diff --git a/bsputil/decompile.cpp b/bsputil/decompile.cpp
index ebad86b9..98a4481c 100644
--- a/bsputil/decompile.cpp
+++ b/bsputil/decompile.cpp
@@ -1033,7 +1033,7 @@ static void DecompileEntity(
             continue;
         } else if (modelNum > 0 && keyValue.first == "origin") {
             auto &value = keyValue.second;
-            parser_t parser(value.data(), value.data() + value.size());
+            parser_t parser(value);
             qvec3d vec;
             parser.parse_token();
             vec[0] = stof(parser.token);
diff --git a/common/entdata.cc b/common/entdata.cc
index 61eab9e3..42351fa7 100644
--- a/common/entdata.cc
+++ b/common/entdata.cc
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ keyvalues_t::iterator entdict_t::end()
 std::vector<entdict_t> EntData_Parse(const std::string &entdata)
 {
     std::vector<entdict_t> result;
-    parser_t parser(entdata.data(), entdata.data() + entdata.size());
+    parser_t parser(entdata);
 
     /* go through all the entities */
     while (1) {
diff --git a/include/common/parser.hh b/include/common/parser.hh
index ca5232bc..e1c9a5c8 100644
--- a/include/common/parser.hh
+++ b/include/common/parser.hh
@@ -47,7 +47,15 @@ struct parser_t
     uint32_t linenum = 1;
     std::string token;
 
-    parser_t(const char *data, const char *in_end) : pos(data), end(in_end) { }
+    // base constructor; accept raw start & length
+    parser_t(const void *start, size_t length) : pos(reinterpret_cast<const char *>(start)), end(reinterpret_cast<const char *>(start) + length) { }
+
+    // pull from string_view; note that the string view must live for the entire
+    // duration of the parser's life time
+    parser_t(const std::string_view &view) : parser_t(&view.front(), view.size()) { }
+
+    // pull from C string; made explicit because this is error-prone
+    explicit parser_t(const char *str) : parser_t(str, strlen(str)) { }
 
     bool parse_token(parseflags flags = PARSE_NORMAL);
 
diff --git a/light/entities.cc b/light/entities.cc
index d8c4a946..8e6de47d 100644
--- a/light/entities.cc
+++ b/light/entities.cc
@@ -1404,7 +1404,7 @@ bool ParseLightsFile(const std::filesystem::path &fname)
     while (!f.eof()) {
         std::getline(f, buf);
 
-        parser_t parser(buf.data(), buf.data() + buf.size());
+        parser_t parser(buf);
 
         if (!parser.parse_token())
             continue;
diff --git a/qbsp/map.cc b/qbsp/map.cc
index 75b70a52..c150042f 100644
--- a/qbsp/map.cc
+++ b/qbsp/map.cc
@@ -1847,8 +1847,7 @@ mapentity_t LoadExternalMap(const char *filename)
         FError("Couldn't load external map file \"{}.\"\n", filename);
     }
 
-    const char *begin = reinterpret_cast<const char *>(file->data());
-    parser_t parser(begin, begin + file->size());
+    parser_t parser(file->data(), file->size());
 
     // parse the worldspawn
     if (!ParseEntity(parser, &dest)) {
@@ -1896,8 +1895,7 @@ void LoadMapFile(void)
             return;
         }
 
-        const char *begin = reinterpret_cast<const char *>(file->data());
-        parser_t parser(begin, begin + file->size());
+        parser_t parser(file->data(), file->size());
 
         for (int i = 0;; i++) {
             mapentity_t &entity = map.entities.emplace_back();
diff --git a/qbsp/test_qbsp.cc b/qbsp/test_qbsp.cc
index ddc752e1..33822e46 100644
--- a/qbsp/test_qbsp.cc
+++ b/qbsp/test_qbsp.cc
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ static mapentity_t LoadMap(const char *map)
     options.target_version = &bspver_q1;
     options.target_game = options.target_version->game;
 
-    parser_t parser(map, map + strlen(map));
+    parser_t parser(map);
 
     mapentity_t worldspawn;
     // FIXME: adds the brush to the global map...