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Lexer- Tokenizer problem

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Join Date: Nov 2006

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n.aggel

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Lexer- Tokenizer problem

Aug 28th, 2007

hi, i use the flex tool {http://www.gnu.org/software/flex/manual/} to generate a tokenizer ,but i have the following problem {it has to do with the way that flex tokenizes the input::

FILE : flex.l

 Help with Code Tags 
 C++ Syntax (Toggle Plain Text) 
%{
		#define WEB 0
		#define SPACE 1
		#define STRING 2	
%}
 
string_component [0-9a-zA-Z \t\.!#$%^&()*@_]
 
%%
 
"daniweb"		              {return WEB;}
[ \t\n]			{return SPACE;}
{string_component}+	{return STRING;}
 
%%
 
#include <iostream>
 
using namespace std;
 
int main()
{	
	cout<<yylex()<<endl;
	cout<<yylex()<<endl;
 
	return 0;
}
 
int yywrap(void){return 1;}
%{
		#define WEB 0
		#define SPACE 1
		#define STRING 2	
%}

string_component [0-9a-zA-Z \t\.!#$%^&()*@_]

%%

"daniweb"		              {return WEB;}
[ \t\n]			{return SPACE;}
{string_component}+	{return STRING;}

%%

#include <iostream>
			
using namespace std;
		
int main()
{	
	cout<<yylex()<<endl;
	cout<<yylex()<<endl;

	return 0;
}

int yywrap(void){return 1;}

Example file:

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C++ Syntax (Toggle Plain Text)

test_string daniweb

What i want is to have the above string tokenized as
STRING SPACE WEB
instead flex recognizes it as STRING, because it tries to match the longest input....

How can i fix this problem?
all ideas are welcomed....

PS:: to compile:

 Help with Code Tags 
 C++ Syntax (Toggle Plain Text) 
flex flex.l
g++ lex.yy.c
./a.out <example
flex flex.l
g++ lex.yy.c
./a.out <example

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Salem

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Re: Lexer- Tokenizer problem

Aug 28th, 2007

Your string component matches spaces, and now you're complaining that you don't want to match spaces.

You can't have it both ways.

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Re: Lexer- Tokenizer problem

Aug 29th, 2007

•

Originally Posted by Salem

Your string component matches spaces, and now you're complaining that you don't want to match spaces.

You can't have it both ways.

Thank you for answering {apparently, few people have read the post...}

Yes you are rigth, it seems that i can't have it both ways... but from where i stand i want to use flex in order to do the following:::

Recognize some specif keywords {in the simplified example i provided the keyword was "daniweb"} and recognize everything else as a string...any ideas on how can i do that?

PS: maybe start conditions could help me solve the problem?{ i havven't understand them so well...}
PS2:in the beggining i thought it wouldn't be that difficult, but i was wrong...

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iamthwee

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Re: Lexer- Tokenizer problem

Aug 29th, 2007

What is this Flex? some kinda regular expression library or something. Do you even need it or can your problem be simplified?

Last edited by iamthwee; Aug 29th, 2007 at 2:42 pm.

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Re: Lexer- Tokenizer problem

Aug 29th, 2007

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Originally Posted by iamthwee

What is this Flex? some kinda regular expression library or something. Do you even need it or can your problem be simplified?

Flex

Flex (The Fast Lexical Analyzer)
Flex is a fast lexical analyser generator. It is a tool for generating programs that perform pattern-matching on text. Flex is a non-GNU free implementation of the well known Lex program.

http://www.gnu.org/software/flex/
http://flex.sourceforge.net/

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iamthwee

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Re: Lexer- Tokenizer problem

Aug 29th, 2007

Um ok, please explain this:

string_component [0-9a-zA-Z \t\.!#$%^&()*@_]

and what you think it does?

Last edited by iamthwee; Aug 29th, 2007 at 3:11 pm.

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nedrocks

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Re: Lexer- Tokenizer problem

Aug 29th, 2007

There's a way to set precedence of regex's in flex. I don't remember the exact syntax, but you should put it before your catchall regex that you have defined there.

Last edited by nedrocks; Aug 29th, 2007 at 5:40 pm.

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Re: Lexer- Tokenizer problem

Aug 30th, 2007

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Originally Posted by nedrocks

There's a way to set precedence of regex's in flex. I don't remember the exact syntax, but you should put it before your catchall regex that you have defined there.

i haven't seen what you mention in the manual...

unfortunately i haven't found the solution...i worked around my problem by changing the grammar {i.e. bison file}, and finally i gave the project... Now when i find the time i will try to find a solution using starting conditions

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iamthwee

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Re: Lexer- Tokenizer problem

Aug 30th, 2007

First you gotta know what your regular expressions are doing.

