Lesson 13

LESSON 13
Overview
of
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 An NFA accepts a string if the symbols of the string specify a path
from the start to an accepting state.
 These symbols may specify several paths, some of which lead to

accepting states and some that don't.
 In such a case the NFA does accept the string, one successful path is
enough.
 If an edge is labeled ε, then it can be taken for free.
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Over View..
 A deterministic finite automaton (DFA) is a special case of an NFA
where:
 There are no moves on input ε, secondly,
 For each state S and input symbol a, there is exactly one edge out of s
labeled a.
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Over View...
 Algorithm for converting any RE to an NFA .
 The algorithm is syntax- directed, it works recursively up the

parse tree for the regular expression.
 For each sub-expression the algorithm constructs an NFA with a single

accepting state.
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Over View...
Method:
 Begin by parsing r into its constituent subexpressions.
 The rules for constructing an NFA consist of basis rules for handling
subexpressions with no operators.
 Inductive rules for constructing larger NFA's from the NFA's for the
immediate sub expressions of a given expression.
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Over View...
Basis Step:
 For expression ε construct the NFA
 For any sub-expression a in Σ construct the NFA
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Over View...
Induction Step:
 Suppose N(s) and N(t) are NFA's for regular expressions s and t,
respectively.
 If r = s|t. Then N(r) , the NFA for r, should be constructed as
 N(r) accepts L(s) U L(t) , which is the same as L(r) .

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Over View...
 Now Suppose r = st , Then N(r) , the NFA for r, should be constructed
as
 N(r) accepts L(s)L(t) , which is the same as L(r) .
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Over View...
 Now Suppose r = s* , Then N(r) , the NFA for r, should be constructed as
 N(r) accept all the strings in L(s)1 , L(s)2 , and so on , so the entire set of strings
accepted by N(r) is L(s*).
 Finally suppose r = (s) , Then L(r) = L(s) and we can use the NFA N(s) as N(r).
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TODAY’S LESSON
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Contents
 Design of a Lexical-Analyzer Generator
 The Structure of the Generated Analyzer

 Pattern Matching Based on NFA 's
 DFA's for Lexical Analyzers
 Optimization of DFA-Based Pattern Matchers
 Important States of an NFA
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Lexical-Analyzer Design
 Here we will see the designing technique in generating a lexical-
analyzer.
 We will discuss two approaches, based on NFA's and DFA's.
 The program that serves as the lexical analyzer includes a fixed

program that simulates an automaton.
 The rest of the lexical analyzer consists of components that are

created from the Lex program.
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Structure of the Generated Analyzer
 Its components are:
 A transition table for the automaton.
 Functions that are passed directly through Lex to the output.
 The actions from the input program, which appear as fragments of

code to be invoked by the automaton simulator.
14
 Architecture of a lexical analyzer generated by Lex.
15
 To construct the automaton, we begin by taking each regular-
expression pattern in the Lex program and converting it to an NFA.
 We need a single automaton that will recognize lexemes matching

any of the patterns in the program.
 So we combine all the NFA's into one by introducing a new start state
with ɛ-transitions to each of the start states of the NFA's Ni for
pattern Pi
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 An NFA constructed from a Lex program
a { action A1 for pattern P1 }
abb { action A2 for pattern P2 }
a*b+ { action An for pattern Pn}
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Pattern Matching Based on NFA 's
 For pattern based matching the simulator starts reading characters
and calculates the set of states.
 At some point the input character does not lead to any state or we
have reached the eof.
 Since we wish to find the longest lexeme matching the pattern we
proceed backwards from the current point (where there was no state)
until we reach an accepting state (i.e., the set of NFA states, N-states,
contains an accepting N-state).
 Each accepting N-state corresponds to a matched pattern.
 The lex rule is that if a lexeme matches multiple patterns we choose
the pattern listed first in the lex-program.
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Pattern Matching Based on NFA's..
 Ex. Consider three patterns and their associated actions and
consider processing the input aaba.
Pattern Actions to perform
a Action A1
abb Action A2
a*b+ Action A3
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Pattern Matching Based on NFA's…
 We begin by constructing the three NFAs.
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 We introduce a new start state and ε-transitions as discussed in
the previous section.
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 We start at the ε-closure of the start state, which is {0,1,3,7}.
 The first a (remember the input is aaba) takes us to {2,4,7}.

