diff --git a/phase1.h b/phase1.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5511a9e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/phase1.h
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+#ifndef __phase1_h__
+#define __phase1_h__
+
+
+#include <string>
+#include <functional>
+
+class phase1 {
+	
+public:
+	typedef std::function<void(std::string &&)> pipe_function;
+
+	phase1();
+
+	void process(const unsigned char *begin, const unsigned char *end, bool final = false);
+
+	void process(const char *begin, const char *end, bool final = false) {
+		process((const unsigned char *)begin, (const unsigned char *)end, final);
+	}
+
+	void process(const std::string &s) { process(s.data(), s.data() + s.size()); }
+
+	void finish() { const char *tmp = ""; process(tmp, tmp, true); }
+
+	void reset();
+
+	//template<class F>
+	//phase1 &operator >>= (F &&f) { pipe_to = pipe_function(f); return *this; }
+
+	phase1 &operator >>= (pipe_function f) { pipe_to = f; return *this; }
+
+private:
+	std::string scratch;
+	pipe_function pipe_to;
+	int line = 1;
+	int cs = 0;
+};
+
+#endif
diff --git a/phase1.rl b/phase1.rl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c77958a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/phase1.rl
@@ -0,0 +1,180 @@
+/*
+ * phase1 -- strip comments and merge multi-lines.
+ *
+ */
+
+
+#include "phase1.h"
+#include <stdexcept>
+#include <stdint.h>
+
+const unsigned char escape = 0xb6;
+
+/*
+ * from experimentation, mpw splits on ; after variable expansion; 
+ * this splits before.  something stupid like:
+ * set q '"'; echo {q} ; "
+ * will not be handled correctly.  oh well.
+ * (should probably just drop that and we can then combine tokenizing w/ 
+ * variable expansion)
+ */
+%%{
+	machine main;
+	alphtype unsigned char;
+
+
+	escape = 0xb6;
+	ws = [ \t];
+	nl = ('\n' | '\r');
+
+	action add_line {
+		/* strip trailing ws */
+		while (!scratch.empty() && isspace(scratch.back())) scratch.pop_back();
+
+		if (!scratch.empty()) { 
+			std::string tmp = std::move(scratch);
+			scratch.clear();
+			if (pipe_to) pipe_to(std::move(tmp));
+		}
+		fgoto main;
+	}
+
+	action push_back {
+		scratch.push_back(fc);
+	}
+
+	action push_back_escape {
+		scratch.push_back(escape);
+		scratch.push_back(fc);
+	}
+
+	comment = '#' (any-nl)*;
+
+	escape_seq =
+		escape
+		(
+			nl ${ /* esc newline */ line++; }
+			|
+			(any-nl) $push_back_escape
+		)
+	;
+
+
+	# single-quoted string.  only escape \n is special.
+	# handling is so stupid I'm not going to support it.
+
+	sstring = 
+		['] $push_back
+		( (any-nl-[']) $push_back )*
+		['] $push_back
+		$err{
+			throw std::runtime_error("### MPW Shell - 's must occur in pairs.");
+		}
+	;
+
+	# same quoting logic as ' string
+	vstring = 
+		'{' $push_back
+		( (any-nl-'}') $push_back )*
+		'}' $push_back
+		$err{
+			throw std::runtime_error("### MPW Shell - {s must occur in pairs.");
+		}
+	;
+
+
+	# double-quoted string.  
+	# escape \n is ignored.  others do nothing.
+	dstring =
+		["] $push_back
+		(
+			escape_seq
+			|
+			vstring
+			|
+			(any-escape-nl-["{]) $push_back
+		)* ["] $push_back
+		$err{
+			throw std::runtime_error("### MPW Shell - \"s must occur in pairs.");
+		}
+	;
+
+	# this is a mess ...
+	coalesce_ws =
+		ws
+		(
+			ws
+			|
+			escape nl ${ line++; }
+		)*
+		<:
+		any ${ scratch.push_back(' '); fhold; }
+	;
+
+	line :=
+	(
+		sstring
+		|
+		dstring
+		|
+		vstring
+		|
+		escape_seq
+		|
+		coalesce_ws
+		|
+		(any-escape-nl-ws-[#'"{]) $push_back
+	)*
+	comment?
+	nl ${ line++; } $add_line
+	;
+
+	main :=
+		# strip leading whitespace.
+		ws*
+		<: # left guard -- higher priority to ws.
+		any ${ fhold; fgoto line; }
+	;
+
+}%%
+
+
+
+namespace {
+	%% write data;	
+}
+
+phase1::phase1() {
+	%% write init;
+}
+
+void phase1::reset() {
+	%% write init;
+	scratch.clear();
+	// line = 1?
+}
+
+void phase1::process(const unsigned char *begin, const unsigned char *end, bool final) {
+	
+	int start_line;
+
+	const unsigned char *p = begin;
+	const unsigned char *pe = end;
+	const unsigned char *eof = nullptr;
+
+	if (final)
+		eof = pe;
+
+	%% write exec;
+
+	if (cs == main_error) {
+		throw std::runtime_error("MPW Shell - Lexer error.");
+	}
+
+#if 0
+	if (cs != main_start && final) {
+		// will this happen?
