From:	"Smith A. Cat" <imbe AT primenet DOT com>
Newsgroups:	comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject:	Re: NEWBIE - What is flex?
Date:	12 Jun 1997 19:49:00 -0700
Organization:	Blue Square Laboratories
Lines:	22
Message-ID:	<33A0B6F4.49A5@primenet.com>
References:	<33A08895 DOT 781F AT pukopn1 DOT puk DOT ac DOT za>
MIME-Version:	1.0
To:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
DJ-Gateway:	from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp

acebear AT pukopn1 DOT puk DOT ac DOT za wrote:
> 
> What do you use the DJGPP utility flex for?

well, flex is used to "autogenerate" c code given a set of conditions
and actions.  if you've ever written an awk script, it looks a lot like
a flex lexer.  that's not very clear, is it?

basically, you code some text based rule, and a corresponding action for
when that rule is satisfied. something like:

if(lot's of x's) then (make x's into o's)

that's not flex code, but that's the kind of thing it does.  if you are
weak on regular expressions it will be a bit challenging, since that's
what it runs on.  it's really useful for writing something like a text
processor-- something with lot's of simple decisions to be made.  i
recommend the documentation, which is excellent.

phil

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