From 92351a70e0b9193a1def156a470d9156beb8528b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Qt by Nokia Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2011 12:34:00 +0200 Subject: Long live the qt5 Qt repository --- gnuwin32/man/cat1/flex.1.txt | 3013 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 3013 insertions(+) create mode 100644 gnuwin32/man/cat1/flex.1.txt (limited to 'gnuwin32/man/cat1/flex.1.txt') diff --git a/gnuwin32/man/cat1/flex.1.txt b/gnuwin32/man/cat1/flex.1.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..fe54aecf --- /dev/null +++ b/gnuwin32/man/cat1/flex.1.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3013 @@ +FLEX(1) FLEX(1) + + + + + +NAME + flex - fast lexical analyzer generator + +SYNOPSIS + flex [-bcdfhilnpstvwBFILTV78+? -C[aefFmr] -ooutput + -Pprefix -Sskeleton] [--help --version] [filename ...] + +OVERVIEW + This manual describes flex, a tool for generating pro- + grams that perform pattern-matching on text. The manual + includes both tutorial and reference sections: + + Description + a brief overview of the tool + + Some Simple Examples + + Format Of The Input File + + Patterns + the extended regular expressions used by flex + + How The Input Is Matched + the rules for determining what has been matched + + Actions + how to specify what to do when a pattern is matched + + The Generated Scanner + details regarding the scanner that flex produces; + how to control the input source + + Start Conditions + introducing context into your scanners, and + managing "mini-scanners" + + Multiple Input Buffers + how to manipulate multiple input sources; how to + scan from strings instead of files + + End-of-file Rules + special rules for matching the end of the input + + Miscellaneous Macros + a summary of macros available to the actions + + Values Available To The User + a summary of values available to the actions + + Interfacing With Yacc + connecting flex scanners together with yacc parsers + + Options + flex command-line options, and the "%option" + directive + + Performance Considerations + how to make your scanner go as fast as possible + + Generating C++ Scanners + the (experimental) facility for generating C++ + scanner classes + + Incompatibilities With Lex And POSIX + how flex differs from AT&T lex and the POSIX lex + standard + + Diagnostics + those error messages produced by flex (or scanners + it generates) whose meanings might not be apparent + + Files + files used by flex + + Deficiencies / Bugs + known problems with flex + + See Also + other documentation, related tools + + Author + includes contact information + + +DESCRIPTION + flex is a tool for generating scanners: programs which + recognized lexical patterns in text. flex reads the + given input files, or its standard input if no file + names are given, for a description of a scanner to gen- + erate. The description is in the form of pairs of regu- + lar expressions and C code, called rules. flex generates + as output a C source file, lex.yy.c, which defines a + routine yylex(). This file is compiled and linked with + the -lfl library to produce an executable. When the + executable is run, it analyzes its input for occurrences + of the regular expressions. Whenever it finds one, it + executes the corresponding C code. + +SOME SIMPLE EXAMPLES + First some simple examples to get the flavor of how one + uses flex. The following flex input specifies a scanner + which whenever it encounters the string "username" will + replace it with the user's login name: + + %% + username printf( "%s", getlogin() ); + + By default, any text not matched by a flex scanner is + copied to the output, so the net effect of this scanner + is to copy its input file to its output with each occur- + rence of "username" expanded. In this input, there is + just one rule. "username" is the pattern and the + "printf" is the action. The "%%" marks the beginning of + the rules. + + Here's another simple example: + + int num_lines = 0, num_chars = 0; + + %% + \n ++num_lines; ++num_chars; + . ++num_chars; + + %% + main() + { + yylex(); + printf( "# of lines = %d, # of chars = %d\n", + num_lines, num_chars ); + } + + This scanner counts the number of characters and the + number of lines in its input (it produces no output + other than the final report on the counts). The first + line declares two globals, "num_lines" and "num_chars", + which are accessible both inside yylex() and in the + main() routine declared after the second "%%". There + are two rules, one which matches a newline ("\n") and + increments both the line count and the character count, + and one which matches any character other than a newline + (indicated by the "." regular expression). + + A somewhat more complicated example: + + /* scanner for a toy Pascal-like language */ + + %{ + /* need this for the call to atof() below */ + #include + %} + + DIGIT [0-9] + ID [a-z][a-z0-9]* + + %% + + {DIGIT}+ { + printf( "An integer: %s (%d)\n", yytext, + atoi( yytext ) ); + } + + {DIGIT}+"."{DIGIT}* { + printf( "A float: %s (%g)\n", yytext, + atof( yytext ) ); + } + + if|then|begin|end|procedure|function { + printf( "A keyword: %s\n", yytext ); + } + + {ID} printf( "An identifier: %s\n", yytext ); + + "+"|"-"|"*"|"/" printf( "An operator: %s\n", yytext ); + + "{"[^}\n]*"}" /* eat up one-line comments */ + + [ \t\n]+ /* eat up whitespace */ + + . printf( "Unrecognized character: %s\n", yytext ); + + %% + + main( argc, argv ) + int argc; + char **argv; + { + ++argv, --argc; /* skip over program name */ + if ( argc > 0 ) + yyin = fopen( argv[0], "r" ); + else + yyin = stdin; + + yylex(); + } + + This is the beginnings of a simple scanner for a lan- + guage like Pascal. It identifies different types of + tokens and reports on what it has seen. + + The details of this example will be explained in the + following sections. + +FORMAT OF THE INPUT FILE + The flex input file consists of three sections, + separated by a line with just %% in it: + + definitions + %% + rules + %% + user code + + The definitions section contains declarations of simple + name definitions to simplify the scanner specification, + and declarations of start conditions, which are + explained in a later section. + + Name definitions have the form: + + name definition + + The "name" is a word beginning with a letter or an + underscore ('_') followed by zero or more letters, dig- + its, '_', or '-' (dash). The definition is taken to + begin at the first non-white-space character following + the name and continuing to the end of the line. The + definition can subsequently be referred to using + "{name}", which will expand to "(definition)". For + example, + + DIGIT [0-9] + ID [a-z][a-z0-9]* + + defines "DIGIT" to be a regular expression which matches + a single digit, and "ID" to be a regular expression + which matches a letter followed by zero-or-more letters- + or-digits. A subsequent reference to + + {DIGIT}+"."{DIGIT}* + + is identical to + + ([0-9])+"."([0-9])* + + and matches one-or-more digits followed by a '.' fol- + lowed by zero-or-more digits. + + The rules section of the flex input contains a series of + rules of the form: + + pattern action + + where the pattern must be unindented and the action must + begin on the same line. + + See below for a further description of patterns and + actions. + + Finally, the user code section is simply copied to + lex.yy.c verbatim. It is used for companion routines + which call or are called by the scanner. The presence + of this section is optional; if it is missing, the sec- + ond %% in the input file may be skipped, too. + + In the definitions and rules sections, any indented text + or text enclosed in %{ and %} is copied verbatim to the + output (with the %{}'s removed). The %{}'s must appear + unindented on lines by themselves. + + In the rules section, any indented or %{} text appearing + before the first rule may be used to declare variables + which are local to the scanning routine and (after the + declarations) code which is to be executed whenever the + scanning routine is entered. Other indented or %{} text + in the rule section is still copied to the output, but + its meaning is not well-defined and it may well cause + compile-time errors (this feature is present for POSIX + compliance; see below for other such features). + + In the definitions section (but not in the rules sec- + tion), an unindented comment (i.e., a line beginning + with "/*") is also copied verbatim to the output up to + the next "*/". + +PATTERNS + The patterns in the input are written using an extended + set of regular expressions. These are: + + x match the character 'x' + . any character (byte) except newline + [xyz] a "character class"; in this case, the pattern + matches either an 'x', a 'y', or a 'z' + [abj-oZ] a "character class" with a range in it; matches + an 'a', a 'b', any letter from 'j' through 'o', + or a 'Z' + [^A-Z] a "negated character class", i.e., any character + but those in the class. In this case, any + character EXCEPT an uppercase letter. + [^A-Z\n] any character EXCEPT an uppercase letter or + a newline + r* zero or more r's, where r is any regular expression + r+ one or more r's + r? zero or one r's (that is, "an optional r") + r{2,5} anywhere from two to five r's + r{2,} two or more r's + r{4} exactly 4 r's + {name} the expansion of the "name" definition + (see above) + "[xyz]\"foo" + the literal string: [xyz]"foo + \X if X is an 'a', 'b', 'f', 'n', 'r', 't', or 'v', + then the ANSI-C interpretation of \x. + Otherwise, a literal 'X' (used to escape + operators such as '*') + \0 a NUL character (ASCII code 0) + \123 the character with octal value 123 + \x2a the character with hexadecimal value 2a + (r) match an r; parentheses are used to override + precedence (see below) + + + rs the regular expression r followed by the + regular expression s; called "concatenation" + + + r|s either an r or an s + + + r/s an r but only if it is followed by an s. The + text matched by s is included when determining + whether this rule is the "longest match", + but is then returned to the input before + the action is executed. So the action only + sees the text matched by r. This type + of pattern is called trailing context". + (There are some combinations of r/s that flex + cannot match correctly; see notes in the + Deficiencies / Bugs section below regarding + "dangerous trailing context".) + ^r an r, but only at the beginning of a line (i.e., + which just starting to scan, or right after a + newline has been scanned). + r$ an r, but only at the end of a line (i.e., just + before a newline). Equivalent to "r/\n". + + Note that flex's notion of "newline" is exactly + whatever the C compiler used to compile flex + interprets '\n' as; in particular, on some DOS + systems you must either filter out \r's in the + input yourself, or explicitly use r/\r\n for "r$". + + + r an r, but only in start condition s (see + below for discussion of start conditions) + r + same, but in any of start conditions s1, + s2, or s3 + <*>r an r in any start condition, even an exclusive one. + + + <> an end-of-file + <> + an end-of-file when in start condition s1 or s2 + + Note that inside of a character class, all regular + expression operators lose their special meaning except + escape ('\') and the character class operators, '-', + ']', and, at the beginning of the class, '^'. + + The regular expressions listed above are grouped accord- + ing to precedence, from highest precedence at the top to + lowest at the bottom. Those grouped together have equal + precedence. For example, + + foo|bar* + + is the same as + + (foo)|(ba(r*)) + + since the '*' operator has higher precedence than con- + catenation, and concatenation higher than alternation + ('|'). This pattern therefore matches either the string + "foo" or the string "ba" followed by zero-or-more r's. + To match "foo" or zero-or-more "bar"'s, use: + + foo|(bar)* + + and to match zero-or-more "foo"'s-or-"bar"'s: + + (foo|bar)* + + + In addition to characters and ranges of characters, + character classes can also contain character class + expressions. These are expressions enclosed inside [: + and :] delimiters (which themselves must appear between + the '[' and ']' of the character class; other elements + may occur inside the character class, too). The valid + expressions are: + + [:alnum:] [:alpha:] [:blank:] + [:cntrl:] [:digit:] [:graph:] + [:lower:] [:print:] [:punct:] + [:space:] [:upper:] [:xdigit:] + + These expressions all designate a set of characters + equivalent to the corresponding standard C isXXX func- + tion. For example, [:alnum:] designates those charac- + ters for which isalnum() returns true - i.e., any alpha- + betic or numeric. Some systems don't provide isblank(), + so flex defines [:blank:] as a blank or a tab. + + For example, the following character classes are all + equivalent: + + [[:alnum:]] + [[:alpha:][:digit:] + [[:alpha:]0-9] + [a-zA-Z0-9] + + If your scanner is case-insensitive (the -i flag), then + [:upper:] and [:lower:] are equivalent to [:alpha:]. + + Some notes on patterns: + + - A negated character class such as the example + "[^A-Z]" above will match a newline unless "\n" + (or an equivalent escape sequence) is one of the + characters explicitly present in the negated + character class (e.g., "[^A-Z\n]"). This is + unlike how many other regular expression tools + treat negated character classes, but unfortu- + nately the inconsistency is historically + entrenched. Matching newlines means that a pat- + tern like [^"]* can match the entire input unless + there's another quote in the input. + + - A rule can have at most one instance of trailing + context (the '/' operator or the '$' operator). + The start condition, '^', and "<>" patterns + can only occur at the beginning of a pattern, + and, as well as with '/' and '$', cannot be + grouped inside parentheses. A '^' which does not + occur at the beginning of a rule or a '$' which + does not occur at the end of a rule loses its + special properties and is treated as a normal + character. + + The following are illegal: + + foo/bar$ + foobar + + Note that the first of these, can be written + "foo/bar\n". + + The following will result in '$' or '^' being + treated as a normal character: + + foo|(bar$) + foo|^bar + + If what's wanted is a "foo" or a bar-followed-by- + a-newline, the following could be used (the spe- + cial '|' action is explained below): + + foo | + bar$ /* action goes here */ + + A similar trick will work for matching a foo or a + bar-at-the-beginning-of-a-line. + +HOW THE INPUT IS MATCHED + When the generated scanner is run, it analyzes its input + looking for strings which match any of its patterns. If + it finds more than one match, it takes the one matching + the most text (for trailing context rules, this includes + the length of the trailing part, even though it will + then be returned to the input). If it finds two or more + matches of the same length, the rule listed first in the + flex input file is chosen. + + Once the match is determined, the text corresponding to + the match (called the token) is made available in the + global character pointer yytext, and its length in the + global integer yyleng. The action corresponding to the + matched pattern is then executed (a more detailed + description of actions follows), and then the remaining + input is scanned for another match. + + If no match is found, then the default rule is executed: + the next character in the input is considered matched + and copied to the standard output. Thus, the simplest + legal flex input is: + + %% + + which generates a scanner that simply copies its input + (one character at a time) to its output. + + Note that yytext can be defined in two different ways: + either as a character pointer or as a character array. + You can control which definition flex uses by including + one of the special directives %pointer or %array in the + first (definitions) section of your flex input. The + default is %pointer, unless you use the -l lex compati- + bility option, in which case yytext will be an array. + The advantage of using %pointer is substantially faster + scanning and no buffer overflow when matching very large + tokens (unless you run out of dynamic memory). The dis- + advantage is that you are restricted in how your actions + can modify yytext (see the next section), and calls to + the unput() function destroys the present contents of + yytext, which can be a considerable porting headache + when moving between different lex versions. + + The advantage of %array is that you can then modify + yytext to your heart's content, and calls to unput() do + not destroy yytext (see below). Furthermore, existing + lex programs sometimes access yytext externally using + declarations of the form: + extern char yytext[]; + This definition is erroneous when used with %pointer, + but correct for %array. + + %array defines yytext to be an array of YYLMAX charac- + ters, which defaults to a fairly large value. You can + change the size by simply #define'ing YYLMAX to a dif- + ferent value in the first section of your flex input. + As mentioned above, with %pointer yytext grows dynami- + cally to accommodate large tokens. While this means + your %pointer scanner can accommodate very large tokens + (such as matching entire blocks of comments), bear in + mind that each time the scanner must resize yytext it + also must rescan the entire token from the beginning, so + matching such tokens can prove slow. yytext presently + does not dynamically grow if a call to unput() results + in too much text being pushed back; instead, a run-time + error results. + + Also note that you cannot use %array with C++ scanner + classes (the c++ option; see below). + +ACTIONS + Each pattern in a rule has a corresponding action, which + can be any arbitrary C statement. The pattern ends at + the first non-escaped whitespace character; the remain- + der of the line is its action. If the action is empty, + then when the pattern is matched the input token is sim- + ply discarded. For example, here is the specification + for a program which deletes all occurrences of "zap me" + from its input: + + %% + "zap me" + + (It will copy all other characters in the input to the + output since they will be matched by the default rule.) + + Here is a program which compresses multiple blanks and + tabs down to a single blank, and throws away whitespace + found at the end of a line: + + %% + [ \t]+ putchar( ' ' ); + [ \t]+$ /* ignore this token */ + + + If the action contains a '{', then the action spans till + the balancing '}' is found, and the action may cross + multiple lines. flex knows about C strings and comments + and won't be fooled by braces found within them, but + also allows actions to begin with %{ and will consider + the action to be all the text up to the next %} (regard- + less of ordinary braces inside the action). + + An action consisting solely of a vertical bar ('|') + means "same as the action for the next rule." See below + for an illustration. + + Actions can include arbitrary C code, including return + statements to return a value to whatever routine called + yylex(). Each time yylex() is called it continues pro- + cessing tokens from where it last left off until it + either reaches the end of the file or executes a return. + + Actions are free to modify yytext except for lengthening + it (adding characters to its end--these will overwrite + later characters in the input stream). This however + does not apply when using %array (see above); in that + case, yytext may be freely modified in any way. + + Actions are free to modify yyleng except they should not + do so if the action also includes use of yymore() (see + below). + + There are a number of special directives which can be + included within an action: + + - ECHO copies yytext to the scanner's output. + + - BEGIN followed by the name of a start condition + places the scanner in the corresponding start + condition (see below). + + - REJECT directs the scanner to proceed on to the + "second best" rule which matched the input (or a + prefix of the input). The rule is chosen as + described above in "How the Input is Matched", + and yytext and yyleng set up appropriately. It + may either be one which matched as much text as + the originally chosen rule but came later in the + flex input file, or one which matched less text. + For example, the following will both count the + words in the input and call the routine special() + whenever "frob" is seen: + + int word_count = 0; + %% + + frob special(); REJECT; + [^ \t\n]+ ++word_count; + + Without the REJECT, any "frob"'s in the input + would not be counted as words, since the scanner + normally executes only one action per token. + Multiple REJECT's are allowed, each one finding + the next best choice to the currently active + rule. For example, when the following scanner + scans the token "abcd", it will write "abcdab- + caba" to the output: + + %% + a | + ab | + abc | + abcd ECHO; REJECT; + .|\n /* eat up any unmatched character */ + + (The first three rules share the fourth's action + since they use the special '|' action.) REJECT + is a particularly expensive feature in terms of + scanner performance; if it is used in any of the + scanner's actions it will slow down all of the + scanner's matching. Furthermore, REJECT cannot + be used with the -Cf or -CF options (see below). + + Note also that unlike the other special actions, + REJECT is a branch; code immediately following it + in the action will not be executed. + + - yymore() tells the scanner that the next time it + matches a rule, the corresponding token should be + appended onto the current value of yytext rather + than replacing it. For example, given the input + "mega-kludge" the following will write "mega- + mega-kludge" to the output: + + %% + mega- ECHO; yymore(); + kludge ECHO; + + First "mega-" is matched and echoed to the out- + put. Then "kludge" is matched, but the previous + "mega-" is still hanging around at the beginning + of yytext so the ECHO for the "kludge" rule will + actually write "mega-kludge". + + Two notes regarding use of yymore(). First, yymore() + depends on the value of yyleng correctly reflecting the + size of the current token, so you must not modify yyleng + if you are using yymore(). Second, the presence of + yymore() in the scanner's action entails a minor perfor- + mance penalty in the scanner's matching speed. + + - yyless(n) returns all but the first n characters + of the current token back to the input stream, + where they will be rescanned when the scanner + looks for the next match. yytext and yyleng are + adjusted appropriately (e.g., yyleng will now be + equal to n ). For example, on the input "foobar" + the following will write out "foobarbar": + + %% + foobar ECHO; yyless(3); + [a-z]+ ECHO; + + An argument of 0 to yyless will cause the entire + current input string to be scanned again. Unless + you've changed how the scanner will subsequently + process its input (using BEGIN, for example), + this will result in an endless loop. + + Note that yyless is a macro and can only be used in the + flex input file, not from other source files. + + - unput(c) puts the character c back onto the input + stream. It will be the next character scanned. + The following action will take the current token + and cause it to be rescanned enclosed in paren- + theses. + + { + int i; + /* Copy yytext because unput() trashes yytext */ + char *yycopy = strdup( yytext ); + unput( ')' ); + for ( i = yyleng - 1; i >= 0; --i ) + unput( yycopy[i] ); + unput( '(' ); + free( yycopy ); + } + + Note that since each unput() puts the given char- + acter back at the beginning of the input stream, + pushing back strings must be done back-to-front. + + An important potential problem when using unput() is + that if you are using %pointer (the default), a call to + unput() destroys the contents of yytext, starting with + its rightmost character and devouring one character to + the left with each call. If you need the value of + yytext preserved after a call to unput() (as in the + above example), you must either first copy it elsewhere, + or build your scanner using %array instead (see How The + Input Is Matched). + + Finally, note that you cannot put back EOF to attempt to + mark the input stream with an end-of-file. + + - input() reads the next character from the input + stream. For example, the following is one way to + eat up C comments: + + %% + "/*" { + register int c; + + for ( ; ; ) + { + while ( (c = input()) != '*' && + c != EOF ) + ; /* eat up text of comment */ + + if ( c == '*' ) + { + while ( (c = input()) == '*' ) + ; + if ( c == '/' ) + break; /* found the end */ + } + + if ( c == EOF ) + { + error( "EOF in