Compiler Construction

using Flex and Bison

V irender Singh

Disclaimer : Anyone Is Free To Distribute This Book

Digitally And For Commercial Purpose.

To All My Readers
i

ii

Contents
1 Introduction 1
2 The Parser 5
3 The Scanner 9
4 The Context 13
5 Optimization 19
6 Virtual Machines 21
7 Code Generation 27
8 Peephole Optimization 37
9 Further Reading 39
10 Exercises 41
A Simple - The complete implementation 47
A.1 The parser: Simple.y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
. .
A.2 Directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
. .
A.3 The scanner: Simple.lex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52
.
A.4 The symbol table: ST.h . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53
.
A.5 The code generator: CG.h . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54
.
A.6 The stack machine: SM.h . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55
.
A.7 Sample program: test simple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
.
B Lex/Flex 59

B.1 Lex/Flex Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

. .
B.2 The Lex/Flex Input File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61.
B.3 The Generated Scanner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66
.
B.4 Interfacing with Yacc/Bison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67
.
iii

C Yacc/Bison 69
C.1 An Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
. .
C.2 A Yacc/Bison Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71
.
C.3 The Yacc/Bison Input File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
.
C.4 Yacc/Bison Output: the Parser File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
.
C.5 Parser C-Language Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
C.6 Debugging Your Parser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90
.
C.7 Stages in Using Yacc/Bison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
.
iv

Chapter 1

Introduction
Alanguagetranslatorisaprogramwhichtranslatesprogramswritteninasource
languageintoanequivalentprograminanobjectlanguage. Thesourcelanguage
isusuallyahigh-levelprogramminglanguageandtheobjectlanguageisusually
themachinelanguageofanactualcomputer. Fromthepragmaticpointofview,
thetranslatordefinesthesemanticsoftheprogramminglanguage, ittransforms
operationsspecifiedbythesyntaxintooperationsofthecomputationalmodelto
somerealorvirtualmachine. Thischaptershowshowcontext-freegrammarsare
used in the construction of language translators. Since the translation is guided
bythesyntaxofthesourcelanguage,thetranslationissaidtobe syntax-directed.
A compiler isatranslatorwhosesourcelanguageisahigh-levellanguageand
whose object language is close to the machine language of an actual computer.
The typical compiler consists of several phases each of which passes its output
to the next phase
The lexical phase (scanner) groups characters into lexical units or tokens.
The input to the lexical phase is a character stream. The output is a
stream of tokens. Regular expressions are used to define the tokens recognized by a scanner (or lexical analyzer). The scanner is implemented as a
finite state machine.

Lex and Flex are tools for generating scanners: programs which recognize
lexical patterns in text. Flex is a faster version of Lex. In this chapter
Lex/Flex refers to either of the tools. The appendix on Lex/Flex is a
condensation of the manual page flexdoc by Vern Paxon.
The parser groups tokens into syntactical units. The output of the parser
is a parse tree representation of the program. Context-free grammars are
used to define the program structure recognized by a parser. The parser
is implemented as a push-down automata.
1

YaccandBisonaretoolsforgeneratingparsers: programswhichrecognize
the structure grammatical structure of programs. Bison is a faster version
of Yacc. In this chapter, Yacc/Bison refers to either of these tools. The
sections on Yacc/Bison are a condensation and extension of the document
BISONtheYacc-compatibleParserGeneratorbyCharlesDonnellyand
Richard Stallman.
The semantic analysis phase analyzes the parse tree for context-sensitive
information often called the static semantics. The output of the semantic
analysis phase is an annotated parse tree. Attribute grammars are used
to describe the static semantics of a program.
This phase is often combined with the parser. During the parse, information concerning variables and other objects is stored in a symbol table.
The information is utilized to perform the context-sensitive checking.
The optimizer applies semantics preserving transformations to the annotated parse tree to simplify the structure of the tree and to facilitate the
generation of more efficient code.
The code generator transforms the simplified annotated parse tree into
objectcodeusingruleswhichdenotethesemanticsofthesourcelanguage.
The code generator may be integrated with the parser.
The peep-hole optimizer examines the object code, a few instructions at a
time, and attempts to do machine dependent code improvements.

In contrast with compilers an interpreter is a program which simulates the

execution of programs written in a source language. Interpreters may be used
either at the source program level or an interpreter may be used it interpret an
objectcodeforanidealizedmachine. Thisisthecasewhenacompilergenerates
code for an idealized machine whose architecture more closely resembles the
source code.
Thereareseveralothertypesoftranslatorsthatareoftenusedinconjunction
with a compiler to facilitate the execution of programs. An assembler is a
translatorwhosesourcelanguage(anassemblylanguage)representsaone-to-one
transliteration of the object machine code. Some compilers generate assembly
code which is then assembled into machine code by an assembler. A loader
is a translator whose source and object languages are machine language. The
sourcelanguageprogramscontaintablesofdataspecifyingpointsintheprogram
which must be modified if the program is to be executed. A link editor takes
collectionsofexecutableprogramsandlinksthemtogetherforactualexecution.
A preprocessor is a translator whose source language is an extended form of
some high-level language and whose object language is the standard form of
the
high-level language.
Forillustrationpurposes,wewillconstructacompilerforasimpleimperative
programming language called Simple. The context-free grammar for Simple is
2

program::=LET[declarations]INcommand sequenceEND
declarations::=INTEGER[id seq]IDENTIFIER.
id seq::=id seq... IDENTIFIER,
command sequence::=command... command
com m and::=SKIP;
| IDENTIFIER:=expression;
| IFexpTHENcommand sequenceELSEcommand sequenceFI;
| WHILEexpDOcommand sequenceEND;
| READIDENTIFIER;
| WRITEexpression;
expression::=NUMBER | IDENTIFIER | (expression)
| expression + expression | expression expression
| expression expression | expression / expression
| expression expression
| expression = expression
| expression < expression
| expression > expression

Figure 1.1: Simple

given in Figure 1.1 where the non-terminal symbols are given in all lower case,
the terminal symbols are given in all caps or as literal symbols and, where the
literal symbols conflict with the meta symbols of the EBNF, they are enclosed
with single quotes. The start symbol is program. While the grammar uses

upper-case to high-light terminal symbols, they are to be implemented in lower

case.
There are two context sensitive requirements; variables must be declared
before they are referenced and a variable may be declared only once.
3

Chapter 2

The Parser
A parser is a program which determines if its input is syntactically valid and
determines its structure. Parsers may be hand written or may be automatically
generatedbyaparsergeneratorfromdescriptionsofvalidsyntacticalstructures.
The descriptions are in the form of a context-free grammar. Parser generators
may be used to develop a wide range of language parsers, from those used in
simple desk calculators to complex programming languages.
Yacc is a program which given a context-free grammar, constructs a C programwhichwillparseinputaccordingtothegrammarrules. Yaccwasdeveloped
by S. C. Johnson an others at AT&T Bell Laboratories. Yacc provides for semantic stack manipulation and the specification of semantic routines. A input
file for Yacc is of the form:
Candparserdeclarations
%%
Grammarrulesandactions
%%
Csubroutines

The first section of the Yacc file consists of a list of tokens (other than single
characters) that are expected by the parser and the specification of the start
symbol of the grammar. This section of the Yacc file may contain specification

oftheprecedenceandassociativityofoperators. Thispermits greaterflexibility

in the choice of a context-free grammar. Addition and subtraction are declared
to be left associative and of lowest precedence while exponentiation is
declared
to be right associative and to have the highest precedence.
%startprogram
%tokenLETINTEGERIN
%tokenSKIPIFTHENELSEENDW HILEDOREADW RITE

%tokenNUMBER
%tokenIDENTIFIER
%left-+
%left*/
%right
%%
Grammarrulesandactions
%%
Csubroutines

The second section of the Yacc file consists of the context-free grammar for
the language. Productions are separated by semicolons, the ::= symbol of the
BNF is replaced with :, the empty production is left empty, non-terminals are
written in all lower case, and the multicharacter terminal symbols in all upper
case. Notice the simplification of the expression grammar due to the separation
of precedence from the grammar.
Candparserdeclarations
%%
program: LETdeclarationsINcommandsEND;
declarations : /*em pty*/
| INTEGERid seqIDENTIFIER.
;
id seq: /*em pty*/

| id seqIDENTIFIER,
;
com m ands: /*em pty*/
| commandscommand;
;
command: SKIP
| READIDENTIFIER
| WRITEexp
| IDENTIFIERASSGNOPexp
| IFexpTHENcommandsELSEcommandsFI
| WHILEexpDOcommandsEND
;
exp: NUMBER
| IDENTIFIER
| exp<exp
| exp=exp
| exp>exp
| exp+exp
| expexp
| expexp
| exp/exp
| expexp
| (exp)
;

%%
Csubroutines

The third section of the Yacc file consists of C code. There must be a
main() routine which calls the function yyparse(). The function yyparse()
is
6

the driver routine for the parser. There must also be the function yyerror()
which is used to report on errors during the parse. Simple examples of the
function main() and yyerror() are:
Candparserdeclarations
%%
Grammarrulesandactions
%%
m ain(intargc ,char*argv[])
{ externFILE*yyin;
++argv; argc;
yyin=fopen(argv[0],r);
yydebug=1;
errors=0;
yyparse();
}
yyerror(char*s)/*Calledbyyyparseonerror*/
{
printf(%s\n,s);
}

The parser, as written, has no output however, the parse tree is implicitly
constructed during the parse. As the parser executes, it builds an internal
representation of the the structure of the program. The internal representation
is based on the right hand side of the production rules. When a right hand

side is recognized, it is reduced to the corresponding left hand side. Parsing is

complete when the entire program has been reduced to the start symbol of the
grammar.
Compiling the Yacc file with the command yacc -vd file.y (bison -vd file.y)
causes the generation of two files file.tab.h and file.tab.c. The file.tab.h
contains
the list of tokens is included in the file which defines the scanner. The file
file.tab.c defines the C function yyparse() which is the parser.
Yacc is distributed with the Unix operating system while Bison is a product
of the Free Software Foundation, Inc.
For more information on using Yacc/Bison see the appendex, consult the
manual pages for bison, the paper Programming Utilities and Libraries LR
Parsing by A. V. Aho and S. C. Johnson, Computing Surveys, June, 1974
and the document BISON the Yacc-compatible Parser Generator by Charles
Donnelly and Richard Stallman.
7

Chapter 3

The Scanner
A scanner (lexical analyzer) is a program which recognizes patterns in text.
Scanners may be hand written or may be automatically generated by a lexical
analyzer generator from descriptions of the patterns to be recognized. The
descripions are in the form of regular expressions.
Lex is a lexical analyzer generator developed by M. E. Lesk and E. Schmidt
of AT&T Bell Laboratories. The input to Lex is a file containing tokens defined
using regular expressions. Lex produces an entire scanner module that can be
compiled and linked to other compiler modules. A input file for Lex is of the
form:
Lexgeneratesafilecontainingthefunction yylex() whichreturnsaninteger
denoting the token recognized.
Candscannerdeclarations
%%
Tokendefinitionsandactions
%%
Csubroutines

The first section of the Lex file contains the C declaration to include the file
(simple.tab.h) produced by Yacc/Bison which contains the definitions of the the
multi-character tokens. The first section also contains Lex definitions used in

the regular expressions. In this case, DIGIT is defined to be one of the symbols
0 through 9 and ID is defined to be a lower case letter followed by zero or
more
letters or digits.
%{
#includeSim ple.tab.h/*Thetokens*/
%}

DIGIT [0-9]
ID [a-z][a-z0-9]*
%%
Tokendefinitionsandactions
%%
Csubroutines

ThesecondsectionoftheLexfilegivestheregularexpressionsforeachtoken
to be recognized and a corresponding action. Strings of one or more digits are
recognized as an integer and thus the value INT is returned to the parser. The
reserved words of the language are strings of lower case letters (upper-case
may
beusedbutmustbetreateddifferently). Blanks, tabsandnewlinesareignored.
Allothersinglecharactersymbolsarereturnedasthemselves(thescannerplaces
all input in the string yytext).
Candscannerdeclarations
%%
:= { return(ASSGNOP); }
{DIGIT}+ { return(NUMBER); }
do { return(DO); }
else { return(ELSE); }
end { return(END); }
fi { return(FI); }
if { return(IF); }
in { return(IN); }

integer { return(INTEGER); }
let { return(LET); }
read { return(READ); }
skip { return(SKIP); }
then { return(THEN); }
while { return(WHILE); }
write { return(WRITE); }
{ID} { return(IDENTIFIER); }
[ \t\n]+ /*blank,tab,newline: eatupwhitespace*/
. { return(yytext[0]); }
%%
Csubroutines

The values associated with the tokens are the integer values that the scanner
returns to the parser upon recognizing the token.
Figure 3.1 gives the format of some of the regular expressions that may be
used to define the tokens. There is a global variable yylval is accessible by
both the scanner and the parser and is used to store additional information
about the token.
The third section of the file is empty in this example but may contain C
code associated with the actions.
Compiling the Lex file with the command lex file.lex (flex file.lex) results in
the production of the file lex.yy.c which defines the C function yylex(). One each
invocation, the function yylex() scans the input file an returns the next token.

10

. any character except newline

x match the character x
rs the regular expression r followed by the regular expression s;
called concatenation
r|s either an r or an s
(r) match an r; parentheses are used to provide grouping.
r* zero or more rs, where r is any regular expression
r+ one or more rs
[xyz] a character class; in this case, the pattern matches either
an x, a y, or a z.
[abj-oZ] a character class with a range in it; matches an a, a
b, any letter from j through o, or a Z.
{name} the expansion of the name definition.
\X if X is an a, b, f, n, r, t, or v, then the ANSI-C interpretation of \x.
"[+xyz]+\"+foo the literal string: [xyz]"foo
Figure 3.1: Lex/Flex Regular Expressions
11

Lex is distributed with the Unix operating system while Flex is a product
of the Free Software Foundation, Inc.
For more information on using Lex/Flex consult the manual pages lex, flex
and flexdoc, and see the paper LEX Lexical Analyzer Generator by M. E.
Lesk and E. Schmidt.
12

Chapter 4

The Context
Lex and Yacc files can be extended to handle the context sensitive information.
For example, suppose we want to require that, in Simple, we require that variables be declared before they are referenced. Therefore the parser must be
able
to compare variable references with the variable declarations.
One way to accomplish this is to construct a list of the variables during the
parse of the declaration section and then check variable references against the
those on the list. Such a list is called a symbol table. Symbol tables may be
implemented using lists, trees, and hash-tables.
We modify the Lex file to assign the global variable yylval to the identifier
string since the information will be needed by the attribute grammar.

