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re2c - generate fast lexical analyzers for C/C++
Note: some examples are in C++ (but can be adapted to C).
re2c [ OPTIONS ] [ WARNINGS ] INPUT
Input can be either a file or - for stdin.
re2c works as a preprocessor. It reads the input file (which is
usually a program in C/C++, but can be anything) and looks for blocks of
code enclosed in special-form start/end markers. The text outside of these
blocks is copied verbatim into the output file. The contents of the blocks
are processed by re2c. It translates them to code in C/C++ and outputs the
generated code in place of the block.
Here is an example of a small program that checks if a given
string contains a decimal number:
// re2c $INPUT -o $OUTPUT -i --case-ranges
#include <assert.h>
int lex(const char *s) {
const char *YYCURSOR = s;
/*!re2c
re2c:yyfill:enable = 0;
re2c:define:YYCTYPE = char;
[1-9][0-9]* { return 0; }
* { return 1; }
*/
}
int main() {
assert(lex("1234") == 0);
return 0;
}
In the output re2c replaced the block in the middle with the
generated code:
/* Generated by re2c */
// re2c $INPUT -o $OUTPUT -i --case-ranges
#include <assert.h>
int lex(const char *s) {
const char *YYCURSOR = s;
{
char yych;
yych = *YYCURSOR;
switch (yych) {
case '1' ... '9': goto yy2;
default: goto yy1;
}
yy1:
++YYCURSOR;
{ return 1; }
yy2:
yych = *++YYCURSOR;
switch (yych) {
case '0' ... '9': goto yy2;
default: goto yy3;
}
yy3:
{ return 0; }
}
}
int main() {
assert(lex("1234") == 0);
return 0;
}
A re2c program consists of a sequence of blocks intermixed
with code in the target language. A block may contain definitions,
configurations, rules, actions and directives in
any order:
- name =
regular-expression ;
- A definition binds name to regular-expression. Names
may contain alphanumeric characters and underscore. The regular
expressions section gives an overview of re2c syntax for regular
expressions. Once defined, the name can be used in other regular
expressions and in rules. Recursion in named definitions is not allowed,
and each name should be defined before it is used. A block inherits named
definitions from the global scope. Redefining a name that exists in the
current scope is an error.
- configuration
= value ;
- A configuration allows one to change re2c behavior and customize
the generated code. For a full list of configurations supported by re2c
see the configurations section. Depending on a particular
configuration, the value can be a keyword, a nonnegative integer
number or a one-line string which should be enclosed in double or single
quotes unless it consists of alphanumeric characters. A block inherits
configurations from the global scope and may redefine them or add new
ones. Configurations defined inside of a block affect the whole block,
even if they appear at the end of it.
- regular-expression
code
- A rule binds regular-expression to its semantic action (a
block of code in curly braces, or a block of code that starts with
:= and ends on a newline followed by any non-whitespace character).
If the regular-expression matches, the associated code is
executed. If multiple rules match, the longest match takes precedence. If
multiple rules match the same string, the earliest one takes precedence.
There are two special rules: the default rule * and the end of
input rule $. Default rule should always be defined, it has the
lowest priority regardless of its place in the block, and it matches any
code unit (not necessarily a valid character, see the encoding
support section). The end of input rule should be defined if the
corresponding method for handling the end of input is used. With
start conditions rules have more complex syntax.
- !action code
- An action binds a user-defined block of code to a particular
place in the generated finite state machine (in the same way as semantic
actions bind code to the final states). See the actions section for
a full list of predefined actions.
- !directive ;
- A directive is one of the special predefined statements. Each
directive has a unique purpose. See the directives section for
details.
Block start and end markers are either /*!re2c and
*/, or %{ and %} (both styles are supported). Starting
from version 2.2 blocks may have optional names that allow them to be
referenced in other blocks. There are different kinds of blocks:
- /*!re2c[:<name>] ... */ or %{[:<name>] ...
%}
- A global block contains definitions, configurations, rules and
directives. re2c compiles regular expressions associated with each rule
into a deterministic finite automaton, encodes it in the form of
conditional jumps in the target language and replaces the block with the
generated code. Names and configurations defined in a global block are
added to the global scope and become visible to subsequent blocks. At the
start of the program the global scope is initialized with command-line
options.
- /*!local:re2c[:<name>] ... */ or %{local[:<name>]
... %}
- A local block is like a global block, but the names and
configurations in it have local scope (they do not affect other
blocks).
- /*!rules:re2c[:<name>] ... */ or %{rules[:<name>]
... %}
- A rules block is like a local block, but it does not generate any
code by itself, nor does it add any definitions to the global scope -- it
is meant to be reused in other blocks. This is a way of sharing code (more
details in the reusable blocks section). Prior to re2c version 2.2
rules blocks required -r --reusable option.
- /*!use:re2c[:<name>] ... */ or %{use[:<name>] ...
%}
- A use block that references a previously defined rules block. If the name
is specified, re2c looks for a rules blocks with this name. Otherwise the
most recent rules block is used (either a named or an unnamed one). A use
block can add definitions, configurations and rules of its own, which are
added to those of the referenced rules block. Prior to re2c version 2.2
use blocks required -r --reusable option.
- /*!max:re2c[:<name1>[:<name2>...]] ... */ or
%{max[:<name1>[:<name2>...]] ... %}
- A block that generates YYMAXFILL definition. An optional list of
block names specifies which blocks should be included when computing
YYMAXFILL value (if the list is empty, all blocks are included). By
default the generated code is a macro-definition for C (#define
YYMAXFILL <n>), or a global variable for Go (var YYMAXFILL
int = <n>). It can be customized with an optional configuration
format that specifies a template string where @@{max} (or
@@ for short) is replaced with the numeric value of
YYMAXFILL.
- /*!maxnmatch:re2c[:<name1>[:<name2>...]] ... */ or
%{maxnmatch[:<name1>[:<name2>...]] ... %}
- A block that generates YYMAXNMATCH definition (it requires -P
--posix-captures option). An optional list of block names specifies
which blocks should be included when computing YYMAXNMATCH value
(if the list is empty, all blocks are included). By default the generated
code is a macro-definition for C (#define YYMAXNMATCH <n>),
or a global variable for Go (var YYMAXNMATCH int = <n>). It
can be customized with an optional configuration format that
specifies a template string where @@{max} (or @@ for short)
is replaced with the numeric value of YYMAXNMATCH.
- /*!stags:re2c[:<name1>[:<name2>...]] ... */,
/*!mtags:re2c[:<name1>[:<name2>...]] ... */ or
%{stags[:<name1>[:<name2>...]] ... %},
%{mtags[:<name1>[:<name2>...]] ... %{
- Blocks that specify a template piece of code that is expanded for each
s-tag/m-tag variable generated by re2c. An optional list of block names
specifies which blocks should be included when computing the set of tag
variables (if the list is empty, all blocks are included). There are two
optional configurations: format and separator. Configuration
format specifies a template string where @@{tag} (or
@@ for short) is replaced with the name of each tag variable.
Configuration separator specifies a piece of code used to join the
generated format pieces for different tag variables.
- /*!svars:re2c[:<name1>[:<name2>...]] ... */,
/*!mvars:re2c[:<name1>[:<name2>...]] ... */ or
%{svars[:<name1>[:<name2>...]] ... %},
%{mvars[:<name1>[:<name2>...]] ... %{
- Blocks that specify a template piece of code that is expanded for each
s-tag/m-tag that is either explicitly mentioned by the rules (with
--tags option) or implicitly generated by re2c (with
--captvars or --posix-captvars options). An optional list of
block names specifies which blocks should be included when computing the
set of tags (if the list is empty, all blocks are included). There are two
optional configurations: format and separator. Configuration
format specifies a template string where @@{tag} (or
@@ for short) is replaced with the name of each tag. Configuration
separator specifies a piece of code used to join the generated
format pieces for different tags.
- /*!getstate:re2c[:<name1>[:<name2>...]] ... */ or
%{getstate[:<name1>[:<name2>...]] ... %}
- A block that generates conditional dispatch on the lexer state (it
requires --storable-state option). An optional list of block names
specifies which blocks should be included in the state dispatch. The
default transition goes to the start label of the first block on the list.
If the list is empty, all blocks are included, and the default transition
goes to the first block in the file that has a start label. This block
type is incompatible with the --loop-switch option, as it requires
cross-block transitions that are unsupported without goto or
function calls.
- /*!conditions:re2c[:<name1>[:<name2>...]] ... */,
/*!types:re2c... */ or
%{conditions[:<name1>[:<name2>...]] ... %}, %{types...
%}
- A block that generates condition enumeration (it requires
--conditions option). An optional list of block names specifies
which blocks should be included when computing the set of conditions (if
the list is empty, all blocks are included). By default the generated code
is an enumeration YYCONDTYPE. It can be customized with optional
configurations format and separator. Configuration
format specifies a template string where @@{cond} (or
@@ for short) is replaced with the name of each condition, and
@@{num} is replaced with a numeric index of that condition.
Configuration separator specifies a piece of code used to join the
generated format pieces for different conditions.
- /*!include:re2c <file> */ or %{include <file>
%}
- This block allows one to include <file>, which must be a
double-quoted file path. The contents of the file are literally
substituted in place of the block, in the same way as #include
works in C/C++. This block can be used together with the --depfile
option to generate build system dependencies on the included files.
- /*!header:re2c:on*/ or %{header:on %}
- This block marks the start of header file. Everything after it and up to
the following header:off block is processed by re2c and written to
the header file specified with -t --type-header option.
- /*!header:re2c:off*/ or %{header:off %}
- This block marks the end of header file started with header:on*/
block.
- /*!ignore:re2c ... */ or %{ignore ... %}
- A block which contents are ignored and removed from the output file.
Here is a full list of configurations supported by re2c:
- re2c:api,
re2c:input
- Same as the --api option.
- re2c:api:sigil
- Specify the marker ("sigil") that is used for argument
placeholders in the API primitives. The default is @@. A
placeholder starts with sigil followed by the argument name in curly
braces. For example, if sigil is set to $, then placeholders will
have the form ${name}. Single-argument APIs may use shorthand
notation without the name in braces. This option can be overridden by
options for individual API primitives, e.g. re2c:YYFILL@len for
YYFILL.
- re2c:api:style
- Specify API style. Possible values are functions (the default for
C) and free-form (the default for Go and Rust). In functions
style API primitives are generated with an argument list in parentheses
following the name of the primitive. The arguments are provided only for
autogenerated parameters (such as the number of characters passed to
YYFILL), but not for the general lexer context, so the primitives
behave more like macros in C/C++ or closures in Go and Rust. In free-form
style API primitives do not have a fixed form: they should be defined as
strings containing free-form pieces of code with interpolated variables of
the form @@{var} or @@ (they correspond to arguments in
function-like style). This configuration may be overridden for individual
API primitives, see for example re2c:YYFILL:naked configuration for
YYFILL.
- re2c:bit-vectors,
re2c:flags:bit-vectors, re2c:flags:b
- Same as the --bit-vectors option, but can be configured on
per-block basis.
- re2c:captures,
re2c:leftmost-captures
- Same as the --leftmost-captures option, but can be configured on
per-block basis.
- re2c:captvars,
re2c:leftmost-captvars
- Same as the --leftmost-captvars option, but can be configured on
per-block basis.
- re2c:case-insensitive,
re2c:flags:case-insensitive
- Same as the --case-insensitive option, but can be configured on
per-block basis.
- re2c:case-inverted,
re2c:flags:case-inverted
- Same as the --case-inverted option, but can be configured on
per-block basis.
- re2c:case-ranges,
re2c:flags:case-ranges
- Same as the --case-ranges option, but can be configured on
per-block basis.
- re2c:computed-gotos,
re2c:flags:computed-gotos, re2c:flags:g
- Same as the --computed-gotos option, but can be configured on
per-block basis.
- re2c:computed-gotos:threshold,
re2c:cgoto:threshold
- If computed goto is used, this configuration specifies the
complexity threshold that triggers the generation of jump tables instead
of nested if statements and bitmaps. The default value is
9.
- re2c:cond:abort
- If set to a positive integer value, the default case in the generated
condition dispatch aborts program execution.
- re2c:cond:goto
- Specifies a piece of code used for the autogenerated shortcut rules
:=> in conditions. The default is goto @@;. The @@
placeholder is substituted with condition name (see configurations
re2c:api:sigil and re2c:cond:goto@cond).
- re2c:cond:goto@cond
- Specifies the sigil used for argument substitution in
re2c:cond:goto definition. The default value is @@.
Overrides the more generic re2c:api:sigil configuration.
- re2c:cond:divider
- Defines the divider for condition blocks. The default value is /*
*********************************** */. Placeholders are substituted
with condition name (see re2c:api;sigil and
re2c:cond:divider@cond).
- re2c:cond:divider@cond
- Specifies the sigil used for argument substitution in
re2c:cond:divider definition. The default is @@. Overrides
the more generic re2c:api:sigil configuration.
- re2c:cond:prefix,
re2c:condprefix
- Specifies the prefix used for condition labels. The default is
yyc_.
- re2c:cond:enumprefix,
re2c:condenumprefix
- Specifies the prefix used for condition identifiers. The default is
yyc.
- re2c:debug-output,
re2c:flags:debug-output, re2c:flags:d
- Same as the --debug-output option, but can be configured on
per-block basis.
- re2c:empty-class,
re2c:flags:empty-class
- Same as the --empty-class option, but can be configured on
per-block basis.
- re2c:encoding:ebcdic,
re2c:flags:ecb, re2c:flags:e
- Same as the --ebcdic option, but can be configured on per-block
basis.
- re2c:encoding:ucs2,
re2c:flags:wide-chars, re2c:flags:w
- Same as the --ucs2 option, but can be configured on per-block
basis.
- re2c:encoding:utf8,
re2c:flags:utf-8, re2c:flags:8
- Same as the --utf8 option, but can be configured on per-block
basis.
- re2c:encoding:utf16,
re2c:flags:utf-16, re2c:flags:x
- Same as the --utf16 option, but can be configured on per-block
basis.
- re2c:encoding:utf32,
re2c:flags:unicode, re2c:flags:u
- Same as the --utf32 option, but can be configured on per-block
basis.
- re2c:encoding-policy,
re2c:flags:encoding-policy
- Same as the --encoding-policy option, but can be configured on
per-block basis.
- re2c:eof
- Specifies the sentinel symbol used with the end-of-input rule $.
The default value is -1 ($ rule is not used). Other possible
values include all valid code units. Only decimal numbers are
recognized.
- re2c:fn:sep
- Specifies separator used in YYFN elements (defaults to
semicolon).
- Specifies the name of the generated header file relative to the directory
of the output file. Same as the --header option except that the
file path is relative.
- re2c:indent:string
- Specifies the string used for indentation. The default is a single tab
character "\t". Indent string should contain whitespace
characters only. To disable indentation entirely, set this configuration
to an empty string.
- re2c:indent:top
- Specifies the minimum amount of indentation to use. The default value is
zero. The value should be a non-negative integer number.
- re2c:invert-captures
- Same as the --invert-captures option, but can be configured on
per-block basis.
- re2c:label:prefix,
re2c:labelprefix
- Specifies the prefix used for DFA state labels. The default is
yy.
- re2c:label:start,
re2c:startlabel
- Controls the generation of a block start label. The default value is zero,
which means that the start label is generated only if it is used. An
integer value greater than zero forces the generation of start label even
if it is unused by the lexer. A string value also forces start label
generation and sets the label name to the specified string. This
configuration applies only to the current block (it is reset to default
for the next block).
- re2c:label:yyFillLabel
- Specifies the prefix of YYFILL labels used with re2c:eof and
in storable state mode.
- re2c:label:yyloop
- Specifies the name of the label marking the start of the lexer loop with
--loop-switch option. The default is yyloop.
- re2c:label:yyNext
- Specifies the name of the optional label that follows YYGETSTATE
switch in storable state mode (enabled with re2c:state:nextlabel).
The default is yyNext.
- re2c:lookahead,
re2c:flags:lookahead
- Deprecated (see the deprecated --no-lookahead option).
- re2c:monadic
- If set to non-zero, the generated lexer will use monadic notation (this
configuration is specific to Haskell).
- re2c:nested-ifs,
re2c:flags:nested-ifs, re2c:flags:s
- Same as the --nested-ifs option, but can be configured on per-block
basis.
- re2c:posix-captures,
re2c:flags:posix-captures, re2c:flags:P
- Same as the --posix-captures option, but can be configured on
per-block basis.
- re2c:posix-captvars
- Same as the --posix-captvars option, but can be configured on
per-block basis.
- re2c:tags,
re2c:flags:tags, re2c:flags:T
- Same as the --tags option, but can be configured on per-block
basis.
