Parsing is the process of analyzing a sequence of symbols—such as words in a sentence or tokens in computer code—to determine its structure and meaning according to a set of rules. In programming, parsers take input data (often text) and break it into manageable components so that the computer can understand and work with it, often based on a grammar. This step is essential in compilers, data processing, and natural language understanding, as it transforms raw input into a structured format that can be further processed or executed.