lexx/yacc usefull ? when why ?

[Rodrick Brown]

This might be off topic but can someone give me a quick run down on why
tools like lexx/yacc/bison are usefull ?
I know what there used for but not sure when they should be used and where ?

Thanks.

 

[Jens.Toerring]

This might be off topic but can someone give me a quick run down on why
tools like lexx/yacc/bison are usefull ?

Well, comp.compilers probably would be a more appropriate place...

I know what there used for but not sure when they should be used and where ?

To make it short, they are very useful when you have to interpret
input that follows a certain syntax, basically when you have some
kind of language you want to interpret or try to write a compiler
for. That can range from interpreting e.g. configuration files with
a simple keyword-value syntax to writing a full-blown interpreter/
compiler for a computer languge. Perhaps you should take a look at
the bison manual, e.g. at

http://dinosaur.compilertools.net/bison/index.html

and especially the "Examples" section, that might give you some
ideas what it can be used for.
</OT>
Regards, Jens

 

[Achintya]

Hi

though this is not the right platform to answer!...

lex and yacc are original UNIX tools for parsing any file which has a
regular format. Lex is used to tokenize the words in the file and YACC
is used perform an action when a particular sequence of token appear
from lex.

Lex stands for Lexical analyser and Yacc stands for yet another
compiler-compiler.

Even though the file parsing/reading can be done with languages like C
and C++, LEX and YACC makes the job simpler.

So these are to tools used to parse/read a file which is following a
regular format for representation of information.

-vs_p...

 

[CBFalconer]

.... snip ...

<OT>
http://dinosaur.compilertools.net/bison/index.html

and especially the "Examples" section, that might give you some
ideas what it can be used for.
</OT>

Most linux, DJGPP, or cygwin users with Flex/Bison installed
already have all this information on their machines. Try "info
bison" or "info flex".

 

[BGreene]

Hi

though this is not the right platform to answer!...

lex and yacc are original UNIX tools for parsing any file which has a
regular format. Lex is used to tokenize the words in the file and YACC
is used perform an action when a particular sequence of token appear
from lex.

Lex stands for Lexical analyser and Yacc stands for yet another
compiler-compiler.

Even though the file parsing/reading can be done with languages like C
and C++, LEX and YACC makes the job simpler.

So these are to tools used to parse/read a file which is following a
regular format for representation of information.

Not only was this the wrong group this isn't a good response .