The Symbol Table Module

Toholdtheinformationrequiredbytheattributegrammarweconstructasymbol table. A symbol table contains the environmental information concerning
the attributes of various programming language constructs. In particular, the
type and scope information for each variable.
The symbol table will be developed as a module to be included in the
yacc/bison file.
The symbol table for Simple consists of a linked list of identifiers, initially

empty. Here is the declaration of a node, initialization of the list to empty and
structsymrec
{
char*nam e;/*nam eofsym bol*/

13

structsym rec*next;/*linkfield*/
};
typedefstructsymrecsymrec;
symrec*sym table=(symrec*)0;
symrec*putsym();
symrec*getsym();

and two operations: putsym to put an identifier into the table,

symrec*
putsym(char*sym name)
{
symrec*ptr;
ptr=(symrec*)malloc(sizeof(symrec));
ptr >name=(char*)malloc(strlen(sym name)+1);
strcpy(ptr >name,sym name);
ptr >next=(structsymrec*)sym table;
sym table=ptr;
returnptr;
}

and getsym which returns a pointer to the symbol table entry corresponding to
an identifier.
symrec*
getsym(char*sym name)
{

symrec*ptr;
for(ptr=sym table;ptr! =(sym rec*)0;
ptr=(sym rec*)ptr >next)
if(strcm p(ptr >name,sym name)==0)
returnptr;
return0;
}

The Parser Modifications

The Yacc/Bison file is modified to include the symbol table and with routines
to perform the installation of an indentifier in the symbol table and to perform
context checking.
%{
#include <stdlib.h> /*Form allocinsym boltable*/
#include <string.h> /*Forstrcm pinsym boltable*/
#include <stdio.h> /*Forerrorm essages*/
#includeST.h/*TheSym bolTableModule*/
#defineYYDEBUG1/*Fordebugging*/
install(char*sym name)
{ symrec*s;
s=getsym(sym name);

14

if(s = = 0)
s=putsym(sym name);
else { errors++;
printf(%sisalreadydefined\n,sym name);
}
}
context check(char*sym name)
{ if(getsym (s ym nam e)==0)
printf(%sisanundeclaredidentifier\n,sym name);
}
%}
Parserdeclarations
%%
Grammarrulesandactions
%%
Csubroutines

Since the scanner (the Lex file) will be returning identifiers, a semantic record
(static semantics) is required to hold the value and IDENT is associated with
that semantic record.
Cdeclarations
%union { /*SEMANTICRECORD*/
char*id;/*Forreturningidentifiers*/
}

%tokenINTSKIPIFTHENELSEFIW HILEDOEND
%token <id> IDENT/*Sim pleidentifier*/
%left-+
%left*/
%right
%%
Grammarrulesandactions
%%
Csubroutines

The context free-grammar is modified to include calls to the install and context
checkingfunctions. $nisavariableinternaltoYaccwhichreferstothesemantic
recordcorrespondingthethenth symbolontherighthandsideofaproduction.
Candparserdeclarations
%%
...
declarations: /*em pty*/
| INTEGERid seqIDENTIFIER. { install($3); }
;
id seq: /*em pty*/
| id seqIDENTIFIER, { install($2); }
;
command: SKIP
| READIDENTIFIER { context check($2); }
| IDENTASSGNOPexp { context check($2); }

...
exp: INT

15

| IDENT { context check($2); }

...
%%
Csubroutines

In this implementation the parse tree is implicitly annotated with the informationconcerningwhetheravariableisassignedtoavaluebeforeitisreferenced
inanexpression. Theannotationstotheparsetreearecollectedintothesymbol
table.

The Scanner Modifications

The scanner must be modified to return the literal string associated each identifier (the semantic value of the token). The semantic value is returned in the
global variable yylval. yylvals type is a union made from the %union
declaration in the parser file. The semantic value must be stored in the proper
member of the union. Since the union declaration is:
%union { char *id;
}

thesemanticvalueiscopiedfromtheglobalvariable yytext (whichcontainsthe

input text) to yylval.id. Since the function strdup is used (from the library
string.h) the library must be included. The resulting scanner file is:
%{
#include <string.h> /* for strdup */

#include "Simple.tab.h" /* for token definitions and yylval */

%}
DIGIT [0-9]
ID [a-z][a-z0-9]*
%%
":=" { return(ASSGNOP); }
{DIGIT}+ { return(NUMBER); }
do { return(DO); }
else { return(ELSE); }
end { return(END); }
fi { return(FI); }
if { return(IF); }
in { return(IN); }
integer { return(INTEGER); }
let { return(LET); }
read { return(READ); }
skip { return(SKIP); }
then { return(THEN); }
while { return(WHILE); }
write { return(WRITE); }
{ID} { yylval.id = (char *) strdup(yytext);
return(IDENTIFIER);}

16

[ \t\n]+ /* eat up whitespace */

. { return(yytext[0]);}
%%

Intermediate Representation
Most compilers convert the source code to an intermedate representation during this phase. In this example, the intermediate representation is a parse tree.
The parse tree is held in the stack but it could be made explicit. Other popular choices for intermediate representation include abstract parse trees, threeaddress code, also known as quadruples, and post fix code. In this example we
have chosen to bypass the generation of an intermediate representation and go
directly to code generation. The principles illustrated in the section on code
generation also apply to the generation of intermediate code.
17

18

Chapter 5

Optimization
It may be possible to restructure the parse tree to reduce its size or to present
a parse to the code generator from which the code generator is able to
produce
more efficient code. Some optimizations that can be applied to the parse tree
are illustrated using source code rather than the parse tree.
Constant folding:
I := 4 + J - 5; --> I := J - 1;
or
I := 3; J := I + 2; --> I := 3; J := 5
Loop-Constant code motion:
From:
while (count < limit) do
INPUT SALES;
VALUE := SALES * ( MARK_UP + TAX );
OUTPUT := VALUE;
COUNT := COUNT + 1;
end; -->
to:
TEMP := MARK_UP + TAX;

while (COUNT < LIMIT) do

INPUT SALES;
VALUE := SALES * TEMP;
OUTPUT := VALUE;
COUNT := COUNT + 1;
end;
19

Induction variable elimination: Most program time is spent in the body

of loops so loop optimization can result in significant performance improvement. Often the induction variable of a for loop is used only within
the loop. In this case, the induction variable may be stored in a register
rather than in memory. And when the induction variable of a for loop is
referenced only as an array subscript, it may be initialized to the initial
addressofthearrayandincrementedbyonlyusedforaddresscalculation.
In such cases, its initial value may be set
From:
For I := 1 to 10 do
A[I] := A[I] + E
to:
For I := address of first element in A
to address of last element in A
increment by size of an element of A do
A[I] := A[I] + E
Common subexpression elimination:
From:
A := 6 * (B+C);
D := 3 + 7 * (B+C);
E := A * (B+C);

to:
TEMP := B + C;
A := 6 * TEMP;
D := 3 * 7 * TEMP;
E := A * TEMP;
Strength reduction:
2*x --> x + x
2*x --> shift left x
Mathematical identities:
a*b + a*c --> a*(b+c)
a - b --> a + ( - b )
We do not illustrate an optimizer in the parser for Simpile.
20

Chapter 6

Virtual Machines
A computer constructed from actual physical devices is termed an actual computer or hardware computer. From the programming point of view, it is the
instruction set of the hardware that defines a machine. An operating system
is built on top of a machine to manage access to the machine and to provide
additional services. The services provided by the operating system constitute
another machine, a virtual machine.
A programming language provides a set of operations. Thus, for example, it is possible to speak of a Pascal computer or a Scheme computer. For
the programmer, the programming language is the computer; the programming
language defines a virtual computer. The virtual machine for Simple consists
of a data area which contains the association between variables and values
and
the program which manipulates the data area.
Betweentheprogrammersviewoftheprogramandthevirtualmachineprovidedbytheoperatingsystemisanothervirtualmachine. Itconsistsofthedata
structures and algorithms necessary to support the execution of the program.
This virtual machine is the run time system of the language. Its complexity
may range in size from virtually nothing, as in the case of FORTRAN, to an
extremely sophisticated system supporting memory management and inter pro-

cess communication as in the case of a concurrent programming language like

SR. The run time system for Simple as includes the processing unit capable of
executing the code and a data area in which the values assigned to variables
are
accessed through an offset into the data area.
User programs constitute another class of virtual machines.
21

A Stack Machine
The S-machine 1 is a stack machine organized to simplify the implementation
of block structured languages. It provides dynamic storage allocation through
a stack of activation records. The activation records are linked to provide support for static scoping and they contain the context information to support
procedures.
Machine Organization: The S-machine consists of two stores, a program
store, C(organizedasanarrayandisreadonly),andadatastore, S(organized
as a stack). There are four registers, an instruction register, IR, which
contains the instruction which is being interpreted, the stack top register,
T,whichcontainstheaddressofthetopelementofthestack,theprogram
address register, PC, which contains the address of the next instruction
tobefetchedforinterpretation, andthecurrentactivationrecordregister,
AR,whichcontainsthebaseaddressoftheactivationrecordoftheprocedure which is being interpreted. Each location of C is capable of holding
an instruction. Each location of S is capable of holding an address or an
integer. Each instruction consists of three fields, an operation code and
two parameters.
Instruction Set: S-codes are the machine language of the S-machine. S-codes
occupy four bytes each. The first byte is the operation code (op-code).

There are nine basic S-code instructions, each with a different op-code.
The second byte of the S-code instruction contains either 0 or a lexical
level offset, or a condition code for the conditional jump instruction. The
last two bytes taken as a 16-bit integer form an operand which is a literal
value, or a variable offset from a base in the stack, or a S-code instruction
location, or an operation number, or a special routine number, depending
on the op-code.
The action of each instruction is described using a mixture of English language description and mathematical formalism. The mathematical formalism is used to note changes in values that occur to the registers and
the stack of the S-machine. Data access and storage instructions require
an offset within the activation record and the level difference between the
referencing level and the definition level. Procedure calls require a code
address and the level difference between the referencing level and the definition level.
Instruction Operands Comments
READ 0,N InputintegerintolocationN: S(N) := Input
W RITE Outputtopofstack: Output := S(T); T:= T-1
OPR Arithmetic and logical operations
0,0 processandfunction,returnoperation
1This

is an adaptation of: Niklaus Wirth, Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs

Prentice-Hall,EnglewoodCliffs,N.J.,1976.

22

T:= AR-1; AR:= S(T+2); P:= S(T+3)

ADD ADD:S(T-1):=S(T-1)+S(T);T:=T-1
SUB SUBTRACT:S(T-1):=S(T-1)-S(T);T:=T-1
MULT MULTIPLY:S(T-1):=S(T-1)*S(T);T:=T-1
DIV DIVIDE:S(T-1):=S(T-1)/S(T);T:=T-1
MOD MOD:S(T-1):=S(T-1)m odS(T);T:=T-1
EQ TESTEQUAL:
S(T-1) := if S(T-1) = S(T) then 1 else 0; T:= T-1
LT TESTLESSTHAN:
S(T-1) := if S(T-1) < S(T) then 1 else 0; T:= T-1
GT TESTGREATERTHAN:
S(T-1) := if S(T-1) > S(T) then 1 else 0; T:= T-1
LD INT 0,N LOADliteralvalueontostack: T:= T+1; S(T):= N
LD VAR L,N LOADvalueofvariableatleveloffsetL,base
offsetNinstackontotopofstack
T:= T + 1; S(T):= S(f(L,AR)+N)+3
STORE L,N s torevalueontopofstackintovariablelocation
atleveloffsetL,baseoffsetNinstack
S(f(ld,AR)+os+3):= S(T); T:= T - 1
CAL L,N callPROCorFUNCatS-codelocationNdeclared
atleveloffsetL
S(T+1):=f(ld,AR);{StaticLink}
S(T+2):=AR; {Dynam icLink}

S(T+3):=P; {ReturnAddress}
AR:=T+1; {ActivationRecord}
P:=cos; {ProgramCounter}
T: = T + 3 {StackTop}
CAL 255,0 callprocedureaddressinmemory: POPaddress,PUSHreturn
address,JUMPtoaddress
DATA 0,NN ADDNNtostackpointer T := T+NN
GOTO 0,N JUMP: P := N
JMP FALSE C,N JUMP: if S(T) = C then P:= N; T:= T-1
Wherethestaticleveldifferencebetweenthecurrentprocedureandthecalledprocedureisld.
osistheoffsetwithintheactivationrecord,ldisthestaticleveldifferencebetweenthe
currentactivationrecordandtheactivationrecordinwhichthevalueistobestoredand
f(ld,a) = if i=0 then a else f(i-1,S(a))

Operation: The registers and the stack of the S-machine are initialized as
follows:
P = 0. {Program Counter}
AR = 0; {Activation Record}
T = 2; {Stack Top}
S[0] := 0; {Static Link}
S[1] := 0; {Static Dynamic Link}
S[2] := 0; {Return Address}
The machine repeatedly fetches the instruction at the address in the register P, increments the register P and executes the instruction until the

register P contains a zero.

23

execution-loop : I:= C(P);

P:= P+1;
interpret(I);
if { P 0 -> halt
& P > 0 -> execution-loop }

The Stack Machine Module

The implementation of the stack machine is straight forward.
Theinstructionsetandthestructureofaninstructionaredefinedasfollows:
/* OPERATIONS: Internal Representation */
enum code_ops { HALT, STORE, JMP_FALSE, GOTO,
DATA, LD_INT, LD_VAR,
READ_INT, WRITE_INT,
LT, EQ, GT, ADD, SUB, MULT, DIV, PWR };
/* OPERATIONS: External Representation */
char *op_name[] = {"halt", "store", "jmp_false", "goto",
"data", "ld_int", "ld_var",
"in_int", "out_int",
"lt", "eq", "gt", "add", "sub", "mult", "div", "pwr" };
struct instruction
{
enum code_ops op;
int arg;
};

Memory is separtated into two segments, a code segment and a run-time data
and expression stack.
struct instruction code[999];
int stack[999];

The definitions of the registers, the program counter pc, the instruction register
ir, the activation record pointer ar (which points to be begining of the current
activation record), and the pointer to the top of the stack top, are straight
forward.
int pc = 0;
struct instruction ir;
int ar = 0;
int top = 0;

The fetch-execute cycle repeats until a halt instruction is encountered.