 This includes an accepting state and indeed we have matched the first
patten. However, we do not stop since we may find a longer match.
 The next a takes us to {7} and next b takes us to {8}.
 The next a fails since there are no a-transitions out of state 8.
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 We are back in {8} and ask if one of these N-states is an accepting
state.
 Indeed state 8 is accepting for third pattern.
 Action3 would now be performed.
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DFA for Lexical Analyzer
 In this section we see an architecture to convert the NFA for all the
patterns into an equivalent DFA, using the subset construction
mechanism of DFA from NFA.
 Within each DFA state, if there are one or more accepting NFA states,
determine the first pattern whose accepting state is represented, and
make that pattern the output of the DFA state.
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DFA for Lexical Analyzer..
 A transition graph for the DFA handling the patterns a, abb and
a*b+ that is constructed by the subset construction from the NFA.
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DFA for Lexical Analyzer…
 The accepting states are labeled by the pattern that is matched by
that state.
 For instance, the state {6, 8 } has two accepting states, corresponding
to patterns abb and a*b+.
 Since the former is listed first, that is the pattern associated with state
{6,8}.
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DFA for Lexical Analyzer…
 In the diagram, when there is no NFA state possible, we do not
show the edge.
 Technically we should show these edges, all of which lead to the

same D-state, called the dead state, and corresponds to the empty
subset of N-states.
27
Optimization of DFA-based Pattern Matchers
 Now we will talk about some algorithms that have been used to
implement and optimize pattern matchers constructed from
regular expressions.
 The first algorithm is useful in a Lex compiler, because it constructs a

DFA directly from a regular expression, without constructing an
intermediate NFA. The resulting DFA also may have fewer states than
the DFA constructed via an NFA.
28
Optimization of DFA-based Pattern Matchers..
 The second algorithm minimizes the number of states of any DFA,

by combining states that have the same future behavior.
 The algorithm itself is quite efficient, running in time O(n log n),
where n is the number of states of the DFA.
 The third algorithm produces more compact representations of

transition tables than the standard, two-dimensional table.
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Important States of an NFA
 Prior to begin our discussion of how to go directly from a regular
expression to a DFA, we must first dissect the NFA construction
and consider the roles played by various states.
 We call a state of an NFA important if it has a non-ɛ out-transition.
 The subset construction uses only the important states in a set T

when it computes ɛ- closure (move(T, a)), the set of states
reachable from T on input a.
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Important States of an NFA..
 During the subset construction, two sets of NFA states can be
identified if they:
 Have the same important states, and
 Either both have accepting states or neither does.
 The important states are those introduced as initial states in the

basis part for a particular symbol position in the regular
expression.
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Important States of an NFA...
 The constructed NFA has only one accepting state, but this state,
having no out-transitions, is not an important state.
 By concatenating a unique right endmarker # to a regular expression

r, we give the accepting state for r a transition on #, making it an
important state of the NFA for (r) #.
 The important states of the NFA correspond directly to the

positions in the regular expression that hold symbols of the
alphabet.
32
 It is useful to present the regular expression by its syntax tree,
where the leaves correspond to operands and the interior nodes
correspond to operators.
 An interior node is called a cat-node, or-node, or star-node if it is

labeled by the concatenation operator (dot) , union operator I , or
star operator *, respectively.
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 Ex. Syntax tree for (a|b)*abb#
34
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LESSON 13

 These symbols may specify several paths, some of which lead to

 If an edge is labeled ε, then it can be taken for free.

 There are no moves on input ε, secondly,

 The algorithm is syntax- directed, it works recursively up the

 For each sub-expression the algorithm constructs an NFA with a single

 Begin by parsing r into its constituent subexpressions.

 For expression ε construct the NFA

 For any sub-expression a in Σ construct the NFA

 N(r) accepts L(s) U L(t) , which is the same as L(r) .

 N(r) accepts L(s)L(t) , which is the same as L(r) .

 The Structure of the Generated Analyzer

 Optimization of DFA-Based Pattern Matchers

 Important States of an NFA

 We will discuss two approaches, based on NFA's and DFA's.

 The program that serves as the lexical analyzer includes a fixed

 The rest of the lexical analyzer consists of components that are

 A transition table for the automaton.

 Functions that are passed directly through Lex to the output.

 The actions from the input program, which appear as fragments of

 We need a single automaton that will recognize lexemes matching

a { action A1 for pattern P1 }

abb { action A2 for pattern P2 }

a*b+ { action An for pattern Pn}

Pattern Actions to perform

 The first a (remember the input is aaba) takes us to {2,4,7}.

 The next a takes us to {7} and next b takes us to {8}.

 The next a fails since there are no a-transitions out of state 8.

 Indeed state 8 is accepting for third pattern.

 Action3 would now be performed.

 Technically we should show these edges, all of which lead to the

 The first algorithm is useful in a Lex compiler, because it constructs a

 The second algorithm minimizes the number of states of any DFA,

 The third algorithm produces more compact representations of

 We call a state of an NFA important if it has a non-ɛ out-transition.

 The subset construction uses only the important states in a set T

 Have the same important states, and

 Either both have accepting states or neither does.

 The important states are those introduced as initial states in the

 By concatenating a unique right endmarker # to a regular expression

 The important states of the NFA correspond directly to the

 An interior node is called a cat-node, or-node, or star-node if it is

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