- re2c:tags:expression
- Specifies the expression used for tag variables. By default re2c generates
expressions of the form yyt<N>. This might be inconvenient,
for example if tag variables are defined as fields in a struct. All
occurrences of @@{tag} or @@ are replaced with the actual
tag name. For example, re2c:tags:expression = "s.@@";
results in expressions of the form s.yyt<N> in the generated
code. See also re2c:api:sigil configuration.
- re2c:tags:negative
- Specifies the constant expression that is used for negative tag value
(typically this would be -1 if tags are integer offsets in the
input string, or null pointer if they are pointers).
- re2c:tags:prefix
- Specifies the prefix for tag variable names. The default is
yyt.
- re2c:sentinel
- Specifies the sentinel symbol used for the end-of-input checks (when
bounds checks are disabled with re2c:yyfill:enable = 0; and
re2c:eof is not set). This configuration does not affect code
generation: its purpose is to verify that the sentinel is not allowed in
the middle of a rule, and ensure that the lexer won't read past the end of
buffer. The default value is -1` (in that case re2c assumes that
the sentinel is zero, which is the most common case). Only decimal numbers
are recognized.
- re2c:state:abort
- If set to a positive integer value, the default case in the generated
state dispatch aborts program execution, and an explicit -1 case
contains transition to the start of the block.
- re2c:state:nextlabel
- Controls if the YYGETSTATE switch is followed by an yyNext
label (the default value is zero, which corresponds to no label).
Alternatively one can use re2c:label:start to generate a specific
start label, or an explicit getstate block to generate the
YYGETSTATE switch separately from the lexer block.
- re2c:unsafe,
re2c:flags:unsafe
- Same as the --no-unsafe option, but can be configured on per-block
basis. If set to zero, it suppresses the generation of unsafe
wrappers around YYPEEK. The default is non-zero (wrappers are
generated). This configuration is specific to Rust.
- re2c:YYBACKUP,
re2c:define:YYBACKUP
- Defines generic API primitive YYBACKUP.
- re2c:YYBACKUPCTX,
re2c:define:YYBACKUPCTX
- Defines generic API primitive YYBACKUPCTX.
- re2c:YYCONDTYPE,
re2c:define:YYCONDTYPE
- Defines API primitive YYCONDTYPE.
- re2c:YYCTYPE,
re2c:define:YYCTYPE
- Defines API primitive YYCTYPE.
- re2c:YYCTXMARKER,
re2c:define:YYCTXMARKER
- Defines API primitive YYCTXMARKER.
- re2c:YYCURSOR,
re2c:define:YYCURSOR
- Defines API primitive YYCURSOR.
- re2c:YYDEBUG,
re2c:define:YYDEBUG
- Defines API primitive YYDEBUG.
- re2c:YYFILL,
re2c:define:YYFILL
- Defines API primitive YYFILL.
- re2c:YYFILL@len,
re2c:define:YYFILL@len
- Specifies the sigil used for argument substitution in YYFILL
definition. Defaults to @@. Overrides the more generic
re2c:api:sigil configuration.
- re2c:YYFILL:naked,
re2c:define:YYFILL:naked
- Overrides the more generic re2c:api:style configuration for
YYFILL. Zero value corresponds to free-form API style.
- re2c:YYFN
- Defines API primitive YYFN.
- re2c:YYINPUT
- Defines API primitive YYINPUT.
- re2c:YYGETCOND,
re2c:define:YYGETCONDITION
- Defines API primitive YYGETCOND.
- re2c:YYGETCOND:naked,
re2c:define:YYGETCONDITION:naked
- Overrides the more generic re2c:api:style configuration for
YYGETCOND. Zero value corresponds to free-form API style.
- re2c:YYGETSTATE,
re2c:define:YYGETSTATE
- Defines API primitive YYGETSTATE.
- re2c:YYGETSTATE:naked,
re2c:define:YYGETSTATE:naked
- Overrides the more generic re2c:api:style configuration for
YYGETSTATE. Zero value corresponds to free-form API style.
- re2c:YYGETACCEPT,
re2c:define:YYGETACCEPT
- Defines API primitive YYGETACCEPT.
- re2c:YYLESSTHAN,
re2c:define:YYLESSTHAN
- Defines generic API primitive YYLESSTHAN.
- re2c:YYLIMIT,
re2c:define:YYLIMIT
- Defines API primitive YYLIMIT.
- re2c:YYMARKER,
re2c:define:YYMARKER
- Defines API primitive YYMARKER.
- re2c:YYMTAGN,
re2c:define:YYMTAGN
- Defines generic API primitive YYMTAGN.
- re2c:YYMTAGP,
re2c:define:YYMTAGP
- Defines generic API primitive YYMTAGP.
- re2c:YYPEEK,
re2c:define:YYPEEK
- Defines generic API primitive YYPEEK.
- re2c:YYRESTORE,
re2c:define:YYRESTORE
- Defines generic API primitive YYRESTORE.
- re2c:YYRESTORECTX,
re2c:define:YYRESTORECTX
- Defines generic API primitive YYRESTORECTX.
- re2c:YYRESTORETAG,
re2c:define:YYRESTORETAG
- Defines generic API primitive YYRESTORETAG.
- re2c:YYSETCOND,
re2c:define:YYSETCONDITION
- Defines API primitive YYSETCOND.
- re2c:YYSETCOND@cond,
re2c:define:YYSETCONDITION@cond
- Specifies the sigil used for argument substitution in YYSETCOND
definition. The default value is @@. Overrides the more generic
re2c:api:sigil configuration.
- re2c:YYSETCOND:naked,
re2c:define:YYSETCONDITION:naked
- Overrides the more generic re2c:api:style configuration for
YYSETCOND. Zero value corresponds to free-form API style.
- re2c:YYSETSTATE,
re2c:define:YYSETSTATE
- Defines API primitive YYSETSTATE.
- re2c:YYSETSTATE@state,
re2c:define:YYSETSTATE@state
- Specifies the sigil used for argument substitution in YYSETSTATE
definition. The default value is @@. Overrides the more generic
re2c:api:sigil configuration.
- re2c:YYSETSTATE:naked,
re2c:define:YYSETSTATE:naked
- Overrides the more generic re2c:api:style configuration for
YYSETSTATE. Zero value corresponds to free-form API style.
- re2c:YYSETACCEPT,
re2c:define:YYSETACCEPT
- Defines API primitive YYSETACCEPT.
- re2c:YYSKIP,
re2c:define:YYSKIP
- Defines generic API primitive YYSKIP.
- re2c:YYSHIFT,
re2c:define:YYSHIFT
- Defines generic API primitive YYSHIFT.
- re2c:YYCOPYMTAG,
re2c:define:YYCOPYMTAG
- Defines generic API primitive YYCOPYMTAG.
- re2c:YYCOPYSTAG,
re2c:define:YYCOPYSTAG
- Defines generic API primitive YYCOPYSTAG.
- re2c:YYSHIFTMTAG,
re2c:define:YYSHIFTMTAG
- Defines generic API primitive YYSHIFTMTAG.
- re2c:YYSHIFTSTAG,
re2c:define:YYSHIFTSTAG
- Defines generic API primitive YYSHIFTSTAG.
- re2c:YYSTAGN,
re2c:define:YYSTAGN
- Defines generic API primitive YYSTAGN.
- re2c:YYSTAGP,
re2c:define:YYSTAGP
- Defines generic API primitive YYSTAGP.
- re2c:yyaccept,
re2c:variable:yyaccept
- Defines API primitive yyaccept.
- re2c:yybm,
re2c:variable:yybm
- Defines API primitive yybm.
- re2c:yybm:hex,
re2c:variable:yybm:hex
- If set to nonzero, bitmaps for the --bit-vectors option are
generated in hexadecimal format. The default is zero (bitmaps are in
decimal format).
- re2c:yych,
re2c:variable:yych
- Defines API primitive yych.
- re2c:yych:emit,
re2c:variable:yych:emit
- If set to zero, yych definition is not generated. The default is
non-zero.
- re2c:yych:conversion,
re2c:variable:yych:conversion
- If set to non-zero, re2c automatically generates a conversion to
YYCTYPE every time yych is read. The default is to zero (no
conversion).
- re2c:yych:literals,
re2c:variable:yych:literals
- Specifies the form of literals that yych is matched against.
Possible values are: char (character literals in single quotes,
non-printable ones use escape sequences that start with backslash),
hex (hexadecimal integers) and char_or_hex (a mixture of
both, character literals for printable characters and hexadecimal integers
for others).
- re2c:yyctable,
re2c:variable:yyctable
- Defines API primitive yyctable.
- re2c:yynmatch,
re2c:variable:yynmatch
- Defines API primitive yynmatch.
- re2c:yypmatch,
re2c:variable:yypmatch
- Defines API primitive yypmatch.
- re2c:yytarget,
re2c:variable:yytarget
- Defines API primitive yytarget.
- re2c:yystable,
re2c:variable:yystable
- Deprecated.
- re2c:yystate,
re2c:variable:yystate
- Defines API primitive yystate.
- re2c:yyfill,
re2c:variable:yyfill
- Defines API primitive yyfill.
- re2c:yyfill:check
- If set to zero, suppresses the generation of pre-YYFILL check for
the number of input characters (the YYLESSTHAN definition in
generic API and the YYLIMIT-based comparison in C pointer API). The
default is non-zero (generate the check).
- re2c:yyfill:enable
- If set to zero, suppresses the generation of YYFILL (together with
the check). This should be used when the whole input fits into one piece
of memory (there is no need for buffering) and the end-of-input checks do
not rely on the YYFILL checks (e.g. if a sentinel character is
used). Use warnings (-W option) and re2c:sentinel
configuration to verify that the generated lexer cannot read past the end
of input. The default is non-zero (YYFILL is enabled).
- re2c:yyfill:parameter
- If set to zero, suppresses the generation of parameter passed to
YYFILL. The parameter is the minimum number of characters that must
be supplied. Defaults to non-zero (the parameter is generated). This
configuration can be overridden with re2c:YYFILL:naked or
re2c:api:style.
re2c uses the following syntax for regular expressions:
- "foo"
- Case-sensitive string literal.
- 'foo'
- Case-insensitive string literal.
- [a-xyz], [^a-xyz]
- Character class (possibly negated).
- .
- Any character except newline.
- R \ S
- Difference of character classes R and S.
- R*
- Zero or more occurrences of R.
- R+
- One or more occurrences of R.
- R?
- Optional R.
- R{n}
- Repetition of R exactly n times.
- R{n,}
- Repetition of R at least n times.
- R{n,m}
- Repetition of R from n to m times.
- (R)
- Just R; parentheses are used to override precedence. If submatch
extraction is enabled, (R) is a capturing or a non-capturing group
depending on --invert-captures option.
- (!R)
- If submatch extraction is enabled, (!R) is a non-capturing or a
capturing group depending on --invert-captures option.
- R S
- Concatenation: R followed by S.
- R | S
- Alternative: R or S.
- R / S
- Lookahead: R followed by S, but S is not
consumed.
- name
- Regular expression defined as name (or literal string
"name" in Flex compatibility mode).
- {name}
- Regular expression defined as name in Flex compatibility mode.
- @stag
- An s-tag: saves the last input position at which @stag
matches in a variable named stag.
- #mtag
- An m-tag: saves all input positions at which #mtag matches
in a variable named mtag.
Character classes and string literals may contain the following
escape sequences: \a, \b, \f, \n, \r,
\t, \v, \\, octal escapes \ooo and hexadecimal
escapes \xhh, \uhhhh and \Uhhhhhhhh.
Here is a list of predefined actions supported by re2c:
- !entry code
- Entry action binds a user-defined block of code to the start state
of the current finite state machine. If start conditions are used,
the entry action can be set individually for each condition. This action
may be used to perform initialization, e.g. to save start location of a
lexeme.
- !pre_rule code
- Pre-rule action prepends a user-defined block of code to semantic
actions of all rules in the current block (or condition, if start
conditions are used). This action may be used to factor out the common
part of all semantic actions (e.g. saving the end location of a
lexeme).
- !post_rule code
- Post-rule action appends a user-defined block of code to semantic
actions of all rules in the current block (or condition, if start
conditions are used). This action may be used to emit trap statements
that guard against unintended control flow.
Here is a full list of directives supported by re2c:
- !use:name ;
- An in-block use directive that merges a previously defined rules block
with the specified name into the current block. Named definitions,
configurations and rules of the referenced block are added to the current
ones. Conflicts between overlapping rules and configurations are resolved
in the usual way: the first rule takes priority, and the latest
configuration overrides the preceding ones. One exception is the special
rules *, $ and <!> for which a block-local
definition always takes priority. A use directive can be placed anywhere
inside of a block, and multiple use directives are allowed.
- !include file ;
- This directive is the same as include block: it inserts file
contents verbatim in place of the directive.
The generated code interfaces with the outer program with the help
of primitives, collectively referred to as the API. Which
primitives should be defined for a particular program depends on multiple
factors, including the complexity of regular expressions, input
representation, buffering and the use of various features. All the necessary
primitives should be defined by the user in the form of macros, functions,
variables or any other suitable form that makes the generated code
syntactically and semantically correct. re2c does not (and cannot) check the
definitions, so if anything is missing or defined incorrectly, the generated
program may have compile-time or run-time errors. This manual provides
examples of API definitions in the most common cases.
re2c has three API flavors that define the core set of primitives
used by a program:
- Simple
API
- This is the default API for C/C++ backend. It consists of primitives
YYCURSOR, YYMARKER, YYCTXMARKER and YYLIMIT,
which should be defined as pointers of type YYCTYPE*.
- Record
API
- (added in version 4.0) Record API is useful in cases when lexer
state must be stored in a struct. It is enabled with --api record
option or re2c:api = record configuration. This API consists of a
variable yyrecord (the name can be overridden with
re2c:yyrecord) that should be defined as a struct with fields
yycursor, yymarker, yyctxmarker, yylimit (only
the fields used by the generated code need to be defined, and their names
can be configured).
- Generic
API
- (added in version 0.14) This is the most flexible API. It is
enabled with --api generic option or re2c:api = generic
configuration. This API contains primitives for generic operations:
YYPEEK, YYSKIP, YYBACKUP, YYBACKUPCTX,
YYSTAGP, YYSTAGN, YYMTAGP, YYMTAGN,
YYRESTORE, YYRESTORECTX, YYRESTORETAG,
YYSHIFT, YYSHIFTSTAG, YYSHIFTMTAG, YYLESSTHAN.
Generic API supports two styles that determine the form in which the
primitives should be defined:
- Free-form
- Free-form style is enabled with configuration re2c:api:style =
free-form. In this style interface primitives should be defined as
free-form pieces of code with interpolated variables of the form
@@{var} or optionally just @@ if there is a single variable.
The set of variables is specific to each primitive. Here's how free-form
generic API can be defined in terms of pointers cursor,
limit, marker and ctxmarker:
/*!re2c
re2c:YYPEEK = "*cursor";
re2c:YYSKIP = "++cursor;";
re2c:YYBACKUP = "marker = cursor;";
re2c:YYRESTORE = "cursor = marker;";
re2c:YYBACKUPCTX = "ctxmarker = cursor;";
re2c:YYRESTORECTX = "cursor = ctxmarker;";
re2c:YYRESTORETAG = "cursor = ${tag};";
re2c:YYLESSTHAN = "limit - cursor < @@{len}";
re2c:YYSTAGP = "@@{tag} = cursor;";
re2c:YYSTAGN = "@@{tag} = NULL;";
re2c:YYSHIFT = "cursor += @@{shift};";
re2c:YYSHIFTSTAG = "@@{tag} += @@{shift};";
*/
- Function-like
- Historically function-like style is the default one. It also can be
enabled with configuration re2c:api:style = functions. In this
style primitives should be defined as functions or macros with
parentheses, accepting the necessary arguments. Here's how function-like
generic API can be defined in terms of pointers cursor,
limit, marker and ctxmarker using preprocessor
macros:
#define YYPEEK() *cursor
#define YYSKIP() ++cursor
#define YYBACKUP() marker = cursor
#define YYRESTORE() cursor = marker
#define YYBACKUPCTX() ctxmarker = cursor
#define YYRESTORECTX() cursor = ctxmarker
#define YYRESTORETAG(tag) cursor = tag
#define YYLESSTHAN(len) limit - cursor < len
#define YYSTAGP(tag) tag = cursor
#define YYSTAGN(tag) tag = NULL
#define YYSHIFT(shift) cursor += shift
#define YYSHIFTSTAG(tag, shift) tag += shift
Here is a full list of API primitives that may be used by the
generated code in order to interface with the outer program.