24

void fetch_execute_cycle()
{ do { /* Fetch */
ir = code[pc++];
/* Execute */
switch (ir.op) {
case HALT : printf( "halt\n" ); break;
case READ_INT : printf( "Input: " );
scanf( "%ld", &stack[ar+ir.arg] ); break;
case WRITE_INT : printf( "Output: %d\n", stack[top--] ); break;
case STORE : stack[ir.arg] = stack[top--]; break;
case JMP_FALSE : if ( stack[top--] == 0 )
pc = ir.arg;
break;
case GOTO : pc = ir.arg; break;
case DATA : top = top + ir.arg; break;
case LD_INT : stack[++top] = ir.arg; break;
case LD_VAR : stack[++top] = stack[ar+ir.arg]; break;
case LT : if ( stack[top-1] < stack[top] )
stack[--top] = 1;
else stack[--top] = 0;
break;
case EQ : if ( stack[top-1] == stack[top] )
stack[--top] = 1;
else stack[--top] = 0;
break;

case GT : if ( stack[top-1] > stack[top] )

stack[--top] = 1;
else stack[--top] = 0;
top--;
break;
case ADD : stack[top-1] = stack[top-1] + stack[top];
top--;
break;
case SUB : stack[top-1] = stack[top-1] - stack[top];
top--;
break;
case MULT : stack[top-1] = stack[top-1] * stack[top];
top--;
break;
case DIV : stack[top-1] = stack[top-1] / stack[top];
top--;
break;
case PWR : stack[top-1] = stack[top-1] * stack[top];
top--;
break;
default : printf( "%sInternal Error: Memory Dump\n" );
break;
}
}
while (ir.op != HALT);

25

26

Chapter 7

Code Generation
As the source program is processed, it is converted to an internal form. The
internal representation in the example is that of an implicit parse tree. Other
internal forms may be used which resemble assembly code. The internal form
is
translated by the code generator into object code. Typically, the object code is
aprogramforavirtualmachine. ThevirtualmachinechosenforSimpleconsists
of three segments. A data segment, a code segment and an expression stack.
The data segment contains the values associated with the variables. Each
variable is assigned to a location which holds the associated value. Thus, part
of the activity of code generation is to associate an address with each variable.
The code segment consists of a sequence of operations. Program constants
are incorporated in the code segment since their values do not change. The
expression stack is a stack which is used to hold intermediate values in the
evaluation of expressions. The presence of the expression stack indicates that
the virtual machine for Simple is a stack machine.

Declaration translation
Declarations define an environment. To reserve space for the data values, the
DATA instruction is used.
integer x,y,z. DATA 2

27

Statement translation
The assignment, if, while, read and write statements are translated
as follows:
x := expr code for expr
STORE X
if cond then code for cond
S1 BR_FALSE L1
else code for S1
S2 BR L2
end L1: code for S2
L2:
while cond do L1: code for cond
S BR_FALSE L2
end code for S
BR L1
L2:
read X IN_INT X
write expr code for expr
OUT_INT
If the code is placed in an array, then the label addresses must be backpatched

into the code when they become available.

Expression translation
Expressions are evaluated on an expression stack. Expressions are translated
as
follows:
constant LD_INT constant
variable LD variable
e1 op e2 code for e1
code for e2
code for op
28

The Code Generator Module

The data segment begins with an offset of zero and space is reserved, in the
data segment, by calling the function data location which returns the
address
of the reserved location.
int data_offset = 0;
int data_location() { return data_offset++; }

The code segment begins with an offset of zero. Space is reserved, in the
code segment, by calling the function reserve loc which returns the
address
of the reserved location. The function gen label returns the value of the
code
offset.
int code_offset = 0;
int reserve_loc()
{
return code_offset++;
}
int gen_label()
{
return code_offset;
}

The functions reserve loc and gen label are used for backpatching

code.
Thefunctions gen code and back patch areusedtogeneratecode. gen
code
generates code at the current offset while back patch is used to generate
code
at some previously reserved address.
void gen_code( enum code_ops operation, int arg )
{ code[code_offset].op = operation;
code[code_offset++].arg = arg;
}
void back_patch( int addr, enum code_ops operation, int arg )
{
code[addr].op = operation;
code[addr].arg = arg;
}

The Symbol Table Modifications

The symbol table record is extended to contain the offset from the base
address
of the data segment (the storage area which is to contain the values associated
with each variable) and the putsym function is extended to place the offset
into
the record associated with the variable.
29

struct symrec
{
char *name; /* name of symbol */
int offset; /* data offset */
struct symrec *next; /* link field */
};
...
symrec * putsym (char *sym_name)
{
symrec *ptr;
ptr = (symrec *) malloc (sizeof(symrec));
ptr->name = (char *) malloc (strlen(sym_name)+1);
strcpy (ptr->name,sym_name);
ptr->offset = data_location();
ptr->next = (struct symrec *)sym_table;
sym_table = ptr;
return ptr;
}
...

The Parser Modifications

Asanexampleofcodegeneration,weextendourLexandYaccfilesforSimpleto
generate code for a stack machine. First, we must extend the Yacc and Lex
files

to pass the values of constants from the scanner to the parser. The definition
of the semantic record in the Yacc file is modified that the constant may be
returned as part of the semantic record. and to hold two label identifiers since
two labels will be required for the if and while commands. The token type of
IF and WHILE is <lbls> toprovidelabelstorageforbackpatching. Thefunction
newlblrec generatesthespacetoholdthelabelsusedingeneratingcodeforthe If
and While statements. The context check routine is extended to generate code.
%{#include <stdio.h> /* For I/O */
#include <stdlib.h> /* For malloc here and in symbol table */
#include <string.h> /* For strcmp in symbol table */
#include "ST.h" /* Symbol Table */
#include "SM.h" /* Stack Machine */
#include "CG.h" /* Code Generator */
#define YYDEBUG 1 /* For Debugging */
int errors; /* Error Count-incremented in CG, ckd here */
struct lbs /* For labels: if and while */
{
int for_goto;
int for_jmp_false;
};
struct lbs * newlblrec() /* Allocate space for the labels */
{
return (struct lbs *) malloc(sizeof(struct lbs));

}
install ( char *sym_name )
{

30

symrec *s;
s = getsym (sym_name);
if (s == 0)
s = putsym (sym_name);
else { errors++;
printf( "%s is already defined\n", sym_name );
}
}
context_check( enum code_ops operation, char *sym_name )
{ symrec *identifier;
identifier = getsym( sym_name );
if ( identifier == 0 )
{ errors++;
printf( "%s", sym_name );
printf( "%s\n", " is an undeclared identifier" );
}
else gen_code( operation, identifier->offset );
}
%}
%union semrec /* The Semantic Records */
{
int intval; /* Integer values */
char *id; /* Identifiers */
struct lbs *lbls /* For backpatching */
}

%start program
%token <intval> NUMBER /* Simple integer */
%token <id> IDENTIFIER /* Simple identifier */
%token <lbls> IF WHILE /* For backpatching labels */
%token SKIP THEN ELSE FI DO END
%token INTEGER READ WRITE LET IN
%token ASSGNOP
%left - +
%left * /
%right ^
%%
/* Grammar Rules and Actions */
%%
/* C subroutines */

The parser is extended to generate and assembly code. The code implementing the if and while commands must contain the correct jump addresses.
Inthisexample, thejumpdestinationsarelabels. Sincethedestinationsarenot
known until the entire command is processed, back-patching of the destination
information is required. In this example, the label identifier is generated when
it is known that an address is required. The label is placed into the code when
its position is known. An alternative solution is to store the code in an array
and back-patch actual addresses.
The actions associated with code generation for a stack-machine based ar-

chitecture are added to the grammar section. The code generated for the declaration section must reserve space for the variables.
/* C and Parser declarations */

31

%%
program : LET
declarations
IN { gen_code( DATA, sym_table->offset ); }
commands
END { gen_code( HALT, 0 ); YYACCEPT; }
;
declarations : /* empty */
| INTEGER id_seq IDENTIFIER . { install( $3 ); }
;
id_seq : /* empty */
| id_seq IDENTIFIER , { install( $2 ); }
;

The IF and WHILE commands require backpatching.

commands : /* empty */
| commands command ;
;
command : SKIP
| READ IDENTIFIER { context_check( READ_INT, $2 ); }
| WRITE exp { gen_code( WRITE_INT, 0 ); }
| IDENTIFIER ASSGNOP exp { context_check( STORE, $1 ); }
| IF exp { $1 = (struct lbs *) newlblrec();
$1->for_jmp_false = reserve_loc(); }
THEN commands { $1->for_goto = reserve_loc(); }

ELSE { back_patch( $1->for_jmp_false,

JMP_FALSE,
gen_label() ); }
commands
FI { back_patch( $1->for_goto, GOTO, gen_label() ); }
| WHILE { $1 = (struct lbs *) newlblrec();
$1->for_goto = gen_label(); }
exp { $1->for_jmp_false = reserve_loc(); }
DO
commands
END { gen_code( GOTO, $1->for_goto );
back_patch( $1->for_jmp_false,
JMP_FALSE,
gen_label() ); }
;

The code generated for expressions is straight forward.

exp : NUMBER { gen_code( LD_INT, $1 ); }
| IDENTIFIER { context_check( LD_VAR, $1 ); }
| exp < exp { gen_code( LT, 0 ); }
| exp = exp { gen_code( EQ, 0 ); }
| exp > exp { gen_code( GT, 0 ); }
| exp + exp { gen_code( ADD, 0 ); }
| exp - exp { gen_code( SUB, 0 ); }
| exp * exp { gen_code( MULT, 0 ); }

32

| exp / exp { gen_code( DIV, 0 ); }

| exp ^ exp { gen_code( PWR, 0 ); }
| ( exp )
;
%%
/* C subroutines */

The Scanner Modifications

ThentheLexfileisextendedtoplacethevalueoftheconstantintothesemantic
record.
%{
#include <string.h> /* for strdup */
#include "simple.tab.h" /* for token definitions and yylval */
%}
DIGIT [0-9]
ID [a-z][a-z0-9]*
%%
{DIGIT}+ { yylval.intval = atoi( yytext );
return(INT); }
...
{ID} { yylval.id = (char *) strdup(yytext);
return(IDENT); }
[ \t\n]+ /* eat up whitespace */
. { return(yytext[0]);}
%%

An Example
To illustrate the code generation capabilities of the compiler, Figure 7.1 is a
program in Simp and Figure 7.2.
33

let
integer n,x,n.
in
read n;
if n < 10 then x := 1; else skip; fi;
while n < 10 do x := 5*x; n := n+1; end;
skip;
write n;
write x;
end
Figure 7.1: A Simple program
34

0: data 1
1: in_int 0
2: ld_var 0
3: ld_int 10
4: lt 0
5: jmp_false 9
6: ld_int 1
7: store 1
8: goto 9
9: ld_var 0
10: ld_int 10
11: lt 0
12: jmp_false 22
13: ld_int 5
14: ld_var 1
15: mult 0
16: store 1
17: ld_var 0
18: ld_int 1
19: add 0

20: store 0
21: goto 9
22: ld_var 0
23: out_int 0
24: ld_var 1
25: out_int 0
26: halt 0
Figure 7.2: Stack code
35

36

Chapter 8

Peephole Optimization
Following code generation there are further optimizations that are possible.
The code is scanned a few instructions at a time (the peephole) looking for
combinations of instructions that may be replaced by more efficient combinations. Typical optimizations performed by a peephole optimizer include copy
propagation across register loads and stores, strength reduction in arithmetic
operators and memory access, and branch chaining.
We do not illustrate a peephole optimizer for Simp.
x := x + 1 ld x ld x
inc inc
store x dup
y := x + 3 ld x
ld 3 ld 3
add add
store y store y
x := x + z ld x
ld z ld z
add add
store x store x

37

38

Chapter 9

Further Reading
For information on compiler construction using Lex and Yacc see[?]. Pratt [?]
emphasizes virtual machines.
39

40

Chapter 10

Exercises
The exercises which follow vary in difficulty. In each case, determine what
modifications must be made to the grammar, the symbol table and to the stack
machine code.
1. Re-implement the symbol table as a binary search tree.
2. Re-implement the symbol table as a hash table.
3. Re-implementthesymboltable,thecodegeneratorandthestackmachine
as C++ classes.
4. Extend the Micro Compiler with the extensions listed below. The extensionsrequirethemodificationofthescannertohandlethenewtokensand
modifications to the parser to handle the extended grammar.
(a) Declarations: Change the semantic processing of identifier references
to require previous declaration.
(b) Realliteralsandvariables: Extendthesymbol-tableroutinestostore
a type attribute with each identifier. Extend the semantic routines
thatgeneratecodetoconsiderthetypesofliteralsandvariablesthey
receive as parameters.
(c) Multiplicationanddivision: Makeappropriatechangestothesemantic routines to handle code generation based on the new tokens.

(d) if and while statements: Semanticroutinesmustgeneratetheproper

tests and jumps.
(e) Parameterless procedures: The symbol table must be extended to
handle nested scopes and the semantic routines must be extended to
generate code to manage control transfer at each point of call and at
the beginning and end of each procedure body.
41

Optional additions include:

(a) An interpreter for the code produced by the compiler
(b) Substitution of a table-driven parser for the recursive descent parser
in the Micro compiler.
5. Extend the Micro-II compiler. A self-contained description of Macro is
included in the cs360/compiler tools directory. In brief, the following extensions are required.
(a) Scanner extensions to handle the new tokens, use of parser generator
to produce new tables(20 points).
(b) Declarations of integer and real variables(10 points).
(c) Integer literals, expressions involving integers, I/O for integers, and
output for strings(10 points).
(d) The loop and exit statements and addition of the else and elsif
parts to the if statement(20 points).
(e) Recursiveprocedureswithparameters(8pointsforsimpleprocedures,
8 points for recursion, 12 points for parameters).
(f) Record declarations and field references(8 points).
(g) Array declarations and element references(12 points).
(h) Package declarations and qualified name references(12 points).
The total number of points is 120.

