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1.2 Overview

This manual describes flex, a tool for generating programs that perform pattern-matching on text. The manual includes both tutorial and reference sections:

Description
a brief overview of the tool
Some Simple Examples
Format Of The Input File
Patterns
the extended regular expressions used by flex
How The Input Is Matched
the rules for determining what has been matched
Actions
how to specify what to do when a pattern is matched
The Generated Scanner
details regarding the scanner that flex produces; how to control the input source
Start Conditions
introducing context into your scanners, and managing "mini-scanners"
Multiple Input Buffers
how to manipulate multiple input sources; how to scan from strings instead of files
End-of-file Rules
special rules for matching the end of the input
Miscellaneous Macros
a summary of macros available to the actions
Values Available To The User
a summary of values available to the actions
Interfacing With Yacc
connecting flex scanners together with yacc parsers
Options
flex command-line options, and the "%option" directive
Performance Considerations
how to make your scanner go as fast as possible
Generating C++ Scanners
the (experimental) facility for generating C++ scanner classes
Incompatibilities With Lex And POSIX
how flex differs from AT&T lex and the POSIX lex standard
Diagnostics
those error messages produced by flex (or scanners it generates) whose meanings might not be apparent
Files
files used by flex
Deficiencies / Bugs
known problems with flex
See Also
other documentation, related tools
Author
includes contact information


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