- YYCTYPE
- The type of the input characters (code units). For ASCII, EBCDIC and UTF-8
encodings it should be 1-byte unsigned integer. For UTF-16 or UCS-2 it
should be 2-byte unsigned integer. For UTF-32 it should be 4-byte unsigned
integer.
- YYCURSOR
- An l-value that stores the current input position (a pointer or an integer
offset in YYINPUT). Initially YYCURSOR should point to the
first input character, and later it is advanced by the generated code.
When a rule matches, YYCURSOR position is the one after the last
matched character.
- YYLIMIT
- An r-value that stores the end of input position (a pointer or an integer
offset in YYINPUT). Initially YYLIMIT should point to the
position after the last available input character. It is not changed by
the generated code. The lexer compares YYCURSOR to YYLIMIT
in order to determine if there are enough input characters left.
- YYMARKER
- An l-value that stores the position of the latest matched rule (a pointer
or an integer offset in YYINPUT). It is used to restore the
YYCURSOR position if the longer match fails and the lexer needs to
rollback. Initialization is not needed.
- YYCTXMARKER
- An l-value that stores the position of the trailing context (a pointer or
an integer offset in YYINPUT). No initialization is needed.
YYCTXMARKER is needed only if the lookahead operator / is
used.
- YYFILL
- A generic API primitive with one variable len. YYFILL should
provide at least len more input characters or fail. If
re2c:eof is used, then len is always 1 and
YYFILL should always return to the calling function; zero return
value indicates success. If re2c:eof is not used, then
YYFILL return value is ignored and it should not return on failure.
The maximum value of len is YYMAXFILL.
- YYFN
- A primitive that defines function prototype in
--recursive-functions code model. Its value should be an array of
one or more strings, where each string contains two or three components
separated by the string specified in re2c:fn:sep configuration
(typically a semicolon). The first array element defines function name and
return type (empty for a void function). Subsequent elements define
function arguments: first, the expression for the argument used in
function body (usually just a name); second, argument type; third, an
optional formal parameter (it defaults to the first component - usually
both the argument and the parameter are the same identifier).
- YYINPUT
- An r-value that stores the current input character sequence (string,
buffer, etc.).
- YYMAXFILL
- An integral constant equal to the maximum value of the argument to
YYFILL. It can be generated with a max block.
- YYLESSTHAN
- A generic API primitive with one variable len. It should be defined
as an r-value of boolean type that equals true if and only if there
are less than len input characters left.
- YYPEEK
- A generic API primitive with no variables. It should be defined as an
r-value of type YYCTYPE that is equal to the character at the
current input position.
- YYSKIP
- A generic API primitive that should advance the current input position by
one code unit.
- YYBACKUP
- A generic API primitive that should save the current input position (to be
restored with YYRESTORE later).
- YYRESTORE
- A generic API primitive that should restore the current input position to
the value saved by YYBACKUP.
- YYBACKUPCTX
- A generic API primitive that should save the current input position as the
position of the trailing context (to be restored with YYRESTORECTX
later).
- YYRESTORECTX
- A generic API primitive that should restore the trailing context position
saved with YYBACKUPCTX.
- YYRESTORETAG
- A generic API primitive with one variable tag that should restore
the trailing context position to the value of tag.
- YYSTAGP
- A generic API primitive with one variable tag, where tag can
be a pointer or an offset in YYINPUT (see submatch extraction
section for details). YYSTAGP should set tag to the current
input position.
- YYSTAGN
- A generic API primitive with one variable tag, where tag can
be a pointer or an offset in YYINPUT (see submatch extraction
section for details). YYSTAGN should to set tag to a value
that represents non-existent input position.
- YYMTAGP
- A generic API primitive with one variable tag. YYMTAGP
should append the current position to the submatch history of tag
(see the submatch extraction section for details.)
- YYMTAGN
- A generic API primitive with one variable tag. YYMTAGN
should append a value that represents non-existent input position position
to the submatch history of tag (see the submatch extraction section
for details.)
- YYSHIFT
- A generic API primitive with one variable shift that should shift
the current input position by shift characters (the shift value may
be negative).
- YYCOPYSTAG
- A generic API primitive with two variables, lhs and rhs that
should copy right-hand-side s-tag variable rhs to the
left-hand-side s-tag variable lhs. For most languages this
primitive has a default definition that assigns lhs to
rhs.
- YYCOPYMTAG
- A generic API primitive with two variables, lhs and rhs that
should copy right-hand-side m-tag variable rhs to the
left-hand-side m-tag variable lhs. For most languages this
primitive has a default definition that assigns lhs to
rhs.
- YYSHIFTSTAG
- A generic API primitive with two variables, tag and shift
that should shift tag by shift code units (the shift value
may be negative).
- YYSHIFTMTAG
- A generic API primitive with two variables, tag and shift
that should shift the latest value in the history of tag by
shift code units (the shift value may be negative).
- YYMAXNMATCH
- An integral constant equal to the maximal number of POSIX capturing groups
in a rule. It is generated with a maxnmatch block.
- YYCONDTYPE
- The type of the condition enum. It can be generated either with
conditions block or --header option.
- YYGETACCEPT
- A primitive with one variable var that stores numeric selector of
the accepted rule. For most languages this primitive has a default
definition that reads from var.
- YYSETACCEPT
- A primitive with two variables: var (an l-value that stores numeric
selector of the accepted rule), and val (the value of selector).
For most languages this primitive has a default definition that assigns
var to val.
- YYGETCOND
- An r-value of type YYCONDTYPE that is equal to the current
condition identifier.
- YYSETCOND
- A primitive with one variable cond that should set the current
condition identifier to cond.
- YYGETSTATE
- An r-value of integer type that is equal to the current lexer state. It
should be initialized to -1.
- YYSETSTATE
- A primitive with one variable state that should set the current
lexer state to state.
- YYDEBUG
- This primitive is generated only with -d, --debug-output
option. Its purpose is to add logging to the generated code (typical
YYDEBUG definition is a print statement). YYDEBUG statements
are generated in every state and have two variables: state (either
a DFA state index or -1) and symbol (the current input
symbol).
- yyaccept
- An l-value of unsigned integral type that stores the number of the latest
matched rule. User definition is necessary only with
--storable-state option.
- yybm
- A table containing compressed bitmaps for up to 8 transitions (used with
the --bitmaps option). The table contains 256 elements and is
indexed by 1-byte code units. Each 8-bit element combines boolean values
for up to 8 transitions. k-Th bit of n-th element is true iff n-th code
unit is in the range of k-th transition. The idea of this bitmap is to
replace many if branches or switch cases with one check of a
single bit in the table.
- yych
- An l-value of type YYCTYPE that stores the current input character.
User definition is necessary only with -f --storable-state
option.
- yyctable
- Jump table generated for the initial condition dispatch (enabled with the
combination of --conditions and --computed-gotos
options).
- yyfill
- An l-value that stores the result of YYFILL call (this may be
necessary for pure functional languages, where YYFILL is a monadic
function with complex return value).
- yynmatch
- An l-value of unsigned integral type that stores the number of POSIX
capturing groups in the matched rule. Used only with -P
--posix-captures option.
- yypmatch
- An array of l-values that are used to hold the tag values corresponding to
the capturing parentheses in the matching rule. Array length must be at
least yynmatch * 2 (usually YYMAXNMATCH * 2 is a good
choice). Used only with -P --posix-captures option.
- yystable
- Deprecated.
- yystate
- An l-value used with the --loop-switch option to store the current
DFA state.
- yytarget
- Jump table that contains jump targets (label addresses) for all
transitions from a state. This table is local to each state. Generation of
yytarget tables is enabled with --computed-gotos
option.
Some of the options have corresponding configurations,
others are global and cannot be changed after re2c starts reading the input
file. Debug options generally require building re2c in debug configuration.
Internal options are useful for experimenting with the algorithms used in
re2c.
- -? --help -h
- Show help message.
- --api <simple | record
| generic>
- Specify the API used by the generated code to interface with used-defined
code. Option simple shold be used in simple cases when there's no
need for buffer refilling and storing lexer state. Option record
should be used when lexer state needs to be stored in a record (struct,
class, etc.). Option generic should be used in complex cases when
the other two APIs are not flexible enough.
- --bit-vectors
-b
- Optimize conditional jumps using bit masks. This option implies
--nested-ifs.
- --captures,
--leftmost-captures
- Enable submatch extraction with leftmost greedy capturing groups. The
result is collected into an array yybmatch of capacity 2 *
YYMAXNMATCH, and yynmatch is set to the number of groups for
the matching rule.
- --captvars,
--leftmost-captvars
- Enable submatch extraction with leftmost greedy capturing groups. The
result is collected into variables yytl<k>,
yytr<k> for k-th capturing group.
- --case-insensitive
- Treat single-quoted and double-quoted strings as case-insensitive.
- --case-inverted
- Invert the meaning of single-quoted and double-quoted strings: treat
single-quoted strings as case-sensitive and double-quoted strings as
case-insensitive.
- --case-ranges
- Collapse consecutive cases in a switch statements into a range of the form
low ... high. This syntax is a C/C++ language extension that is
supported by compilers like GCC, Clang and Tcc. The main advantage over
using single cases is smaller generated code and faster generation time,
although for some compilers like Tcc it also results in smaller binary
size. This option is supported only for C.
- --computed-gotos
-g
- Optimize conditional jumps using non-standard "computed goto"
extension (which must be supported by the compiler). re2c generates jump
tables only in complex cases with a lot of conditional branches.
Complexity threshold can be configured with cgoto:threshold
configuration. This option implies --bit-vectors. It is supported
only for C.
- --conditions
--start-conditions -c
- Enable support of Flex-like "conditions": multiple interrelated
lexers within one block. This is an alternative to manually specifying
different re2c blocks connected with goto or function calls.
- --depfile
FILE
- Write dependency information to FILE in the form of a Makefile rule
<output-file> : <input-file> [include-file ...]. This
allows one to track build dependencies in the presence of include
blocks/directives, so that updating include files triggers regeneration of
the output file. This option depends on the --output option.
- --ebcdic --ecb
-e
- Generate a lexer that reads input in EBCDIC encoding. re2c assumes that
the character range is 0 -- 0xFF and character size is 1 byte.
- --empty-class
<match-empty | match-none | error>
- Define the way re2c treats empty character classes. With
match-empty (the default) empty class matches empty input (which is
illogical, but backwards-compatible). With match-none empty class
always fails to match. With error empty class raises a compilation
error.
- --encoding-policy
<fail | substitute | ignore>
- Define the way re2c treats Unicode surrogates. With fail re2c
aborts with an error when a surrogate is encountered. With
substitute re2c silently replaces surrogates with the error code
point 0xFFFD. With ignore (the default) re2c treats surrogates as
normal code points. The Unicode standard says that standalone surrogates
are invalid, but real-world libraries and programs behave in different
ways.
- --flex-syntax
-F
- Partial support for Flex syntax: in this mode named definitions don't need
the equal sign and the terminating semicolon, and when used they must be
surrounded with curly braces. Names without curly braces are treated as
double-quoted strings.
- --goto-label
- Use "goto/label" code model: encode DFA in form of labeled code
blocks connected with goto transitions across blocks. This is only
supported for languages that have a goto statement.
- Generate a HEADER file. The contents of the file can be specified
using special blocks header:on and header:off. If conditions
are used, the generated header will have a condition enum automatically
appended to it (unless there is an explicit conditions block).
- -I PATH
- Add PATH to the list of locations which are used when searching for
include files. This option is useful in combination with include
block or directive. re2c looks for FILE in the directory of the
parent file and in the include locations specified with -I
option.
- --input <default |
custom>
- Deprecated alias for --api. Option default corresponds to
simple (it is indeed the default for most backends, but not for
all). Option custom corresponds to generic.
- --input-encoding
<ascii | utf8>
- Specify the way re2c parses regular expressions. With ascii (the
default) re2c handles input as ASCII-encoded: any sequence of code units
is a sequence of standalone 1-byte characters. With utf8 re2c
handles input as UTF8-encoded and recognizes multibyte characters.
- --invert-captures
- Invert the meaning of capturing and non-capturing groups. By default
(...) is capturing and (! ...) is non-capturing. With this
option (! ...) is capturing and (...) is non-capturing.
- --lang <none | c | d
| go | haskell | java | js | ocaml | python | rust | v |
zig>
- Specify the target language. Supported languages are C, D, Go, Haskell,
Java, JS, OCaml, Python, Rust, V, Zig (more languages can be added via
user-defined syntax files, see the --syntax option). Option
none disables default suntax configs, so that the target language
is undefined.
- --location-format
<gnu | msvc>
- Specify location format in messages. With gnu locations are printed
as 'filename:line:column: ...'. With msvc locations are printed as
'filename(line,column) ...'. The default is gnu.
- --loop-switch
- Use "loop/switch" code model: encode DFA in form of a loop over
a switch statement, where individual states are switch cases. State is
stored in a variable yystate. Transitions between states update
yystate to the case label of the destination state and continue
execution to the head of the loop.
- --nested-ifs
-s
- Use nested if statements instead of switch statements in
conditional jumps. This usually results in more efficient code with
non-optimizing compilers.
- --no-debug-info
-i
- Do not output line directives. This may be useful when the generated code
is stored in a version control system (to avoid huge autogenerated diffs
on small changes).
- --no-generation-date
- Suppress date output in the generated file.
- --no-version
- Suppress version output in the generated file.
- --no-unsafe
- Do not generate unsafe wrapper over YYPEEK (this option is
specific to Rust). For performance reasons YYPEEK should avoid
bounds-checking, as the lexer already performs end-of-input checks in a
more efficient way. The user may choose to provide a safe YYPEEK
definition, or a definition that is unsafe only in release builds, in
which case the --no-unsafe option helps to avoid warnings about
redundant unsafe blocks.
- --output -o
OUTPUT
- Specify the OUTPUT file.
- --posix-captures,
-P
- Enable submatch extraction with POSIX-style capturing groups. The result
is collected into an array yybmatch of capacity 2 *
YYMAXNMATCH, and yynmatch is set to the number of groups for
the matching rule.
- --posix-captvars
- Enable submatch extraction with POSIX-style capturing groups. The result
is collected into variables yytl<k>, yytr<k> for
k-th capturing group.
- --recursive-functions
- Use code model based on co-recursive functions, where each DFA state is a
separate function that may call other state-functions or itself.
- --reusable
-r
- Deprecated since version 2.2 (reusable blocks are allowed by default
now).
- --skeleton
-S
- Ignore user-defined interface code and generate a self-contained
"skeleton" program. Additionally, generate input files with
strings derived from the regular grammar and compressed match results that
are used to verify "skeleton" behavior on all inputs. This
option is useful for finding bugs in optimizations and code generation.
This option is supported only for C.
- --storable-state
-f
- Generate a lexer which can store its inner state. This is useful in
push-model lexers which are stopped by an outer program when there is not
enough input, and then resumed when more input becomes available. In this
mode users should additionally define YYGETSTATE and
YYSETSTATE primitives, and variables yych, yyaccept
and state should be part of the stored lexer state.
- --syntax
FILE
- Load configurations from the specified FILE and apply them on top
of the default syntax file. Note that FILE can define only a few
configurations (if it's used to amend the default syntax file), or it can
define a whole new language backend (in the latter case it is recommended
to use --lang none option).
- --tags
-T
- Enable submatch extraction with tags.
- --ucs2 --wide-chars
-w
- Generate a lexer that reads UCS2-encoded input. re2c assumes that the
character range is 0 -- 0xFFFF and character size is 2 bytes. This option
implies --nested-ifs.
- --utf8 --utf-8
-8
- Generate a lexer that reads input in UTF-8 encoding. re2c assumes that the
character range is 0 -- 0x10FFFF and character size is 1 byte.
- --utf16 --utf-16
-x
- Generate a lexer that reads UTF16-encoded input. re2c assumes that the
character range is 0 -- 0x10FFFF and character size is 2 bytes. This
option implies --nested-ifs.
- --utf32 --unicode
-u
- Generate a lexer that reads UTF32-encoded input. re2c assumes that the
character range is 0 -- 0x10FFFF and character size is 4 bytes. This
option implies --nested-ifs.
- --verbose
- Output a short message in case of success.
- --vernum
-V
- Show version information in MMmmpp format (major, minor,
patch).
- --version
-v
- Show version information.
- --single-pass
-1
- Deprecated. Does nothing (single pass is the default now).
- --debug-output
-d
- Emit YYDEBUG invocations in the generated code. This is useful to
trace lexer execution.
- --dump-adfa
- Debug option: output DFA after tunneling (in .dot format).
- --dump-cfg
- Debug option: output control flow graph of tag variables (in .dot
format).
- --dump-closure-stats
- Debug option: output statistics on the number of states in closure.