6. The compiler is to be completely written from scratch. The list below

assigns points to each of the features of the language, with a basic subset required of all students identified first. All of the other features are
optional.
Basic Subset (130 points)
(a) (100 points)
i. Integer, Real, Boolean types (5 points)
ii. Basic expressions involving Integer, Real and Boolean types
(+, , ,/, not, and or, abs, mod, **, < , < =, > , > =, =
,/ =) (30 points).
iii. Input/Output
A. Input of Integer, Real, Boolean scalars(5 points).
B. Output of String literals and Integer, Real and Boolean
expressions(excluding formatting)(5 points).
iv. Block structure (including declaration of local variables and
constants) (20 points).
v. Assignment statement (10 points).
vi. if, loop, and exit statements (10, 5, 10 points respectively)
42

(b) (30 points) Procedures and scalar-valued functions of no arguments (including nesting and non-local variables).
Optional Features (336 points possible)
(a) loop statements (15 points total)
i. in and in reverse forms (10 points)
ii. while form (5 points)
(b) Arrays (30 points total)
i. One-dimensional, compile-time bounds, including First and
Last attributes (10 points)
ii. Multi-dimensional,compile-timebounds,includingFirstand
Last attributes (5-points)
iii. Elaboration-time bounds (9 points)
iv. Subscript checking (3 points)
v. Record base type (3 points)
(c) Boolean short-circuit operators (and then, or else) (12 points)
(d) Strings (23 points total)
i. Basic string operations (string variables, string assigns, all
string operators (&, Substr, etc), I/O of strings) (10 points)
ii. Unbounded-length strings (5 points)
iii. Fullgarbagecollectionofunbounded-lengthstrings(8points)
(e) Records (15 points total)

i. Basic features (10 points)

ii. Fields that are compile-time bounded arrays (2 points)
iii. Fieldsthatareelaboration-timesized(botharraysandrecords)
(3 points)
(f) Procedures and functions(53 points total)
i. Scalar parameters (15 points)
ii. Array arguments and array-valued functions (compiler-time
bounds) (7 points )
iii. Array arguments and array-valued functions (elaborationtime bounds) (5 points)
iv. Record arguments and record-value functions (4 points)
v. Conformant array parameters (i.e. array declarations of the
form type array (T range <>) of T2) (8 points)
vi. Array-valuedfunctions(elaboration-sizedbounds)(3points)
vii. Array-valued functions (conformant bounds) (4 points)
viii. Forward definition of procedures and functions (3 points)
ix. String arguments and string-valued functions (4 points)
(g) case statement (20 points total)
i. Jump code (10 points)
43

ii. If-then-else code (4 points)

iii. Search-table code (6 points)
(h) Constrained subtypes (including First and Last attributes) (10
points total)
i. Run-time range checks (7 points)
ii. Compile-time range checks (3 points)
(i) Folding of scalar constant expressions (8 points)
(j) Initialized variables (10 points total).
i. Compile-timevalues,global(withoutrun-timecode)(3points)
ii. Compile-time values, local (2 points)
iii. Elaboration-time values (2 points)
iv. Record fields (3 points)
(k) Formatted writes (3 points).
(l) Enumerations (18 points total).
i. Declarationofenumerationtypes;variables,assignment,and
comparison operations (9 points)
ii. Input and Output of enumeration values (5 points)
iii. Succ, Pred, Char, and Val attributes (4 points)
(m) Arithmetic type conversion (3 points).
(n) Qualified names (from blocks and subprograms) (3 points).
(o) Pragmata (2 points).

(p) Overloading (25 points total)

i. Subprogram identifier (18 points)
ii. Operators (7 points)
(q) Packages (55 points total).
i. Combined packages (containing both declaration and body
parts); qualified access to visible part (20 points)
ii. Split packages (with distinct declaration and body parts) (5
points)
iii. Private types (10 points)
iv. Separate compilation of package bodies (20 points)
(r) Use statements (11 points)
(s) Exceptions(including exception declarations, raise statements,
exception handlers, predefined exceptions) (20 points).
Extra credit project extensions:
Language extensions array I/O, external procedures, sets, procedures as arguments, extended data types.
Programoptimizationseliminatingredundantoperations,storing frequently used variables or expressions in registers, optimizing Boolean expressions, constant-folding.
44

 High-quality compile-time and run-time diagnostincs Syntax

error: operator expected, or Subscript out of range in line 21;
illegal value: 137. Some form of syntactic error repair might be
included.
45

46

Appendix A

Simple - The complete

implementation
A.1 The parser: Simple.y

%
{/*************************************************************
Compiler for the Simple language

***************************************************************

/*=============================================================
C Libraries, Symbol Table, Code Generator & other C code

===============================================================
#include <stdio.h> /* For I/O */
#include <stdlib.h> /* For malloc here and in symbol table
*/
#include <string.h> /* For strcmp in symbol table */
#include "ST.h" /* Symbol Table */
#include "SM.h" /* Stack Machine */
#include "CG.h" /* Code Generator */
#define YYDEBUG 1 /* For Debugging */
int errors; /* Error Count */
/*--------------------------------------------------------

----------------The following support backpatching

------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
struct lbs /* Labels for data, if and while */
{
int for_goto;
int for_jmp_false;
47

};
struct lbs * newlblrec() /* Allocate space for the labels
*/
{
return (struct lbs *) malloc(sizeof(struct lbs));
}
/*-----------------------------------------------------------------------Install identifier & check if previously defined.
------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
install ( char *sym_name )
{
symrec *s;
s = getsym (sym_name);
if (s == 0)
s = putsym (sym_name);
else { errors++;
printf( "%s is already defined\n", sym_name );
}
}
/*------------------------------------------------------------------------

If identifier is defined, generate code

------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
context_check( enum code_ops operation, char *sym_name )
{ symrec *identifier;
identifier = getsym( sym_name );
if ( identifier == 0 )
{ errors++;
printf( "%s", sym_name );
printf( "%s\n", " is an undeclared identifier" );
}
else gen_code( operation, identifier->offset );
}

/*=============================================================
SEMANTIC RECORDS

===============================================================
%}
%union semrec /* The Semantic Records */
{
int intval; /* Integer values */
char *id; /* Identifiers */
struct lbs *lbls; /* For backpatching */

/*==============================================================
TOKENS

================================================================
%start program
%token <intval> NUMBER /* Simple integer */
48

%token <id> IDENTIFIER /* Simple identifier */

%token <lbls> IF WHILE /* For backpatching labels */
%token SKIP THEN ELSE FI DO END
%token INTEGER READ WRITE LET IN
%token ASSGNOP

/*=============================================================
OPERATOR PRECEDENCE

===============================================================
%left - +
%left * /
%right ^

/*=============================================================
GRAMMAR RULES for the Simple language

===============================================================
%%
program : LET
declarations
IN { gen_code( DATA, data_location() - 1 ); }
commands
END { gen_code( HALT, 0 ); YYACCEPT; }
;

declarations : /* empty */
| INTEGER id_seq IDENTIFIER . { install( $3 ); }
;
id_seq : /* empty */
| id_seq IDENTIFIER , { install( $2 ); }
;
commands : /* empty */
| commands command ;
;
command : SKIP
| READ IDENTIFIER { context_check( READ_INT, $2 ); }
| WRITE exp { gen_code( WRITE_INT, 0 ); }
| IDENTIFIER ASSGNOP exp { context_check( STORE, $1 ); }
| IF exp { $1 = (struct lbs *) newlblrec();
$1->for_jmp_false = reserve_loc(); }
THEN commands { $1->for_goto = reserve_loc(); }
ELSE { back_patch( $1->for_jmp_false,
JMP_FALSE,
gen_label() ); }
commands
FI { back_patch( $1->for_goto, GOTO, gen_label() ); }

| WHILE { $1 = (struct lbs *) newlblrec();

$1->for_goto = gen_label(); }
49

exp { $1->for_jmp_false = reserve_loc(); }

DO
commands
END { gen_code( GOTO, $1->for_goto );
back_patch( $1->for_jmp_false,
JMP_FALSE,
gen_label() ); }
;
exp : NUMBER { gen_code( LD_INT, $1 ); }
| IDENTIFIER { context_check( LD_VAR, $1 ); }
| exp < exp { gen_code( LT, 0 ); }
| exp = exp { gen_code( EQ, 0 ); }
| exp > exp { gen_code( GT, 0 ); }
| exp + exp { gen_code( ADD, 0 ); }
| exp - exp { gen_code( SUB, 0 ); }
| exp * exp { gen_code( MULT, 0 ); }
| exp / exp { gen_code( DIV, 0 ); }
| exp ^ exp { gen_code( PWR, 0 ); }
| ( exp )
;
%%

/*=============================================================
MAIN

===============================================================
main( int argc, char *argv[] )
{ extern FILE *yyin;
++argv; --argc;
yyin = fopen( argv[0], "r" );
/*yydebug = 1;*/
errors = 0;
yyparse ();
printf ( "Parse Completed\n" );
if ( errors == 0 )
{ print_code ();
fetch_execute_cycle();
}
}

/*=============================================================
YYERROR

===============================================================
yyerror ( char *s ) /* Called by yyparse on error */
{

errors++;
printf ("%s\n", s);
}
/**************************** End Grammar File
***************************/
50

A.2 Directions
Directions: this file contains a sample terminal session.
> bison -d Simple.y
or
> bison -dv Simple.y
Simple.y contains 39 shift/reduce conflicts.
> gcc -c Simple.tab.c
> flex Simple.lex
> gcc -c lex.yy.c
> gcc -o Simple Simple.tab.o lex.yy.o -lm
> Simple test_simple
Parse Completed
0: data 1
1: in_int 0
2: ld_var 0
3: ld_int 10
4: lt 0
5: jmp_false 9
6: ld_int 1
7: store 1
8: goto 9

9: ld_var 0
10: ld_int 10
11: lt 0
12: jmp_false 22
13: ld_int 5
14: ld_var 1
15: mult 0
16: store 1
17: ld_var 0
18: ld_int 1
19: add 0
20: store 0
21: goto 9
22: ld_var 0
23: out_int 0
24: ld_var 1
25: out_int 0
26: halt 0
Input: 6
Output: 10
Output: 625

51

A.3 The scanner: Simple.lex

/**************************************************************
Scanner for the Simple language

***************************************************************
%{

/*=============================================================
C-libraries and Token definitions

===============================================================
#include <string.h> /* for strdup */
/*#include <stdlib.h> */ /* for atoi */
#include "Simple.tab.h" /* for token definitions and
yylval */
%}

/*=============================================================
TOKEN Definitions

===============================================================
DIGIT [0-9]
ID [a-z][a-z0-9]*

/*=============================================================
REGULAR EXPRESSIONS defining the tokens for the Simple
language

===============================================================

%%
":=" { return(ASSGNOP); }
{DIGIT}+ { yylval.intval = atoi( yytext );
return(NUMBER); }
do { return(DO); }
else { return(ELSE); }
end { return(END); }
fi { return(FI); }
if { return(IF); }
in { return(IN); }
integer { return(INTEGER); }
let { return(LET); }
read { return(READ); }
skip { return(SKIP); }
then { return(THEN); }
while { return(WHILE); }
write { return(WRITE); }
{ID} { yylval.id = (char *) strdup(yytext);
return(IDENTIFIER); }
[ \t\n]+ /* eat up whitespace */
. { return(yytext[0]);}

%%
52

int yywrap(void){}
/************************** End Scanner File
*****************************/

A.4 The symbol table: ST.h

/**************************************************************
Symbol Table Module

***************************************************************

/*=============================================================
DECLARATIONS

===============================================================
/*-----------------------------------------------------------------------SYMBOL TABLE RECORD
------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
struct symrec
{
char *name; /* name of symbol */
int offset; /* data offset */
struct symrec *next; /* link field */
};
typedef struct symrec symrec;

/*-----------------------------------------------------------------------SYMBOL TABLE ENTRY

------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
symrec *identifier;
/*-----------------------------------------------------------------------SYMBOL TABLE
Implementation: a chain of records.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------*/
symrec *sym_table = (symrec *)0; /* The pointer to the
Symbol Table */

/*=============================================================
Operations: Putsym, Getsym

===============================================================
symrec * putsym (char *sym_name)
{
symrec *ptr;
ptr = (symrec *) malloc (sizeof(symrec));
ptr->name = (char *) malloc (strlen(sym_name)+1);
strcpy (ptr->name,sym_name);

ptr->offset = data_location();
ptr->next = (struct symrec *)sym_table;
sym_table = ptr;
return ptr;
53

}
symrec * getsym (char *sym_name)
{
symrec *ptr;
for ( ptr = sym_table;
ptr != (symrec *) 0;
ptr = (symrec *)ptr->next )
if (strcmp (ptr->name,sym_name) == 0)
return ptr;
return 0;
}
/************************** End Symbol Table
**************************/

A.5 The code generator: CG.h

/**************************************************************
Code Generator

***************************************************************
/*-----------------------------------------------------------------------Data Segment
------------------------------------------------------------------------*/

int data_offset = 0; /* Initial offset */

int data_location() /* Reserves a data location */
{
return data_offset++;
}
/*-----------------------------------------------------------------------Code Segment
------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
int code_offset = 0; /* Initial offset */
int gen_label() /* Returns current offset */
{
return code_offset;
}
int reserve_loc() /* Reserves a code location */
{
return code_offset++;
}
/* Generates code at current location */
void gen_code( enum code_ops operation, int arg )
54

{ code[code_offset].op = operation;
code[code_offset++].arg = arg;
}
/* Generates code at a reserved location */
void back_patch( int addr, enum code_ops operation, int
arg )
{
code[addr].op = operation;
code[addr].arg = arg;
}
/*-----------------------------------------------------------------------Print Code to stdio
------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
void print_code()
{
int i = 0;
while (i < code_offset) {
printf("%3ld: %-10s%4ld\n",i,op_name[(int) code[i].op],
code[i].arg );
i++;
}