comment" ); + break; + } + } + } + + (Note that if the scanner is compiled using C++, + then input() is instead referred to as yyinput(), + in order to avoid a name clash with the C++ + stream by the name of input.) + + - YY_FLUSH_BUFFER flushes the scanner's internal + buffer so that the next time the scanner attempts + to match a token, it will first refill the buffer + using YY_INPUT (see The Generated Scanner, + below). This action is a special case of the + more general yy_flush_buffer() function, + described below in the section Multiple Input + Buffers. + + - yyterminate() can be used in lieu of a return + statement in an action. It terminates the scan- + ner and returns a 0 to the scanner's caller, + indicating "all done". By default, yyterminate() + is also called when an end-of-file is encoun- + tered. It is a macro and may be redefined. + +THE GENERATED SCANNER + The output of flex is the file lex.yy.c, which contains + the scanning routine yylex(), a number of tables used by + it for matching tokens, and a number of auxiliary rou- + tines and macros. By default, yylex() is declared as + follows: + + int yylex() + { + ... various definitions and the actions in here ... + } + + (If your environment supports function prototypes, then + it will be "int yylex( void )".) This definition may be + changed by defining the "YY_DECL" macro. For example, + you could use: + + #define YY_DECL float lexscan( a, b ) float a, b; + + to give the scanning routine the name lexscan, returning + a float, and taking two floats as arguments. Note that + if you give arguments to the scanning routine using a + K&R-style/non-prototyped function declaration, you must + terminate the definition with a semi-colon (;). + + Whenever yylex() is called, it scans tokens from the + global input file yyin (which defaults to stdin). It + continues until it either reaches an end-of-file (at + which point it returns the value 0) or one of its + actions executes a return statement. + + If the scanner reaches an end-of-file, subsequent calls + are undefined unless either yyin is pointed at a new + input file (in which case scanning continues from that + file), or yyrestart() is called. yyrestart() takes one + argument, a FILE * pointer (which can be nil, if you've + set up YY_INPUT to scan from a source other than yyin), + and initializes yyin for scanning from that file. + Essentially there is no difference between just assign- + ing yyin to a new input file or using yyrestart() to do + so; the latter is available for compatibility with pre- + vious versions of flex, and because it can be used to + switch input files in the middle of scanning. It can + also be used to throw away the current input buffer, by + calling it with an argument of yyin; but better is to + use YY_FLUSH_BUFFER (see above). Note that yyrestart() + does not reset the start condition to INITIAL (see Start + Conditions, below). + + If yylex() stops scanning due to executing a return + statement in one of the actions, the scanner may then be + called again and it will resume scanning where it left + off. + + By default (and for purposes of efficiency), the scanner + uses block-reads rather than simple getc() calls to read + characters from yyin. The nature of how it gets its + input can be controlled by defining the YY_INPUT macro. + YY_INPUT's calling sequence is + "YY_INPUT(buf,result,max_size)". Its action is to place + up to max_size characters in the character array buf and + return in the integer variable result either the number + of characters read or the constant YY_NULL (0 on Unix + systems) to indicate EOF. The default YY_INPUT reads + from the global file-pointer "yyin". + + A sample definition of YY_INPUT (in the definitions sec- + tion of the input file): + + %{ + #define YY_INPUT(buf,result,max_size) \ + { \ + int c = getchar(); \ + result = (c == EOF) ? YY_NULL : (buf[0] = c, 1); \ + } + %} + + This definition will change the input processing to + occur one character at a time. + + When the scanner receives an end-of-file indication from + YY_INPUT, it then checks the yywrap() function. If + yywrap() returns false (zero), then it is assumed that + the function has gone ahead and set up yyin to point to + another input file, and scanning continues. If it + returns true (non-zero), then the scanner terminates, + returning 0 to its caller. Note that in either case, + the start condition remains unchanged; it does not + revert to INITIAL. + + If you do not supply your own version of yywrap(), then + you must either use %option noyywrap (in which case the + scanner behaves as though yywrap() returned 1), or you + must link with -lfl to obtain the default version of the + routine, which always returns 1. + + Three routines are available for scanning from in-memory + buffers rather than files: yy_scan_string(), + yy_scan_bytes(), and yy_scan_buffer(). See the discus- + sion of them below in the section Multiple Input + Buffers. + + The scanner writes its ECHO output to the yyout global + (default, stdout), which may be redefined by the user + simply by assigning it to some other FILE pointer. + +START CONDITIONS + flex provides a mechanism for conditionally activating + rules. Any rule whose pattern is prefixed with "" + will only be active when the scanner is in the start + condition named "sc". For example, + + [^"]* { /* eat up the string body ... */ + ... + } + + will be active only when the scanner is in the "STRING" + start condition, and + + \. { /* handle an escape ... */ + ... + } + + will be active only when the current start condition is + either "INITIAL", "STRING", or "QUOTE". + + Start conditions are declared in the definitions (first) + section of the input using unindented lines beginning + with either %s or %x followed by a list of names. The + former declares inclusive start conditions, the latter + exclusive start conditions. A start condition is acti- + vated using the BEGIN action. Until the next BEGIN + action is executed, rules with the given start condition + will be active and rules with other start conditions + will be inactive. If the start condition is inclusive, + then rules with no start conditions at all will also be + active. If it is exclusive, then only rules qualified + with the start condition will be active. A set of rules + contingent on the same exclusive start condition + describe a scanner which is independent of any of the + other rules in the flex input. Because of this, exclu- + sive start conditions make it easy to specify "mini- + scanners" which scan portions of the input that are syn- + tactically different from the rest (e.g., comments). + + If the distinction between inclusive and exclusive start + conditions is still a little vague, here's a simple + example illustrating the connection between the two. + The set of rules: + + %s example + %% + + foo do_something(); + + bar something_else(); + + is equivalent to + + %x example + %% + + foo do_something(); + + bar something_else(); + + Without the qualifier, the bar pattern + in the second example wouldn't be active (i.e., couldn't + match) when in start condition example. If we just used + to qualify bar, though, then it would only be + active in example and not in INITIAL, while in the first + example it's active in both, because in the first exam- + ple the example startion condition is an inclusive (%s) + start condition. + + Also note that the special start-condition specifier <*> + matches every start condition. Thus, the above example + could also have been written; + + %x example + %% + + foo do_something(); + + <*>bar something_else(); + + + The default rule (to ECHO any unmatched character) + remains active in start conditions. It is equivalent + to: + + <*>.|\n ECHO; + + + BEGIN(0) returns to the original state where only the + rules with no start conditions are active. This state + can also be referred to as the start-condition "INI- + TIAL", so BEGIN(INITIAL) is equivalent to BEGIN(0). + (The parentheses around the start condition name are not + required but are considered good style.) + + BEGIN actions can also be given as indented code at the + beginning of the rules section. For example, the fol- + lowing will cause the scanner to enter the "SPECIAL" + start condition whenever yylex() is called and the + global variable enter_special is true: + + int enter_special; + + %x SPECIAL + %% + if ( enter_special ) + BEGIN(SPECIAL); + + blahblahblah + ...more rules follow... + + + To illustrate the uses of start conditions, here is a + scanner which provides two different interpretations of + a string like "123.456". By default it will treat it as + three tokens, the integer "123", a dot ('.'), and the + integer "456". But if the string is preceded earlier in + the line by the string "expect-floats" it will treat it + as a single token, the floating-point number 123.456: + + %{ + #include + %} + %s expect + + %% + expect-floats BEGIN(expect); + + [0-9]+"."[0-9]+ { + printf( "found a float, = %f\n", + atof( yytext ) ); + } + \n { + /* that's the end of the line, so + * we need another "expect-number" + * before we'll recognize any more + * numbers + */ + BEGIN(INITIAL); + } + + [0-9]+ { + printf( "found an integer, = %d\n", + atoi( yytext ) ); + } + + "." printf( "found a dot\n" ); + + Here is a scanner which recognizes (and discards) C com- + ments while maintaining a count of the current input + line. + + %x comment + %% + int line_num = 1; + + "/*" BEGIN(comment); + + [^*\n]* /* eat anything that's not a '*' */ + "*"+[^*/\n]* /* eat up '*'s not followed by '/'s */ + \n ++line_num; + "*"+"/" BEGIN(INITIAL); + + This scanner goes to a bit of trouble to match as much + text as possible with each rule. In general, when + attempting to write a high-speed scanner try to match as + much possible in each rule, as it's a big win. + + Note that start-conditions names are really integer val- + ues and can be stored as such. Thus, the above could be + extended in the following fashion: + + %x comment foo + %% + int line_num = 1; + int comment_caller; + + "/*" { + comment_caller = INITIAL; + BEGIN(comment); + } + + ... + + "/*" { + comment_caller = foo; + BEGIN(comment); + } + + [^*\n]* /* eat anything that's not a '*' */ + "*"+[^*/\n]* /* eat up '*'s not followed by '/'s */ + \n ++line_num; + "*"+"/" BEGIN(comment_caller); + + Furthermore, you can access the current start condition + using the integer-valued YY_START macro. For example, + the above assignments to comment_caller could instead be + written + + comment_caller = YY_START; + + Flex provides YYSTATE as an alias for YY_START (since + that is what's used by AT&T lex). + + Note that start conditions do not have their own name- + space; %s's and %x's declare names in the same fashion + as #define's. + + Finally, here's an example of how to match C-style + quoted strings using exclusive start conditions, includ- + ing expanded escape sequences (but not including check- + ing for a string that's too long): + + %x str + + %% + char string_buf[MAX_STR_CONST]; + char *string_buf_ptr; + + + \" string_buf_ptr = string_buf; BEGIN(str); + + \" { /* saw closing quote - all done */ + BEGIN(INITIAL); + *string_buf_ptr = '\0'; + /* return string constant token type and + * value to parser + */ + } + + \n { + /* error - unterminated string constant */ + /* generate error message */ + } + + \\[0-7]{1,3} { + /* octal escape sequence */ + int result; + + (void) sscanf( yytext + 1, "%o", &result ); + + if ( result > 0xff ) + /* error, constant is out-of-bounds */ + + *string_buf_ptr++ = result; + } + + \\[0-9]+ { + /* generate error - bad escape sequence; something + * like '\48' or '\0777777' + */ + } + + \\n *string_buf_ptr++ = '\n'; + \\t *string_buf_ptr++ = '\t'; + \\r *string_buf_ptr++ = '\r'; + \\b *string_buf_ptr++ = '\b'; + \\f *string_buf_ptr++ = '\f'; + + \\(.