In plain language
It turns an email body, PDF, or JSON string into named values such as name, amount, and due date.
Example
An email parser pulls the order number, customer name, and total from order confirmation emails.
Related terms
JSON · Regular Expression (Regex) · Data Validation · Formatter
Common misconception
A parser that works on today’s emails will not keep working forever; layout and wording changes break text-based parsing.
Implementation guidance
Prefer structured sources such as APIs over parsing text, use a real JSON parser, validate parsed results, and alert when expected fields are missing.