flex1

The fast lexical analyser generator

Usage

flex [OPTIONS] [FILE] ...

Overview

Generates programs that perform pattern-matching on text.

Table Compression:

-Ca, --align: trade off larger tables for better memory alignment

-Ce, --ecs: construct equivalence classes

-Cf: do not compress tables; use -f representation

-CF: do not compress tables; use -F representation

-Cm, --meta-ecs: construct meta-equivalence classes

-Cr, --read: use read() instead of stdio for scanner input

-f, --full: generate fast, large scanner. Same as -Cfr

-F, --fast: use alternate table representation. Same as -CFr

-Cem: default compression (same as --ecs --meta-ecs)

Debugging:

-d, --debug: enable debug mode in scanner

-b, --backup: write backing-up information to lex.backup

-p, --perf-report: write performance report to stderr

-s, --nodefault: suppress default rule to ECHO unmatched text

-T, --trace: flex should run in trace mode

-w, --nowarn: do not generate warnings

-v, --verbose: write summary of scanner statistics to stdout

--hex: use hexadecimal numbers instead of octal in debug outputs

Files

-o, --outfile=FILE: specify output filename

-S, --skel=FILE: specify skeleton file

-t, --stdout: write scanner on stdout instead of lex.yy.c

--yyclass=NAME: name of C++ class

--header-file=FILE: create a C header file in addition to the scanner

--tables-file[=FILE] write tables to FILE

Scanner behavior:

-7, --7bit: generate 7-bit scanner

-8, --8bit: generate 8-bit scanner

-B, --batch: generate batch scanner (opposite of -I)

-i, --case-insensitive: ignore case in patterns

-l, --lex-compat: maximal compatibility with original lex

-X, --posix-compat: maximal compatibility with POSIX lex

-I, --interactive: generate interactive scanner (opposite of -B)

--yylineno: track line count in yylineno

Generated code:

-+, --c++: generate C++ scanner class

-Dmacro[=defn]: #define macro defn (default defn is '1')

-L, --noline: suppress #line directives in scanner

-P, --prefix=STRING: use STRING as prefix instead of "yy"

-R, --reentrant: generate a reentrant C scanner

--bison-bridge: scanner for bison pure parser.

--bison-locations: include yylloc support.

--stdinit: initialize yyin/yyout to stdin/stdout

--nounistd: do not include <unistd.h>

--noFUNCTION: do not generate a particular FUNCTION

Miscellaneous:

-c: do-nothing POSIX option

-n: do-nothing POSIX option

-h, --help: produce this help message

-V, --version: report flex version

Releases

19 releases since Debian 1.1 (Buzz); the text changed 9 times.

--align since Debian 13 (Trixie); --backup since Debian 13 (Trixie); --debug since Debian 13 (Trixie); --ecs since Debian 13 (Trixie); --fast since Debian 13 (Trixie); --full since Debian 13 (Trixie); --hex since Debian 13 (Trixie); --meta-ecs since Debian 13 (Trixie); --nodefault since Debian 13 (Trixie); --nowarn since Debian 13 (Trixie); --perf-report since Debian 13 (Trixie); --read since Debian 13 (Trixie); --trace since Debian 13 (Trixie); --verbose since Debian 13 (Trixie); -CF since Debian 13 (Trixie); -Ca since Debian 13 (Trixie); -Ce since Debian 13 (Trixie); -Cem since Debian 13 (Trixie); -Cf since Debian 13 (Trixie); -Cm since Debian 13 (Trixie); -Cr since Debian 13 (Trixie).

-+ until Debian 12 (Bookworm); --7bit until Debian 7 (Wheezy); --8bit until Debian 7 (Wheezy); --batch until Debian 7 (Wheezy); --bison-bridge until Debian 7 (Wheezy); --bison-locations until Debian 7 (Wheezy); --c++ until Debian 7 (Wheezy); --case-insensitive until Debian 7 (Wheezy); --header-file until Debian 7 (Wheezy); --help until Debian 7 (Wheezy); --interactive until Debian 7 (Wheezy); --lex-compat until Debian 7 (Wheezy); --noFUNCTION until Debian 7 (Wheezy); --noansi-prototypes until Debian 7 (Wheezy); --noline until Debian 7 (Wheezy); --nounistd until Debian 7 (Wheezy); --outfile until Debian 7 (Wheezy); --posix-compat until Debian 7 (Wheezy); --prefix until Debian 7 (Wheezy); --reentrant until Debian 7 (Wheezy); --skel until Debian 7 (Wheezy); --stdinit until Debian 7 (Wheezy); --stdout until Debian 7 (Wheezy); --version until Debian 7 (Wheezy); --yyclass until Debian 7 (Wheezy); --yylineno until Debian 7 (Wheezy); -7 until Debian 12 (Bookworm); -8 until Debian 12 (Bookworm); -B until Debian 12 (Bookworm); -C until Debian 12 (Bookworm); -Dmacro until Debian 7 (Wheezy); -I until Debian 12 (Bookworm); -L until Debian 12 (Bookworm); -P until Debian 7 (Wheezy); -Pprefix until Debian 12 (Bookworm); -R until Debian 7 (Wheezy); -S until Debian 7 (Wheezy); -Sskeleton_file until Debian 12 (Bookworm); -V until Debian 12 (Bookworm); -X until Debian 7 (Wheezy); -c until Debian 12 (Bookworm); -h until Debian 12 (Bookworm); -i until Debian 12 (Bookworm); -l until Debian 12 (Bookworm); -n until Debian 12 (Bookworm); -o until Debian 7 (Wheezy); -ooutput until Debian 12 (Bookworm); -t until Debian 12 (Bookworm).