- --dump-dfa-det
- Debug option: output DFA immediately after determinization (in .dot
format).
- --dump-dfa-min
- Debug option: output DFA after minimization (in .dot format).
- --dump-dfa-tagopt
- Debug option: output DFA after tag optimizations (in .dot format).
- --dump-dfa-tree
- Debug option: output DFA under construction with states represented as tag
history trees (in .dot format).
- --dump-dfa-raw
- Debug option: output DFA under construction with expanded state-sets (in
.dot format).
- --dump-interf
- Debug option: output interference table produced by liveness analysis of
tag variables.
- --dump-nfa
- Debug option: output NFA (in .dot format).
- --emit-dot
-D
- Instead of normal output generate lexer graph in .dot format. The output
can be converted to an image with the help of Graphviz (e.g. something
like dot -Tpng -odfa.png dfa.dot).
- --dfa-minimization
<moore | table>
- Internal option: DFA minimization algorithm used by re2c. The moore
option is the Moore algorithm (it is the default). The table option
is the "table filling" algorithm. Both algorithms should produce
the same DFA up to states relabeling; table filling is simpler and much
slower and serves as a reference implementation.
- --eager-skip
- Internal option: make the generated lexer advance the input position
eagerly -- immediately after reading the input symbol. This changes the
default behavior when the input position is advanced lazily -- after
transition to the next state.
- --no-lookahead
- Internal option, deprecated. It used to enable TDFA(0) algorithm. Unlike
TDFA(1), TDFA(0) algorithm does not use one-symbol lookahead. It applies
register operations to the incoming transitions rather than the outgoing
ones. Benchmarks showed that TDFA(0) algorithm is less efficient than
TDFA(1).
- --no-optimize-tags
- Internal option: suppress optimization of tag variables (useful for
debugging).
- --posix-closure
<gor1 | gtop>
- Internal option: specify shortest-path algorithm used for the construction
of epsilon-closure with POSIX disambiguation semantics: gor1 (the
default) stands for Goldberg-Radzik algorithm, and gtop stands for
"global topological order" algorithm.
- --posix-prectable
<complex | naive>
- Internal option: specify the algorithm used to compute POSIX precedence
table. The complex algorithm computes precedence table in one
traversal of tag history tree and has quadratic complexity in the number
of TNFA states; it is the default. The naive algorithm has
worst-case cubic complexity in the number of TNFA states, but it is much
simpler than complex and may be slightly faster in non-pathological
cases.
- --stadfa
- Internal option, deprecated. It used to enable staDFA algorithm, which
differs from TDFA in that register operations are placed in states rather
than on transitions. Benchmarks showed that staDFA algorithm is less
efficient than TDFA.
- --fixed-tags <none
| toplevel | all>
- Internal option: specify whether the fixed-tag optimization should be
applied to all tags (all), none of them (none), or only
those in toplevel concatenation (toplevel). The default is
all. "Fixed" tags are those that are located within a
fixed distance to some other tag (called "base"). In such cases
only the base tag needs to be tracked, and the value of the fixed tag can
be computed as the value of the base tag plus a static offset. For tags
that are under alternative or repetition it is also necessary to check if
the base tag has a no-match value (in that case fixed tag should also be
set to no-match, disregarding the offset). For tags in top-level
concatenation the check is not needed, because they always match.
Warnings can be invividually enabled, disabled and turned into an
error.
- -W
- Turn on all warnings.
- -Werror
- Turn warnings into errors. Note that this option alone doesn't turn on any
warnings; it only affects those warnings that have been turned on so far
or will be turned on later.
- -W<warning>
- Turn on warning.
- -Wno-<warning>
- Turn off warning.
- -Werror-<warning>
- Turn on warning and treat it as an error (this implies
-W<warning>).
- -Wno-error-<warning>
- Don't treat this particular warning as an error. This doesn't turn
off the warning itself.
- -Wcondition-order
- Warn if the generated program makes implicit assumptions about condition
numbering. One should use either --header option or
conditions block to generate a mapping of condition names to
numbers and then use the autogenerated condition names.
- -Wempty-character-class
- Warn if a regular expression contains an empty character class. Trying to
match an empty character class makes no sense: it should always fail.
However, for backwards compatibility reasons re2c permits empty character
classes and treats them as empty strings. Use the --empty-class
option to change the default behavior.
- -Wmatch-empty-string
- Warn if a rule is nullable (matches an empty string). If the lexer runs in
a loop and the empty match is unintentional, the lexer may unexpectedly
hang in an infinite loop.
- -Wswapped-range
- Warn if the lower bound of a range is greater than its upper bound. The
default behavior is to silently swap the range bounds.
- -Wundefined-control-flow
- Warn if some input strings cause undefined control flow in the lexer (the
faulty patterns are reported). This is a dangerous and common mistake. It
can be easily fixed by adding the default rule * which has the
lowest priority, matches any code unit, and always consumes a single code
unit.
- -Wunreachable-rules
- Warn about rules that are shadowed by other rules and will never
match.
- -Wuseless-escape
- Warn if a symbol is escaped when it shouldn't be. By default, re2c
silently ignores such escapes, but this may as well indicate a typo or an
error in the escape sequence.
- -Wnondeterministic-tags
- Warn if a tag has n-th degree of nondeterminism, where n is
greater than 1.
- -Wsentinel-in-midrule
- Warn if the sentinel symbol occurs in the middle of a rule --- this may
cause reads past the end of buffer, crashes or memory corruption in the
generated lexer. This warning is only applicable if the sentinel method of
checking for the end of input is used. It is set to an error if
re2c:sentinel configuration is used.
- -Wundefined-syntax-config
- Warn if the syntax file specified with --syntax option is missing
definitions of some configurations. This helps to maintain user-defined
syntax files: if a new release adds configurations, old syntax file will
raise a warning, and the user will be notified. If some configurations are
unused and do not need a definition, they should be explicitly set to
<undefined>.
Support for different languages in re2c is based on the idea of
syntax files. A syntax file is a configuration file that defines
syntax of the target language -- not the whole language, but a small part of
it that is used by the generated code. Syntax files make re2c very flexible,
but they should not be used as a replacement for re2c:
configurations: their purpose is to define syntax of the target language,
not to customize one particular lexer. All supported languages have default
syntax files that are part of the distribution (see include/syntax
subdirectory); they are also embedded in the re2c binary. Users may provide
a custom syntax file that overrides a few configurations for one of
supported languages, or they may choose to redefine all configurations (in
that case --lang none option should be used). Syntax files contain
configurations of four different kinds: feature lists, language
configurations, inplace configurations and code templates.
Feature lists
A few list configurations define various features
supported by a given backend, so that re2c may give a clear error if the user
tries to enable an unsupported feature:
- supported_apis
- A list of supported APIs with possible elements simple,
record, generic.
- supported_api_styles
- A list of supported API styles with possible elements functions,
free-form.
- supported_code_models
- A list of supported code models with possible elements goto-label,
loop-switch, recursive-functions.
- supported_targets
- A list of supported codegen targets with possible elements code,
dot, skeleton.
- supported_features
- A list of supported features with possible elements nested-ifs,
bitmaps, computed-gotos, case-ranges, monadic,
unsafe, tags, captures, captvars.
Language configurations
A few boolean configurations describe features of the
target language that affect re2c parser and code generator:
Inplace configurations
Syntax files define initial values of all re2c:
configurations, as they may differ for different languages. See configurations
section for a full list of all inplace configurations and their meaning.
Code templates
Code templates define syntax of the target language. They
are written in a simple domain-specific language with the following formal
grammar:
code-template ::
name '=' code-exprs ';'
| CODE_TEMPLATE ';'
| '<undefined>' ';'
code-exprs ::
<EMPTY>
| code-exprs code-expr
code-expr ::
STRING
| VARIABLE
| optional
| list
optional ::
'(' CONDITIONAL '?' code-exprs ')'
| '(' CONDITIONAL '?' code-exprs ':' code-exprs ')'
list ::
'[' VARIABLE ':' code-exprs ']'
| '[' VARIABLE '{' NUMBER '}' ':' code-exprs ']'
| '[' VARIABLE '{' NUMBER ',' NUMBER '}' ':' code-exprs ']'
A code template is a sequence of string literals, variables,
optional elements and lists, or a reference to another code template, or a
special value <undefined>. Variables are placeholders that are
substituted during code generation phase. List variables are special: when
expanding list templates, re2c repeats expressions the right hand side of
the column a few times, each time replacing occurrences of the list variable
with a value specific to this repetition. Lists have optional bounds
(negative values are counted from the end, e.g. -1 means the last
element). Conditional names start with a dot. Both conditionals and
variables may be either local (specific to the given code template) or
global (allowed in all code templates). When re2c reads syntax file, it
checks that each code template uses only the variables and conditionals that
are allowed in it.
For example, the following code template defines if-then-else
construct for a C-like language:
code:if_then_else =
[branch{0}: topindent "if " cond " {" nl
indent [stmt: stmt] dedent]
[branch{1:-1}: topindent "} else" (.cond ? " if " cond) " {" nl
indent [stmt: stmt] dedent]
topindent "}" nl;
Here branch is a list variable: branch{0} expands to
the first branch (which is special, as there is no else part),
branch{1:-1} expands to all remaining branches (if any). stmt
is also a list variable: [stmt: stmt] is a nested list that expands
to a list of statements in the body of the current branch. topindent,
indent, dedent and nl are global variables, and
.cond is a local conditional (their meaning is described below). This
code template could produce the following code:
if x {
// do something
} else if y {
// do something else
} else {
// don't do anything
}
Here's a list of all code templates supported by re2c with their
local variables and conditionals. Note that a particular definition may, but
does not have to use local variables and conditionals. Any unused code
templates should be set to <undefined>.
- code:var_local
- Declaration or definition of a local variable. Supported variables:
type (the type of the variable), name (its name) and
init (initial value, if any). Conditionals: .init (true if
there is an initializer).
- code:var_global
- Same as code:var_local, except that it's used in top-level.
- code:const_local
- Definition of a local constant. Supported variables: type (the type
of the constant), name (its name) and init (initial
value).
- code:const_global
- Same as code:const_local, except that it's used in top-level.
- code:array_local
- Definition of a local array (table). Supported variables: type (the
type of array elements), name (array name), size (its size),
row (a list variable that does not itself produce any code, but
expands list expression as many times as there are rows in the table) and
elem (a list variable that expands to all table elements in the
current row -- it's meant to be nested in the row list).
- code:array_global
- Same as code:array_local, except that it's used in top-level.
- code:array_elem
- Reference to an element of an array (table). Supported variables:
array (the name of the array) and index (index of the
element).
- code:enum
- Definition of an enumeration (it may be defined using a special language
construct for enumerations, or simply as a few standalone constants).
Supported variables are type (user-defined enumeration type or type
of the constants), elem (list variable that expands to the name of
each member) and init (initializer for each member). Conditionals:
.init (true if there is an initializer).
- code:enum_elem
- Enumeration element (a member of a user-defined enumeration type or a name
of a constant, depending on how code:enum is defined). Supported
variables are name (the name of the element) and type (its
type).
- code:assign
- Assignment statement. Supported variables are lhs (left hand side)
and rhs (right hand side).
- code:type_int
- Signed integer type.
- code:type_uint
- Unsigned integer type.
- code:type_yybm
- Type of elements in the yybm table.
- code:type_yytarget
- Type of elements in the yytarget table.
- code:cmp_eq
- Operator "equals".
- code:cmp_ne
- Operator "not equals".
- code:cmp_lt
- Operator "less than".
- code:cmp_gt
- Operator "greater than"
- code:cmp_le
- Operator "less or equal"
- code:cmp_ge
- Operator "greater or equal"
- code:if_then_else
- If-then-else statement with one or more branches. Supported variables:
branch (a list variable that does not itself produce any code, but
expands list expression as many times as there are branches), cond
(condition of the current branch) and stmt (a list variable that
expands to all statements in the current branch). Conditionals:
.cond (true if the current branch has a condition), .many
(true if there's more than one branch).
- code:if_then_else_oneline
- A specialization of code:if_then_else for the case when all
branches have one-line statements. If this is <undefined>,
code:if_then_else is used instead.
- code:switch
- A switch statement with one or more cases. Supported variables:
expr (the switched-on expression) and case (a list variable
that expands to all cases-groups with their code blocks).
- code:switch_cases
- A group of switch cases that maps to a single code block. Supported
variables are case (a list variable that expands to all cases in
this group) and stmt (a list variable that expands to all
statements in the code block.
- code:switch_cases_oneline
- A specialization of code:switch_cases for the case when the code
block consists of a single one-line statement. If this is
<undefined>, code:switch_cases is used instead.
- code:switch_case_range
- A single switch case that covers a range of values (possibly consisting of
a single value). Supported variable: val (a list variable that
expands to all values in the range). Supported conditionals: .many
(true if there's more than one value in the range) and
.char_literals (true if this is a switch on character literals --
some languages provide special syntax for this case).
- code:switch_case_default
- Default switch case.
- code:loop
- A loop that runs forever (unless interrupted from the loop body).
Supported variables: label (loop label), stmt (a list
variable that expands to all statements in the loop body).
- code:continue
- Continue statement. Supported variables: label (label from which to
continue execution).
- code:goto
- Goto statement. Supported variables: label (label of the jump
target).
- code:fndecl
- Function declaration. Supported variables: name (function name),
type (return type), arg (a list variable that does not
itself produce code, but expands list expression as many times as there
are function arguments), argname (name of the current argument),
argtype (type of the current argument). Conditional: .type
(true if this is a non-void function).
- code:fndef
- Like code:fndecl, but used for function definitions, so it has one
additional list variable stmt that expands to all statements in the
function body.
- code:fncall
- Function call statement. Supported variables: name (function name),
retval (l-value where the return value is stored, if any) and
arg (a list variable that expands to all function arguments).
Conditionals: .args (true if the function has arguments) and
.retval (true if return value needs to be saved).
- code:tailcall
- Tail call statement. Supported variables: name (function name), and
arg (a list variable that expands to all function arguments).
Conditionals: .args (true if the function has arguments) and
.retval (true if this is a non-void function).
- code:recursive_functions
- Program body with --recursive-functions code model. Supported
variables: fn (a list variable that does not itself produce any
code, but expands list expression as many times as there are functions),
fndecl (declaration of the current function) and fndef
(definition of the current function).
- code:fingerprint
- The fingerprint at the top of the generated output file. Supported
variables: ver (re2c version that was used to generate this) and
date (generation date).
- code:line_info
- The format of line directives (if this is set to <undefined>,
no directives are generated). Supported variables: line (line
number) and file (filename).
- code:abort
- A statement that aborts program execution.
- code:yydebug
- YYDEBUG statement, possibly specialized for different APIs.
Supported variables: YYDEBUG, yyrecord, yych (map to
the corresponding re2c: configurations), state (DFA state
number).
- code:yypeek
- YYPEEK statement, possibly specialized for different APIs.
Supported variables: YYPEEK, YYCTYPE, YYINPUT,
YYCURSOR, yyrecord, yych (map to the corresponding
re2c: configurations). Conditionals: .cast (true if
re2c:yych:conversion is set to non-zero).
- code:yyskip
- YYSKIP statement, possibly specialized for different APIs.
Supported variables: YYSKIP, YYCURSOR, yyrecord (map
to the corresponding re2c: configurations).
- code:yybackup
- YYBACKUP statement, possibly specialized for different APIs.
Supported variables: YYBACKUP, YYCURSOR, YYMARKER,
yyrecord (map to the corresponding re2c:
configurations).
- code:yybackupctx
- YYBACKUPCTX statement, possibly specialized for different APIs.
Supported variables: YYBACKUPCTX, YYCURSOR,
YYCTXMARKER, yyrecord (map to the corresponding re2c:
configurations).
- code:yyskip_yypeek
- Combined code:yyskip and code:yypeek statement (defaults to
code:yyskip followed by code:yypeek).
- code:yypeek_yyskip
- Combined code:yypeek and code:yyskip statement (defaults to
code:yypeek followed by code:yyskip).
- code:yyskip_yybackup
- Combined code:yyskip and code:yybackup statement (defaults
to code:yyskip followed by code:yybackup).
- code:yybackup_yyskip
- Combined code:yybackup and code:yyskip statement (defaults
to code:yybackup followed by code:yyskip).
- code:yybackup_yypeek
- Combined code:yybackup and code:yypeek statement (defaults
to code:yybackup followed by code:yypeek).
- code:yyskip_yybackup_yypeek
- Combined code:yyskip, code:yybackup and code:yypeek
statement (defaults to``code:yyskip`` followed by code:yybackup
followed by code:yypeek).
