Chapter 20. Regex Table Lexer by Rebecca Parsons
Implement a lexical analyzer using a list of regular expressions.
Parsers primarily deal with the structure of a language, specifically the way components of the language can be combined. The most basic language components—such as keywords, numbers, and names—can clearly be recognized by the parser. However, we generally separate this stage out into a lexical analyzer. By using a separate pass to recognize these terminal symbols, we simplify the construction of the parser.
Directly implementing a lexical analyzer, also referred to as a lexer, is relatively straightforward. Lexical analyzers stay ...
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