+  #lick until stopping point
+  def deep_lick(stop)
+    tongue = []
+    @stream.each {|s|
+      break if s.type == stop
+      tongue << s.type if s.class == Token
+      tongue << s.class if s.class != Token
+    }
+    return tongue
+  end
+
+  def deep_bite(stop)
+    tongue = []
+    @stream.each {|s|
+      break if s.type == stop
+      tongue << s
+    }
+    return tongue
+  end
+
+  def taste_like?(flavor)
+    return true if flavor == :any
+    return flavor.include? @back.last.class == Token ? @back.last.type : @back.last.class if flavor.class == Array
+    return @back.last.type == flavor if @back.last.class == Token
+    @back.last.class == flavor
+  end
+
+  #i could determine the type here
+end
+
+# int main(void) [;|{]
+class FunctionHeader < Construct
+  def initialize(stream)
+    super
+  end
+  
+  def undo
+    @stream.prepend @back
+  end
+
+  def consume
+    @back << @stream.shift
+    if [:int, :void].include? @back.last.type
+      @back << @stream.shift
+    end
+
+    if @back.last.type == :ident
+      @back << @stream.shift
+    end
+    if @back.last.type == :oparn
+      @back << @stream.shift
+    end
+    if [:int, :void].include? @back.last.type
+      @back << @stream.shift
+    end
+    if @back.last.type == :cparn
+      @back << @stream.shift
+    end
+    if @back.last.type == :obrac
+      @back << @stream.shift
+      return self
+    end
+    
+    undo
+    return
+  end
+end
+
+class Token
+  attr_accessor :text
+  attr_accessor :type
+
+  def initialize(text, type)
+    @text, @type = text, type
+  end
+
+  def to_s
+    "#{@type}: #{@text}"
+  end
+end
+
+class Matcher
+  def initialize(hash)
+    @hash = hash
+  end
+
+  def self.match(hash, token)
+    hash.each {|k, v|
+      return Token.new(token, k) if token =~ v
+    }
+
+    return nil
+  end
+
+  #modify the token if its a keyword
+  def self.match_token(hash, token)
+    hash.each {|k,v|
+      token.type = k if token.text =~ v
+    }
+
+    return token
+  end 
+end
+
+class StringLiteral
+  def initialize(str)
+    @text = str
+    @type = :string
+  end
+
+  def to_s
+    "#{@type}: #{@text}"
+  end
+end
+
+#this could just be a function
+class StringSweeper < Construct
+  def initialize(stream)
+    super stream
+    @string_mode = false
+  end
+
+  def create_string(stream)
+    StringLiteral.new stream.map { |s| s.text }.join
+  end
+
+  def sweep
+    until @stream.empty?
+    bite_until [:quote, nil] #everything before string
+    @back << create_string(deep_bite(:quote))
+    back_up = @back.pop
+    @back.pop #remove extra quote
+    @back << back_up
+    discard_until :quote #replace all tokens with string
+    end
+    puts @back
+  end
+end
+
+class XMLBody < Construct
+  def initialize(stream)
+
+  end
+end
+
+class XMLClose < Construct
+  def initialize(stream)
+
+  end
+end
+
+class XMLOpen < Construct
+  def initialize(stream)
+
+  end
+end
+
+class XML < Construct
+  def initialize(stream)
+    super stream
+  end
+
+  def consume
+    bite_until :close
+    XMLOpen.new(@back)
+  end
+end
+
+class Expr < Construct
+  @@tokens = {
+    :addop => /\+/,
+    :subop => /\-/,
+    :mulop => /\*/,
+    :divop => /\//,
+  }
+
+  @@type = :exprn
+
+  def self.tokens
+    @@tokens
+  end
+
+  def initialize(stream)
+    super(stream)
+  end
+
+  #parse the expression first
+  #determine what kind of expression
+  #it is after
+
+  def consume
+    #first token could be
+    #ident, const, minus, oparn, func_call
+    #
+    
+    if Lexer.keywords.include? lick
+      puts "we have a variable (or function) declaration"
+    elsif lick == :ident
+      puts "we may have an assignment expression"
+    elsif deep_lick(:semic).include? :equal
+      puts "we definitely have an assignment expression"
+      bite_until :semic
+      puts @back
+    else
+      puts "we have an invalid expression"
+    end
+  end
+
+end
+
+class Lexer
+  @@tokens = {
+    :ident => /[a-zA-Z_]\w*\b/,
+    :const => /[0-9]+\b/,
+    :equal => /\=/,
+    :oparn => /\(/,
+    :cparn => /\)/,
+    :obrac => /{/,
+    :cbrac => /}/,
+    :quote => /\"/,
+    :semic => /;/,
+    :white => /\s/,
+  }.merge Expr.tokens
+
+  @@xml_tokens = {
+    :ident => /[a-zA-Z_]\w*/,
+    :const => /[0-9]+/,
+    :open_ => /\</,
+    :close => /\>/,
+    :equal => /\=/,
+    :slash => /\//,
+    :quote => /\"/,
+    :white => /\s/,
+  }
+
+  @@keywords = {
+    :int => /int\b/,
+    :short => /short\b/,
+    :long => /long\b/,
+    :longlong => /long\ long\b/,
+    :void => /void\b/,
+    :return => /return\b/,
+  }
+
+  def self.keywords
+    @@keywords.keys
+  end
+
+  def initialize(file)
+    error "expected input file" if file.nil?
+    @source = File.read file
+    @xml = false
+    @xml = true if File.extname(file) == ".xml"
+  end
+
+  def combine_id(tokens)
+    skips = 0
+    tokens.filter_map.with_index {|token, idx|
+      if skips != 0
+        skips -= 1
+        next
+      end
+
+      next token unless token.type == :ident
+
+      while tokens[idx += 1].type == :ident
+        token.text << tokens[idx].text
+        skips += 1
+      end
+
+      next token
+    }
+  end
+
+  def no_whitespace(tokens)
+    tokens.filter { |tok| tok.type != :white }
+  end
+
+  def match_keywords(tokens)
+    tokens.map {|token|
+      Matcher.match_token(@@keywords, token)
+    }
+  end
+
+  def lex_xml
+    tokens = @source.chars.filter_map { |char|
+      Matcher.match(@@xml_tokens, char)
+    }
+    combine_id tokens
+  end
+
+  def lex
+    return lex_xml if @xml
+
+    tokens = @source.chars.filter_map { |char|
+      Matcher.match(@@tokens, char)
+    }
+
+    #might be bad for strings with spaces in them
+    no_whitespace match_keywords combine_id tokens
+  end
+end
+
+lexer = Lexer.new(ARGV[0])
+stream = lexer.lex
+swept = StringSweeper.new(stream)
+swept.sweep
+
diff --git a/main.xml b/main.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..12ed982
--- /dev/null
+++ b/main.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+<root attr="hello world">
+    <subroot attr="yes">wow</subroot>
+</root>
diff --git a/return_2.c b/return_2.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0d77fd6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/return_2.c
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+int x = 2 + 4 * 3 - 8;
+y = 23;