}
/************************** End Code Generator
**************************/

A.6 The stack machine: SM.h

/**************************************************************
Stack Machine

***************************************************************

/*=============================================================
DECLARATIONS

===============================================================
/* OPERATIONS: Internal Representation */
enum code_ops { HALT, STORE, JMP_FALSE, GOTO,
DATA, LD_INT, LD_VAR,
READ_INT, WRITE_INT,
LT, EQ, GT, ADD, SUB, MULT, DIV, PWR };
/* OPERATIONS: External Representation */
char *op_name[] = {"halt", "store", "jmp_false", "goto",
55

"data", "ld_int", "ld_var",

"in_int", "out_int",
"lt", "eq", "gt", "add", "sub", "mult", "div", "pwr" };
struct instruction
{
enum code_ops op;
int arg;
};
/* CODE Array */
struct instruction code[999];
/* RUN-TIME Stack */
int stack[999];
/*-----------------------------------------------------------------------Registers
------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
int pc = 0;
struct instruction ir;
int ar = 0;
int top = 0;
char ch;

/*=============================================================
Fetch Execute Cycle

===============================================================
void fetch_execute_cycle()
{ do { /*printf( "PC = %3d IR.arg = %8d AR = %3d Top =
%3d,%8d\n",
pc, ir.arg, ar, top, stack[top]); */
/* Fetch */
ir = code[pc++];
/* Execute */
switch (ir.op) {
case HALT : printf( "halt\n" ); break;
case READ_INT : printf( "Input: " );
scanf( "%ld", &stack[ar+ir.arg] ); break;
case WRITE_INT : printf( "Output: %d\n", stack[top--] );
break;
case STORE : stack[ir.arg] = stack[top--]; break;
case JMP_FALSE : if ( stack[top--] == 0 )
pc = ir.arg;
break;
case GOTO : pc = ir.arg; break;
case DATA : top = top + ir.arg; break;

56

case LD_INT : stack[++top] = ir.arg; break;

case LD_VAR : stack[++top] = stack[ar+ir.arg]; break;
case LT : if ( stack[top-1] < stack[top] )
stack[--top] = 1;
else stack[--top] = 0;
break;
case EQ : if ( stack[top-1] == stack[top] )
stack[--top] = 1;
else stack[--top] = 0;
break;
case GT : if ( stack[top-1] > stack[top] )
stack[--top] = 1;
else stack[--top] = 0;
break;
case ADD : stack[top-1] = stack[top-1] + stack[top];
top--;
break;
case SUB : stack[top-1] = stack[top-1] - stack[top];
top--;
break;

case MULT : stack[top-1] = stack[top-1] * stack[top];

top--;
break;
case DIV : stack[top-1] = stack[top-1] / stack[top];
top--;
break;
case PWR : stack[top-1] = stack[top-1] * stack[top];
top--;
break;
default : printf( "%sInternal Error: Memory Dump\n" );
break;
}
}
while (ir.op != HALT);
}
/*************************** End Stack Machine
**************************/

A.7 Sample program: test simple

let
integer n,x.
in

57

read n;
if n < 10 then x := 1; else skip; fi;
while n < 10 do x := 5*x; n := n+1; end;
skip;
write n;
write x;
end
58

Appendix B

Lex/Flex
In order for Lex/Flex to recognize patterns in text, the pattern must be described by a regular expression. The input to Lex/Flex is a machine readable
set of regular expressions. The input is in the form of pairs of regular expressions and C code, called rules. Lex/Flex generates as output a C source file,
lex.yy.c, which defines a routine yylex(). This file is compiled and linked
with the -lfl library to produce an executable. When the executable is run, it
analyzes its input for occurrences of the regular expressions. Whenever it finds
one, it executes the corresponding C code.

B.1 Lex/Flex Examples

The following Lex/Flex input specifies a scanner which whenever it encounters
the string username will replace it with the users login name:
%%
username printf( "%s", getlogin() );
Bydefault,anytextnotmatchedbyaLex/Flexscanneriscopiedtotheoutput,
so the net effect of this scanner is to copy its input file to its output with
each occurrence of username expanded. In this input, there is just one rule.
username is the pattern and the printf is the action. The %% marks the
beginning of the rules.

Heres another simple example:

int num_lines = 0, num_chars = 0;
59

%%
\n ++num_lines; ++num_chars;
. ++num_chars;
%%
main()
{
yylex();
printf( "# of lines = %d, # of chars = %d\n",
num_lines, num_chars );
}
This scanner counts the number of characters and the number of lines in its
input (it produces no output other than the final report on the counts). The
first line declares two globals, num lines and num chars, which are
accessible
bothinside yylex() andinthe main() routinedeclaredafterthesecond%%.
There are two rules, one which matches a newline (\n) and increments both
the line count and the character count, and one which matches any character
other than a newline (indicated by the . regular expression).
A somewhat more complicated example:
/* scanner for a toy Pascal-like language */
%{

/* need this for the call to atof() below */

#include <math.h>
%}
DIGIT [0-9]
ID [a-z][a-z0-9]*
%%
{DIGIT}+ {
printf( "An integer: %s (%d)\n", yytext,
atoi( yytext ) );
}
{DIGIT}+"."{DIGIT}* {
printf( "A float: %s (%g)\n", yytext,
atof( yytext ) );
}
if|then|begin|end|procedure|function {
60

printf( "A keyword: %s\n", yytext );

}
{ID} printf( "An identifier: %s\n", yytext );
"+"|"-"|"*"|"/" printf( "An operator: %s\n", yytext );
"{"[\^{$\;$}}\n]*"}" /* eat up one-line comments */
[ \t\n]+ /* eat up whitespace */
. printf( "Unrecognized character: %s\n", yytext );
%%
main( argc, argv )
int argc;
char **argv;
{
++argv, --argc; /* skip over program name */
if ( argc > 0 )
yyin = fopen( argv[0], "r" );
else
yyin = stdin;
yylex();
}
ThisisthebeginningsofasimplescannerforalanguagelikePascal. Itidentifies
different types of tokens and reports on what it has seen.

The details of this example will be explained in the following sections.

B.2 The Lex/Flex Input File

The Lex/Flex input file consists of three sections, separated by a line with just
%% in it:
definitions
%%
rules
%%
user code
61

B.2.1 The Declarations Section

The definitions section contains declarations of simple name definitions to simplify the scanner specification.
Name definitions have the form:
name definition
The name is a word beginning with a letter or an underscore ( ) followed by
zero or more letters, digits, , or - (dash). The definition is taken to begin
at the first non-white-space character following the name and continuing to the
end of the line. The definition can subsequently be referred to using name,
which will expand to (definition). For example,
DIGIT [0-9]
ID [a-z][a-z0-9]*
defines DIGIT to be a regular expression which matches a single digit, and
ID to be a regularexpression whichmatches a letter followed by zeroor-more
letters-or-digits. A subsequent reference to
{DIGIT}+"."{DIGIT}*
is identical to
([0-9])+"."([0-9])*
andmatchesone-or-moredigitsfollowedbya. followedbyzero-or-moredigits.

B.2.2 The Rules Section

The rules section of the Lex/Flex input contains a series of rules of the form:
pattern action
where the pattern must be unindented and the action must begin on the same
line.
See below for a further description of patterns and actions.
62

Finally,theusercodesectionissimplycopiedtolex.yy.cverbatim. Itisused
for companion routines which call or are called by the scanner. The presence of
this section is optional; if it is missing, the second may be skipped, too.
In the definitions and rules sections, any indented text or text enclosed in
%{ and %} is copied verbatim to the output (with the %{}s removed). The
%{}s must appear unindented on lines by themselves.
In the rules section, any indented or %{} text appearing before the first rule
may be used to declare variables which are local to the scanning routine and
(after the declarations) code which is to be executed whenever the scanning
routine is entered. Other indented or %{} text in the rule section is still copied
totheoutput,butitsmeaningisnotwell-definedanditmaywellcausecompiletime errors.
Inthedefinitionssection,anunindentedcomment(i.e.,alinebeginningwith
/) is also copied verbatim to the output up to the next /.
Lex/Flex Patterns
The patterns in the input are written using an extended set of regular expressions. These are:
x match the character x
. any character except newline
[xyz] a character class; in this case, the pattern matches either an x, a y,

or a z
[abj-oZ] a character class with a range in it; matches an a, a b, any letter
from j through o, or a Z
[A-Z] a negated character class, i.e., any character but those in the class.
In this case, any character EXCEPT an uppercase letter.
[A-Z\n] any character EXCEPT an uppercase letter ora newline
r* zero or more rs, where r is any regular expression
r+ one or more rs
r? or one rs (that is, an optional r)
r{2,5} anywhere from two to five rs
r{2,} two or more rs
r{4} exactly 4 rs
63

{name} the expansion of the name definition (see above)

[+xyz]\"foo" the literal string: [xyz]"foo"
\X if X is an a, b, f, n, r, t, or v, then the ANSI-C interpretation of
\x. Otherwise, a literal X (used to escape operators such as *)
\123 the character with octal value 123
\x2a the character with hexadecimal value 2a
(r) match an r; parentheses are used to override precedence (see below)
rs the regular expression r followed by the regular expression s; called concatenation
r|s either an r or an s
r/s an r but only if it is followed by an s. The s is not part of the matched
text. This type of pattern is called as trailing context.
r an r, but only at the beginning of a line
r$ an r, but only at the end of a line. Equivalent to r/\n.
The regular expressions listed above are grouped according to precedence,
from
highest precedence at the top to lowest at the bottom. Those grouped together
have equal precedence. For example,
foo|bar*
is the same as
(foo)|(ba(r*))

since the * operator has higher precedence than concatenation, and concatenation higher than alternation (|). This pattern therefore matches either the
string foo or the string ba followed by zero-or-more rs. To match foo or
zero-or-more bars, use:
foo|(bar)*
and to match zero-or-more foos-or-bars:
(foo|bar)*
64

A note on patterns: A negated character class such as the example [ AZ] above will match a newline unless \n (or an equivalent escape sequence)
is one of the characters explicitly present in the negated character class (e.g.,
[ AZ\n]). This is unlike how many other regular expression tools treat
negated character classes, but unfortunately the inconsistency is historically
entrenched. Matching newlines means that a pattern like [ "]* can match an
entireinput(overflowingthescannersinputbuffer)unlesstheresanotherquote
in the input.
How the Input is Matched
When the generated scanner is run, it analyzes its input looking for strings
which match any of its patterns. If it finds more than one match, it takes the
one matching the most text (for trailing context rules, this includes the length
ofthetrailingpart,eventhoughitwillthenbereturnedtotheinput). Ifitfinds
two or more matches of the same length, the rule listed first in the Lex/Flex
input file is chosen.
Once the match is determined, the text corresponding to the match (called
the token)ismadeavailableintheglobalcharacterpointeryytext,anditslength
in the global integer yyleng. The action corresponding to the matched pattern
is then executed (a more detailed description of actions follows), and then the
remaining input is scanned for another match.

If no match is found, then the default rule is executed: the next character in
the input is considered matched and copied to the standard output. Thus, the
simplest legal Lex/Flex input is:
%%
which generates a scanner that simply copies its input (one character at a time)
to its output.
Lex/Flex Actions
Each pattern in a rule has a corresponding action, which can be any arbitrary
C statement. The pattern ends at the first non-escaped whitespace character;
the remainder of the line is its action. If the action is empty, then when the
pattern is matched the input token is simply discarded. For example, here is
the specification for a program which deletes all occurrences of zap me from
its input:
%%
65

"zap me"
(It will copy all other characters in the input to the output since they will be
matched by the default rule.)
Here is a program which compresses multiple blanks and tabs down to a
single blank, and throws away whitespace found at the end of a line:
%%
[ \t]+ putchar( );
[ \t]+$ /* ignore this token */
If the action contains a {, then the action spans till the balancing } is
found, andtheactionmaycrossmultiplelines. Lex/FlexknowsaboutCstrings
andcommentsandwontbefooledbybracesfoundwithinthem,butalsoallows
actions to begin with %{ and will consider the action to be all the text up to
the next %} (regardless of ordinary braces inside the action).
Actions can include arbitrary C code, including return statements to return
a value to whatever routine called yylex(). Each time yylex() is called it
continues processing tokens from where it last left off until it either reaches the
endofthefileorexecutesareturn. Onceitreachesanend-of-file, however, then
any subsequent call to yylex() will simply immediately return.
Actions are not allowed to modify yytext or yyleng.

B.2.3 The Code Section

The code section contains the definitions of the routines called by the action

part of a rule. This section also contains the definition of the function main if
the scanner is a stand-alone program.

B.3 The Generated Scanner

The output of Lex/Flex is the file lex.yy.c, which contains the scanning routine
yylex(), a number of tables used by it for matching tokens, and a number of
auxiliary routines and macros. By default, yylex() is declared as follows:
int yylex()
{
... various definitions and the actions in here ...
}
66

(If your environment supports function prototypes, then it will be int yylex(
void ).) This definition may be changed by redefining the YY DECL macro.
For example, you could use:
#undef YY_DECL
#define YY_DECL float lexscan( a, b ) float a, b;
to give the scanning routine the name lexscan, returning a float, and taking two
floats as arguments. Note that if you give arguments to the scanning routine
using a K&R-style/non-prototyped function declaration, you must terminate
the definition with a semi-colon (;).
Whenever yylex() is called, it scans tokens from the global input file yyin
(which defaults to stdin). It continues until it either reaches an end-of-file (at
which point it returns the value 0) or one of its actions executes a return statement. Intheformercase,whencalledagainthescannerwillimmediatelyreturn
unlessyyrestart()iscalledtopointyyinatthenewinputfile. (yyrestart()takes
one argument, a FILE * pointer.) In the latter case (i.e., when an action executesareturn),thescannermaythenbecalledagainanditwillresumescanning
where it left off.