- code:yybackup_yypeek_yyskip
- Combined code:yybackup, code:yypeek and code:yyskip
statement (defaults to``code:yybackup`` followed by code:yypeek
followed by code:yyskip).
- code:yyrestore
- YYRESTORE statement, possibly specialized for different APIs.
Supported variables: YYRESTORE, YYCURSOR, YYMARKER,
yyrecord (map to the corresponding re2c:
configurations).
- code:yyrestorectx
- YYRESTORECTX statement, possibly specialized for different APIs.
Supported variables: YYRESTORECTX, YYCURSOR,
YYCTXMARKER, yyrecord (map to the corresponding re2c:
configurations).
- code:yyrestoretag
- YYRESTORETAG statement, possibly specialized for different APIs.
Supported variables: YYRESTORETAG, YYCURSOR, yyrecord
(map to the corresponding re2c: configurations), tag (the
name of tag variable used to restore position).
- code:yyshift
- YYSHIFT statement, possibly specialized for different APIs.
Supported variables: YYSHIFT, YYCURSOR, yyrecord (map
to the corresponding re2c: configurations), offset (the
number of code units to shift the current position).
- code:yyshiftstag
- YYSHIFTSTAG statement, possibly specialized for different APIs.
Supported variables: YYSHIFTSTAG, yyrecord, negative
(map to the corresponding re2c: configurations), tag (tag
variable which needs to be shifted), offset (the number of code
units to shift). Conditionals: .nested (true if this is a nested
tag -- in this case its value may equal to re2c:tags:negative,
which should not be shifted).
- code:yyshiftmtag
- YYSHIFTMTAG statement, possibly specialized for different APIs.
Supported variables: YYSHIFTMTAG (maps to the corresponding
re2c: configuration), tag (tag variable which needs to be
shifted), offset (the number of code units to shift).
- code:yystagp
- YYSTAGP statement, possibly specialized for different APIs.
Supported variables: YYSTAGP, YYCURSOR, yyrecord (map
to the corresponding re2c: configurations), tag (tag
variable that should be updated).
- code:yymtagp
- YYMTAGP statement, possibly specialized for different APIs.
Supported variables: YYMTAGP (maps to the corresponding
re2c: configuration), tag (tag variable that should be
updated).
- code:yystagn
- YYSTAGN statement, possibly specialized for different APIs.
Supported variables: YYSTAGN, negative, yyrecord (map
to the corresponding re2c: configurations), tag (tag
variable that should be updated).
- code:yymtagn
- YYMTAGN statement, possibly specialized for different APIs.
Supported variables: YYMTAGN (maps to the corresponding
re2c: configuration), tag (tag variable that should be
updated).
- code:yycopystag
- YYCOPYSTAG statement, possibly specialized for different APIs.
Supported variables: YYCOPYSTAG, yyrecord (map to the
corresponding re2c: configurations), lhs, rhs (left
and right hand side tag variables of the copy operation).
- code:yycopymtag
- YYCOPYMTAG statement, possibly specialized for different APIs.
Supported variables: YYCOPYMTAG, yyrecord (map to the
corresponding re2c: configurations), lhs, rhs (left
and right hand side tag variables of the copy operation).
- code:yygetaccept
- YYGETACCEPT statement, possibly specialized for different APIs.
Supported variables: YYGETACCEPT, yyrecord (map to the
corresponding re2c: configurations), var (maps to
re2c:yyaccept configuration).
- code:yysetaccept
- YYSETACCEPT statement, possibly specialized for different APIs.
Supported variables: YYSETACCEPT, yyrecord (map to the
corresponding re2c: configurations), var (maps to
re2c:yyaccept configuration) and val (numeric value of the
accepted rule).
- code:yygetcond
- YYGETCOND statement, possibly specialized for different APIs.
Supported variables: YYGETCOND, yyrecord (map to the
corresponding re2c: configurations), var (maps to
re2c:yycond configuration).
- code:yysetcond
- YYSETCOND statement, possibly specialized for different APIs.
Supported variables: YYSETCOND, yyrecord (map to the
corresponding re2c: configurations), var (maps to
re2c:yycond configuration) and val (numeric condition
identifier).
- code:yygetstate
- YYGETSTATE statement, possibly specialized for different APIs.
Supported variables: YYGETSTATE, yyrecord (map to the
corresponding re2c: configurations), var (maps to
re2c:yystate configuration).
- code:yysetstate
- YYSETSTATE statement, possibly specialized for different APIs.
Supported variables: YYSETSTATE, yyrecord (map to the
corresponding re2c: configurations), var (maps to
re2c:yystate configuration) and val (state number).
- code:yylessthan
- YYLESSTHAN statement, possibly specialized for different APIs.
Supported variables: YYLESSTHAN, YYCURSOR, YYLIMIT,
yyrecord (map to the corresponding re2c: configurations),
need (the number of code units to check against). Conditional:
.many (true if the need is more than one).
- code:yybm_filter
- Condition that is used to filter out yych values that are not
covered by the yybm table (used with --bitmaps option).
Supported variable: yych (maps to re2c:yych
configuration).
- code:yybm_match
- The format of yybm table check (generated with --bitmaps
option). Supported variables: yybm, yych (map to the
corresponding re2c: configurations), offset (offset in the
yybm table that needs to be added to yych) and mask
(bit mask that should be applied to the table entry to retrieve the
boolean value that needs to be checked)
Here's a list of all global variables that are allowed in syntax
files:
- nl
- A newline.
- indent
- A variable that does not produce any code, but has a side-effect of
increasing indentation level.
- dedent
- A variable that does not produce any code, but has a side-effect of
decreasing indentation level.
- topindent
- Indentation string for the current statement. Indentation level is tracked
and automatically updated by the code generator.
Here's a list of all global conditionals that are allowed in
syntax files:
- .api.simple
- True if simple API is used (--api simple or re2c:api =
simple).
- .api.generic
- True if generic API is used (--api generic or re2c:api =
generic).
- .api.record
- True if record API is used (--api record or re2c:api =
record).
- .api_style.functions
- True if function-like API style is used (re2c:api-style =
functions).
- .api_style.freeform
- True if free-form API style is used (re2c:api-style =
free-form).
- .case_ranges
- True if case ranges feature is enabled (--case-ranges or
re2c:case-ranges = 1).
- .code_model.goto_label
- True if code model based on goto/label is used (--goto-label).
- .code_model.loop_switch
- True if code model based on loop/switch is used
(--loop-switch).
- .code_model.recursive_functions
- True if code model based on recursive functions is used
(--recursive-function).
- .date
- True if the generated fingerprint should contain generation date.
- .loop_label
- True if re2c generated loops must have a label (re2c:label:yyloop
is set to a nonempty string).
- .monadic
- True if the generated code should be monadic (re2c:monadic = 1).
This is only relevant for pure functional languages.
- .start_conditions
- True if start conditions are enabled (--start-conditions).
- .storable_state
- True if storable state is enabled (--storable-state).
- .unsafe
- True if re2c should use "unsafe" blocks in order to generate
faster code (--unsafe, re2c:unsafe = 1). This is only
relevant for languages that have "unsafe" feature.
- .version
- True if the generated fingerprint should contain re2c version.
One of the main problems for the lexer is to know when to stop.
There are a few terminating conditions:
- the lexer may match some rule (including default rule *) and come
to a final state
- the lexer may fail to match any rule and come to a default state
- the lexer may reach the end of input
The first two conditions terminate the lexer in a
"natural" way: it comes to a state with no outgoing transitions,
and the matching automatically stops. The third condition, end of input, is
different: it may happen in any state, and the lexer should be able to
handle it. Checking for the end of input interrupts the normal lexer
workflow and adds conditional branches to the generated program, therefore
it is necessary to minimize the number of such checks. re2c supports a few
different methods for handling the end of input. Which one to use depends on
the complexity of regular expressions, the need for buffering, performance
considerations and other factors. Here is a list of methods:
- Sentinel. This method eliminates the need for the end of input
checks altogether. It is simple and efficient, but limited to the case
when there is a natural "sentinel" character that can never
occur in valid input. This character may still occur in invalid input, but
it should not be allowed by the regular expressions, except perhaps as the
last character of a rule. The sentinel is appended at the end of input and
serves as a stop signal: when the lexer reads this character, it is either
a syntax error or the end of input. In both cases the lexer should stop.
This method is used if YYFILL is disabled with
re2c:yyfill:enable = 0; and re2c:eof has the default value
-1.
- Sentinel with bounds checks. This method is generic: it allows one
to handle any input without restrictions on the regular expressions. The
idea is to reduce the number of end of input checks by performing them
only on certain characters. Similar to the "sentinel" method,
one of the characters is chosen as a "sentinel" and appended at
the end of input. However, there is no restriction on where the sentinel
may occur (in fact, any character can be chosen for a sentinel). When the
lexer reads this character, it additionally performs a bounds check. If
the current position is within bounds, the lexer resumes matching and
handles the sentinel as a regular character. Otherwise it invokes
YYFILL (unless it is disabled). If more input is supplied, the
lexer will rematch the last character and continue as if the sentinel
wasn't there. Otherwise it must be the real end of input, and the lexer
stops. This method is used when re2c:eof has non-negative value (it
should be set to the numeric value of the sentinel). YYFILL is
optional.
- Bounds checks with padding. This method is generic, and it may be
faster than the "sentinel with bounds checks" method, but it is
also more complex. The idea is to partition DFA states into strongly
connected components (SCCs) and generate a single check per SCC for enough
characters to cover the longest non-looping path in this SCC. This reduces
the number of checks, but there is a problem with short lexemes at the end
of input, as the check requires enough characters to cover the longest
lexeme. This can be fixed by padding the input with a few fake characters
that do not form a valid lexeme suffix (so that the lexer cannot match
them). The length of padding should be YYMAXFILL, generated with a
max block. If there is not enough input, the lexer invokes
YYFILL which should supply at least the required number of
characters or not return. This method is used if YYFILL is enabled
and re2c:eof is -1 (this is the default configuration).
- Custom checks. Generic API allows one to override basic operations
like reading a character, which makes it possible to include the
end-of-input checks as part of them. This approach is error-prone and
should be used with caution. To use a custom method, enable generic API
with --api custom or re2c:api = custom; and disable default
bounds checks with re2c:yyfill:enable = 0; or re2c:yyfill:check
= 0;.
The following subsections contain an example of each method.
This example uses a sentinel character to handle the end of input.
The program counts space-separated words in a null-terminated string. The
sentinel is null: it is the last character of each input string, and it is
not allowed in the middle of a lexeme by any of the rules (in particular, it
is not included in character ranges where it is easy to overlook). If a null
occurs in the middle of a string, it is a syntax error and the lexer will
match default rule *, but it won't read past the end of input or
crash (use -Wsentinel-in-midrule warning and re2c:sentinel
configuration to verify this). Configuration re2c:yyfill:enable = 0;
suppresses the generation of bounds checks and YYFILL
invocations.
// re2c $INPUT -o $OUTPUT
#include <assert.h>
// Expect a null-terminated string.
static int lex(const char *YYCURSOR) {
int count = 0;
for (;;) {
/*!re2c
re2c:define:YYCTYPE = char;
re2c:yyfill:enable = 0;
* { return -1; }
[\x00] { return count; }
[a-z]+ { ++count; continue; }
[ ]+ { continue; }
*/
}
}
int main() {
assert(lex("") == 0);
assert(lex("one two three") == 3);
assert(lex("f0ur") == -1);
return 0;
}
This example uses sentinel with bounds checks to handle the end of
input (this method was added in version 1.2). The program counts
space-separated single-quoted strings. The sentinel character is null, which
is specified with re2c:eof = 0; configuration. As in the
sentinel method, null is the last character of each input string, but
it is allowed in the middle of a rule (for example, 'aaa\0aa'\0 is
valid input, but 'aaa\0 is a syntax error). Bounds checks are
generated in each state that matches an input character, but they are scoped
to the branch that handles null. Bounds checks are of the form YYLIMIT
<= YYCURSOR or YYLESSTHAN(1) with generic API. If the check
condition is true, lexer has reached the end of input and should stop
(YYFILL is disabled with re2c:yyfill:enable = 0; as the input
fits into one buffer, see the YYFILL with sentinel section for an
example that uses YYFILL). Reaching the end of input opens three
possibilities: if the lexer is in the initial state it will match the
end-of-input rule $, otherwise it may fallback to a previously
matched rule (including default rule *) or go to a default state,
causing -Wundefined-control-flow.
// re2c $INPUT -o $OUTPUT
#include <assert.h>
// Expect a null-terminated string.
static int lex(const char *str, unsigned int len) {
const char *YYCURSOR = str, *YYLIMIT = str + len, *YYMARKER;
int count = 0;
for (;;) {
/*!re2c
re2c:define:YYCTYPE = char;
re2c:yyfill:enable = 0;
re2c:eof = 0;
str = ['] ([^'\\] | [\\][^])* ['];
* { return -1; }
$ { return count; }
str { ++count; continue; }
[ ]+ { continue; }
*/
}
}
#define TEST(s, r) assert(lex(s, sizeof(s) - 1) == r)
int main() {
TEST("", 0);
TEST("'qu\0tes' 'are' 'fine: \\'' ", 3);
TEST("'unterminated\\'", -1);
return 0;
}
This example uses bounds checks with padding to handle the end of
input (this method is enabled by default). The program counts
space-separated single-quoted strings. There is a padding of
YYMAXFILL null characters appended at the end of input, where
YYMAXFILL value is autogenerated with a max block. It is not
necessary to use null for padding --- any characters can be used as long as
they do not form a valid lexeme suffix (in this example padding should not
contain single quotes, as they may be mistaken for a suffix of a
single-quoted string). There is a "stop" rule that matches the
first padding character (null) and terminates the lexer (note that it checks
if null is at the beginning of padding, otherwise it is a syntax error).
Bounds checks are generated only in some states that are determined by the
strongly connected components of the underlying automaton. Checks have the
form (YYLIMIT - YYCURSOR) < n or YYLESSTHAN(n) with generic
API, where n is the minimum number of characters that are needed for
the lexer to proceed (it also means that the next bounds check will occur in
at most n characters). If the check condition is true, the lexer has
reached the end of input and will invoke YYFILL(n) that should either
supply at least n input characters or not return. In this example
YYFILL always fails and terminates the lexer with an error (which is
fine because the input fits into one buffer). See the YYFILL with
padding section for an example that refills the input buffer with
YYFILL.
// re2c $INPUT -o $OUTPUT
#include <assert.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
/*!max:re2c*/
static int lex(const char *str, unsigned int len) {
// Make a copy of the string with YYMAXFILL zeroes at the end.
char *buf = (char*) malloc(len + YYMAXFILL);
memcpy(buf, str, len);
memset(buf + len, 0, YYMAXFILL);
const char *YYCURSOR = buf, *YYLIMIT = buf + len + YYMAXFILL;
int count = 0;
loop:
/*!re2c
re2c:api:style = free-form;
re2c:define:YYCTYPE = char;
re2c:define:YYFILL = "goto fail;";
str = ['] ([^'\\] | [\\][^])* ['];
[\x00] {
// Check that it is the sentinel, not some unexpected null.
if (YYCURSOR - 1 == buf + len) goto exit; else goto fail;
}
str { ++count; goto loop; }
[ ]+ { goto loop; }
* { goto fail; }
*/
fail:
count = -1;
exit:
free(buf);
return count;
}
#define TEST(s, r) assert(lex(s, sizeof(s) - 1) == r)
int main() {
TEST("", 0);
TEST("'qu\0tes' 'are' 'fine: \\'' ", 3);
TEST("'unterminated\\'", -1);
TEST("'unexpected \0 null\\'", -1);
return 0;
}
This example uses a custom end-of-input handling method based on
generic API. The program counts space-separated single-quoted strings. It is
the same as the sentinel example, except that the input is not
null-terminated. To cover up for the absence of a sentinel character at the
end of input, YYPEEK is redefined to perform a bounds check before it
reads the next input character. This is inefficient because checks are done
very often. If the check condition fails, YYPEEK returns the real
character, otherwise it returns a fake sentinel character.