|\n) *string_buf_ptr++ = yytext[1]; + + [^\\\n\"]+ { + char *yptr = yytext; + + while ( *yptr ) + *string_buf_ptr++ = *yptr++; + } + + + Often, such as in some of the examples above, you wind + up writing a whole bunch of rules all preceded by the + same start condition(s). Flex makes this a little eas- + ier and cleaner by introducing a notion of start condi- + tion scope. A start condition scope is begun with: + + { + + where SCs is a list of one or more start conditions. + Inside the start condition scope, every rule automati- + cally has the prefix applied to it, until a '}' + which matches the initial '{'. So, for example, + + { + "\\n" return '\n'; + "\\r" return '\r'; + "\\f" return '\f'; + "\\0" return '\0'; + } + + is equivalent to: + + "\\n" return '\n'; + "\\r" return '\r'; + "\\f" return '\f'; + "\\0" return '\0'; + + Start condition scopes may be nested. + + Three routines are available for manipulating stacks of + start conditions: + + void yy_push_state(int new_state) + pushes the current start condition onto the top + of the start condition stack and switches to + new_state as though you had used BEGIN new_state + (recall that start condition names are also inte- + gers). + + void yy_pop_state() + pops the top of the stack and switches to it via + BEGIN. + + int yy_top_state() + returns the top of the stack without altering the + stack's contents. + + The start condition stack grows dynamically and so has + no built-in size limitation. If memory is exhausted, + program execution aborts. + + To use start condition stacks, your scanner must include + a %option stack directive (see Options below). + +MULTIPLE INPUT BUFFERS + Some scanners (such as those which support "include" + files) require reading from several input streams. As + flex scanners do a large amount of buffering, one cannot + control where the next input will be read from by simply + writing a YY_INPUT which is sensitive to the scanning + context. YY_INPUT is only called when the scanner + reaches the end of its buffer, which may be a long time + after scanning a statement such as an "include" which + requires switching the input source. + + To negotiate these sorts of problems, flex provides a + mechanism for creating and switching between multiple + input buffers. An input buffer is created by using: + + YY_BUFFER_STATE yy_create_buffer( FILE *file, int size ) + + which takes a FILE pointer and a size and creates a + buffer associated with the given file and large enough + to hold size characters (when in doubt, use YY_BUF_SIZE + for the size). It returns a YY_BUFFER_STATE handle, + which may then be passed to other routines (see below). + The YY_BUFFER_STATE type is a pointer to an opaque + struct yy_buffer_state structure, so you may safely ini- + tialize YY_BUFFER_STATE variables to ((YY_BUFFER_STATE) + 0) if you wish, and also refer to the opaque structure + in order to correctly declare input buffers in source + files other than that of your scanner. Note that the + FILE pointer in the call to yy_create_buffer is only + used as the value of yyin seen by YY_INPUT; if you rede- + fine YY_INPUT so it no longer uses yyin, then you can + safely pass a nil FILE pointer to yy_create_buffer. You + select a particular buffer to scan from using: + + void yy_switch_to_buffer( YY_BUFFER_STATE new_buffer ) + + switches the scanner's input buffer so subsequent tokens + will come from new_buffer. Note that + yy_switch_to_buffer() may be used by yywrap() to set + things up for continued scanning, instead of opening a + new file and pointing yyin at it. Note also that + switching input sources via either yy_switch_to_buffer() + or yywrap() does not change the start condition. + + void yy_delete_buffer( YY_BUFFER_STATE buffer ) + + is used to reclaim the storage associated with a buffer. + ( buffer can be nil, in which case the routine does + nothing.) You can also clear the current contents of a + buffer using: + + void yy_flush_buffer( YY_BUFFER_STATE buffer ) + + This function discards the buffer's contents, so the + next time the scanner attempts to match a token from the + buffer, it will first fill the buffer anew using + YY_INPUT. + + yy_new_buffer() is an alias for yy_create_buffer(), pro- + vided for compatibility with the C++ use of new and + delete for creating and destroying dynamic objects. + + Finally, the YY_CURRENT_BUFFER macro returns a + YY_BUFFER_STATE handle to the current buffer. + + Here is an example of using these features for writing a + scanner which expands include files (the <> feature + is discussed below): + + /* the "incl" state is used for picking up the name + * of an include file + */ + %x incl + + %{ + #define MAX_INCLUDE_DEPTH 10 + YY_BUFFER_STATE include_stack[MAX_INCLUDE_DEPTH]; + int include_stack_ptr = 0; + %} + + %% + include BEGIN(incl); + + [a-z]+ ECHO; + [^a-z\n]*\n? ECHO; + + [ \t]* /* eat the whitespace */ + [^ \t\n]+ { /* got the include file name */ + if ( include_stack_ptr >= MAX_INCLUDE_DEPTH ) + { + fprintf( stderr, "Includes nested too deeply" ); + exit( 1 ); + } + + include_stack[include_stack_ptr++] = + YY_CURRENT_BUFFER; + + yyin = fopen( yytext, "r" ); + + if ( ! yyin ) + error( ... ); + + yy_switch_to_buffer( + yy_create_buffer( yyin, YY_BUF_SIZE ) ); + + BEGIN(INITIAL); + } + + <> { + if ( --include_stack_ptr < 0 ) + { + yyterminate(); + } + + else + { + yy_delete_buffer( YY_CURRENT_BUFFER ); + yy_switch_to_buffer( + include_stack[include_stack_ptr] ); + } + } + + Three routines are available for setting up input + buffers for scanning in-memory strings instead of files. + All of them create a new input buffer for scanning the + string, and return a corresponding YY_BUFFER_STATE han- + dle (which you should delete with yy_delete_buffer() + when done with it). They also switch to the new buffer + using yy_switch_to_buffer(), so the next call to yylex() + will start scanning the string. + + yy_scan_string(const char *str) + scans a NUL-terminated string. + + yy_scan_bytes(const char *bytes, int len) + scans len bytes (including possibly NUL's) start- + ing at location bytes. + + Note that both of these functions create and scan a copy + of the string or bytes. (This may be desirable, since + yylex() modifies the contents of the buffer it is scan- + ning.) You can avoid the copy by using: + + yy_scan_buffer(char *base, yy_size_t size) + which scans in place the buffer starting at base, + consisting of size bytes, the last two bytes of + which must be YY_END_OF_BUFFER_CHAR (ASCII NUL). + These last two bytes are not scanned; thus, scan- + ning consists of base[0] through base[size-2], + inclusive. + + If you fail to set up base in this manner (i.e., + forget the final two YY_END_OF_BUFFER_CHAR + bytes), then yy_scan_buffer() returns a nil + pointer instead of creating a new input buffer. + + The type yy_size_t is an integral type to which + you can cast an integer expression reflecting the + size of the buffer. + +END-OF-FILE RULES + The special rule "<>" indicates actions which are + to be taken when an end-of-file is encountered and + yywrap() returns non-zero (i.e., indicates no further + files to process). The action must finish by doing one + of four things: + + - assigning yyin to a new input file (in previous + versions of flex, after doing the assignment you + had to call the special action YY_NEW_FILE; this + is no longer necessary); + + - executing a return statement; + + - executing the special yyterminate() action; + + - or, switching to a new buffer using + yy_switch_to_buffer() as shown in the example + above. + + <> rules may not be used with other patterns; they + may only be qualified with a list of start conditions. + If an unqualified <> rule is given, it applies to + all start conditions which do not already have <> + actions. To specify an <> rule for only the ini- + tial start condition, use + + <> + + + These rules are useful for catching things like unclosed + comments. An example: + + %x quote + %% + + ...other rules for dealing with quotes... + + <> { + error( "unterminated quote" ); + yyterminate(); + } + <> { + if ( *++filelist ) + yyin = fopen( *filelist, "r" ); + else + yyterminate(); + } + + +MISCELLANEOUS MACROS + The macro YY_USER_ACTION can be defined to provide an + action which is always executed prior to the matched + rule's action. For example, it could be #define'd to + call a routine to convert yytext to lower-case. When + YY_USER_ACTION is invoked, the variable yy_act gives the + number of the matched rule (rules are numbered starting + with 1). Suppose you want to profile how often each of + your rules is matched. The following would do the + trick: + + #define YY_USER_ACTION ++ctr[yy_act] + + where ctr is an array to hold the counts for the differ- + ent rules. Note that the macro YY_NUM_RULES gives the + total number of rules (including the default rule, even + if you use -s), so a correct declaration for ctr is: + + int ctr[YY_NUM_RULES]; + + + The macro YY_USER_INIT may be defined to provide an + action which is always executed before the first scan + (and before the scanner's internal initializations are + done). For example, it could be used to call a routine + to read in a data table or open a logging file. + + The macro yy_set_interactive(is_interactive) can be used + to control whether the current buffer is considered + interactive. An interactive buffer is processed more + slowly, but must be used when the scanner's input source + is indeed interactive to avoid problems due to waiting + to fill buffers (see the discussion of the -I flag + below). A non-zero value in the macro invocation marks + the buffer as interactive, a zero value as non-interac- + tive. Note that use of this macro overrides %option + always-interactive or %option never-interactive (see + Options below). yy_set_interactive() must be invoked + prior to beginning to scan the buffer that is (or is + not) to be considered interactive. + + The macro yy_set_bol(at_bol) can be used to control + whether the current buffer's scanning context for the + next token match is done as though at the beginning of a + line. A non-zero macro argument makes rules anchored + with + + The macro YY_AT_BOL() returns true if the next token + scanned from the current buffer will have '^' rules + active, false otherwise. + + In the generated scanner, the actions are all gathered + in one large switch statement and separated using + YY_BREAK, which may be redefined. By default, it is + simply a "break", to separate each rule's action from + the following rule's. Redefining YY_BREAK allows, for + example, C++ users to #define YY_BREAK to do nothing + (while being very careful that every rule ends with a + "break" or a "return"!) to avoid suffering from unreach- + able statement warnings where because a rule's action + ends with "return", the YY_BREAK is inaccessible. + +VALUES AVAILABLE TO THE USER + This section summarizes the various values available to + the user in the rule actions. + + - char *yytext holds the text of the current token. + It may be modified but not lengthened (you cannot + append characters to the end). + + If the special directive %array appears in the + first section of the scanner description, then + yytext is instead declared char yytext[YYLMAX], + where YYLMAX is a macro definition that you can + redefine in the first section if you don't like + the default value (generally 8KB). Using %array + results in somewhat slower scanners, but the + value of yytext becomes immune to calls to + input() and unput(), which potentially destroy + its value when yytext is a character pointer. + The opposite of %array is %pointer, which is the + default. + + You cannot use %array when generating C++ scanner + classes (the -+ flag). + + - int yyleng holds the length of the current token. + + - FILE *yyin is the file which by default flex + reads from. It may be redefined but doing so + only makes sense before scanning begins or after + an EOF has been encountered. Changing it in the + midst of scanning will have unexpected results + since flex buffers its input; use yyrestart() + instead. Once scanning terminates because an + end-of-file has been seen, you can assign yyin at + the new input file and then call the scanner + again to continue scanning. + + - void yyrestart( FILE *new_file ) may be called to + point yyin at the new input file. The switch- + over to the new file is immediate (any previously + buffered-up input is lost). Note that calling + yyrestart() with yyin as an argument thus throws + away the current input buffer and continues scan- + ning the same input file. + + - FILE *yyout is the file to which ECHO actions are + done. It can be reassigned by the user. + + - YY_CURRENT_BUFFER returns a YY_BUFFER_STATE han- + dle to the current buffer. + + - YY_START returns an integer value corresponding + to the current start condition. You can subse- + quently use this value with BEGIN to return to + that start