B.4 Interfacing with Yacc/Bison

One of the main uses of Lex/Flex is as a companion to the Yacc/Bison parsergenerator. Yacc/Bisonparsersexpecttocallaroutinenamedyylex()tofindthe

next input token. The routine is supposed to return the type of the next token
as well as putting any associated value in the global yylval. To use Lex/Flex
with Yacc/Bison, one specifies the -d option to Yacc/Bison to instruct it to
generate the file y.tab.h containing definitions of all the %tokens appearing
in
the Yacc/Bison input. This file is then included in the Lex/Flex scanner. For
example, if one of the tokens is TOK NUMBER, part of the scanner might
look like:
%{
#include "y.tab.h"
%}
%%
[0-9]+ yylval = atoi( yytext ); return TOK_NUMBER;
67

68

Appendix C

Yacc/Bison
In order for Yacc/Bison to parse a language, the language must be described
by
a context-free grammar. The most common formal system for presenting such
rules for humans to read is Backus-Naur Form or BNF, which was developed
in order to specify the language Algol 60. Any grammar expressed in BNF is a
context-free grammar. The input to Yacc/Bison is essentially machine-readable
BNF.
Not all context-free languages can be handled by Yacc/Bison, only those
that are LALR(1). In brief, this means that it must be possibly to tell how
to parse any portion of an input string with just a single token of look-ahead.
Strictly speaking, that is a description of an LR(1) grammar, and LALR(1)
involves additional restrictions that are hard to explain simply; but it is rare in
actual practice to find an LR(1) grammar that fails to be LALR(1).

C.1 An Overview
A formal grammar selects tokens only by their classifications: for example,
if a rule mentions the terminal symbol integer constant, it means that any
integer constant is grammatically valid in that position. The precise value of
the constant is irrelevant to how to parse the input: if x+4 is grammatical then
x+1 or x+3989 is equally grammatical.

But the precise value is very important for what the input means once it is
parsed. A compiler is useless if it fails to distinguish between 4, 1 and 3989 as
constants in the program! Therefore, each token has both a token type and a
semantic value.
69

Thetokentypeisaterminalsymboldefinedinthegrammar,suchas INTEGER,
IDENTIFIER or ,. It tells everything you need to know to decide where the
token may validly appear and how to group it with other tokens. The grammar
rules know nothing about tokens except their types.
The semantic value has all the rest of the information about the meaning
of the token, such as the value of an integer, or the name of an identifier. (A
token such as , which is just punctuation doesnt need to have any semantic
value.)
For example, an input token might be classified as token type INTEGER and
havethesemanticvalue4. Anotherinputtokenmighthavethesametokentype
INTEGER but value 3989. When a grammar rule says that INTEGER is
allowed,
eitherofthesetokensisacceptablebecauseeachisan INTEGER.Whentheparser
accepts the token, it keeps track of the tokens semantic value.
Each grouping can also have a semantic value as well as its nonterminal
symbol. For example, in a calculator, an expression typically has a semantic
valuethatisanumber. Inacompilerforaprogramminglanguage,anexpression
typically has a semantic value that is a tree structure describing the meaning
of the expression.
As Yacc/Bison reads tokens, it pushes them onto a stack along with their
semantic values. The stack is called the parser stack. Pushing a token is tradi-

tionally called shifting.

But the stack does not always have an element for each token read. When
the last n tokens and groupings shifted match the components of a grammar
rule, they can be combined according to that rule. This is called reduction.
Those tokens and groupings are replaced on the stack by a single grouping
whose symbol is the result (left hand side) of that rule. Running the rules
action is part of the process of reduction, because this is what computes the
semantic value of the resulting grouping.
The Yacc/Bison parser reads a sequence of tokens as its input, and groups
the tokens using the grammar rules. If the input is valid, the end result is
that the entire token sequence reduces to a single grouping whose symbol is
the
grammars start symbol. If we use a grammar for C, the entire input must be
a sequence of definitions and declarations. If not, the parser reports a syntax
error.
The parser tries, by shifts and reductions, to reduce the entire input down
to a single grouping whose symbol is the grammars start-symbol.
This kind of parser is known in the literature as a bottom-up parser.
The function yyparse is implemented using a finite-state machine. The
valuespushedontheparserstackarenotsimplytokentypecodes;theyrepresent
70

the entire sequence of terminal and nonterminal symbols at or near the top of
the stack. The current state collects all the information about previous input
which is relevant to deciding what to do next.
Each time a look-ahead token is read, the current parser state together with
the type of look-ahead token are looked up in a table. This table entry can say,
Shift the look-ahead token. In this case, it also specifies the new
parser state,
which is pushed onto the top of the parser stack. Or it can say, Reduce using
rule number n. This means that a certain of tokens or groupings are taken
off the top of the stack, and replaced by one grouping. In other words, that
number of states are popped from the stack, and one new state is pushed.
There is one other alternative: the table can say that the look-ahead token
is erroneous in the current state. This causes error processing to begin.

C.2 A Yacc/Bison Example

The following is a Yacc/Bison input file which defines a reverse Polish notation
calculator. The file created by Yacc/Bison simulates the calculator. The details
of the example are explained in later sections.
/* Reverse Polish notation calculator. */
%{
#define YYSTYPE double
#include <math.h>

%}
%token NUM
%% /* Grammar rules and actions follow */
input : /* empty */
| input line
;
line : \n
| exp \n { printf ("\t%.10g\n", $1); }
;
exp : NUM { $$ = $1; }
| exp exp + { $$ = $1 + $2; }
| exp exp - { $$ = $1 - $2; }
| exp exp * { $$ = $1 * $2; }
| exp exp / { $$ = $1 / $2; }
/* Exponentiation */
| exp exp ^ { $$ = pow ($1, $2); }
/* Unary minus */
| exp n { $$ = -$1; }
;
71

%%
/* Lexical analyzer returns a double floating point
number on the stack and the token NUM, or the ASCII
character read if not a number. Skips all blanks
and tabs, returns 0 for EOF. */
#include <ctype.h>
yylex ()
{ int c;
/* skip white space */
while ((c = getchar ()) == || c == \t)
;
/* process numbers */
if (c == . || isdigit (c))
{
ungetc (c, stdin);
scanf ("%lf", &yylval);
return NUM;
}
/* return end-of-file */
if (c == EOF)
return 0;

/* return single chars */

return c;
}
main () /* The Main function to make this stand-alone
*/
{
yyparse ();
}
#include <stdio.h>
yyerror (s) /* Called by yyparse on error */
char *s;
{
printf ("%s\n", s);
}

C.3 The Yacc/Bison Input File

Yacc/Bison takes as input a context-free grammar specification and produces a
C-language function that recognizes correct instances of the grammar. The inputfilefortheYacc/Bisonutilityisa Yacc/Bisongrammarfile. TheYacc/Bison
grammar input file conventionally has a name ending in .y.
A Yacc/Bison grammar file has four main sections, shown here with the
appropriate delimiters:

72

%{
C declarations
%}
Yacc/Bison declarations
%%
Grammar rules
%%
Additional C code
Comments enclosed in /* ... */ may appear in any of the sections. The
%%, %{ and %} are punctuation that appears in every Yacc/Bison grammar file
to separate the sections.
The C declarations may define types and variables used in the actions.
You can also use preprocessor commands to define macros used there, and
use
#include to include header files that do any of these things.
The Yacc/Bison declarations declare the names of the terminal and nonterminal symbols, and may also describe operator precedence and the data types
of semantic values of various symbols.
The grammar rules define how to construct each nonterminal symbol from
its parts.
The additional C code can contain any C code you want to use. Often the

definition of the lexical analyzer yylex goes here, plus subroutines called by
the
actions in the grammar rules. In a simple program, all the rest of the program
can go here.

C.3.1 The Declarations Section

The C Declarations Section
The C declarations section contains macro definitions and declarations of functions and variables that are used in the actions in the grammar rules. These
are copied to the beginning of the parser file so that they precede the definition
of yylex. You can use #include to get the declarations from a header file.
If
you dont need any C declarations, you may omit the %{ and %} delimiters that
bracket this section.
The Yacc/Bison Declarations Section
The Yacc/Bison declarations section defines symbols of the grammar. Symbols in Yacc/Bison grammars represent the grammatical classifications of the
73

language.
Definitionsareprovidedfortheterminalandnonterminalsymbols,tospecify
theprecedenceandassociativityoftheoperators,andthedatatypesofsemantic
values.
The first rule in the file also specifies the start symbol, by default. If you
want some other symbol to be the start symbol, you must declare it explicitly.
Symbolnamescancontainletters, digits(notatthebeginning), underscores
and periods. Periods make sense only in nonterminals.
A terminal symbol (also known as a token type) represents a class of syntactically equivalent tokens. You use the symbol in grammar rules to mean that
a token in that class is allowed. The symbol is represented in the Yacc/Bison
parser by a numeric code, and the yylex function returns a token type code
to
indicate what kind of token has been read. You dont need to know what the
code value is; you can use the symbol to stand for it. By convention, it should
be all upper case. All token type names (but not single-character literal tokens
such as + and *) must be declared.
There are two ways of writing terminal symbols in the grammar:
A named token type is written with an identifier, it should be all upper
casesuchas, INTEGER, IDENTIFIER, IF or RETURN.Aterminalsymbolthat
standsforaparticularkeywordinthelanguageshouldbenamedafterthat
keyword converted to upper case. Each such name must be defined with

a Yacc/Bison declaration such as

%token INTEGER IDENTIFIER
The terminal symbol error is reserved for error recovery. In particular,
yylex should never return this value.
A character token type (or literal token) is written in the grammar using
the same syntax used in C for character constants; for example, + is a
character token type. A character token type doesnt need to be declared
unless you need to specify its semantic value data type, associativity, or
precedence.
By convention, a character token type is used only to represent a token
thatconsistsofthatparticularcharacter. Thus,thetokentype + isused
to represent the character + as a token. Nothing enforces this convention,
but if you depart from it, your program will confuse other readers.
AlltheusualescapesequencesusedincharacterliteralsinCcanbeusedin
Yacc/Bisonaswell, butyoumustnotusethenullcharacterasacharacter
literal because its ASCII code, zero, is the code yylex returns for end-ofinput.
74

How you choose to write a terminal symbol has no effect on its grammatical
meaning. That depends only on where it appears in rules and on when the
parser function returns that symbol.
The value returned by yylex is always one of the terminal symbols (or 0 for
end-of-input). Whichever way you write the token type in the grammar rules,
you write it the same way in the definition of yylex. The numeric code for a
character token type is simply the ASCII code for the character, so yylex can
use the identical character constant to generate the requisite code. Each
named
token type becomes a C macro in the parser file, so yylex can use the name
to
stand for the code. (This is why periods dont make sense in terminal symbols.)
If yylex is defined in a separate file, you need to arrange for the tokentype macro definitions to be available there. Use the -d option when you run
Yacc/Bison, so that it will write these macro definitions into a separate header
file name.tab.h which you can include in the other source files that need it.
A nonterminalsymbol standsforaclassofsyntacticallyequivalentgroupings.
The symbol name is used in writing grammar rules. By convention, it should
be all lower case, such as expr, stmt or declaration. Nonterminal
symbols
must be declared if you need to specify which data type to use for the semantic
value.

Token Type Names

The basic way to declare a token type name (terminal symbol) is as follows:
%token name
Yacc/Bison will convert this into a #define directive in the parser, so that
the function yylex (if it is in this file) can use the name name to stand for this
token types code.
Alternatively you can use %left, %right, or %nonassoc instead of %token,
if you wish to specify precedence.
You can explicitly specify the numeric code for a token type by appending
an integer value in the field immediately following the token name:
%token NUM 300
It is generally best, however, to let Yacc/Bison choose the numeric codes for
all
token types. Yacc/Bison will automatically select codes that dont conflict with
each other or with ASCII characters.
75

In the event that the stack type is a union, you must augment the %token
or other token declaration to include the data type alternative delimited by
angle-brackets. For example:
%union {/* define stack type */
double val;
symrec *tptr;
}
%token <val> NUM /* define token NUM and its type */
Operator Precedence
Use the %left, %right or %nonassoc declaration to declare a token and
specify its precedence and associativity, all at once. These are called precedence
declarations.
The syntax of a precedence declaration is the same as that of %token: either
%left symbols...
or
%left <type> symbols...
And indeed any of these declarations serves the purposes of %token. But
in addition, they specify the associativity and relative precedence for all the
symbols:
The associativity of an operator op determines how repeated uses of the

operator nest: whether x op y op z is parsed by grouping x with y first

or by grouping y with z first. %left specifies left-associativity (grouping
x with y first) and %right specifies right-associativity (grouping y with z
first). %nonassoc specifies no associativity, which means that x op y op
z is considered a syntax error.
The precedence of an operator determines how it nests with other operators. All the tokens declared in a single precedence declaration have
equalprecedenceandnesttogetheraccordingtotheirassociativity. When
two tokens declared in different precedence declarations associate, the one
declared later has the higher precedence and is grouped first.
76

The Collection of Value Types

The %union declaration specifies the entire collection of possible data types
for
semantic values. The keyword %union is followed by a pair of braces
containing
the same thing that goes inside a union in C. For example:
%union {
double val;
symrec *tptr;
}
This says that the two alternative types are double and symrec *. They are
given names val and tptr; these names are used in the %token and
%type
declarations to pick one of the types for a terminal or nonterminal symbol.
Note that, unlike making a union declaration in C, you do not write a
semicolon after the closing brace.
Yacc/Bison Declaration Summary
Here is a summary of all Yacc/Bison declarations:
%union Declare the collection of data types that semantic values may have.
%token Declare a terminal symbol (token type name) with no precedence or
associativity specified.
%right Declare a terminal symbol (token type name) that is right-associative.

%left Declare a terminal symbol (token type name) that is left-associative.

