Flex - a scanner generator - 1.2 Overview

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## 1.2 Overview

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

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

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