Lex Tutorial
Lex
- Lex is a program that generates lexical analyzer. It is used with YACC parser generator.
- The lexical analyzer is a program that transforms an input stream into a sequence of tokens.
- It reads the input stream and produces the source code as output through implementing the lexical analyzer in the C program.
The function of Lex is as follows:
- Firstly lexical analyzer creates a program lex.1 in the Lex language. Then Lex compiler runs the lex.1 program and produces a C program lex.yy.c.
- Finally C compiler runs the lex.yy.c program and produces an object program a.out.
- a.out is lexical analyzer that transforms an input stream into a sequence of tokens.
The Lex Format
A Lex program is separated into three sections by %%" delimiters. The format of Lex source is as follows:
{ definitions }
%%
{ rules }
%%
{ user subroutines }
