diff --git a/executable_semantics/syntax/BUILD b/executable_semantics/syntax/BUILD
index e0f654c0eac5..c14e1cdaa059 100644
--- a/executable_semantics/syntax/BUILD
+++ b/executable_semantics/syntax/BUILD
@@ -12,6 +12,16 @@ cc_library(
     deps = ["//common:check"],
 )
 
+cc_test(
+    name = "parse_test",
+    srcs = ["parse_test.cpp"],
+    deps = [
+        ":syntax",
+        "//executable_semantics/common:arena",
+        "@com_google_googletest//:gtest_main",
+    ],
+)
+
 cc_library(
     name = "syntax",
     srcs = [
diff --git a/executable_semantics/syntax/parse.cpp b/executable_semantics/syntax/parse.cpp
index 6d6a4a8e67de..dfc451d1d4df 100644
--- a/executable_semantics/syntax/parse.cpp
+++ b/executable_semantics/syntax/parse.cpp
@@ -12,19 +12,9 @@
 
 namespace Carbon {
 
-auto Parse(Nonnull<Arena*> arena, const std::string& input_file_name,
-           bool trace) -> std::variant<AST, SyntaxErrorCode> {
-  FILE* input_file = fopen(input_file_name.c_str(), "r");
-  if (input_file == nullptr) {
-    FATAL_PROGRAM_ERROR_NO_LINE() << "Error opening '" << input_file_name
-                                  << "': " << std::strerror(errno);
-  }
-
-  // Prepare the lexer.
-  yyscan_t scanner;
-  yylex_init(&scanner);
-  yyset_in(input_file, scanner);
-
+auto ParseImpl(yyscan_t scanner, Nonnull<Arena*> arena,
+               std::string_view input_file_name, bool trace)
+    -> std::variant<AST, SyntaxErrorCode> {
   // Prepare other parser arguments.
   std::optional<AST> ast = std::nullopt;
   ParseAndLexContext context(arena->New<std::string>(input_file_name), trace);
@@ -36,10 +26,6 @@ auto Parse(Nonnull<Arena*> arena, const std::string& input_file_name,
   }
   auto syntax_error_code = parser();
 
-  // Clean up the lexer.
-  fclose(input_file);
-  yylex_destroy(scanner);
-
   // Return an error if appropriate.
   if (syntax_error_code != 0) {
     return syntax_error_code;
@@ -51,4 +37,48 @@ auto Parse(Nonnull<Arena*> arena, const std::string& input_file_name,
   return *ast;
 }
 
+auto Parse(Nonnull<Arena*> arena, std::string_view input_file_name, bool trace)
+    -> std::variant<AST, SyntaxErrorCode> {
+  FILE* input_file = fopen(std::string(input_file_name).c_str(), "r");
+  if (input_file == nullptr) {
+    FATAL_PROGRAM_ERROR_NO_LINE() << "Error opening '" << input_file_name
+                                  << "': " << std::strerror(errno);
+  }
+
+  // Prepare the lexer.
+  yyscan_t scanner;
+  yylex_init(&scanner);
+  auto buffer = yy_create_buffer(input_file, YY_BUF_SIZE, scanner);
+  yy_switch_to_buffer(buffer, scanner);
+
+  std::variant<AST, SyntaxErrorCode> result =
+      ParseImpl(scanner, arena, input_file_name, trace);
+
+  // Clean up the lexer.
+  yy_delete_buffer(buffer, scanner);
+  yylex_destroy(scanner);
+  fclose(input_file);
+
+  return result;
+}
+
+auto ParseFromString(Nonnull<Arena*> arena, std::string_view input_file_name,
+                     std::string_view file_contents, bool trace)
+    -> std::variant<Carbon::AST, SyntaxErrorCode> {
+  // Prepare the lexer.
+  yyscan_t scanner;
+  yylex_init(&scanner);
+  auto buffer =
+      yy_scan_bytes(file_contents.data(), file_contents.size(), scanner);
+  yy_switch_to_buffer(buffer, scanner);
+
+  std::variant<AST, SyntaxErrorCode> result =
+      ParseImpl(scanner, arena, input_file_name, trace);
+
+  // Clean up the lexer.
+  yy_delete_buffer(buffer, scanner);
+  yylex_destroy(scanner);
+
+  return result;
+}
 }  // namespace Carbon
diff --git a/executable_semantics/syntax/parse.h b/executable_semantics/syntax/parse.h
index 4669f6043859..9038fcabe02c 100644
--- a/executable_semantics/syntax/parse.h
+++ b/executable_semantics/syntax/parse.h
@@ -18,8 +18,15 @@ using SyntaxErrorCode = int;
 
 // Returns the AST representing the contents of the named file, or an error code
 // if parsing fails. Allocations go into the provided arena.
-auto Parse(Nonnull<Arena*> arena, const std::string& input_file_name,
-           bool trace) -> std::variant<Carbon::AST, SyntaxErrorCode>;
+auto Parse(Nonnull<Arena*> arena, std::string_view input_file_name, bool trace)
+    -> std::variant<Carbon::AST, SyntaxErrorCode>;
+
+// Equivalent to `Parse`, but parses the contents of `file_contents`.
+// `input_file_name` is used only for reporting source locations, and does
+// not need to name a real file.
+auto ParseFromString(Nonnull<Arena*> arena, std::string_view input_file_name,
+                     std::string_view file_contents, bool trace)
+    -> std::variant<Carbon::AST, SyntaxErrorCode>;
 
 }  // namespace Carbon
 
diff --git a/executable_semantics/syntax/parse_test.cpp b/executable_semantics/syntax/parse_test.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..73b12fdaae9e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/executable_semantics/syntax/parse_test.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+// Part of the Carbon Language project, under the Apache License v2.0 with LLVM
+// Exceptions. See /LICENSE for license information.
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0 WITH LLVM-exception
+
+#include "executable_semantics/syntax/parse.h"
+
+#include <gmock/gmock.h>
+#include <gtest/gtest.h>
+
+#include <string>
+#include <variant>
+
+#include "executable_semantics/common/arena.h"
+
+namespace Carbon {
+namespace {
+
+static constexpr std::string_view FileContents = R"(
+package ExecutableSemanticsTest api;
+
+fn Foo() {}
+)";
+
+TEST(ParseTest, ParseFromString) {
+  Arena arena;
+  std::variant<AST, SyntaxErrorCode> parse_result =
+      ParseFromString(&arena, "file.carbon", FileContents, /*trace=*/false);
+  ASSERT_TRUE(std::holds_alternative<AST>(parse_result));
+  EXPECT_EQ(std::get<AST>(parse_result).declarations.size(), 1);
+}
+
+}  // namespace
+}  // namespace Carbon