diff --git a/tmpl/parser.cc b/tmpl/parser.cc
index 3cab992..04aaab2 100644
--- a/tmpl/parser.cc
+++ b/tmpl/parser.cc
@@ -10,6 +10,11 @@ using namespace std;
 namespace I_NAMESPACE {
 #endif
 
+I_CLASSNAME::I_CLASSNAME()
+    : m_errstr(NULL)
+{
+}
+
 static void read_istream(istream & i, vector<char> & buff, int & size)
 {
     size = 0;
@@ -27,19 +32,50 @@ static void read_istream(istream & i, vector<char> & buff, int & size)
 
 bool I_CLASSNAME::parse(istream & i)
 {
-    struct { char * name; char * definition; } tokens[] = {
+    struct { char * name; char * definition; pcre * re; } tokens[] = {
         I_TOKENLIST
     };
 
-    vector<char> buff;
-    int size;
-    read_istream(i, buff, size);
-
-    if (size <= 0)
+    if (sizeof(tokens)/sizeof(tokens[0]) == 0)
+    {
+        m_errstr = "No tokens defined";
         return false;
+    }
+
+    vector<char> buff;
+    int buff_size;
+    read_istream(i, buff, buff_size);
+
+    if (buff_size <= 0)
+    {
+        m_errstr = "0-length input string";
+        return false;
+    }
 
     /* append trailing NUL byte for pcre functions */
     buff.push_back('\0');
+
+    /* compile all token regular expressions */
+    for (int i = 0; i < sizeof(tokens)/sizeof(tokens[0]); i++)
+    {
+        char * errptr;
+        int erroffset;
+        tokens[i].re = pcre_compile(tokens[i].definition, PCRE_DOTALL,
+                &errptr, &erroffset, NULL);
+        if (tokens[i].re == NULL)
+        {
+            cerr << "Error compiling token '" << tokens[i].name
+                << "' regular expression at position " << erroffset
+                << ": " << errptr << endl;
+            m_errstr = "Error in token regular expression";
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+
+    int buff_pos = 0;
+    while (buff_pos < buff_size)
+    {
+    }
 }
 
 #ifdef I_NAMESPACE
diff --git a/tmpl/parser.h b/tmpl/parser.h
index 878b25c..ff4ed1b 100644
--- a/tmpl/parser.h
+++ b/tmpl/parser.h
@@ -11,9 +11,12 @@ namespace I_NAMESPACE {
 class I_CLASSNAME
 {
     public:
+        I_CLASSNAME();
         bool parse(std::istream & in);
+        char * getError(); { return m_errstr; }
 
     protected:
+        char * m_errstr;
 };
 
 #ifdef I_NAMESPACE