%nonassoc Declare a terminal symbol (token type name) that is nonassociative (using it in a way that would be associative is a syntax error).
%type <non-terminal> Declare the type of semantic values for a nonterminal symbol. When you use %union to specify multiple value types, you
must declare the value type of each nonterminal symbol for which values
are used. This is done with a %type declaration. Here nonterminal is the
name of a nonterminal symbol, and type is the name given in the %union
tothealternativethatyouwant. Youcangiveanynumberofnonterminal
symbols in the same %type declaration, if they have the same value type.
Use spaces to separate the symbol names.
%start <non-terminal> Specify the grammars start symbol. Yacc/Bison
assumes by default that the start symbol for the grammar is the first nonterminal specified in the grammar specification section. The programmer
may override this restriction with the %start declaration.
77

C.3.2 The Grammar Rules Section

The grammar rules section contains one or more Yacc/Bison grammar rules,
and nothing else.
There must always be at least one grammar rule, and the first %% (which
precedes the grammar rules) may never be omitted even if it is the first thing
in the file.
A Yacc/Bison grammar rule has the following general form:
result : components... ;
where result is the nonterminal symbol that this rule describes and components
arevariousterminalandnonterminalsymbolsthatareputtogetherbythisrule.
For example,
exp : exp + exp ;
saysthattwogroupingsoftype exp,witha + tokeninbetween,canbecombined
into a larger grouping of type exp.
Whitespace in rules is significant only to separate symbols. You can add
extra whitespace as you wish.
Scattered among the components can be actions that determine the semantics of the rule. An action looks like this:
{C statements}
Usually there is only one action and it follows the components.
Multiple rules for the same result can be written separately or can be joined

with the vertical-bar character | as follows:

result : rule1-components...
| rule2-components...
...
;
They are still considered distinct rules even when joined in this way.
If components in a rule is empty, it means that result can match the empty
string. For example, here is how to define a comma-separated sequence of
zero
or more exp groupings:
78

expseq : /* empty */
| expseq1
;
expseq1 : exp
| expseq1 , exp
;
It is customary to write a comment /* empty */ in each rule with no components.
Aruleiscalled recursive whenits result nonterminalappearsalsoonitsright
hand side. Nearly all Yacc/Bison grammars need to use recursion, because
that
istheonlywaytodefineasequenceofanynumberofsomethings. Considerthis
recursive definition of a comma-separated sequence of one or more
expressions:
expseq1 : exp
| expseq1 , exp
;
Since the recursive use of expseq1 is the leftmost symbol in the right hand
side,
we call this left recursion. By contrast, here the same construct is defined using
right recursion:
expseq1 : exp

| exp , expseq1 ;
Anykindofsequencecanbedefinedusingeitherleftrecursionorrightrecursion,
but you should always use left recursion, because it can parse a sequence of
any
numberofelementswithboundedstackspace. Rightrecursionusesupspaceon
the Yacc/Bison stack in proportion to the number of elements in the sequence,
because all the elements must be shifted onto the stack before the rule can be
applied even once.
Indirect or mutual recursion occurs when the result of the rule does not
appear directly on its right hand side, but does appear in rules for other nonterminals which do appear on its right hand side. For example:
expr : primary
| primary + primary
;
primary : constant
79

| ( expr )
;
defines two mutually-recursive nonterminals, since each refers to the other.

Semantic Actions
In order to be useful, a program must do more than parse input; it must also
produce some output based on the input. In a Yacc/Bison grammar, a grammar rule can have an action made up of C statements. Each time the parser
recognizes a match for that rule, the action is executed.
Mostofthetime,thepurposeofanactionistocomputethesemanticvalueof
thewholeconstructfromthesemanticvaluesofitsparts. Forexample, suppose
wehavearulewhichsaysanexpressioncanbethesumoftwoexpressions. When
theparserrecognizessuchasum,eachofthesubexpressionshasasemanticvalue
which describes how it was built up. The action for this rule should create a
similar sort of value for the newly recognized larger expression.
For example, here is a rule that says an expression can be the sum of two
subexpressions:
expr : expr + expr { $$ = $1 + $3; }
;
The action says how to produce the semantic value of the sum expression from
the values of the two subexpressions.

C.3.3 Defining Language Semantics

Thegrammarrulesforalanguagedetermineonlythesyntax. Thesemanticsare
determinedbythesemanticvaluesassociatedwithvarioustokensandgroupings,
and by the actions taken when various groupings are recognized.
For example, the calculator calculates properly because the value associated
with each expression is the proper number; it adds properly because the action
for the grouping x + y is to add the numbers associated with x and y.
Data Types of Semantic Values
In a simple program it may be sufficient to use the same data type for the
semantic values of all language constructs. Yacc/Bisons default is to use type
80

int for all semantic values. To specify some other type, define YYSTYPE as
a
macro, like this:
#define YYSTYPE double
This macro definition must go in the C declarations section of the grammar file.
More Than One Value Type
Inmostprograms,youwillneeddifferentdatatypesfordifferentkindsoftokens
and groupings. For example, a numeric constant may need type int or long,
whileastringconstantneedstype char *,andanidentifiermightneedapointer
to an entry in the symbol table.
Tousemorethanonedatatypeforsemanticvaluesinoneparser,Yacc/Bison
requires you to do two things:
Specifytheentirecollectionofpossibledatatypes,withthe %union Yacc/Bison
declaration.
Choose one of those types for each symbol (terminal or nonterminal) for
which semantic values are used. This is done for tokens with the %token
Yacc/Bisondeclarationandforgroupingswiththe %type Yacc/Bisondeclaration.
An action accompanies a syntactic rule and contains C code to be executed
each time an instance of that rule is recognized. The task of most actions is to
compute a semantic value for the grouping built by the rule from the semantic

values associated with tokens or smaller groupings.

An action consists of C statements surrounded by braces, much like a compoundstatementinC.Itcanbeplacedatanypositionintherule; itisexecuted
atthatposition. Mostruleshavejustoneactionattheendoftherule,following
all the components. Actions in the middle of a rule are tricky and used only for
special purposes.
The C code in an action can refer to the semantic values of the components
matched by the rule with the construct $n, which stands for the value of the
nth component. The semantic value for the grouping being constructed is $$.
(Yacc/Bison translates both of these constructs into array element references
when it copies the actions into the parser file.)
Here is a typical example:
81

exp : ...
| exp + exp
{ $$ = $1 + $3; }
This rule constructs an exp from two smaller exp groupings connected by a
plus-sign token. In the action, $1 and $3 refer to the semantic values of the
two
component exp groupings, which are the first and third symbols on the right
handsideoftherule. Thesumisstoredinto $$ sothatitbecomesthesemantic
value of the addition-expression just recognized by the rule. If there were a
useful semantic value associated with the + token, it could be referred to as
$2.
$n with n zeroornegativeisallowedforreferencetotokensandgroupingson
the stack before those that match the current rule. This is a very risky practice,
and to use it reliably you must be certain of the context in which the rule is
applied. Here is a case in which you can use this reliably:
foo : expr bar + expr { ... }
| expr bar - expr { ... }
;
bar : /* empty */
{ previous expr = $0; }
;

As long as bar is used only in the fashion shown here, $0 always refers to
the expr which precedes bar in the definition of foo.
Data Types of Values in Actions
If you have chosen a single data type for semantic values, the $$ and $n constructs always have that data type.
If you have used %union to specify a variety of data types, then you must
declare a choice among these types for each terminal or nonterminal symbol
that can have a semantic value. Then each time you use $$ or $n, its data
type
is determined by which symbol it refers to in the rule. In this example,efill
exp : ...
| exp + exp
{ $$ = $1 + $3; }
$1 and $3 refer to instances of exp, so they all have the data type declared
for the nonterminal symbol exp. If $2 were used, it would have the data type
declared for the terminal symbol +, whatever that might be.
82

Alternatively, you can specify the data type when you refer to the value, by
inserting <type> after the $ at the beginning of the reference. For example, if
you have defined types as shown here:
%union {
int itype;
double dtype;
}
then you can write $<itype>1 to refer to the first subunit of the rule as an
integer, or $<dtype>1 to refer to it as a double.
Actions in Mid-Rule
Occasionally it is useful to put an action in the middle of a rule. These actions
are written just like usual end-of-rule actions, but they are executed before the
parser even recognizes the following components.
A mid-rule action may refer to the components preceding it using $n, but
it may not refer to subsequent components because it is run before they are
parsed.
The mid-rule action itself counts as one of the components of the rule. This
makes a difference when there is another action later in the same rule (and
usually there is another at the end): you have to count the actions along with
the symbols when working out which number n to use in $n.

The mid-rule action can also have a semantic value. This can be set within
that action by an assignment to $$, and can referred to by later actions using
$n. Since there is no symbol to name the action, there is no way to declare
a data type for the value in advance, so you must use the $<...> construct to
specify a data type each time you refer to this value.
Here is an example from a hypothetical compiler, handling a let statement that looks like let (variable) statement and serves to create a
variable named variable temporarily for the duration of statement. To parse this
construct, wemustput variable intothesymboltablewhile statement isparsed,
then remove it afterward. Here is how it is done:
stmt : LET ( var )
{ $<context>$ = push context ();
declare variable ($3); }
stmt { $$ = $6;
pop context ($<context>5); }
83

Assoonas let (variable) hasbeenrecognized,thefirstactionisrun. Itsaves

a copy of the current semantic context (the list of accessible variables) as its
semantic value, using alternative context in the data-type union. Then it calls
declare variable to add the new variable to that list. Once the first action
is
finished, the embedded statement stmt can be parsed. Note that the midrule
action is component number 5, so the stmt is component number 6.
After the embedded statement is parsed, its semantic value becomes the
value of the entire let-statement. Then the semantic value from the earlier
action is used to restore the prior list of variables. This removes the temporary
let-variable from the list so that it wont appear to exist while the rest of the
program is parsed.
Taking action before a rule is completely recognized often leads to conflicts
since the parser must commit to a parse in order to execute the action. For
example, the following two rules, without mid-rule actions, can coexist in a
working parser because the parser can shift the open-brace token and look at
what follows before deciding whether there is a declaration or not:
compound : { declarations statements }
| { statements }
;

But when we add a mid-rule action as follows, the rules become nonfunctional:
compound : { prepare for local variables (); }
{ declarations statements }
| { statements }
;
Now the parser is forced to decide whether to run the mid-rule action when it
has read no farther than the open-brace. In other words, it must commit to
using one rule or the other, without sufficient information to do it correctly.
(The open-brace token is what is called the look-ahead token at this time, since
the parser is still deciding what to do about it.
You might think that you could correct the problem by putting identical
actions into the two rules, like this:
compound : { prepare for local variables (); }
{ declarations statements }
| { prepare for local variables (); }
{ statements }
;
84

Butthisdoesnothelp,becauseYacc/Bisondoesnotrealizethatthetwoactions
are identical. (Yacc/Bison never tries to understand the C code in an action.)
If the grammar is such that a declaration can be distinguished from a statement by the first token (which is true in C), then one solution which does work
is to put the action after the open-brace, like this:
compound : { { prepare for local variables (); }
declarations statements }
| { statements }
;
Now the first token of the following declaration or statement, which would in
any case tell Yacc/Bison which rule to use, can still do so.
Another solution is to bury the action inside a nonterminal symbol which
serves as a subroutine:
subroutine : /* empty */
{ prepare for local variables (); }
;
compound : subroutine
{ declarations statements }
| subroutine
{ statements }

;
Now Yacc/Bison can execute the action in the rule for subroutine without
deciding which rule for compound it will eventually use. Note that the action is
now at the end of its rule. Any mid-rule action can be converted to an end-ofrule action in this way, and this is what Yacc/Bison actually does to implement
mid-rule actions.

C.3.4 The Additional C Code Section

The additional C code section is copied verbatim to the end of the parser file,
just as the C declarations section is copied to the beginning. This is the most
convenient place to put anything that you want to have in the parser file but
whichneednotcomebeforethedefinitionof yylex. Forexample,thedefinitions
of yylex and yyerror often go here.
If the last section is empty, you may omit the %% that separates it from the
grammar rules.
85

The Yacc/Bison parser itself contains many static variables whose names
start with yy and many macros whose names start with YY. It is a good idea
to
avoid using any such names (except those documented in this manual) in the
additional C code section of the grammar file.
It is not usually acceptable to have a program terminate on a parse error.
Forexample, acompilershouldrecoversufficientlytoparsetherestoftheinput
file and check it for errors.

C.4 Yacc/Bison Output: the Parser File

WhenyourunYacc/Bison,yougiveitaYacc/Bisongrammarfileasinput. The
output is a C source file that parses the language described by the grammar.
Thisfileiscalleda Yacc/Bisonparser. KeepinmindthattheYacc/Bisonutility
and the Yacc/Bison parser are two distinct programs: the Yacc/Bison utility
is a program whose output is the Yacc/Bison parser that becomes part of your
program.
The job of the Yacc/Bison parser is to group tokens into groupings according to the grammar rulesfor example, to build identifiers and operators into
expressions. As it does this, it runs the actions for the grammar rules it uses.
The tokens come from a function called the lexical analyzer that you must
supply in some fashion (such as by writing it in C or using Lex/Flex). The
Yacc/Bison parser calls the lexical analyzer each time it wants a new token. It

doesnt know what is inside the tokens (though their semantic values may reflectthis). Typicallythelexicalanalyzermakesthetokensbyparsingcharacters
of text, but Yacc/Bison does not depend on this.
TheYacc/BisonparserfileisCcodewhichdefinesafunctionnamed yyparse
which implements that grammar. This function does not make a complete
C program: you must supply some additional functions. One is the lexical
analyzer. Anotherisanerror-reportingfunctionwhichtheparsercallstoreport
an error. In addition, a complete C program must start with a function called
main; you have to provide this, and arrange for it to call yyparse or the
parser
will never run.
Asidefromthetokentypenamesandthesymbolsintheactionsyouwrite,all
variable and function names used in the Yacc/Bison parser file begin with yy
or
YY.Thisincludesinterfacefunctionssuchasthelexicalanalyzerfunction yylex,
the error reporting function yyerror and the parser function yyparse itself.
This also includes numerous identifiers used for internal purposes. Therefore,
you should avoid using C identifiers starting with yy or YY in the Yacc/Bison
grammar file except for the ones defined in this manual.
86

C.5 Parser C-Language Interface

The Yacc/Bison parser is actually a C function named yyparse. Here we describetheinterfaceconventionsof yyparse andtheotherfunctionsthatitneeds
to use.
Keep in mind that the parser uses many C identifiers starting with yy and
YY for internal purposes. If you use such an identifier (aside from those in this
manual) in an action or in additional C code in the grammar file, you are likely
to run into trouble.