To me string_component [0-9a-zA-Z \t\.!#$%^&()*@_] and the example you have given is contradictory, like salem mentioned.

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vijayan121 vijayan121 is offline

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Re: Lexer- Tokenizer problem

#10

Aug 30th, 2007

using boost.spirit may be much easier: http://www.boost.org/libs/spirit/doc/quick_start.html

 Help with Code Tags 
 cpp Syntax (Toggle Plain Text) 
#include <boost/spirit/core.hpp>
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <vector>
#include <algorithm>
#include <boost/assign.hpp>
using namespace std ;
using namespace boost ;
using namespace boost::spirit ;
using namespace boost::assign ;
 
struct parse_it
{ 
  void operator() ( const string& str ) const
  {
    vector<string> tokens ;
    const char* cstr = str.c_str() ;
    size_t n = 0 ;
    while( n < str.size() )
      n += parse( cstr + n,
                  (+space_p) [  push_back_a( tokens, "SPACE" ) ] |
                  str_p("daniweb") [ push_back_a( tokens, "WEB" ) ] |
                  str_p("lexer") [ push_back_a( tokens, "LEX" ) ] |
                  str_p("tokenizer") [ push_back_a( tokens, "TOK" ) ] |
                  (+~space_p) [ push_back_a( tokens, "STRING" ) ]
                ).length ;
    cout << '\n' << "parsed: " << str << "\ntokens: " ;      
    copy( tokens.begin(), tokens.end(), 
               ostream_iterator<string>(cout," ") ) ;
    cout << '\n' ;      
  }
};
int main()
{
  vector<string> test_cases = list_of
                ( "test daniweb lexer xyz tokenizer lexer" )
                ( "daniweblexer tokenizerlexer abcd lexerlexer" )
                ( "daniwebtest lexerdaniweblexertest tokenizerxxx" ) ;
  for_each( test_cases.begin(), test_cases.end(), parse_it() ) ;
}
/**
>g++ -Wall -std=c++98 -I/usr/local/include keyword.cpp && ./a.out
 
parsed: test daniweb lexer xyz tokenizer lexer
tokens: STRING SPACE WEB SPACE LEX SPACE STRING SPACE TOK SPACE LEX
 
parsed: daniweblexer tokenizerlexer abcd lexerlexer
tokens: WEB LEX SPACE TOK LEX SPACE STRING SPACE LEX LEX
 
parsed: daniwebtest lexerdaniweblexertest tokenizerxxx
tokens: WEB STRING SPACE LEX WEB LEX STRING SPACE TOK STRING
*/
#include <boost/spirit/core.hpp>
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <vector>
#include <algorithm>
#include <boost/assign.hpp>
using namespace std ;
using namespace boost ;
using namespace boost::spirit ;
using namespace boost::assign ;

struct parse_it
{ 
  void operator() ( const string& str ) const
  {
    vector<string> tokens ;
    const char* cstr = str.c_str() ;
    size_t n = 0 ;
    while( n < str.size() )
      n += parse( cstr + n,
                  (+space_p) [  push_back_a( tokens, "SPACE" ) ] |
                  str_p("daniweb") [ push_back_a( tokens, "WEB" ) ] |
                  str_p("lexer") [ push_back_a( tokens, "LEX" ) ] |
                  str_p("tokenizer") [ push_back_a( tokens, "TOK" ) ] |
                  (+~space_p) [ push_back_a( tokens, "STRING" ) ]
                ).length ;
    cout << '\n' << "parsed: " << str << "\ntokens: " ;      
    copy( tokens.begin(), tokens.end(), 
               ostream_iterator<string>(cout," ") ) ;
    cout << '\n' ;      
  }
};
int main()
{
  vector<string> test_cases = list_of
                ( "test daniweb lexer xyz tokenizer lexer" )
                ( "daniweblexer tokenizerlexer abcd lexerlexer" )
                ( "daniwebtest lexerdaniweblexertest tokenizerxxx" ) ;
  for_each( test_cases.begin(), test_cases.end(), parse_it() ) ;
}
/**
>g++ -Wall -std=c++98 -I/usr/local/include keyword.cpp && ./a.out

parsed: test daniweb lexer xyz tokenizer lexer
tokens: STRING SPACE WEB SPACE LEX SPACE STRING SPACE TOK SPACE LEX

parsed: daniweblexer tokenizerlexer abcd lexerlexer
tokens: WEB LEX SPACE TOK LEX SPACE STRING SPACE LEX LEX

parsed: daniwebtest lexerdaniweblexertest tokenizerxxx
tokens: WEB STRING SPACE LEX WEB LEX STRING SPACE TOK STRING
*/