foma ☆

« Back to VersTracker

Description:
Finite-state compiler and C library

Type: Formula | Latest Version: 0.10.0@0 | Tracked Since: Dec 28, 2025

Links: Homepage | formulae.brew.sh

Category: Developer tools

Tags: nlp compiler finite-state transducer linguistics

Install: brew install foma

About:
Foma is a command-line tool for compiling and applying finite-state transducers and automata. It provides a powerful scripting environment for building complex text processing pipelines. Its main value is in creating highly efficient lexical analyzers and morphological analyzers for NLP applications.

Key Features:

Regular expression compiler for FSMs
Python and C library bindings
Efficient transducer composition and application
Interactive command-line interface

Use Cases:

Developing morphological analyzers for NLP
Compiling lexicons into efficient lookup automata
Prototyping text processing pipelines

Alternatives:

HFST – HFST is a more comprehensive framework supporting multiple backends, while Foma is a lightweight, standalone compiler.
Xerox Finite State Toolkit – XFST is the commercial predecessor with similar syntax; Foma is a free and open-source alternative.

Version History

Detected	Version	Rev	Change	Commit
Sep 11, 2025 8:30am		0	VERSION_BUMP	df714091