condition. + +INTERFACING WITH YACC + One of the main uses of flex is as a companion to the + yacc parser-generator. yacc parsers expect to call a + routine named yylex() to find the next input token. The + routine is supposed to return the type of the next token + as well as putting any associated value in the global + yylval. To use flex with yacc, one specifies the -d + option to yacc to instruct it to generate the file + y.tab.h containing definitions of all the %tokens + appearing in the yacc input. This file is then included + in the flex scanner. For example, if one of the tokens + is "TOK_NUMBER", part of the scanner might look like: + + %{ + #include "y.tab.h" + %} + + %% + + [0-9]+ yylval = atoi( yytext ); return TOK_NUMBER; + + +OPTIONS + flex has the following options: + + -b Generate backing-up information to lex.backup. + This is a list of scanner states which require + backing up and the input characters on which they + do so. By adding rules one can remove backing-up + states. If all backing-up states are eliminated + and -Cf or -CF is used, the generated scanner + will run faster (see the -p flag). Only users + who wish to squeeze every last cycle out of their + scanners need worry about this option. (See the + section on Performance Considerations below.) + + -c is a do-nothing, deprecated option included for + POSIX compliance. + + -d makes the generated scanner run in debug mode. + Whenever a pattern is recognized and the global + yy_flex_debug is non-zero (which is the default), + the scanner will write to stderr a line of the + form: + + --accepting rule at line 53 ("the matched text") + + The line number refers to the location of the + rule in the file defining the scanner (i.e., the + file that was fed to flex). Messages are also + generated when the scanner backs up, accepts the + default rule, reaches the end of its input buffer + (or encounters a NUL; at this point, the two look + the same as far as the scanner's concerned), or + reaches an end-of-file. + + -f specifies fast scanner. No table compression is + done and stdio is bypassed. The result is large + but fast. This option is equivalent to -Cfr (see + below). + + -h generates a "help" summary of flex's options to + stdout and then exits. -? and --help are syn- + onyms for -h. + + -i instructs flex to generate a case-insensitive + scanner. The case of letters given in the flex + input patterns will be ignored, and tokens in the + input will be matched regardless of case. The + matched text given in yytext will have the pre- + served case (i.e., it will not be folded). + + -l turns on maximum compatibility with the original + AT&T lex implementation. Note that this does not + mean full compatibility. Use of this option + costs a considerable amount of performance, and + it cannot be used with the -+, -f, -F, -Cf, or + -CF options. For details on the compatibilities + it provides, see the section "Incompatibilities + With Lex And POSIX" below. This option also + results in the name YY_FLEX_LEX_COMPAT being + #define'd in the generated scanner. + + -n is another do-nothing, deprecated option included + only for POSIX compliance. + + -p generates a performance report to stderr. The + report consists of comments regarding features of + the flex input file which will cause a serious + loss of performance in the resulting scanner. If + you give the flag twice, you will also get com- + ments regarding features that lead to minor per- + formance losses. + + Note that the use of REJECT, %option yylineno, + and variable trailing context (see the Deficien- + cies / Bugs section below) entails a substantial + performance penalty; use of yymore(), the ^ oper- + ator, and the -I flag entail minor performance + penalties. + + -s causes the default rule (that unmatched scanner + input is echoed to stdout) to be suppressed. If + the scanner encounters input that does not match + any of its rules, it aborts with an error. This + option is useful for finding holes in a scanner's + rule set. + + -t instructs flex to write the scanner it generates + to standard output instead of lex.yy.c. + + -v specifies that flex should write to stderr a sum- + mary of statistics regarding the scanner it gen- + erates. Most of the statistics are meaningless + to the casual flex user, but the first line iden- + tifies the version of flex (same as reported by + -V), and the next line the flags used when gener- + ating the scanner, including those that are on by + default. + + -w suppresses warning messages. + + -B instructs flex to generate a batch scanner, the + opposite of interactive scanners generated by -I + (see below). In general, you use -B when you are + certain that your scanner will never be used + interactively, and you want to squeeze a little + more performance out of it. If your goal is + instead to squeeze out a lot more performance, + you should be using the -Cf or -CF options (dis- + cussed below), which turn on -B automatically + anyway. + + -F specifies that the fast scanner table representa- + tion should be used (and stdio bypassed). This + representation is about as fast as the full table + representation (-f), and for some sets of pat- + terns will be considerably smaller (and for oth- + ers, larger). In general, if the pattern set + contains both "keywords" and a catch-all, "iden- + tifier" rule, such as in the set: + + "case" return TOK_CASE; + "switch" return TOK_SWITCH; + ... + "default" return TOK_DEFAULT; + [a-z]+ return TOK_ID; + + then you're better off using the full table rep- + resentation. If only the "identifier" rule is + present and you then use a hash table or some + such to detect the keywords, you're better off + using -F. + + This option is equivalent to -CFr (see below). + It cannot be used with -+. + + -I instructs flex to generate an interactive scan- + ner. An interactive scanner is one that only + looks ahead to decide what token has been matched + if it absolutely must. It turns out that always + looking one extra character ahead, even if the + scanner has already seen enough text to disam- + biguate the current token, is a bit faster than + only looking ahead when necessary. But scanners + that always look ahead give dreadful interactive + performance; for example, when a user types a + newline, it is not recognized as a newline token + until they enter another token, which often means + typing in another whole line. + + Flex scanners default to interactive unless you + use the -Cf or -CF table-compression options (see + below). That's because if you're looking for + high-performance you should be using one of these + options, so if you didn't, flex assumes you'd + rather trade off a bit of run-time performance + for intuitive interactive behavior. Note also + that you cannot use -I in conjunction with -Cf or + -CF. Thus, this option is not really needed; it + is on by default for all those cases in which it + is allowed. + + You can force a scanner to not be interactive by + using -B (see above). + + -L instructs flex not to generate #line directives. + Without this option, flex peppers the generated + scanner with #line directives so error messages + in the actions will be correctly located with + respect to either the original flex input file + (if the errors are due to code in the input + file), or lex.yy.c (if the errors are flex's + fault -- you should report these sorts of errors + to the email address given below). + + -T makes flex run in trace mode. It will generate a + lot of messages to stderr concerning the form of + the input and the resultant non-deterministic and + deterministic finite automata. This option is + mostly for use in maintaining flex. + + -V prints the version number to stdout and exits. + --version is a synonym for -V. + + -7 instructs flex to generate a 7-bit scanner, i.e., + one which can only recognized 7-bit characters in + its input. The advantage of using -7 is that the + scanner's tables can be up to half the size of + those generated using the -8 option (see below). + The disadvantage is that such scanners often hang + or crash if their input contains an 8-bit charac- + ter. + + Note, however, that unless you generate your + scanner using the -Cf or -CF table compression + options, use of -7 will save only a small amount + of table space, and make your scanner consider- + ably less portable. Flex's default behavior is + to generate an 8-bit scanner unless you use the + -Cf or -CF, in which case flex defaults to gener- + ating 7-bit scanners unless your site was always + configured to generate 8-bit scanners (as will + often be the case with non-USA sites). You can + tell whether flex generated a 7-bit or an 8-bit + scanner by inspecting the flag summary in the -v + output as described above. + + Note that if you use -Cfe or -CFe (those table + compression options, but also using equivalence + classes as discussed see below), flex still + defaults to generating an 8-bit scanner, since + usually with these compression options full 8-bit + tables are not much more expensive than 7-bit + tables. + + -8 instructs flex to generate an 8-bit scanner, + i.e., one which can recognize 8-bit characters. + This flag is only needed for scanners generated + using -Cf or -CF, as otherwise flex defaults to + generating an 8-bit scanner anyway. + + See the discussion of -7 above for flex's default + behavior and the tradeoffs between 7-bit and + 8-bit scanners. + + -+ specifies that you want flex to generate a C++ + scanner class. See the section on Generating C++ + Scanners below for details. + + -C[aefFmr] + controls the degree of table compression and, + more generally, trade-offs between small scanners + and fast scanners. + + -Ca ("align") instructs flex to trade off larger + tables in the generated scanner for faster per- + formance because the elements of the tables are + better aligned for memory access and computation. + On some RISC architectures, fetching and manipu- + lating longwords is more efficient than with + smaller-sized units such as shortwords. This + option can double the size of the tables used by + your scanner. + + -Ce directs flex to construct equivalence + classes, i.e., sets of characters which have + identical lexical properties (for example, if the + only appearance of digits in the flex input is in + the character class "[0-9]" then the digits '0', + '1', ..., '9' will all be put in the same equiva- + lence class). Equivalence classes usually give + dramatic reductions in the final table/object + file sizes (typically a factor of 2-5) and are + pretty cheap performance-wise (one array look-up + per character scanned). + + -Cf specifies that the full scanner tables should + be generated - flex should not compress the + tables by taking advantages of similar transition + functions for different states. + + -CF specifies that the alternate fast scanner + representation (described above under the -F + flag) should be used. This option cannot be used + with -+. + + -Cm directs flex to construct meta-equivalence + classes, which are sets of equivalence classes + (or characters, if equivalence classes are not + being used) that are commonly used together. + Meta-equivalence classes are often a big win when + using compressed tables, but they have a moderate + performance impact (one or two "if" tests and one + array look-up per character scanned). + + -Cr causes the generated scanner to bypass use of + the standard I/O library (stdio) for input. + Instead of calling fread() or getc(), the scanner + will use the read() system call, resulting in a + performance gain which varies from system to sys- + tem, but in general is probably negligible unless + you are also using -Cf or -CF. Using -Cr can + cause strange behavior if, for example, you read + from yyin using stdio prior to calling the scan- + ner (because the scanner will miss whatever text + your previous reads left in the stdio input + buffer). + + -Cr has no effect if you define YY_INPUT (see The + Generated Scanner above). + + A lone -C specifies that the scanner tables + should be compressed but neither equivalence + classes nor meta-equivalence classes should be + used. + + The options -Cf or -CF and -Cm do not make sense + together - there is no opportunity for meta- + equivalence classes if the table is not being + compressed. Otherwise the options may be freely + mixed, and are cumulative. + + The default