@@ -129,6 +129,7 @@ Creates an instance of `PythonShell` and starts the Python process
     * `text`: each line of data (ending with "\n") is emitted as a message (default)
     * `json`: each line of data (ending with "\n") is parsed as JSON and emitted as a message
     * `binary`: data is streamed as-is through `stdout` and `stdin`
+  * `parser`: each line of data (ending with "\n") is parsed with this customer parser (overrides `mode`)
   * `pythonPath`: The path where to locate the "python" executable. Default: "python"
   * `pythonOptions`: Array of option switches to pass to "python"
   * `scriptPath`: The default path where to look for scripts. Default: "./python"
 
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ var PythonShell = function (script, options) {
     this.script = path.join(options.scriptPath || './python', script);
     this.command = pythonOptions.concat(this.script, scriptArgs);
     this.mode = options.mode || 'text';
+    this.parser = options.parser;
     this.terminated = false;
     this.childProcess = spawn(pythonPath, this.command, options);
 
@@ -185,21 +186,21 @@ PythonShell.prototype.receive = function (data) {
     this._remaining = lastLine;
 
     lines.forEach(function (line) {
-        if (self.mode === 'json') {
+        if (self.parser) {
             try {
-                self.emit('message', JSON.parse(line));
-            } catch (err) {
+                self.emit('message', self.parser(line));
+            } catch(err) {
                 self.emit('error', extend(
-                    new Error('invalid JSON message: ' + data + ' >> ' + err),
+                    new Error('invalid message: ' + data + ' >> ' + err),
                     { inner: err, data: line}
                 ));
             }
-        } else if (typeof self.mode === 'function') {
+        } else if (self.mode === 'json') {
             try {
-                self.emit('message', self.mode(line));
-            } catch(err) {
+                self.emit('message', JSON.parse(line));
+            } catch (err) {
                 self.emit('error', extend(
-                    new Error('invalid message: ' + data + ' >> ' + err),
+                    new Error('invalid JSON message: ' + data + ' >> ' + err),
                     { inner: err, data: line}
                 ));
             }