// re2c $INPUT -o $OUTPUT
#include <assert.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
static int lex(const char *str, unsigned int len) {
// For the sake of example create a string without terminating null.
char *buf = (char*) malloc(len);
memcpy(buf, str, len);
const char *cur = buf, *lim = buf + len;
int count = 0;
for (;;) {
/*!re2c
re2c:yyfill:enable = 0;
re2c:api = custom;
re2c:api:style = free-form;
re2c:define:YYCTYPE = char;
re2c:define:YYPEEK = "cur < lim ? *cur : 0"; // fake null
re2c:define:YYSKIP = "++cur;";
* { count = -1; break; }
[\x00] { break;; }
[a-z]+ { ++count; continue;; }
[ ]+ { continue; }
*/
}
free(buf);
return count;
}
#define TEST(s, r) assert(lex(s, sizeof(s) - 1) == r)
int main() {
TEST("", 0);
TEST("one two three ", 3);
TEST("f0ur", -1);
return 0;
}
The need for buffering arises when the input cannot be mapped in
memory all at once: either it is too large, or it comes in a streaming
fashion (like reading from a socket). The usual technique in such cases is
to allocate a fixed-sized memory buffer and process input in chunks that fit
into the buffer. When the current chunk is processed, it is moved out and
new data is moved in. In practice it is somewhat more complex, because lexer
state consists not of a single input position, but a set of interrelated
positions:
- cursor: the next input character to be read (YYCURSOR in C pointer
API or YYSKIP/YYPEEK in generic API)
- limit: the position after the last available input character
(YYLIMIT in C pointer API, implicitly handled by YYLESSTHAN
in generic API)
- marker: the position of the most recent match, if any (YYMARKER in
default API or YYBACKUP/YYRESTORE in generic API)
- token: the start of the current lexeme (implicit in re2c API, as it is not
needed for the normal lexer operation and can be defined and updated by
the user)
- context marker: the position of the trailing context (YYCTXMARKER
in C pointer API or YYBACKUPCTX/YYRESTORECTX in generic
API)
- tag variables: submatch positions (defined with stags and
mtags blocks and generic API primitives
YYSTAGP/YYSTAGN/YYMTAGP/YYMTAGN)
Not all these are used in every case, but if used, they must be
updated by YYFILL. All active positions are contained in the segment
between token and cursor, therefore everything between buffer start and
token can be discarded, the segment from token and up to limit should be
moved to the beginning of buffer, and the free space at the end of buffer
should be filled with new data. In order to avoid frequent YYFILL
calls it is best to fill in as many input characters as possible (even
though fewer characters might suffice to resume the lexer). The details of
YYFILL implementation are slightly different depending on which EOF
handling method is used: the case of EOF rule is somewhat simpler than the
case of bounds-checking with padding. Also note that if -f
--storable-state option is used, YYFILL has slightly different
semantics (described in the section about storable state).
If EOF rule is used, YYFILL is a function-like primitive
that accepts no arguments and returns a value which is checked against zero.
YYFILL invocation is triggered by condition YYLIMIT <=
YYCURSOR in C pointer API and YYLESSTHAN() in generic API. A
non-zero return value means that YYFILL has failed. A successful
YYFILL call must supply at least one character and adjust input
positions accordingly. Limit must always be set to one after the last input
position in buffer, and the character at the limit position must be the
sentinel symbol specified by re2c:eof configuration. The pictures
below show the relative locations of input positions in buffer before and
after YYFILL call (sentinel symbol is marked with #, and the
second picture shows the case when there is not enough input to fill the
whole buffer).
<-- shift -->
>-A------------B---------C-------------D#-----------E->
buffer token marker limit,
cursor
>-A------------B---------C-------------D------------E#->
buffer, marker cursor limit
token
<-- shift -->
>-A------------B---------C-------------D#--E (EOF)
buffer token marker limit,
cursor
>-A------------B---------C-------------D---E#........
buffer, marker cursor limit
token
Here is an example of a program that reads input file
input.txt in chunks of 4096 bytes and uses EOF rule.
// re2c $INPUT -o $OUTPUT
#include <assert.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#define BUFSIZE 4095
typedef struct {
FILE *file;
char buf[BUFSIZE + 1], *lim, *cur, *mar, *tok; // +1 for sentinel
int eof;
} Input;
static int fill(Input *in) {
if (in->eof) return 1;
const size_t shift = in->tok - in->buf;
const size_t used = in->lim - in->tok;
// Error: lexeme too long. In real life could reallocate a larger buffer.
if (shift < 1) return 2;
// Shift buffer contents (discard everything up to the current token).
memmove(in->buf, in->tok, used);
in->lim -= shift;
in->cur -= shift;
in->mar -= shift;
in->tok -= shift;
// Fill free space at the end of buffer with new data from file.
in->lim += fread(in->lim, 1, BUFSIZE - used, in->file);
in->lim[0] = 0;
in->eof = in->lim < in->buf + BUFSIZE;
return 0;
}
static int lex(Input *in) {
int count = 0;
loop:
in->tok = in->cur;
/*!re2c
re2c:api:style = free-form;
re2c:define:YYCTYPE = char;
re2c:define:YYCURSOR = in->cur;
re2c:define:YYMARKER = in->mar;
re2c:define:YYLIMIT = in->lim;
re2c:define:YYFILL = "fill(in) == 0";
re2c:eof = 0;
str = ['] ([^'\\] | [\\][^])* ['];
* { return -1; }
$ { return count; }
str { ++count; goto loop; }
[ ]+ { goto loop; }
*/
}
int main() {
const char *fname = "input";
const char content[] = "'qu\0tes' 'are' 'fine: \\'' ";
// Prepare input file: a few times the size of the buffer, containing
// strings with zeroes and escaped quotes.
FILE *f = fopen(fname, "w");
for (int i = 0; i < BUFSIZE; ++i) {
fwrite(content, 1, sizeof(content) - 1, f);
}
fclose(f);
int count = 3 * BUFSIZE; // number of quoted strings written to file
// Initialize lexer state: all pointers are at the end of buffer.
Input in;
in.file = fopen(fname, "r");
in.cur = in.mar = in.tok = in.lim = in.buf + BUFSIZE;
in.eof = 0;
// Sentinel (at YYLIMIT pointer) is set to zero, which triggers YYFILL.
in.lim[0] = 0;
// Run the lexer.
assert(lex(&in) == count);
// Cleanup: remove input file.
fclose(in.file);
remove(fname);
return 0;
}
In the default case (when EOF rule is not used) YYFILL is a
function-like primitive that accepts a single argument and does not return
any value. YYFILL invocation is triggered by condition (YYLIMIT -
YYCURSOR) < n in C pointer API and YYLESSTHAN(n) in generic
API. The argument passed to YYFILL is the minimal number of
characters that must be supplied. If it fails to do so, YYFILL must
not return to the lexer (for that reason it is best implemented as a macro
that returns from the calling function on failure). In case of a successful
YYFILL invocation the limit position must be set either to one after
the last input position in buffer, or to the end of YYMAXFILL padding
(in case YYFILL has successfully read at least n characters,
but not enough to fill the entire buffer). The pictures below show the
relative locations of input positions in buffer before and after
YYFILL invocation (YYMAXFILL padding on the second picture is
marked with # symbols).
<-- shift --> <-- need -->
>-A------------B---------C-----D-------E---F--------G->
buffer token marker cursor limit
>-A------------B---------C-----D-------E---F--------G->
buffer, marker cursor limit
token
<-- shift --> <-- need -->
>-A------------B---------C-----D-------E-F (EOF)
buffer token marker cursor limit
>-A------------B---------C-----D-------E-F###############
buffer, marker cursor limit
token <- YYMAXFILL ->
Here is an example of a program that reads input file
input.txt in chunks of 4096 bytes and uses bounds-checking with
padding.
// re2c $INPUT -o $OUTPUT
#include <assert.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
/*!max:re2c*/
#define BUFSIZE (4096 - YYMAXFILL)
typedef struct {
FILE *file;
char buf[BUFSIZE + YYMAXFILL], *lim, *cur, *tok;
int eof;
} Input;
static int fill(Input *in, size_t need) {
if (in->eof) return 1;
const size_t shift = in->tok - in->buf;
const size_t used = in->lim - in->tok;
// Error: lexeme too long. In real life could reallocate a larger buffer.
if (shift < need) return 2;
// Shift buffer contents (discard everything up to the current token).
memmove(in->buf, in->tok, used);
in->lim -= shift;
in->cur -= shift;
in->tok -= shift;
// Fill free space at the end of buffer with new data from file.
in->lim += fread(in->lim, 1, BUFSIZE - used, in->file);
// If read less than expected, this is end of input => add zero padding
// so that the lexer can access characters at the end of buffer.
if (in->lim < in->buf + BUFSIZE) {
in->eof = 1;
memset(in->lim, 0, YYMAXFILL);
in->lim += YYMAXFILL;
}
return 0;
}
static int lex(Input *in) {
int count = 0;
loop:
in->tok = in->cur;
/*!re2c
re2c:api:style = free-form;
re2c:define:YYCTYPE = char;
re2c:define:YYCURSOR = in->cur;
re2c:define:YYLIMIT = in->lim;
re2c:define:YYFILL = "if (fill(in, @@) != 0) return -1;";
str = ['] ([^'\\] | [\\][^])* ['];
[\x00] {
// Check that it is the sentinel, not some unexpected null.
return in->tok == in->lim - YYMAXFILL ? count : -1;
}
str { ++count; goto loop; }
[ ]+ { goto loop; }
* { return -1; }
*/
}
int main() {
const char *fname = "input";
const char content[] = "'qu\0tes' 'are' 'fine: \\'' ";
// Prepare input file: a few times the size of the buffer, containing
// strings with zeroes and escaped quotes.
FILE *f = fopen(fname, "w");
for (int i = 0; i < BUFSIZE; ++i) {
fwrite(content, 1, sizeof(content) - 1, f);
}
fclose(f);
int count = 3 * BUFSIZE; // number of quoted strings written to file
// Initialize lexer state: all pointers are at the end of buffer.
// This immediately triggers YYFILL, as the check `in->cur < in->lim` fails.
Input in;
in.file = fopen(fname, "r");
in.cur = in.tok = in.lim = in.buf + BUFSIZE;
in.eof = 0;
// Run the lexer.
assert(lex(&in) == count);
// Cleanup: remove input file.
fclose(in.file);
remove(fname);
return 0;
}
Sometimes it is necessary to have multiple interrelated lexers
(for example, if there is a high-level state machine that transitions
between lexer modes). This can be implemented using multiple connected re2c
blocks. Another option is to use start conditions.
The implementation of connections between blocks depends on the
target language. In languages that have goto statement (such as C/C++
and Go) one can have all blocks in one function, each of them prefixed with
a label. Transition from one block to another is a simple goto. In
languages that do not have goto (such as Rust) it is necessary to use
a loop with a switch on a state variable, similar to the yystate
loop/switch generated by re2c, or else wrap each block in a function and use
function calls.
The example below uses multiple blocks to parse binary, octal,
decimal and hexadecimal numbers. Each base has its own block. The initial
block determines base and dispatches to other blocks. Common configurations
are defined in a separate block at the beginning of the program; they are
inherited by the other blocks.
// re2c $INPUT -o $OUTPUT -i
#include <stdint.h>
#include <limits.h>
#include <assert.h>
static const uint64_t ERROR = UINT64_MAX;
#define CHECK(n) if (n > UINT32_MAX) return ERROR;
static uint64_t parse_u32(const char *s) {
const char *YYCURSOR = s, *YYMARKER;
uint64_t u = 0;
/*!re2c
re2c:yyfill:enable = 0;
re2c:define:YYCTYPE = char;
end = "\x00";
'0b' / [01] { goto bin; }
"0" { goto oct; }
"" / [1-9] { goto dec; }
'0x' / [0-9a-fA-F] { goto hex; }
* { return ERROR; }
*/
bin:
/*!re2c
end { return u; }
[01] { u = u * 2 + (YYCURSOR[-1] - '0'); CHECK(u); goto bin; }
* { return ERROR; }
*/
oct:
/*!re2c
end { return u; }
[0-7] { u = u * 8 + (YYCURSOR[-1] - '0'); CHECK(u); goto oct; }
* { return ERROR; }
*/
dec:
/*!re2c
end { return u; }
[0-9] { u = u * 10 + (YYCURSOR[-1] - '0'); CHECK(u); goto dec; }
* { return ERROR; }
*/
hex:
/*!re2c
end { return u; }
[0-9] { u = u * 16 + (YYCURSOR[-1] - '0'); CHECK(u); goto hex; }
[a-f] { u = u * 16 + (YYCURSOR[-1] - 'a' + 10); CHECK(u); goto hex; }
[A-F] { u = u * 16 + (YYCURSOR[-1] - 'A' + 10); CHECK(u); goto hex; }
* { return ERROR; }
*/
}
int main() {
assert(parse_u32("") == ERROR);
assert(parse_u32("1234567890") == 1234567890);
assert(parse_u32("0b1101") == 13);
assert(parse_u32("0x7Fe") == 2046);
assert(parse_u32("0644") == 420);
assert(parse_u32("9999999999") == ERROR);
return 0;
}
Start conditions are enabled with --start-conditions
option. They provide a way to encode multiple interrelated automata within
the same re2c block.
Each condition corresponds to a single automaton and has a unique
name specified by the user and a unique internal number defined by re2c. The
numbers are used to switch between conditions: the generated code uses
YYGETCOND and YYSETCOND primitives to get the current
condition or set it to the given number. Use conditions block,
--header option or re2c:header configuration to generate
numeric condition identifiers. Configuration re2c:cond:enumprefix
specifies the generated identifier prefix.
In condition mode every rule must be prefixed with a list of
comma-separated condition names in angle brackets, or a wildcard
<*> to denote all conditions. The rule syntax is extended as
follows:
- < condition-list > regular-expression code
- A rule that is merged to every condition on the condition-list. It
matches regular-expression and executes the associated
code.
- < condition-list > regular-expression => condition
code
- A rule that is merged to every condition on the condition-list. It
matches regular-expression, sets the current condition to
condition and executes the associated code.
- < condition-list > regular-expression :=>
condition
- A rule that is merged to every condition on the condition-list. It
matches regular-expression and immediately transitions to
condition (there is no semantic action).
- < condition-list > !action code
- A rule that binds code to the place defined by action in
every condition on the condition-list (see the actions
section for various types of actions).
- <! condition-list > code
- A rule that prepends code to semantic actions of all rules for
every condition on the condition-list. This syntax is deprecated
and the !pre_rule action should be used instead (it does exactly
the same).
- < > code
- A rule that creates a special entry condition with number zero and name
"0" that executes code before jumping to other
conditions. This syntax is deprecated, and the !entry action should
be used instead (it provides a more fine-grained control, as the code can
be specified on a per-condition basis, and one can jump directly to
condition start without going through condition dispatch).
- < > => condition code
- Same as the previous rule, except that it sets the next
condition.
- < > :=> condition
- Same as the previous rule, except that it has no associated code and
immediately jumps to condition.
The code re2c generates for conditions depends on whether re2c
uses goto/label approach or loop/switch approach to encode the automata.
In languages that have goto statement (such as C/C++ and
Go) conditions are naturally implemented as blocks of code prefixed with
labels of the form yyc_<cond>, where cond is a condition
name (label prefix can be changed with re2c:cond:prefix). Transitions
between conditions are implemented using goto and condition labels.
Before all conditions re2c generates an initial switch on YYGETSTATE
that jumps to the start state of the current condition. The shortcut rules
:=> bypass the initial switch and jump directly to the specified
condition (re2c:cond:goto can be used to change the default
behavior). The rules with semantic actions do not automatically jump to the
next condition; this should be done by the user-defined action code.
In languages that do not have goto (such as Rust) re2c
reuses the yystate variable to store condition numbers. Each
condition gets a numeric identifier equal to the number of its start state,
and a switch between conditions is no different than a switch between DFA
states of a single condition. There is no need for a separate initial
condition switch. (Since the same approach is used to implement storable
states, YYGETCOND/YYSETCOND are redundant if both storable
states and conditions are used).
The program below uses start conditions to parse binary, octal,
decimal and hexadecimal numbers. There is a single block where each base has
its own condition, and the initial condition is connected to all of them.
User-defined variable cond stores the current condition number; it is
initialized to the number of the initial condition generated with
conditions block.
