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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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