A basic function-applying token replacement implementation with Sprache

Parser.cs

void Main()
{
	var input = "Hello #{Greeting | Upper} #{Greeting | Upper}, How do you like #{DayOfWeek | Lower}";
	
	var variables = new Dictionary<string, string>()
	{
		{ "Greeting", "hello" },
		{ "DayOfWeek", "Wednesday" }
	};
	
	var tokens = ParseInput(input);
	
	tokens.Dump();
	
	foreach (var token in tokens)
	{
		input = token.Replace(input, variables[token.Id]);
	}
	
	input.Dump();
}

public interface IPipeFunction
{
	string Apply(string input);
}

public class Upper : IPipeFunction
{
	public string Apply(string input)
	{
		return input.ToUpperInvariant();
	}
}

public class Lower : IPipeFunction
{
	public string Apply(string input)
	{
		return input.ToLowerInvariant();
	}
}

IEnumerable<Token> ParseInput(string input)
{
	var pipeFunctions = new Dictionary<string, Func<IPipeFunction>>()
	{
		{ "Upper", () => new Upper() },
		{ "Lower", () => new Lower() },
	};
	
	var tokenStart = Parse.String("#{");
	var tokenEnd = Parse.Char('}');
	
	var pipe = Parse.Char('|');
	
	var functionParser = 
		from space in Parse.WhiteSpace.Once()
		from separator in pipe
		from anotherSpace in Parse.WhiteSpace.Once()
		from functionName in Parse.Letter.Many().Text()
		select pipeFunctions[functionName]();
	
	var tokenParser = 
		from start in tokenStart
		from token in Parse.AnyChar.Except(functionParser).Many().Text()
		from function in functionParser
		from end in tokenEnd
		select new Token() { Id = token, PipeFunction = function };
		
	var inputParser = 
		from preamble in Parse.AnyChar.Except(tokenStart).Many().Optional()
		from token in tokenParser
		select token;
		
	return inputParser.Many().Parse(input);
}

public class Token
{
	public string Id {get;set;}
	public IPipeFunction? PipeFunction {get;set;}

	string Format => PipeFunction == null ? $"#{{{Id}}}" : $"#{{{Id} | {PipeFunction.GetType().Name}}}";
	
	public string Replace(string input, string value)
	{
		return input.Replace(Format, PipeFunction != null ? PipeFunction.Apply(value) : value);
	}
}

To use with vscode notebooks + .net interactive you can replace the Main function with:

#r "nuget:Sprache"

using Sprache;

var input = "Hello #{Greeting | Upper} #{Greeting | Upper}, How do you like #{DayOfWeek | Lower}";

var variables = new Dictionary<string, string>()
{
    { "Greeting", "hello" },
    { "DayOfWeek", "Wednesday" }
};

var tokens = ParseInput(input);

display(tokens);

foreach (var token in tokens)
{
    input = token.Replace(input, variables[token.Id]);
}

display(input);

Another way to define types is to change this:

var pipeFunctions = new Dictionary<string, Func<IPipeFunction>>()
{
	{ "Upper", () => new Upper() },
	{ "Lower", () => new Lower() },
};

to

var pipeFunctions = new Dictionary<string, Func<string, string>>()
{
	{ "Upper", s => s.ToUpperInvariant() },
	{ "Lower", s => s.ToLowerInvariant() },
};

and then (with a bit of modification here and there) we don't need to define IPipeFunction and Upper and Lower any more.

If we do want to give Func<string, string> a special name, we can add this to the top:

using PipeFunction = System.Func<string, string>;