// re2c $INPUT -o $OUTPUT -ci
#include <stdint.h>
#include <limits.h>
#include <assert.h>
static const uint64_t ERROR = UINT64_MAX;
/*!conditions:re2c*/
static uint64_t parse_u32(const char *s) {
const char *YYCURSOR = s, *YYMARKER;
int c = yycinit;
uint64_t u = 0;
/*!re2c
re2c:api:style = free-form;
re2c:define:YYCTYPE = char;
re2c:define:YYGETCONDITION = "c";
re2c:define:YYSETCONDITION = "c = @@;";
re2c:yyfill:enable = 0;
<*> * { return ERROR; }
<init> '0b' / [01] :=> bin
<init> "0" :=> oct
<init> "" / [1-9] :=> dec
<init> '0x' / [0-9a-fA-F] :=> hex
<bin, oct, dec, hex> "\x00" { return u; }
<bin> [01] { u = u * 2 + (YYCURSOR[-1] - '0'); goto yyc_bin; }
<oct> [0-7] { u = u * 8 + (YYCURSOR[-1] - '0'); goto yyc_oct; }
<dec> [0-9] { u = u * 10 + (YYCURSOR[-1] - '0'); goto yyc_dec; }
<hex> [0-9] { u = u * 16 + (YYCURSOR[-1] - '0'); goto yyc_hex; }
<hex> [a-f] { u = u * 16 + (YYCURSOR[-1] - 'a' + 10); goto yyc_hex; }
<hex> [A-F] { u = u * 16 + (YYCURSOR[-1] - 'A' + 10); goto yyc_hex; }
<!*> { if (u > UINT32_MAX) return ERROR; }
*/
}
int main() {
assert(parse_u32("") == ERROR);
assert(parse_u32("1234567890") == 1234567890);
assert(parse_u32("0b1101") == 13);
assert(parse_u32("0x7Fe") == 2046);
assert(parse_u32("0644") == 420);
assert(parse_u32("9999999999") == ERROR);
return 0;
}
With --storable-state option re2c generates a lexer that
can store its current state, return to the caller, and later resume
operations exactly where it left off. The default mode of operation in re2c
is a "pull" model, in which the lexer "pulls" more input
whenever it needs it. This may be unacceptable in cases when the input
becomes available piece by piece (for example, if the lexer is invoked by
the parser, or if the lexer program communicates via a socket protocol with
some other program that must wait for a reply from the lexer before it
transmits the next message). Storable state feature is intended exactly for
such cases: it allows one to generate lexers that work in a "push"
model. When the lexer needs more input, it stores its state and returns to
the caller. Later, when more input becomes available, the caller resumes the
lexer exactly where it stopped. There are a few changes necessary compared
to the "pull" model:
- Define YYSETSTATE() and YYGETSTATE(state) primitives.
- Define yych, yyaccept (if used) and state variables
as a part of persistent lexer state. The state variable should be
initialized to -1.
- YYFILL should return to the outer program instead of trying to
supply more input. Return code should indicate that lexer needs more
input.
- The outer program should recognize situations when lexer needs more input
and respond appropriately.
- Optionally use getstate block to generate YYGETSTATE switch
detached from the main lexer. This only works for languages that have
goto (not in --loop-switch mode).
- Use re2c:eof and the sentinel with bounds checks method to
handle the end of input. Padding-based method may not work because it is
unclear when to append padding: the current end of input may not be the
ultimate end of input, and appending padding too early may cut off a
partially read greedy lexeme. Furthermore, due to high-level program logic
getting more input may depend on processing the lexeme at the end of
buffer (which already is blocked due to the end-of-input condition).
Here is an example of a "push" model lexer that
simulates reading packets from a socket. The lexer loops until it encounters
the end of input and returns to the calling function. The calling function
provides more input by "sending" the next packet and resumes
lexing. This process stops when all the packets have been sent, or when
there is an error.
// re2c $INPUT -o $OUTPUT -f
#include <assert.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#define DEBUG 0
#define LOG(...) if (DEBUG) fprintf(stderr, __VA_ARGS__);
// Use a small buffer to cover the case when a lexeme doesn't fit.
// In real world use a larger buffer.
#define BUFSIZE 10
typedef struct {
FILE *file;
char buf[BUFSIZE + 1], *lim, *cur, *mar, *tok;
int state;
} State;
typedef enum {END, READY, WAITING, BAD_PACKET, BIG_PACKET} Status;
static Status fill(State *st) {
const size_t shift = st->tok - st->buf;
const size_t used = st->lim - st->tok;
const size_t free = BUFSIZE - used;
// Error: no space. In real life can reallocate a larger buffer.
if (free < 1) return BIG_PACKET;
// Shift buffer contents (discard already processed data).
memmove(st->buf, st->tok, used);
st->lim -= shift;
st->cur -= shift;
st->mar -= shift;
st->tok -= shift;
// Fill free space at the end of buffer with new data.
const size_t read = fread(st->lim, 1, free, st->file);
st->lim += read;
st->lim[0] = 0; // append sentinel symbol
return READY;
}
static Status lex(State *st, unsigned int *recv) {
char yych;
/*!getstate:re2c*/
for (;;) {
st->tok = st->cur;
/*!re2c
re2c:api:style = free-form;
re2c:define:YYCTYPE = "char";
re2c:define:YYCURSOR = "st->cur";
re2c:define:YYMARKER = "st->mar";
re2c:define:YYLIMIT = "st->lim";
re2c:define:YYGETSTATE = "st->state";
re2c:define:YYSETSTATE = "st->state = @@;";
re2c:define:YYFILL = "return WAITING;";
re2c:eof = 0;
packet = [a-z]+[;];
* { return BAD_PACKET; }
$ { return END; }
packet { *recv = *recv + 1; continue; }
*/
}
}
void test(const char **packets, Status expect) {
// Create a "socket" (open the same file for reading and writing).
const char *fname = "pipe";
FILE *fw = fopen(fname, "w");
FILE *fr = fopen(fname, "r");
setvbuf(fw, NULL, _IONBF, 0);
setvbuf(fr, NULL, _IONBF, 0);
// Initialize lexer state: `state` value is -1, all pointers are at the end
// of buffer.
State st;
st.file = fr;
st.cur = st.mar = st.tok = st.lim = st.buf + BUFSIZE;
// Sentinel (at YYLIMIT pointer) is set to zero, which triggers YYFILL.
st.lim[0] = 0;
st.state = -1;
// Main loop. The buffer contains incomplete data which appears packet by
// packet. When the lexer needs more input it saves its internal state and
// returns to the caller which should provide more input and resume lexing.
Status status;
unsigned int send = 0, recv = 0;
for (;;) {
status = lex(&st, &recv);
if (status == END) {
LOG("done: got %u packets\n", recv);
break;
} else if (status == WAITING) {
LOG("waiting...\n");
if (*packets) {
LOG("sent packet %u\n", send);
fprintf(fw, "%s", *packets++);
++send;
}
status = fill(&st);
LOG("queue: '%s'\n", st.buf);
if (status == BIG_PACKET) {
LOG("error: packet too big\n");
break;
}
assert(status == READY);
} else {
assert(status == BAD_PACKET);
LOG("error: ill-formed packet\n");
break;
}
}
// Check results.
assert(status == expect);
if (status == END) assert(recv == send);
// Cleanup: remove input file.
fclose(fw);
fclose(fr);
remove(fname);
}
int main() {
const char *packets1[] = {0};
const char *packets2[] = {"zero;", "one;", "two;", "three;", "four;", 0};
const char *packets3[] = {"zer0;", 0};
const char *packets4[] = {"looooooooooong;", 0};
test(packets1, END);
test(packets2, END);
test(packets3, BAD_PACKET);
test(packets4, BIG_PACKET);
return 0;
}
Reusable blocks of the form /*!rules:re2c[:<name>] ...
*/ or %{rules[:<name>] ... %} can be reused any number of
times and combined with other re2c blocks. The <name> is
optional. A rules block can be used in a use block or directive. The
code for a rules block is generated at every point of use.
Use blocks are defined with /*!use:re2c[:<name>] ...
*/ or %{use[:<name>] ... %}. The <name> is
optional: if it's not specified, the associated rules block is the most
recent one (whether named or unnamed). A use block can add named
definitions, configurations and rules of its own. An important use case for
use blocks is a lexer that supports multiple input encodings: the same rules
block is reused multiple times with encoding-specific configurations (see
the example below).
In-block use directive !use:<name>; can be used from
inside of a re2c block. It merges the referenced block <name>
into the current one. If some of the merged rules and configurations overlap
with the previously defined ones, conflicts are resolved in the usual way:
the earliest rule takes priority, and latest configuration overrides
preceding ones. One exception are the special rules *, $ and
(in condition mode) <!>, for which a block-local definition
overrides any inherited ones. Use directive allows one to combine different
re2c blocks together in one block (see the example below).
Named blocks and in-block use directive were added in re2c version
2.2. Since that version reusable blocks are allowed by default (no special
option is needed). Before version 2.2 reuse mode was enabled with -r
--reusable option. Before version 1.2 reusable blocks could not be mixed
with normal blocks.
Example of a !use directive
// re2c $INPUT -o $OUTPUT
#include <assert.h>
// This example shows how to combine reusable re2c blocks: two blocks
// ('colors' and 'fish') are merged into one. The 'salmon' rule occurs
// in both blocks; the 'fish' block takes priority because it is used
// earlier. Default rule * occurs in all three blocks; the local (not
// inherited) definition takes priority.
typedef enum { COLOR, FISH, DUNNO } What;
/*!rules:re2c:colors
* { assert(false); }
"red" | "salmon" | "magenta" { return COLOR; }
*/
/*!rules:re2c:fish
* { assert(false); }
"haddock" | "salmon" | "eel" { return FISH; }
*/
static What lex(const char *s) {
const char *YYCURSOR = s, *YYMARKER;
/*!re2c
re2c:yyfill:enable = 0;
re2c:define:YYCTYPE = char;
!use:fish;
!use:colors;
* { return DUNNO; } // overrides inherited '*' rules
*/
}
int main() {
assert(lex("salmon") == FISH);
assert(lex("what?") == DUNNO);
return 0;
}
Example of a /*!use:re2c ... */ block
// re2c $INPUT -o $OUTPUT --input-encoding utf8
#include <assert.h>
#include <stdint.h>
// This example supports multiple input encodings: UTF-8 and UTF-32.
// Both lexers are generated from the same rules block, and the use
// blocks add only encoding-specific configurations.
/*!rules:re2c
re2c:yyfill:enable = 0;
"∀x ∃y" { return 0; }
* { return 1; }
*/
static int lex_utf8(const uint8_t *s) {
const uint8_t *YYCURSOR = s, *YYMARKER;
/*!use:re2c
re2c:define:YYCTYPE = uint8_t;
re2c:encoding:utf8 = 1;
*/
}
static int lex_utf32(const uint32_t *s) {
const uint32_t *YYCURSOR = s, *YYMARKER;
/*!use:re2c
re2c:define:YYCTYPE = uint32_t;
re2c:encoding:utf32 = 1;
*/
}
int main() {
static const uint8_t s8[] = // UTF-8
{ 0xe2, 0x88, 0x80, 0x78, 0x20, 0xe2, 0x88, 0x83, 0x79 };
static const uint32_t s32[] = // UTF32
{ 0x00002200, 0x00000078, 0x00000020, 0x00002203, 0x00000079 };
assert(lex_utf8(s8) == 0);
assert(lex_utf32(s32) == 0);
return 0;
}
re2c has two options for submatch extraction.
- Tags
- The first option is to use standalone tags of the form @stag
or #mtag, where stag and mtag are arbitrary
used-defined names. Tags are enabled with -T --tags option or
re2c:tags = 1 configuration. Semantically tags are position
markers: they can be inserted anywhere in a regular expression, and they
bind to the corresponding position (or multiple positions) in the input
string. S-tags bind to the last matching position, and
m-tags bind to a list of positions (they may be used in repetition
subexpressions, where a single position in a regular expression
corresponds to multiple positions in the input string). All tags should be
defined by the user, either manually or with the help of svars and
mvars blocks. If there is more than one way tags can be matched
against the input, ambiguity is resolved using leftmost greedy
disambiguation strategy.
- Captures
- The second option is to use capturing groups. They are enabled with
--captures option or re2c:captures = 1 configuration. There
are two flavours for different disambiguation policies,
--leftmost-captures (the default) is for leftmost greedy policy,
and, --posix-captures is for POSIX longest-match policy. In this
mode all parenthesized subexpressions are considered capturing groups, and
a bang can be used to mark non-capturing groups: (! ... ). With
--invert-captures option or re2c:invert-captures = 1
configuration the meaning of bang is inverted. The number of groups for
the matching rule is stored in a variable yynmatch (the whole
regular expression is group number zero), and submatch results are stored
in yypmatch array. Both yynmatch and yypmatch should
be defined by the user, and yypmatch size must be at least
[yynmatch * 2]. Use maxnmatch block to define
YYMAXNMATCH, a constant that equals to the maximum value of
yynmatch among all rules.
- Captvars
- Another way to use capturing groups is the --captvars option or
re2c:captvars = 1 configuration. The only difference with
--captures is in the way the generated code stores submatch
results: instead of yynmatch and yypmatch re2c generates
variables yytl<k> and yytr<k> for k-th
capturing group (the user should declare these using an svars
block). Captures with variables support two disambiguation policies:
--leftmost-captvars or re2c:leftmost-captvars = 1 for
leftmost greedy policy (the default one) and --posix-captvars or
re2c:posix-captvars for POSIX longest-match policy.
Under the hood all these options translate into tags and Tagged
Deterministic Finite Automata with Lookahead. The core idea of TDFA is
to minimize the overhead on submatch extraction. In the extreme, if there're
no tags or captures in a regular expression, TDFA is just an ordinary DFA.
If the number of tags is moderate, the overhead is barely noticeable. The
generated TDFA uses a number of tag variables which do not map
directly to tags: a single variable may be used for different tags, and a
tag may require multiple variables to hold all its possible values.
Eventually ambiguity is resolved, and only one final variable per tag
survives. Tag variables should be defined using stags or mtags
blocks. If lexer state is stored, tag variables should be part of it. They
also need to be updated by YYFILL.
S-tags support the following operations:
- save input position to an s-tag: t = YYCURSOR with C pointer API or
a user-defined operation YYSTAGP(t) with generic API
- save default value to an s-tag: t = NULL with C pointer API or a
user-defined operation YYSTAGN(t) with generic API
- copy one s-tag to another: t1 = t2
M-tags support the following operations:
- append input position to an m-tag: a user-defined operation
YYMTAGP(t) with both default and generic API
- append default value to an m-tag: a user-defined operation
YYMTAGN(t) with both default and generic API
- copy one m-tag to another: t1 = t2
S-tags can be implemented as scalar values (pointers or offsets).
M-tags need a more complex representation, as they need to store a sequence
of tag values. The most naive and inefficient representation of an m-tag is
a list (array, vector) of tag values; a more efficient representation is to
store all m-tags in a prefix-tree represented as array of nodes (v,
p), where v is tag value and p is a pointer to parent
node.
Here is a simple example of using s-tags to parse semantic
versions consisting of three numeric components: major, minor, patch (the
latter is optional). See below for a more complex example that uses
YYFILL.
// re2c $INPUT -o $OUTPUT
#include <assert.h>
#include <stddef.h>
typedef struct { int major, minor, patch; } SemVer;
static int s2n(const char *s, const char *e) { // pre-parsed string to number
int n = 0;
for (; s < e; ++s) n = n * 10 + (*s - '0');
return n;
}
static int lex(const char *str, SemVer *ver) {
const char *YYCURSOR = str, *YYMARKER;
// User-defined tag variables that are available in semantic action.
const char *t1, *t2, *t3, *t4, *t5;
// Autogenerated tag variables used by the lexer to track tag values.
/*!stags:re2c format = 'const char *@@;\n'; */
/*!re2c
re2c:yyfill:enable = 0;
re2c:define:YYCTYPE = char;
re2c:tags = 1;
num = [0-9]+;
@t1 num @t2 "." @t3 num @t4 ("." @t5 num)? [\x00] {
ver->major = s2n(t1, t2);
ver->minor = s2n(t3, t4);
ver->patch = t5 != NULL ? s2n(t5, YYCURSOR - 1) : 0;
return 0;
}
* { return 1; }
*/
}
int main() {
SemVer v;
assert(lex("23.34", &v) == 0 && v.major == 23 && v.minor == 34 && v.patch == 0);
assert(lex("1.2.999", &v) == 0 && v.major == 1 && v.minor == 2 && v.patch == 999);
assert(lex("1.a", &v) == 1);
return 0;
}
Here is a more complex example of using s-tags with YYFILL
to parse a file with newline-separated semantic versions. Tag variables are
part of the lexer state, and they are adjusted in YYFILL like other
input positions. Note that it is necessary for s-tags because their values
are invalidated after shifting buffer contents. It may not be necessary in a
custom implementation where tag variables store offsets relative to the
start of the input string rather than the buffer, which may be the case with
m-tags.
// re2c $INPUT -o $OUTPUT --tags
#include <assert.h>
#include <stddef.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <vector>
#define BUFSIZE 4095
struct Input {
FILE *file;
char buf[BUFSIZE + 1], *lim, *cur, *mar, *tok;
// Tag variables must be part of the lexer state passed to YYFILL.
// They don't correspond to tags and should be autogenerated by re2c.