+		throw std::runtime_error("MPW Shell - Lexer error.");
+	}
+#endif
+}
diff --git a/phase2.h b/phase2.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9b69c84
--- /dev/null
+++ b/phase2.h
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+
+#ifndef __phase2_h__
+#define __phase2_h__
+
+#include <string>
+#include <vector>
+#include <functional>
+#include <memory>
+
+typedef std::unique_ptr<struct command> command_ptr;
+typedef std::vector<command_ptr> command_ptr_vector;
+
+class phase2  {
+	
+public:
+	typedef std::function<void(command_ptr &&)> pipe_function;
+
+	void process(const std::string &line);
+	void finish();
+
+	virtual void syntax_error();
+	virtual void parse_accept();
+	virtual void parse(int, std::string &&);
+
+	phase2 &operator >>=(pipe_function f) { pipe_to = f; return *this; }
+
+private:
+
+	std::string scratch;
+	int type = 0;
+	bool error = false;
+	bool immediate = false;
+
+	pipe_function pipe_to;
+
+	void flush();
+	bool special();
+	void classify();
+	void exec();
+
+	command_ptr_vector command_queue;
+};
+
+#endif
diff --git a/phase2.rl b/phase2.rl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..797f98a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/phase2.rl
@@ -0,0 +1,182 @@
+/*
+ * phase2 -- parse a line into major control structures (begin/end/if/etc)
+ * input is a full line -- comments have been removed, escape-nl handled, trailing newline stripped. 
+ *
+ */
+
+#include "mpw-shell-grammar.h"
+#include "phase2.h"
+#include "command.h"
+
+%%{
+	machine main;
+	alphtype unsigned char;
+
+	action not_special { !special() }
+
+	ws = [ \t];
+	
+	main := |*
+		'||' when not_special => {
+				flush();
+				parse(PIPE_PIPE, std::string(ts, te));
+		};
+
+		'&&' when not_special => {
+				flush();
+				parse(AMP_AMP, std::string(ts, te));
+		};
+
+		'(' when not_special => {
+				flush();
+				parse(LPAREN, std::string(ts, te));
+		};
+
+		# ) may include redirection so start a new token but don't parse it yet.
+		')' when not_special => {
+				flush();
+				scratch.push_back(fc);
+				type = RPAREN;
+		};
+
+		# todo -- also add in strings and escapes.
+
+		';' => { flush(); parse(SEMI, ";"); };
+		ws  => { if (!scratch.empty()) scratch.push_back(fc); };
+		any => { scratch.push_back(fc); };
+	*|;
+}%%
+
+
+%%{
+	machine classify;
+	alphtype unsigned char;
+
+	ws = [ \t];
+
+	IF = /if/i;
+	ELSE = /else/i;
+	END = /end/i;
+	BEGIN = /begin/i;
+	EVALUATE = /evaluate/i;
+
+
+	main := |*
+		IF %eof{ type = IF; return; };
+		IF ws => { type = IF; return; };
+
+		ELSE %eof{ type = ELSE; return; };
+		ELSE ws => { type = ELSE; return; };
+
+		ELSE ws+ IF %eof{ type = ELSE_IF; return; };
+		ELSE ws+ IF ws => { type = ELSE_IF; return; };
+
+		EVALUATE %eof{ type = EVALUATE; return; };
+		EVALUATE ws => { type = EVALUATE; return; };
+
+		END %eof{ type = END; return; };
+		END ws => { type = END; return; };
+
+		BEGIN %eof{ type = BEGIN; return; };
+		BEGIN ws => { type = BEGIN; return; };
+
+		')' => { type = LPAREN; return; };
+	*|;
+
+}%%
+
+
+namespace {
+	%% machine classify;
+	%% write data;
+	%% machine main;
+	%% write data;
+}
+
+void phase2::flush() {
+	// remove white space...
+	while (!scratch.empty() && isspace(scratch.back())) scratch.pop_back();
+
+
+	if (!scratch.empty()) {
+		if (!type) classify();
+		parse(type, std::move(scratch));
+	}
+
+	type = 0;
+	scratch.clear();
+}
+
+bool phase2::special() {
+	if (!type) classify();
+
+	switch (type) {
+	case IF:
+	case ELSE:
+	case ELSE_IF:
+	case EVALUATE:
+		return true;
+	default:
+		return false;
+	}
+}
+
+void phase2::classify() {
+	if (type) return;
+	if (scratch.empty()) return;
+
+	int cs;
+	int act;
+	const unsigned char *p = (const unsigned char *)scratch.data();
+	const unsigned char *pe = p + scratch.size();
+	const unsigned char *eof = pe;
+	const unsigned char *te, *ts;
+
+	type = COMMAND;
+
+	%% machine classify;
+	%% write init;
+	%% write exec;
+}
+
+void phase2::process(const std::string &line) {
+	
+
+	int cs;
+	int act;
+	const unsigned char *p = (const unsigned char *)line.data();
+	const unsigned char *pe = p + line.size();
+	const unsigned char *eof = pe;
+	const unsigned char *te, *ts;
+
+	scratch.clear();
+	type = 0;
+
+	%% machine main;
+	%% write init;
+	%% write exec;
+
+	flush();
+	parse(NL, "");
+
+	exec();
+}
+
+void phase2::finish() {
+	parse(0, "");
+	exec();
+}
+
+void phase2::exec() {
+
+	if (pipe_to) {
+		for (auto &p : command_queue) {
+			if (p) {
+				pipe_to(std::move(p));
+			}
+		}
+		command_queue.clear();
+	}
+	
+}
+