The Parser Function yyparse

You call the function yyparse to cause parsing to occur. This function reads
tokens,executesactions,andultimatelyreturnswhenitencountersend-of-input
or an unrecoverable syntax error. You can also write an action which directs
yyparse to return immediately without reading further.
The value returned by yyparse is 0 if parsing was successful (return is due
to end-of-input).
The value is 1 if parsing failed (return is due to a syntax error).
In an action, you can cause immediate return from yyparse by using these
macros:
YYACCEPT Return immediately with value 0 (to report
success).
YYABORT Return immediately with value 1 (to report
failure).

The Lexical Analyzer Function yylex

The lexical analyzer function, yylex, recognizes tokens from the input stream
and returns them to the parser. Yacc/Bison does not create this function automatically; you must write it so that yyparse can call it. The function is
sometimes referred to as a lexical scanner.
In simple programs, yylex is often defined at the end of the Yacc/Bison
grammar file. If yylex is defined in a separate source file, you need to
arrange
forthetoken-typemacrodefinitionstobeavailablethere. Todothis,usethe -d
option when you run Yacc/Bison, so that it will write these macro definitions
intoaseparateheaderfile name.tab.hwhichyoucanincludeintheothersource
files that need it.
87

Calling Convention for yylex

The value that yylex returns must be the numeric code for the type of token
it has just found, or 0 for end-of-input.
When a token is referred to in the grammar rules by a name, that name in
the parser file becomes a C macro whose definition is the proper numeric code
for that token type. So yylex can use the name to indicate that type.
When a token is referred to in the grammar rules by a character literal, the
numeric code for that character is also the code for the token type. So yylex
can simply return that character code. The null character must not be used
this way, because its code is zero and that is what signifies end-of-input.
Here is an example showing these things:
yylex()
{
...
if (c == EOF) /* Detect end of file. */
return 0;
...
if (c == + || c == -)
return c; /* Assume token type for + is +. */
...
return INT; /* Return the type of the token. */

...
}
This interface has been designed so that the output from the lex utility can be
used without change as the definition of yylex.
Semantic Values of Tokens
In an ordinary (nonreentrant) parser, the semantic value of the token must be
stored into the global variable yylval. When you are using just one data type
forsemanticvalues, yylval hasthattype. Thus,ifthetypeis int (thedefault),
you might write this in yylex:
...
yylval = value; /* Put value onto Yacc/Bison stack. */
return INT; /* Return the type of the token. */
...
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Whenyouareusingmultipledatatypes, yylvalstypeisaunionmadefrom
the %union declaration. So when you store a tokens value, you must use the
proper member of the union. If the %union declaration looks like this:
%union {
int intval;
double val;
symrec *tptr;
}
then the code in yylex might look like this:
...
yylval.intval = value; /* Put value onto Yacc/Bison stack.
*/
return INT; /* Return the type of the token. */
...
Textual Positions of Tokens
If you are using the @n-feature in actions to keep track of the textual locations
of tokens and groupings, then you must provide this information in yylex. The
function yyparse expects to find the textual location of a token just parsed
in the global variable yylloc. So yylex must store the proper data in that
variable. The value of yylloc is a structure and you need only initialize the

members that are going to be used by the actions. The four members are
called
first line, first column, last line and last column. Note that
the use of
this feature makes the parser noticeably slower.
The data type of yylloc has the name YYLTYPE.

The Error Reporting Function yyerror

The Yacc/Bison parser detects a parse error or syntax error whenever it reads
a token which cannot satisfy any syntax rule. A action in the grammar can also
explicitly proclaim an error, using the macro YYERROR.
TheYacc/Bisonparserexpectstoreporttheerrorbycallinganerrorreporting function named yyerror, which you must supply. It is called by yyparse
whenever a syntax error is found, and it receives one argument. For a parse
error, the string is always "parse error".
The following definition suffices in simple programs:
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yyerror (s)
char *s;
{
fprintf (stderr, "%s\", s);
}
After yyerror returns to yyparse, the latter will attempt error recovery if
you have written suitable error recovery grammar rules. If recovery is impossible, yyparse will immediately return 1.

C.6 Debugging Your Parser

Shift/Reduce Conflicts
Supposeweareparsingalanguagewhichhasif-thenandif-then-elsestatements,
with a pair of rules like this:
if stmt : IF expr THEN stmt
| IF expr THEN stmt ELSE stmt
;
(Here we assume that IF, THEN and ELSE are terminal symbols for specific
keyword tokens.)
Whenthe ELSE tokenisreadandbecomesthelook-aheadtoken,thecontents
ofthestack(assumingtheinputisvalid)arejustrightforreductionbythefirst

rule. But it is also legitimate to shift the ELSE, because that would lead to
eventual reduction by the second rule.
This situation, where either a shift or a reduction would be valid, is called
a shift/reduce conflict. Yacc/Bison is designed to resolve these conflicts by
choosingtoshift,unlessotherwisedirectedbyoperatorprecedencedeclarations.
To see the reason for this, lets contrast it with the other alternative.
Since the parser prefers to shift the ELSE, the result is to attach the elseclause to the innermost if-statement, making these two inputs equivalent:
if x then if y then win(); else lose;
if x then do; if y then win(); else lose; end;
But if the parser chose to reduce when possible rather than shift, the result
would be to attach the else-clause to the outermost if-statement. The conflict
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existsbecausethegrammaraswrittenisambiguous: eitherparsingofthesimple
nested if-statement is legitimate. The established convention is that these ambiguitiesareresolvedbyattachingtheelse-clausetotheinnermostif-statement;
this is what Yacc/Bison accomplishes by choosing to shift rather than reduce.
This particular ambiguity is called the dangling else ambiguity.

Operator Precedence
Another situation where shift/reduce conflicts appear is in arithmetic expressions. Here shifting is not always the preferred resolution; the Yacc/Bison declarations for operator precedence allow you to specify when to shift and when
to reduce.
Consider the following ambiguous grammar fragment (ambiguous because
the input 1 - 2 * 3 can be parsed in two different ways):
expr : expr - expr
| expr * expr
| expr < expr
| ( expr )
...
;
Suppose the parser has seen the tokens 1, - and 2; should it reduce them via
the rule for the addition operator? It depends on the next token. Of course, if
the next token is ), we must reduce; shifting is invalid because no single rule

can reduce the token sequence - 2 ) or anything starting with that. But if the
next token is * or <, we have a choice: either shifting or reduction would allow
the parse to complete, but with different results.
Whataboutinputsuchas 1 - 2 - 5;shouldthisbe (1 - 2) - 5 orshould
itbe 1 - (2 - 5)? Formostoperatorsweprefertheformer,whichiscalled left
association. The latter alternative, right association, is desirable for assignment
operators. The choice of left or right association is a matter of whether the
parser chooses to shift or reduce when the stack contains 1 - 2 and the
lookahead token is -: shifting makes right-associativity.
Specifying Operator Precedence
Yacc/Bison allows you to specify these choices with the operator precedence
declarations. Eachsuchdeclarationcontainsalistoftokens,whichareoperators
whose precedence and associativity is being declared. The %left declaration
makes all those operators left-associative and the %right declaration makes
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them right-associative. A third alternative is %nonassoc, which declares that it

is a syntax error to find the same operator twice in a row.
The relative precedence of different operators is controlled by the order in
which they are declared. The first %left or %right declaration in the file
declares the operators whose precedence is lowest, the next such declaration
declares the operators whose precedence is a little higher, and so on.
Precedence Examples
In our example, we would want the following declarations:
%left <
%left -
%left *
In a more complete example, which supports other operators as well, we
would declare them in groups of equal precedence. For example, + is
declared
with -:
%left < > = NE LE GE
%left + -
%left * /
(Here NE and so on stand for the operators for not equal and so on. We
assume that these tokens are more than one character long and therefore are
represented by names, not character literals.)

Often the precedence of an operator depends on the context. For example,

a minus sign typically has a very high precedence as a unary operator, and a
somewhat lower precedence (lower than multiplication) as a binary operator.
The Yacc/Bison precedence declarations, %left, %right and %nonassoc,
can only be used once for a given token; so a token has only one precedence
declared in this way. For context-dependent precedence, you need to use an
additional mechanism: the %prec modifier for rules.
The %prec modifierdeclarestheprecedenceofaparticularrulebyspecifying
a terminal symbol whose predecence should be used for that rule. Its not
necessaryforthatsymboltoappearotherwiseintherule. Themodifierssyntax
is:
%prec terminal-symbol
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and it is written after the components of the rule. Its effect is to assign the
rule the precedence of terminal-symbol, overriding the precedence that would
be deduced for it in the ordinary way. The altered rule precedence then affects
how conflicts involving that rule are resolved.
Here is how %prec solves the problem of unary minus. First, declare a
precedence for a fictitious terminal symbol named UMINUS. There are no
tokens
of this type, but the symbol serves to stand for its precedence:
...
%left + -
%left *
%left UMINUS
Now the precedence of UMINUS can be used in specific rules:
exp : ...
| exp - exp
...
| - exp %prec UMINUS

Reduce/Reduce Conflicts
A reduce/reduce conflict occurs if there are two or more rules that apply to the
same sequence of input. This usually indicates a serious error in the grammar.
Yacc/Bison resolves a reduce/reduce conflict by choosing to use the rule

that appears first in the grammar, but it is very risky to rely on this. Every
reduce/reduce conflict must be studied and usually eliminated.

Error Recovery
You can define how to recover from a syntax error by writing rules to recognize
the special token error. This is a terminal symbol that is always defined (you
need not declare it) and reserved for error handling. The Yacc/Bison parser
generatesan error tokenwheneverasyntaxerrorhappens;ifyouhaveprovided
aruletorecognizethistokeninthecurrentcontext, theparsecancontinue. For
example:
stmnts : /* empty string */
| stmnts \
| stmnts exp \
| stmnts error \
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The fourth rule in this example says that an error followed by a newline makes
a valid addition to any stmnts.
What happens if a syntax error occurs in the middle of an exp? The error
recovery rule, interpreted strictly, applies to the precise sequence of a
stmnts,
an error and a newline. If an error occurs in the middle of an exp, there will
probably be some additional tokens and subexpressions on the stack after the
last stmnts, and there will be tokens to read before the next newline. So the
rule is not applicable in the ordinary way.
But Yacc/Bison can force the situation to fit the rule, by discarding part
of the semantic context and part of the input. First it discards states and
objects from the stack until it gets back to a state in which the error token is
acceptable. (This means that the subexpressions already parsed are
discarded,
backtothelastcomplete stmnts.) Atthispointthe error tokencanbeshifted.
Then,iftheoldlook-aheadtokenisnotacceptabletobeshiftednext,theparser
reads tokens and discards them until it finds a token which is acceptable. In
this example, Yacc/Bison reads and discards input until the next newline so
that the fourth rule can apply.
The choice of error rules in the grammar is a choice of strategies for error
recovery. A simple and useful strategy is simply to skip the rest of the current
input line or current statement if an error is detected:

stmnt : error ; /* on error, skip until ; is read */

It is also useful to recover to the matching close-delimiter of an openingdelimiter that has already been parsed. Otherwise the close-delimiter will probably appear to be unmatched, and generate another, spurious error message:
primary : ( expr )
| ( error )
...
;
Error recovery strategies are necessarily guesses. When they guess wrong,
one syntax error often leads to another. To prevent an outpouring of error
messages, the parser will output no error message for another syntax error
that
happens shortly after the first; only after three consecutive input tokens have
been successfully shifted will error messages resume.
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Further Debugging
IfaYacc/Bisongrammarcompilesproperlybutdoesntdowhatyouwantwhen
it runs, the yydebug parser-trace feature can help you figure out why.
To enable compilation oftrace facilities, youmustdefine the macro YYDEBUG
when you compile the parser. You could use -DYYDEBUG=1 as a compiler option or you could put #define YYDEBUG 1 in the C declarations section of
the
grammar file. Alternatively, use the -t option when you run Yacc/Bison. We
always define YYDEBUG so that debugging is always possible.
Thetracefacilityuses stderr,soyoumustadd #include <stdio.h> tothe
C declarations section unless it is already there.
Onceyouhavecompiledtheprogramwithtracefacilities,thewaytorequest
a trace is to store a nonzero value in the variable yydebug. You can do this by
making the C code do it (in main).
Each step taken by the parser when yydebug is nonzero produces a line or
two of trace information, written on stderr. The trace messages tell you
these
things:
Each time the parser calls yylex, what kind of token was read.
Each time a token is shifted, the depth and complete contents of the state
stack.
Each time a rule is reduced, which rule it is, and the complete contents of

the state stack afterward.

Tomakesenseofthisinformation,ithelpstorefertothelistingfileproduced
bytheYacc/Bison -v option. Thisfileshowsthemeaningofeachstateinterms
of positions in various rules, and also what each state will do with each possible
input token. As you read the successive trace messages, you can see that the
parser is functioning according to its specification in the listing file. Eventually
you will arrive at the place where something undesirable happens, and you will
see which parts of the grammar are to blame.

C.7 Stages in Using Yacc/Bison

The actual language-design process using Yacc/Bison, from grammar
specification to a working compiler or interpreter, has these parts:
1. Formally specify the grammar in a form recognized by Yacc/Bison. For
each grammatical rule in the language, describe the action that is to be
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taken when an instance of that rule is recognized. The action is described

by a sequence of C statements.
2. Writealexicalanalyzertoprocessinputandpasstokenstotheparser. The
lexical analyzer may be written by hand in C. It could also be produced
using Lex.
3. Write a controlling function that calls the Yacc/Bison-produced parser.
4. Write error-reporting routines.
Toturnthissourcecodeaswrittenintoarunnableprogram,youmustfollow
these steps:
1. Run Yacc/Bison on the grammar to produce the parser. The usual way
to invoke Yacc/Bison is as follows:
bison infile
Here infile isthegrammarfilename, whichusuallyendsin .y. Theparser
files name is made by replacing the .y with .tab.c. Thus, the bison
foo.y filename yields foo.tab.c.
2. Compile the code output by Yacc/Bison, as well as any other source files.
3. Link the object files to produce the finished product.
96