setting is -Cem, which specifies that + flex should generate equivalence classes and + meta-equivalence classes. This setting provides + the highest degree of table compression. You can + trade off faster-executing scanners at the cost + of larger tables with the following generally + being true: + + slowest & smallest + -Cem + -Cm + -Ce + -C + -C{f,F}e + -C{f,F} + -C{f,F}a + fastest & largest + + Note that scanners with the smallest tables are + usually generated and compiled the quickest, so + during development you will usually want to use + the default, maximal compression. + + -Cfe is often a good compromise between speed and + size for production scanners. + + -ooutput + directs flex to write the scanner to the file + output instead of lex.yy.c. If you combine -o + with the -t option, then the scanner is written + to stdout but its #line directives (see the -L + option above) refer to the file output. + + -Pprefix + changes the default yy prefix used by flex for + all globally-visible variable and function names + to instead be prefix. For example, -Pfoo changes + the name of yytext to footext. It also changes + the name of the default output file from lex.yy.c + to lex.foo.c. Here are all of the names + affected: + + yy_create_buffer + yy_delete_buffer + yy_flex_debug + yy_init_buffer + yy_flush_buffer + yy_load_buffer_state + yy_switch_to_buffer + yyin + yyleng + yylex + yylineno + yyout + yyrestart + yytext + yywrap + + (If you are using a C++ scanner, then only yywrap + and yyFlexLexer are affected.) Within your scan- + ner itself, you can still refer to the global + variables and functions using either version of + their name; but externally, they have the modi- + fied name. + + This option lets you easily link together multi- + ple flex programs into the same executable. + Note, though, that using this option also renames + yywrap(), so you now must either provide your own + (appropriately-named) version of the routine for + your scanner, or use %option noyywrap, as linking + with -lfl no longer provides one for you by + default. + + -Sskeleton_file + overrides the default skeleton file from which + flex constructs its scanners. You'll never need + this option unless you are doing flex maintenance + or development. + + flex also provides a mechanism for controlling options + within the scanner specification itself, rather than + from the flex command-line. This is done by including + %option directives in the first section of the scanner + specification. You can specify multiple options with a + single %option directive, and multiple directives in the + first section of your flex input file. + + Most options are given simply as names, optionally pre- + ceded by the word "no" (with no intervening whitespace) + to negate their meaning. A number are equivalent to + flex flags or their negation: + + 7bit -7 option + 8bit -8 option + align -Ca option + backup -b option + batch -B option + c++ -+ option + + caseful or + case-sensitive opposite of -i (default) + + case-insensitive or + caseless -i option + + debug -d option + default opposite of -s option + ecs -Ce option + fast -F option + full -f option + interactive -I option + lex-compat -l option + meta-ecs -Cm option + perf-report -p option + read -Cr option + stdout -t option + verbose -v option + warn opposite of -w option + (use "%option nowarn" for -w) + + array equivalent to "%array" + pointer equivalent to "%pointer" (default) + + Some %option's provide features otherwise not available: + + always-interactive + instructs flex to generate a scanner which always + considers its input "interactive". Normally, on + each new input file the scanner calls isatty() in + an attempt to determine whether the scanner's + input source is interactive and thus should be + read a character at a time. When this option is + used, however, then no such call is made. + + main directs flex to provide a default main() program + for the scanner, which simply calls yylex(). + This option implies noyywrap (see below). + + never-interactive + instructs flex to generate a scanner which never + considers its input "interactive" (again, no call + made to isatty()). This is the opposite of + always-interactive. + + stack enables the use of start condition stacks (see + Start Conditions above). + + stdinit + if set (i.e., %option stdinit) initializes yyin + and yyout to stdin and stdout, instead of the + default of nil. Some existing lex programs + depend on this behavior, even though it is not + compliant with ANSI C, which does not require + stdin and stdout to be compile-time constant. + + yylineno + directs flex to generate a scanner that maintains + the number of the current line read from its + input in the global variable yylineno. This + option is implied by %option lex-compat. + + yywrap if unset (i.e., %option noyywrap), makes the + scanner not call yywrap() upon an end-of-file, + but simply assume that there are no more files to + scan (until the user points yyin at a new file + and calls yylex() again). + + flex scans your rule actions to determine whether you + use the REJECT or yymore() features. The reject and + yymore options are available to override its decision as + to whether you use the options, either by setting them + (e.g., %option reject) to indicate the feature is indeed + used, or unsetting them to indicate it actually is not + used (e.g., %option noyymore). + + Three options take string-delimited values, offset with + '=': + + %option outfile="ABC" + + is equivalent to -oABC, and + + %option prefix="XYZ" + + is equivalent to -PXYZ. Finally, + + %option yyclass="foo" + + only applies when generating a C++ scanner ( -+ option). + It informs flex that you have derived foo as a subclass + of yyFlexLexer, so flex will place your actions in the + member function foo::yylex() instead of + yyFlexLexer::yylex(). It also generates a + yyFlexLexer::yylex() member function that emits a run- + time error (by invoking yyFlexLexer::LexerError()) if + called. See Generating C++ Scanners, below, for addi- + tional information. + + A number of options are available for lint purists who + want to suppress the appearance of unneeded routines in + the generated scanner. Each of the following, if unset + (e.g., %option nounput ), results in the corresponding + routine not appearing in the generated scanner: + + input, unput + yy_push_state, yy_pop_state, yy_top_state + yy_scan_buffer, yy_scan_bytes, yy_scan_string + + (though yy_push_state() and friends won't appear anyway + unless you use %option stack). + +PERFORMANCE CONSIDERATIONS + The main design goal of flex is that it generate high- + performance scanners. It has been optimized for dealing + well with large sets of rules. Aside from the effects + on scanner speed of the table compression -C options + outlined above, there are a number of options/actions + which degrade performance. These are, from most expen- + sive to least: + + REJECT + %option yylineno + arbitrary trailing context + + pattern sets that require backing up + %array + %option interactive + %option always-interactive + + '^' beginning-of-line operator + yymore() + + with the first three all being quite expensive and the + last two being quite cheap. Note also that unput() is + implemented as a routine call that potentially does + quite a bit of work, while yyless() is a quite-cheap + macro; so if just putting back some excess text you + scanned, use yyless(). + + REJECT should be avoided at all costs when performance + is important. It is a particularly expensive option. + + Getting rid of backing up is messy and often may be an + enormous amount of work for a complicated scanner. In + principal, one begins by using the -b flag to generate a + lex.backup file. For example, on the input + + %% + foo return TOK_KEYWORD; + foobar return TOK_KEYWORD; + + the file looks like: + + State #6 is non-accepting - + associated rule line numbers: + 2 3 + out-transitions: [ o ] + jam-transitions: EOF [ \001-n p-\177 ] + + State #8 is non-accepting - + associated rule line numbers: + 3 + out-transitions: [ a ] + jam-transitions: EOF [ \001-` b-\177 ] + + State #9 is non-accepting - + associated rule line numbers: + 3 + out-transitions: [ r ] + jam-transitions: EOF [ \001-q s-\177 ] + + Compressed tables always back up. + + The first few lines tell us that there's a scanner state + in which it can make a transition on an 'o' but not on + any other character, and that in that state the cur- + rently scanned text does not match any rule. The state + occurs when trying to match the rules found at lines 2 + and 3 in the input file. If the scanner is in that + state and then reads something other than an 'o', it + will have to back up to find a rule which is matched. + With a bit of headscratching one can see that this must + be the state it's in when it has seen "fo". When this + has happened, if anything other than another 'o' is + seen, the scanner will have to back up to simply match + the 'f' (by the default rule). + + The comment regarding State #8 indicates there's a prob- + lem when "foob" has been scanned. Indeed, on any char- + acter other than an 'a', the scanner will have to back + up to accept "foo". Similarly, the comment for State #9 + concerns when "fooba" has been scanned and an 'r' does + not follow. + + The final comment reminds us that there's no point going + to all the trouble of removing backing up from the rules + unless we're using -Cf or -CF, since there's no perfor- + mance gain doing so with compressed scanners. + + The way to remove the backing up is to add "error" + rules: + + %% + foo return TOK_KEYWORD; + foobar return TOK_KEYWORD; + + fooba | + foob | + fo { + /* false alarm, not really a keyword */ + return TOK_ID; + } + + + Eliminating backing up among a list of keywords can also + be done using a "catch-all" rule: + + %% + foo return TOK_KEYWORD; + foobar return TOK_KEYWORD; + + [a-z]+ return TOK_ID; + + This is usually the best solution when appropriate. + + Backing up messages tend to cascade. With a complicated + set of rules it's not uncommon to get hundreds of mes- + sages. If one can decipher them, though, it often only + takes a dozen or so rules to eliminate the backing up + (though it's easy to make a mistake and have an error + rule accidentally match a valid token. A possible + future flex feature will be to automatically add rules + to eliminate backing up). + + It's important to keep in mind that you gain the bene- + fits of eliminating backing up only if you eliminate + every instance of backing up. Leaving just one means + you gain nothing. + + Variable trailing context (where both the leading and + trailing parts do not have a fixed length) entails + almost the same performance loss as REJECT (i.e., sub- + stantial). So when possible a rule like: + + %% + mouse|rat/(cat|dog) run(); + + is better written: + + %% + mouse/cat|dog run(); + rat/cat|dog run(); + + or as + + %% + mouse|rat/cat run(); + mouse|rat/dog run(); + + Note that here the special '|' action does not provide + any savings, and can even make things worse (see Defi- + ciencies / Bugs below). + + Another area where the user can increase a scanner's + performance (and one that's easier to implement) arises + from the fact that the longer the tokens matched, the + faster the scanner will run. This is because with long + tokens the processing of most input characters takes + place in the (short) inner scanning loop, and does not + often have to go through the additional work of setting + up the scanning environment (e.g., yytext) for the + action. Recall the scanner for C comments: + + %x comment + %% + int line_num = 1; + + "/*" BEGIN(comment); + + [^*\n]* + "*"+[^*/\n]* + \n ++line_num; + "*"+"/" BEGIN(INITIAL); + + This could be sped up by writing it as: + + %x comment + %% + int line_num = 1; + + "/*" BEGIN(comment); + + [^*\n]* + [^*\n]*\n ++line_num; + "*"+[^*/\n]* + "*"+[^*/\n]*\n ++line_num; + "*"+"/" BEGIN(INITIAL); + + Now instead of each newline requiring the processing of + another action, recognizing the newlines is "distrib- + uted" over the other rules to keep the matched text as + long as possible. Note that adding rules does not slow + down the scanner! The speed of the scanner is indepen- + dent of the number of rules or (modulo the considera- + tions given at the beginning of this section) how com- + plicated the rules are with regard to operators such as + '*' and '|'. + + A final example in speeding up a scanner: suppose you + want to scan through a file containing identifiers and + keywords, one per line and with no other extraneous + characters, and recognize all the keywords. A natural + first approach is: + + %% + asm | + auto | + break | + ... etc ... + volatile | + while /* it's a keyword */ + + .