diff --git a/library/init/lean/message.lean b/library/init/lean/message.lean
index 2d24fd9ac2..fac86c97eb 100644
--- a/library/init/lean/message.lean
+++ b/library/init/lean/message.lean
@@ -47,6 +47,9 @@ structure MessageLog :=
 namespace MessageLog
 def empty : MessageLog := ⟨{}⟩
 
+def isEmpty (log : MessageLog) : Bool :=
+log.revList.isEmpty
+
 instance : Inhabited MessageLog := ⟨{}⟩
 
 def add (msg : Message) (log : MessageLog) : MessageLog :=
diff --git a/library/init/lean/parser/module.lean b/library/init/lean/parser/module.lean
index 8d4f374cc0..a36b2f08c8 100644
--- a/library/init/lean/parser/module.lean
+++ b/library/init/lean/parser/module.lean
@@ -105,5 +105,26 @@ timeit (filename ++ " parser") $ do
   when displayStx (IO.println stx);
   testModuleParserAux env ctx displayStx s messages
 
+partial def parseFileAux (env : Environment) (ctx : ParserContextCore) : ModuleParserState → MessageLog → Array Syntax → IO Syntax
+| state msgs stxs :=
+  match parseCommand env ctx state msgs with
+  | (stx, state, msgs) =>
+    if isEOI stx then
+      if msgs.isEmpty then
+        pure (mkListNode stxs)
+      else do
+        msgs.toList.mfor $ fun msg => IO.println msg;
+        throw (IO.userError "failed to parse file")
+    else
+      parseFileAux state msgs (stxs.push stx)
+
+def parseFile (env : Environment) (fname : String) : IO Syntax :=
+do
+fname ← IO.realPath fname;
+contents ← IO.readTextFile fname;
+let ctx := mkParserContextCore env contents fname;
+let (stx, state, messages) := parseHeader env ctx;
+parseFileAux env ctx state messages (Array.singleton stx)
+
 end Parser
 end Lean