/*!stags:re2c format = 'const char *@@;'; */
bool eof;
};
struct SemVer { int major, minor, patch; };
static bool operator==(const SemVer &x, const SemVer &y) {
return x.major == y.major && x.minor == y.minor && x.patch == y.patch;
}
static int s2n(const char *s, const char *e) { // pre-parsed string to number
int n = 0;
for (; s < e; ++s) n = n * 10 + (*s - '0');
return n;
}
static int fill(Input &in) {
if (in.eof) return 1;
const size_t shift = in.tok - in.buf;
const size_t used = in.lim - in.tok;
// Error: lexeme too long. In real life could reallocate a larger buffer.
if (shift < 1) return 2;
// Shift buffer contents (discard everything up to the current token).
memmove(in.buf, in.tok, used);
in.lim -= shift;
in.cur -= shift;
in.mar -= shift;
in.tok -= shift;
// Tag variables need to be shifted like other input positions. The check
// for non-NULL is only needed if some tags are nested inside of alternative
// or repetition, so that they can have NULL value.
/*!stags:re2c format = "if (in.@@) in.@@ -= shift;\n"; */
// Fill free space at the end of buffer with new data from file.
in.lim += fread(in.lim, 1, BUFSIZE - used, in.file);
in.lim[0] = 0;
in.eof = in.lim < in.buf + BUFSIZE;
return 0;
}
static bool lex(Input &in, std::vector<SemVer> &vers) {
// User-defined local variables that store final tag values.
// They are different from tag variables autogenerated with `stags:re2c`,
// as they are set at the end of match and used only in semantic actions.
const char *t1, *t2, *t3, *t4;
for (;;) {
in.tok = in.cur;
/*!re2c
re2c:eof = 0;
re2c:api:style = free-form;
re2c:define:YYCTYPE = char;
re2c:define:YYCURSOR = in.cur;
re2c:define:YYMARKER = in.mar;
re2c:define:YYLIMIT = in.lim;
re2c:define:YYFILL = "fill(in) == 0";
re2c:tags:expression = "in.@@";
num = [0-9]+;
num @t1 "." @t2 num @t3 ("." @t4 num)? [\n] {
int major = s2n(in.tok, t1);
int minor = s2n(t2, t3);
int patch = t4 != NULL ? s2n(t4, in.cur - 1) : 0;
SemVer ver = {major, minor, patch};
vers.push_back(ver);
continue;
}
$ { return true; }
* { return false; }
*/}
}
int main() {
const char *fname = "input";
const SemVer semver = {1, 22, 333};
std::vector<SemVer> expect(BUFSIZE, semver), actual;
// Prepare input file (make sure it exceeds buffer size).
FILE *f = fopen(fname, "w");
for (int i = 0; i < BUFSIZE; ++i) fprintf(f, "1.22.333\n");
fclose(f);
// Reopen input file for reading.
f = fopen(fname, "r");
// Initialize lexer state: all pointers are at the end of buffer.
Input in;
in.file = f;
in.cur = in.mar = in.tok = in.lim = in.buf + BUFSIZE;
/*!stags:re2c format = "in.@@ = in.lim;\n"; */
in.eof = false;
// Sentinel (at YYLIMIT pointer) is set to zero, which triggers YYFILL.
*in.lim = 0;
// Run the lexer and check results.
assert(lex(in, actual) && expect == actual);
// Cleanup: remove input file.
fclose(f);
remove(fname);
return 0;
}
Here is an example of using capturing groups to parse semantic
versions.
// re2c $INPUT -o $OUTPUT
#include <assert.h>
#include <stddef.h>
typedef struct { int major, minor, patch; } SemVer;
static int s2n(const char *s, const char *e) { // pre-parsed string to number
int n = 0;
for (; s < e; ++s) n = n * 10 + (*s - '0');
return n;
}
static int lex(const char *str, SemVer *ver) {
const char *YYCURSOR = str, *YYMARKER;
// Final tag variables available in semantic action.
/*!svars:re2c format = 'const char *@@;\n'; */
// Intermediate tag variables used by the lexer (must be autogenerated).
/*!stags:re2c format = 'const char *@@;\n'; */
/*!re2c
re2c:yyfill:enable = 0;
re2c:define:YYCTYPE = char;
re2c:captvars = 1;
num = [0-9]+;
(num) "." (num) ("." num)? [\x00] {
(void) yytl0; (void) yytr0; // some variables are unused
ver->major = s2n(yytl1, yytr1);
ver->minor = s2n(yytl2, yytr2);
ver->patch = yytl3 ? s2n(yytl3 + 1, yytr3) : 0;
return 0;
}
* { return 1; }
*/
}
int main() {
SemVer v;
assert(lex("23.34", &v) == 0 && v.major == 23 && v.minor == 34 && v.patch == 0);
assert(lex("1.2.999", &v) == 0 && v.major == 1 && v.minor == 2 && v.patch == 999);
assert(lex("1.a", &v) == 1);
return 0;
}
Here is an example of using m-tags to parse a version with a
variable number of components. Tag variables are stored in a trie.
// re2c $INPUT -o $OUTPUT
#include <assert.h>
#include <stddef.h>
#include <vector>
static const int MTAG_ROOT = -1;
// An m-tag tree is a way to store histories with an O(1) copy operation.
// Histories naturally form a tree, as they have common start and fork at some
// point. The tree is stored as an array of pairs (tag value, link to parent).
// An m-tag is represented with a single link in the tree (array index).
struct Mtag {
const char *elem; // tag value
int pred; // index of the predecessor node or root
};
typedef std::vector<Mtag> MtagTrie;
typedef std::vector<int> Ver; // unbounded number of version components
static int s2n(const char *s, const char *e) { // pre-parsed string to number
int n = 0;
for (; s < e; ++s) n = n * 10 + (*s - '0');
return n;
}
// Append a single value to an m-tag history.
static void add_mtag(MtagTrie &trie, int &mtag, const char *value) {
Mtag m = {value, mtag};
mtag = (int)trie.size();
trie.push_back(m);
}
// Recursively unwind tag histories and collect version components.
static void unfold(const MtagTrie &trie, int x, int y, Ver &ver) {
// Reached the root of the m-tag tree, stop recursion.
if (x == MTAG_ROOT && y == MTAG_ROOT) return;
// Unwind history further.
unfold(trie, trie[x].pred, trie[y].pred, ver);
// Get tag values. Tag histories must have equal length.
assert(x != MTAG_ROOT && y != MTAG_ROOT);
const char *ex = trie[x].elem, *ey = trie[y].elem;
if (ex != NULL && ey != NULL) {
// Both tags are valid pointers, extract component.
ver.push_back(s2n(ex, ey));
} else {
// Both tags are NULL (this corresponds to zero repetitions).
assert(ex == NULL && ey == NULL);
}
}
static bool parse(const char *str, Ver &ver) {
const char *YYCURSOR = str, *YYMARKER;
MtagTrie mt;
// User-defined tag variables that are available in semantic action.
const char *t1, *t2;
int t3, t4;
// Autogenerated tag variables used by the lexer to track tag values.
/*!stags:re2c format = 'const char *@@ = NULL;'; */
/*!mtags:re2c format = 'int @@ = MTAG_ROOT;'; */
/*!re2c
re2c:api:style = free-form;
re2c:define:YYCTYPE = char;
re2c:define:YYSTAGP = "@@ = YYCURSOR;";
re2c:define:YYSTAGN = "@@ = NULL;";
re2c:define:YYMTAGP = "add_mtag(mt, @@, YYCURSOR);";
re2c:define:YYMTAGN = "add_mtag(mt, @@, NULL);";
re2c:yyfill:enable = 0;
re2c:tags = 1;
num = [0-9]+;
@t1 num @t2 ("." #t3 num #t4)* [\x00] {
ver.clear();
ver.push_back(s2n(t1, t2));
unfold(mt, t3, t4, ver);
return true;
}
* { return false; }
*/
}
int main() {
Ver v;
assert(parse("1", v) && v == Ver({1}));
assert(parse("1.2.3.4.5.6.7", v) && v == Ver({1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7}));
assert(!parse("1.2.", v));
return 0;
}
It is necessary to understand the difference between code
points and code units. A code point is a numeric identifier of a
symbol. A code unit is the smallest unit of storage in the encoded text. A
single code point may be represented with one or more code units. In a
fixed-length encoding all code points are represented with the same number
of code units. In a variable-length encoding code points may be represented
with a different number of code units. Note that the "any" rule
[^] matches any code point, but not necessarily any code unit (the
only way to match any code unit regardless of the encoding is the default
rule *). The generated lexer works with a stream of code units:
yych stores a code unit, and YYCTYPE is the code unit type.
Regular expressions, on the other hand, are specified in terms of code
points. When re2c compiles regular expressions to automata it translates
code points to code units. This is generally not a simple mapping: in
variable-length encodings a single code point range may get translated to a
complex code unit graph. The following encodings are supported:
- ASCII (enabled by default). It is a fixed-length encoding with code
space [0-255] and 1-byte code points and code units.
- EBCDIC (enabled with --ebcdic or
re2c:encoding:ebcdic). It is a fixed-length encoding with code
space [0-255] and 1-byte code points and code units.
- UCS2 (enabled with --ucs2 or re2c:encoding:ucs2). It
is a fixed-length encoding with code space [0-0xFFFF] and 2-byte
code points and code units.
- UTF8 (enabled with --utf8 or re2c:encoding:utf8). It
is a variable-length Unicode encoding. Code unit size is 1 byte. Code
points are represented with 1 -- 4 code units.
- UTF16 (enabled with --utf16 or re2c:encoding:utf16).
It is a variable-length Unicode encoding. Code unit size is 2 bytes. Code
points are represented with 1 -- 2 code units.
- UTF32 (enabled with --utf32 or re2c:encoding:utf32).
It is a fixed-length Unicode encoding with code space [0-0x10FFFF]
and 4-byte code points and code units.
Include file include/unicode_categories.re provides re2c
definitions for the standard Unicode categories.
Option --input-encoding specifies source file encoding,
which can be used to enable Unicode literals in regular expressions. For
example --input-encoding utf8 tells re2c that the source file is in
UTF8 (it differs from --utf8 which sets input text encoding). Option
--encoding-policy specifies the way re2c handles Unicode surrogates
(code points in range [0xD800-0xDFFF]).
Below is an example of a lexer for UTF8 encoded Unicode
identifiers.
// re2c $INPUT -o $OUTPUT -8 --case-ranges -i
#include <assert.h>
#include <stdint.h>
/*!include:re2c "unicode_categories.re" */
static int lex(const char *s) {
const char *YYCURSOR = s, *YYMARKER;
/*!re2c
re2c:define:YYCTYPE = 'unsigned char';
re2c:yyfill:enable = 0;
// Simplified "Unicode Identifier and Pattern Syntax"
// (see https://unicode.org/reports/tr31)
id_start = L | Nl | [$_];
id_continue = id_start | Mn | Mc | Nd | Pc | [\u200D\u05F3];
identifier = id_start id_continue*;
identifier { return 0; }
* { return 1; }
*/
}
int main() {
assert(lex("_Ыдентификатор") == 0);
return 0;
}
re2c allows one to include other files using a block of the form
/*!include:re2c FILE */ or %{include FILE %}, or an in-block
directive !include FILE ;, where FILE is a path to the file to
be included. re2c looks for include files in the directory of the including
file and in include locations, which can be specified with the -I
option. Include blocks/directives in re2c work in the same way as C/C++
#include: FILE contents are copy-pasted verbatim in place of
the block/directive. Include files may have further includes of their own.
Use --depfile option to track build dependencies of the output file
on include files. re2c provides some predefined include files that can be
found in the include/ subdirectory of the project. These files
contain definitions that may be useful to other projects (such as Unicode
categories) and form something like a standard library for re2c. Below is an
example of using include files.
typedef enum { OK, FAIL } Result;
/*!re2c
number = [1-9][0-9]*;
*/
// floating-point numbers
frac = [0-9]* "." [0-9]+ | [0-9]+ ".";
exp = 'e' [+-]? [0-9]+;
float = frac exp? | [0-9]+ exp;
float { return OK; }
Input file
// re2c $INPUT -o $OUTPUT -i
#include <assert.h>
/*!include:re2c "definitions.h" */
Result lex(const char *s) {
const char *YYCURSOR = s, *YYMARKER;
/*!re2c
re2c:define:YYCTYPE = char;
re2c:yyfill:enable = 0;
* { return FAIL; }
number { return OK; }
!include "extra_rules.re.inc";
*/
}
int main() {
assert(lex("123") == OK);
assert(lex("123.4567") == OK);
return 0;
}
re2c allows one to generate header file from the input .re
file using --header option or re2c:header configuration and
block pairs of the form /*!header:re2c:on*/ and
/*!header:re2c:off*/, or %{header:on%} and
%{header:off%}. The first block marks the beginning of header file,
and the second block marks the end of it. Everything between these blocks is
processed by re2c, and the generated code is written to the file specified
with --header option or re2c:header configuration (or
stdout if neither option nor configuration is used). Autogenerated
header file may be needed in cases when re2c is used to generate definitions
that must be visible from other translation units.
Here is an example of generating a header file that contains
definition of the lexer state with tag variables (the number variables
depends on the regular grammar and is unknown to the programmer).
Input file
// re2c $INPUT -o $OUTPUT -i --header lexer/state.h
#include <assert.h>
#include <stddef.h>
#include "lexer/state.h" // the header is generated by re2c
/*!header:re2c:on*/
typedef struct {
const char *str, *cur;
/*!stags:re2c format = "const char *@@;"; */
} LexerState;
/*!header:re2c:off*/
long lex(LexerState* st) {
const char *t;
/*!re2c
re2c:header = "lexer/state.h";
re2c:yyfill:enable = 0;
re2c:define:YYCTYPE = char;
re2c:define:YYCURSOR = "st->cur";
re2c:tags = 1;
re2c:tags:expression = "st->@@";
[a]* @t [b]* { return t - st->str; }
*/
}
int main() {
const char *s = "ab";
LexerState st = { s, s /*!stags:re2c format = ", NULL"; */ };
assert(lex(&st) == 1);
return 0;
}
/* Generated by re2c */
typedef struct {
const char *str, *cur;
const char *yyt1;
} LexerState;
With the -S, --skeleton option, re2c ignores all non-re2c
code and generates a self-contained C program that can be further compiled
and executed. The program consists of lexer code and input data. For each
constructed DFA (block or condition) re2c generates a standalone lexer and
two files: an .input file with strings derived from the DFA and a
.keys file with expected match results. The program runs each lexer
on the corresponding .input file and compares results with the
expectations. Skeleton programs are very useful for a number of reasons:
- They can check correctness of various re2c optimizations (the data is
generated early in the process, before any DFA transformations have taken
place).
- Generating a set of input data with good coverage may be useful for both
testing and benchmarking.
- Generating self-contained executable programs allows one to get minimized
test cases (the original code may be large or have a lot of
dependencies).
The difficulty with generating input data is that for all but the
most trivial cases the number of possible input strings is too large (even
if the string length is limited). re2c solves this difficulty by generating
sufficiently many strings to cover almost all DFA transitions. It uses the
following algorithm. First, it constructs a skeleton of the DFA. For
encodings with 1-byte code unit size (such as ASCII, UTF-8 and EBCDIC)
skeleton is just an exact copy of the original DFA. For encodings with
multibyte code units skeleton is a copy of DFA with certain transitions
omitted: namely, re2c takes at most 256 code units for each disjoint
continuous range that corresponds to a DFA transition. The chosen values are
evenly distributed and include range bounds. Instead of trying to cover all
possible paths in the skeleton (which is infeasible) re2c generates
sufficiently many paths to cover all skeleton transitions, and thus trigger
the corresponding conditional jumps in the lexer. The algorithm
implementation is limited by ~1Gb of transitions and consumes constant
amount of memory (re2c writes data to file as soon as it is generated).
With the -D, --emit-dot option, re2c does not generate
code. Instead, it dumps the generated DFA in DOT format. One can convert
this dump to an image of the DFA using Graphviz or another library. Note
that this option shows the final DFA after it has gone through a number of
optimizations and transformations. Earlier stages can be dumped with various
debug options, such as --dump-nfa, --dump-dfa-raw etc. (see
the full list of options).
You can find more information about re2c at the official website:
http://re2c.org. Similar programs are flex(1), lex(1),
quex(http://quex.sourceforge.net).
re2c was originally written by Peter Bumbulis
(peter@csg.uwaterloo.ca) in 1993. Marcus Boerger and Dan Nuffer spent
several years to turn the original idea into a production ready code
generator. Since then it has been maintained and developed by multiple
volunteers, most notably, Brian Young (bayoung@acm.org), Marcus
Boerger, Dan Nuffer (nuffer@users.sourceforge.net), Ulya
Trofimovich (skvadrik@gmail.com), Serghei Iakovlev,
Sergei Trofimovich, Petr Skocik, ligfx raekye
and PolarGoose.
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