|\n /* it's not a keyword */ + + To eliminate the back-tracking, introduce a catch-all + rule: + + %% + asm | + auto | + break | + ... etc ... + volatile | + while /* it's a keyword */ + + [a-z]+ | + .|\n /* it's not a keyword */ + + Now, if it's guaranteed that there's exactly one word + per line, then we can reduce the total number of matches + by a half by merging in the recognition of newlines with + that of the other tokens: + + %% + asm\n | + auto\n | + break\n | + ... etc ... + volatile\n | + while\n /* it's a keyword */ + + [a-z]+\n | + .|\n /* it's not a keyword */ + + One has to be careful here, as we have now reintroduced + backing up into the scanner. In particular, while we + know that there will never be any characters in the + input stream other than letters or newlines, flex can't + figure this out, and it will plan for possibly needing + to back up when it has scanned a token like "auto" and + then the next character is something other than a new- + line or a letter. Previously it would then just match + the "auto" rule and be done, but now it has no "auto" + rule, only a "auto\n" rule. To eliminate the possibil- + ity of backing up, we could either duplicate all rules + but without final newlines, or, since we never expect to + encounter such an input and therefore don't how it's + classified, we can introduce one more catch-all rule, + this one which doesn't include a newline: + + %% + asm\n | + auto\n | + break\n | + ... etc ... + volatile\n | + while\n /* it's a keyword */ + + [a-z]+\n | + [a-z]+ | + .|\n /* it's not a keyword */ + + Compiled with -Cf, this is about as fast as one can get + a flex scanner to go for this particular problem. + + A final note: flex is slow when matching NUL's, particu- + larly when a token contains multiple NUL's. It's best + to write rules which match short amounts of text if it's + anticipated that the text will often include NUL's. + + Another final note regarding performance: as mentioned + above in the section How the Input is Matched, dynami- + cally resizing yytext to accommodate huge tokens is a + slow process because it presently requires that the + (huge) token be rescanned from the beginning. Thus if + performance is vital, you should attempt to match + "large" quantities of text but not "huge" quantities, + where the cutoff between the two is at about 8K charac- + ters/token. + +GENERATING C++ SCANNERS + flex provides two different ways to generate scanners + for use with C++. The first way is to simply compile a + scanner generated by flex using a C++ compiler instead + of a C compiler. You should not encounter any compila- + tions errors (please report any you find to the email + address given in the Author section below). You can + then use C++ code in your rule actions instead of C + code. Note that the default input source for your scan- + ner remains yyin, and default echoing is still done to + yyout. Both of these remain FILE * variables and not + C++ streams. + + You can also use flex to generate a C++ scanner class, + using the -+ option (or, equivalently, %option c++), + which is automatically specified if the name of the flex + executable ends in a '+', such as flex++. When using + this option, flex defaults to generating the scanner to + the file lex.yy.cc instead of lex.yy.c. The generated + scanner includes the header file FlexLexer.h, which + defines the interface to two C++ classes. + + The first class, FlexLexer, provides an abstract base + class defining the general scanner class interface. It + provides the following member functions: + + const char* YYText() + returns the text of the most recently matched + token, the equivalent of yytext. + + int YYLeng() + returns the length of the most recently matched + token, the equivalent of yyleng. + + int lineno() const + returns the current input line number (see + %option yylineno), or 1 if %option yylineno was + not used. + + void set_debug( int flag ) + sets the debugging flag for the scanner, equiva- + lent to assigning to yy_flex_debug (see the + Options section above). Note that you must build + the scanner using %option debug to include debug- + ging information in it. + + int debug() const + returns the current setting of the debugging + flag. + + Also provided are member functions equivalent to + yy_switch_to_buffer(), yy_create_buffer() (though the + first argument is an istream* object pointer and not a + FILE*), yy_flush_buffer(), yy_delete_buffer(), and + yyrestart() (again, the first argument is a istream* + object pointer). + + The second class defined in FlexLexer.h is yyFlexLexer, + which is derived from FlexLexer. It defines the follow- + ing additional member functions: + + yyFlexLexer( istream* arg_yyin = 0, ostream* arg_yyout = + 0 ) + constructs a yyFlexLexer object using the given + streams for input and output. If not specified, + the streams default to cin and cout, respec- + tively. + + virtual int yylex() + performs the same role is yylex() does for ordi- + nary flex scanners: it scans the input stream, + consuming tokens, until a rule's action returns a + value. If you derive a subclass S from + yyFlexLexer and want to access the member func- + tions and variables of S inside yylex(), then you + need to use %option yyclass="S" to inform flex + that you will be using that subclass instead of + yyFlexLexer. In this case, rather than generat- + ing yyFlexLexer::yylex(), flex generates + S::yylex() (and also generates a dummy + yyFlexLexer::yylex() that calls + yyFlexLexer::LexerError() if called). + + virtual void switch_streams(istream* new_in = 0, + ostream* new_out = 0) reassigns yyin to new_in + (if non-nil) and yyout to new_out (ditto), delet- + ing the previous input buffer if yyin is reas- + signed. + + int yylex( istream* new_in, ostream* new_out = 0 ) + first switches the input streams via + switch_streams( new_in, new_out ) and then + returns the value of yylex(). + + In addition, yyFlexLexer defines the following protected + virtual functions which you can redefine in derived + classes to tailor the scanner: + + virtual int LexerInput( char* buf, int max_size ) + reads up to max_size characters into buf and + returns the number of characters read. To indi- + cate end-of-input, return 0 characters. Note + that "interactive" scanners (see the -B and -I + flags) define the macro YY_INTERACTIVE. If you + redefine LexerInput() and need to take different + actions depending on whether or not the scanner + might be scanning an interactive input source, + you can test for the presence of this name via + #ifdef. + + virtual void LexerOutput( const char* buf, int size ) + writes out size characters from the buffer buf, + which, while NUL-terminated, may also contain + "internal" NUL's if the scanner's rules can match + text with NUL's in them. + + virtual void LexerError( const char* msg ) + reports a fatal error message. The default ver- + sion of this function writes the message to the + stream cerr and exits. + + Note that a yyFlexLexer object contains its entire scan- + ning state. Thus you can use such objects to create + reentrant scanners. You can instantiate multiple + instances of the same yyFlexLexer class, and you can + also combine multiple C++ scanner classes together in + the same program using the -P option discussed above. + + Finally, note that the %array feature is not available + to C++ scanner classes; you must use %pointer (the + default). + + Here is an example of a simple C++ scanner: + + // An example of using the flex C++ scanner class. + + %{ + int mylineno = 0; + %} + + string \"[^\n"]+\" + + ws [ \t]+ + + alpha [A-Za-z] + dig [0-9] + name ({alpha}|{dig}|\$)({alpha}|{dig}|[_.\-/$])* + num1 [-+]?{dig}+\.?([eE][-+]?{dig}+)? + num2 [-+]?{dig}*\.{dig}+([eE][-+]?{dig}+)? + number {num1}|{num2} + + %% + + {ws} /* skip blanks and tabs */ + + "/*" { + int c; + + while((c = yyinput()) != 0) + { + if(c == '\n') + ++mylineno; + + else if(c == '*') + { + if((c = yyinput()) == '/') + break; + else + unput(c); + } + } + } + + {number} cout << "number " << YYText() << '\n'; + + \n mylineno++; + + {name} cout << "name " << YYText() << '\n'; + + {string} cout << "string " << YYText() << '\n'; + + %% + + int main( int /* argc */, char** /* argv */ ) + { + FlexLexer* lexer = new yyFlexLexer; + while(lexer->yylex() != 0) + ; + return 0; + } + If you want to create multiple (different) lexer + classes, you use the -P flag (or the prefix= option) to + rename each yyFlexLexer to some other xxFlexLexer. You + then can include in your other sources + once per lexer class, first renaming yyFlexLexer as fol- + lows: + + #undef yyFlexLexer + #define yyFlexLexer xxFlexLexer + #include + + #undef yyFlexLexer + #define yyFlexLexer zzFlexLexer + #include + + if, for example, you used %option prefix="xx" for one of + your scanners and %option prefix="zz" for the other. + + IMPORTANT: the present form of the scanning class is + experimental and may change considerably between major + releases. + +INCOMPATIBILITIES WITH LEX AND POSIX + flex is a rewrite of the AT&T Unix lex tool (the two + implementations do not share any code, though), with + some extensions and incompatibilities, both of which are + of concern to those who wish to write scanners accept- + able to either implementation. Flex is fully compliant + with the POSIX lex specification, except that when using + %pointer (the default), a call to unput() destroys the + contents of yytext, which is counter to the POSIX + specification. + + In this section we discuss all of the known areas of + incompatibility between flex, AT&T lex, and the POSIX + specification. + + flex's -l option turns on maximum compatibility with the + original AT&T lex implementation, at the cost of a major + loss in the generated scanner's performance. We note + below which incompatibilities can be overcome using the + -l option. + + flex is fully compatible with lex with the following + exceptions: + + - The undocumented lex scanner internal variable + yylineno is not supported unless -l or %option + yylineno is used. + + yylineno should be maintained on a per-buffer + basis, rather than a per-scanner (single global + variable) basis. + + yylineno is not part of the POSIX specification. + + - The input() routine is not redefinable, though it + may be called to read characters following what- + ever has been matched by a rule. If input() + encounters an end-of-file the normal yywrap() + processing is done. A ``real'' end-of-file is + returned by input() as EOF. + + Input is instead controlled by defining the + YY_INPUT macro. + + The flex restriction that input() cannot be rede- + fined is in accordance with the POSIX specifica- + tion, which simply does not specify any way of + controlling the scanner's input other than by + making an initial assignment to yyin. + + - The unput() routine is not redefinable. This + restriction is in accordance with POSIX. + + - flex scanners are not as reentrant as lex scan- + ners. In particular, if you have an interactive + scanner and an interrupt handler which long-jumps + out of the scanner, and the scanner is subse- + quently called again, you may get the following + message: + + fatal flex scanner internal error--end of buffer missed + + To reenter the scanner, first use + + yyrestart( yyin ); + + Note that this call will throw away any buffered + input; usually this isn't a problem with an + interactive scanner. + + Also note that flex C++ scanner classes are reen- + trant, so if using C++ is an option for you, you + should use them instead. See "Generating C++ + Scanners" above for details. + + - output() is not supported. Output from the ECHO + macro is done to the file-pointer yyout (default + stdout). + + output() is not part of the POSIX specification. + + - lex does not support exclusive start conditions + (%x), though they are in the POSIX specification. + + - When definitions are expanded, flex encloses them + in parentheses. With lex, the following: + + NAME [A-Z][A-Z0-9]* + %% + foo{NAME}? printf( "Found