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    LEX and YACC

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    Priya
    LEX and YACC are tools used to generate lexical analyzers and parsers. LEX reads a file specifying lexical patterns and rules and generates a C program that can break input into tokens. The YACC tool generates a parser based on a grammar specification file. Together, LEX and YACC allow defining a language and automatically generating the code to process input in that language.

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    LEX and YACC

    Uploaded by

    Priya
    33 views3 pages
    LEX and YACC are tools used to generate lexical analyzers and parsers. LEX reads a file specifying lexical patterns and rules and generates a C program that can break input into tokens. The YACC tool generates a parser based on a grammar specification file. Together, LEX and YACC allow defining a language and automatically generating the code to process input in that language.

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    LEX and YACC are tools used to generate lexical analyzers and parsers. LEX reads a file specifying lexical patterns and rules and generates a C program that can break input into tokens. The YACC tool generates a parser based on a grammar specification file. Together, LEX and YACC allow defining a language and automatically generating the code to process input in that language.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    33 views3 pages

    LEX and YACC

    Uploaded by

    Priya
    LEX and YACC are tools used to generate lexical analyzers and parsers. LEX reads a file specifying lexical patterns and rules and generates a C program that can break input into tokens. The YACC tool generates a parser based on a grammar specification file. Together, LEX and YACC allow defining a language and automatically generating the code to process input in that language.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 3

    Aim: Study the LEX and YACC tool.

    Description: LEX-A Lexical analyzer generator:

    Lex is a computer program that generates lexical analyzers ("scanners" or "lexers").Lex is commonly
    used with the yacc parser generator.

    Lex reads an input stream specifying the lexical analyzer and outputs source code implementing the
    lexer in the C programming language

    1. A lexer or scanner is used to perform lexical analysis, or the breaking up of an input stream into
    meaningful units, or tokens.

    2. For example, consider breaking a text file up into individual words.

    3. Lex: a tool for automatically generating a lexer or scanner given a lex specification (.l file).

    Structure of a Lex file

    The structure of a Lex file is intentionally similar to that of a yacc file; files are divided up into three
    sections, separated by lines that contain only two percent signs, as follows:

    Definition section:

    %%

    Rules section:

    %%

    C code section:

    <statements>

    ➢ The definition section is the place to define macros and to import header files written in C. It is also
    possible to write any C code here, which will be copied verbatim into the generated source file.

    ➢ The rules section is the most important section; it associates patterns with C statements. Patterns are
    simply regular expressions. When the lexer sees some text in the input matching a given pattern, it
    executes the associated C code. This is the basis of how Lex operates.

    ➢The C code section contains C statements and functions that are copied verbatim to the generated
    source file. These statements presumably contain code called by the rules in the rules section. In large
    programs it is more convenient to place this code in a separate file and link it in at compile time.
    Description:-

    The lex command reads File or standard input, generates a C language program, and writes it to a file
    named lex.yy.c. This file, lex.yy.c, is a compilable C language program. A C++ compiler also can compile
    the output of the lex command. The -C flag renames the output file to lex.yy.C for the C++ compiler. The
    C++ program generated by the lex command can use either STDIO or IOSTREAMS. If the cpp define
    _CPP_IOSTREAMS is true during a C++ compilation, the program uses IOSTREAMS for all I/O. Otherwise,
    STDIO is used.

    The lex command uses rules and actions contained in File to generate a program, lex.yy.c,which can be
    compiled with the cc command. The compiled lex.yy.c can then receive input, break the input into the
    logical pieces defined by the rules in File, and run program fragments contained in the actions in File.

    The generated program is a C language function called yylex. The lex command stores the yylex function
    in a file named lex.yy.c. You can use the yylex function alone to recognize simple one-word input, or you
    can use it with other C language programs to perform more difficult input analysis functions. For
    example, you can use the lex command to generate a program that simplifies an input stream before
    sending it to a parser program generated by the yacc command. The yylex function analyzes the input
    stream using a program structure called a finite state machine. This structure allows the program to
    exist in only one state (or condition) at a time. There is a finite number of states allowed. The rules in
    File determine how the program moves from one state to another. If you do not specify a File, the lex
    command reads standard input. It treats multiple files as a single file.

    Note: Since the lex command uses fixed names for intermediate and output files, you can have only one
    program generated by lex in a given directory.

    Regular Expression Basics

    . : matches any single character except \n

    * : matches 0 or more instances of the preceding regular expression

    + : matches 1 or more instances of the preceding regular expression

    ? : matches 0 or 1 of the preceding regular expression

    | : matches the preceding or following regular expression

    [ ] : defines a character class

    () : groups enclosed regular expression into a new regular expression

    “…”: matches everything within the “ “ literally

    Special Functions

    • yytext – where text matched most recently is stored


    • yyleng – number of characters in text most recently matched

    • yylval – associated value of current token

    • yymore() – append next string matched to current contents of yytext

    • yyless(n) – remove from yytext all but the first n characters

    • unput(c) – return character c to input stream

    • yywrap() – may be replaced by user – The yywrap method is called by the lexical analyser whenever it
    inputs an EOF as the first character when trying to match a regular expression.

    Files

    y.output--Contains a readable description of the parsing tables and a report on conflicts generated by
    grammar ambiguities.

    y.tab.c---- Contains an output file.

    y.tab.h----- Contains definitions for token names.

    yacc.tmp-----Temporary file.

    yacc.debug----Temporary file.

    yacc.acts-----Temporary file.

    /usr/ccs/lib/yaccpar---Contains parser prototype for C programs.

    /usr/ccs/lib/liby.a----Contains a run-time library.

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