it\n" ); + %% + + will not match the string "foo" because when the + macro is expanded the rule is equivalent to + "foo[A-Z][A-Z0-9]*?" and the precedence is such + that the '?' is associated with "[A-Z0-9]*". + With flex, the rule will be expanded to "foo([A- + Z][A-Z0-9]*)?" and so the string "foo" will + match. + + Note that if the definition begins with ^ or ends + with $ then it is not expanded with parentheses, + to allow these operators to appear in definitions + without losing their special meanings. But the + , /, and <> operators cannot be used in a + flex definition. + + Using -l results in the lex behavior of no paren- + theses around the definition. + + The POSIX specification is that the definition be + enclosed in parentheses. + + - Some implementations of lex allow a rule's action + to begin on a separate line, if the rule's pat- + tern has trailing whitespace: + + %% + foo|bar + { foobar_action(); } + + flex does not support this feature. + + - The lex %r (generate a Ratfor scanner) option is + not supported. It is not part of the POSIX spec- + ification. + + - After a call to unput(), yytext is undefined + until the next token is matched, unless the scan- + ner was built using %array. This is not the case + with lex or the POSIX specification. The -l + option does away with this incompatibility. + + - The precedence of the {} (numeric range) operator + is different. lex interprets "abc{1,3}" as + "match one, two, or three occurrences of 'abc'", + whereas flex interprets it as "match 'ab' fol- + lowed by one, two, or three occurrences of 'c'". + The latter is in agreement with the POSIX speci- + fication. + + - The precedence of the ^ operator is different. + lex interprets "^foo|bar" as "match either 'foo' + at the beginning of a line, or 'bar' anywhere", + whereas flex interprets it as "match either 'foo' + or 'bar' if they come at the beginning of a + line". The latter is in agreement with the POSIX + specification. + + - The special table-size declarations such as %a + supported by lex are not required by flex scan- + ners; flex ignores them. + + - The name FLEX_SCANNER is #define'd so scanners + may be written for use with either flex or lex. + Scanners also include YY_FLEX_MAJOR_VERSION and + YY_FLEX_MINOR_VERSION indicating which version of + flex generated the scanner (for example, for the + 2.5 release, these defines would be 2 and 5 + respectively). + + The following flex features are not included in lex or + the POSIX specification: + + C++ scanners + %option + start condition scopes + start condition stacks + interactive/non-interactive scanners + yy_scan_string() and friends + yyterminate() + yy_set_interactive() + yy_set_bol() + YY_AT_BOL() + <> + <*> + YY_DECL + YY_START + YY_USER_ACTION + YY_USER_INIT + #line directives + %{}'s around actions + multiple actions on a line + + plus almost all of the flex flags. The last feature in + the list refers to the fact that with flex you can put + multiple actions on the same line, separated with semi- + colons, while with lex, the following + + foo handle_foo(); ++num_foos_seen; + + is (rather surprisingly) truncated to + + foo handle_foo(); + + flex does not truncate the action. Actions that are not + enclosed in braces are simply terminated at the end of + the line. + +DIAGNOSTICS + warning, rule cannot be matched indicates that the given + rule cannot be matched because it follows other rules + that will always match the same text as it. For exam- + ple, in the following "foo" cannot be matched because it + comes after an identifier "catch-all" rule: + + [a-z]+ got_identifier(); + foo got_foo(); + + Using REJECT in a scanner suppresses this warning. + + warning, -s option given but default rule can be matched + means that it is possible (perhaps only in a particular + start condition) that the default rule (match any single + character) is the only one that will match a particular + input. Since -s was given, presumably this is not + intended. + + reject_used_but_not_detected undefined or + yymore_used_but_not_detected undefined - These errors + can occur at compile time. They indicate that the scan- + ner uses REJECT or yymore() but that flex failed to + notice the fact, meaning that flex scanned the first two + sections looking for occurrences of these actions and + failed to find any, but somehow you snuck some in (via a + #include file, for example). Use %option reject or + %option yymore to indicate to flex that you really do + use these features. + + flex scanner jammed - a scanner compiled with -s has + encountered an input string which wasn't matched by any + of its rules. This error can also occur due to internal + problems. + + token too large, exceeds YYLMAX - your scanner uses + %array and one of its rules matched a string longer than + the YYLMAX constant (8K bytes by default). You can + increase the value by #define'ing YYLMAX in the defini- + tions section of your flex input. + + scanner requires -8 flag to use the character 'x' - Your + scanner specification includes recognizing the 8-bit + character 'x' and you did not specify the -8 flag, and + your scanner defaulted to 7-bit because you used the -Cf + or -CF table compression options. See the discussion of + the -7 flag for details. + + flex scanner push-back overflow - you used unput() to + push back so much text that the scanner's buffer could + not hold both the pushed-back text and the current token + in yytext. Ideally the scanner should dynamically + resize the buffer in this case, but at present it does + not. + + input buffer overflow, can't enlarge buffer because + scanner uses REJECT - the scanner was working on match- + ing an extremely large token and needed to expand the + input buffer. This doesn't work with scanners that use + REJECT. + + fatal flex scanner internal error--end of buffer missed + - This can occur in an scanner which is reentered after + a long-jump has jumped out (or over) the scanner's acti- + vation frame. Before reentering the scanner, use: + + yyrestart( yyin ); + + or, as noted above, switch to using the C++ scanner + class. + + too many start conditions in <> construct! - you listed + more start conditions in a <> construct than exist (so + you must have listed at least one of them twice). + +FILES + -lfl library with which scanners must be linked. + + lex.yy.c + generated scanner (called lexyy.c on some sys- + tems). + + lex.yy.cc + generated C++ scanner class, when using -+. + + + header file defining the C++ scanner base class, + FlexLexer, and its derived class, yyFlexLexer. + + flex.skl + skeleton scanner. This file is only used when + building flex, not when flex executes. + + lex.backup + backing-up information for -b flag (called + lex.bck on some systems). + +DEFICIENCIES / BUGS + Some trailing context patterns cannot be properly + matched and generate warning messages ("dangerous trail- + ing context"). These are patterns where the ending of + the first part of the rule matches the beginning of the + second part, such as "zx*/xy*", where the 'x*' matches + the 'x' at the beginning of the trailing context. (Note + that the POSIX draft states that the text matched by + such patterns is undefined.) + + For some trailing context rules, parts which are actu- + ally fixed-length are not recognized as such, leading to + the abovementioned performance loss. In particular, + parts using '|' or {n} (such as "foo{3}") are always + considered variable-length. + + Combining trailing context with the special '|' action + can result in fixed trailing context being turned into + the more expensive variable trailing context. For exam- + ple, in the following: + + %% + abc | + xyz/def + + + Use of unput() invalidates yytext and yyleng, unless the + %array directive or the -l option has been used. + + Pattern-matching of NUL's is substantially slower than + matching other characters. + + Dynamic resizing of the input buffer is slow, as it + entails rescanning all the text matched so far by the + current (generally huge) token. + + Due to both buffering of input and read-ahead, you can- + not intermix calls to routines, such as, for + example, getchar(), with flex rules and expect it to + work. Call input() instead. + + The total table entries listed by the -v flag excludes + the number of table entries needed to determine what + rule has been matched. The number of entries is equal + to the number of DFA states if the scanner does not use + REJECT, and somewhat greater than the number of states + if it does. + + REJECT cannot be used with the -f or -F options. + + The flex internal algorithms need documentation. + +SEE ALSO + lex(1), yacc(1), sed(1), awk(1). + + John Levine, Tony Mason, and Doug Brown, Lex & Yacc, + O'Reilly and Associates. Be sure to get the 2nd edi- + tion. + + M. E. Lesk and E. Schmidt, LEX - Lexical Analyzer Gener- + ator + + Alfred Aho, Ravi Sethi and Jeffrey Ullman, Compilers: + Principles, Techniques and Tools, Addison-Wesley (1986). + Describes the pattern-matching techniques used by flex + (deterministic finite automata). + +AUTHOR + Vern Paxson, with the help of many ideas and much inspi- + ration from Van Jacobson. Original version by Jef + Poskanzer. The fast table representation is a partial + implementation of a design done by Van Jacobson. The + implementation was done by Kevin Gong and Vern Paxson. + + Thanks to the many flex beta-testers, feedbackers, and + contributors, especially Francois Pinard, Casey Leedom, + Robert Abramovitz, Stan Adermann, Terry Allen, David + Barker-Plummer, John Basrai, Neal Becker, Nelson H.F. + Beebe, benson@odi.com, Karl Berry, Peter A. Bigot, Simon + Blanchard, Keith Bostic, Frederic Brehm, Ian Brockbank, + Kin Cho, Nick Christopher, Brian Clapper, J.T. Conklin, + Jason Coughlin, Bill Cox, Nick Cropper, Dave Curtis, + Scott David Daniels, Chris G. Demetriou, Theo Deraadt, + Mike Donahue, Chuck Doucette, Tom Epperly, Leo Eskin, + Chris Faylor, Chris Flatters, Jon Forrest, Jeffrey + Friedl, Joe Gayda, Kaveh R. Ghazi, Wolfgang Glunz, Eric + Goldman, Christopher M. Gould, Ulrich Grepel, Peer + Griebel, Jan Hajic, Charles Hemphill, NORO Hideo, Jarkko + Hietaniemi, Scott Hofmann, Jeff Honig, Dana Hudes, Eric + Hughes, John Interrante, Ceriel Jacobs, Michal + Jaegermann, Sakari Jalovaara, Jeffrey R. Jones, Henry + Juengst, Klaus Kaempf, Jonathan I. Kamens, Terrence O + Kane, Amir Katz, ken@ken.hilco.com, Kevin B. Kenny, + Steve Kirsch, Winfried Koenig, Marq Kole, Ronald Lam- + precht, Greg Lee, Rohan Lenard, Craig Leres, John + Levine, Steve Liddle, David Loffredo, Mike Long, Mohamed + el Lozy, Brian Madsen, Malte, Joe Marshall, Bengt + Martensson, Chris Metcalf, Luke Mewburn, Jim Meyering, + R. Alexander Milowski, Erik Naggum, G.T. Nicol, Landon + Noll, James Nordby, Marc Nozell, Richard Ohnemus, + Karsten Pahnke, Sven Panne, Roland Pesch, Walter Pelis- + sero, Gaumond Pierre, Esmond Pitt, Jef Poskanzer, Joe + Rahmeh, Jarmo Raiha, Frederic Raimbault, Pat Rankin, + Rick Richardson, Kevin Rodgers, Kai Uwe Rommel, Jim + Roskind, Alberto Santini, Andreas Scherer, Darrell + Schiebel, Raf Schietekat, Doug Schmidt, Philippe Schnoe- + belen, Andreas Schwab, Larry Schwimmer, Alex Siegel, + Eckehard Stolz, Jan-Erik Strvmquist, Mike Stump, Paul + Stuart, Dave Tallman, Ian Lance Taylor, Chris Thewalt, + Richard M. Timoney, Jodi Tsai, Paul Tuinenga, Gary Weik, + Frank Whaley, Gerhard Wilhelms, Kent Williams, Ken Yap, + Ron Zellar, Nathan Zelle, David Zuhn, and those whose + names have slipped my marginal mail-archiving skills but + whose contributions are appreciated all the same. + + Thanks to Keith Bostic, Jon Forrest, Noah Friedman, John + Gilmore, Craig Leres, John Levine, Bob Mulcahy, G.T. + Nicol, Francois Pinard, Rich Salz, and Richard Stallman + for help with various distribution headaches. + + Thanks to Esmond Pitt and Earle Horton for 8-bit charac- + ter support; to Benson Margulies and Fred Burke for C++ + support; to Kent Williams and Tom Epperly for C++ class + support; to Ove Ewerlid for support of NUL's; and to + Eric Hughes for support of multiple buffers. + + This work was primarily done when I was with the Real + Time Systems Group at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory + in Berkeley, CA. Many thanks to all there for the sup- + port I received. + + Send comments to vern@ee.lbl.gov. + + + +Version 2.5 April 1995 FLEX(1) -- cgit v1.2.3