bison1

Gnu project parser generator (yacc replacement)

Usage

bison [OPTION] ... FILE

Overview

Bison is a parser generator in the style of yacc(1). It should be upwardly compatible with input files designed for yacc.

Input files should follow the yacc convention of ending in .y. Unlike yacc, the generated files do not have fixed names, but instead use the prefix of the input file. Moreover, if you need to put C++ code in the input file, you can end his name by a C++-like extension (.ypp or .y++), then bison will follow your extension to name the output file (.cpp or .c++). For instance, a grammar description file named parse.yxx would produce the generated parser in a file named parse.tab.cxx, instead of yacc's y.tab.c or old Bison version's parse.tab.c.

This description of the options that can be given to bison is adapted from the node Invocation in the bison.texi manual, which should be taken as authoritative.

Bison supports both traditional single-letter options and mnemonic long option names. Long option names are indicated with -- instead of -. Abbreviations for option names are allowed as long as they are unique. When a long option takes an argument, like --file-prefix, connect the option name and the argument with =.

Generate a deterministic LR or generalized LR (GLR) parser employing LALR(1), IELR(1), or canonical LR(1) parser tables.

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too. The same is true for optional arguments.

Operation Modes:

-h, --help: display this help and exit

-V, --version: output version information and exit

--print-localedir: output directory containing locale-dependent data and exit

--print-datadir: output directory containing skeletons and XSLT and exit

-u, --update: apply fixes to the source grammar file and exit

-f, --feature[=FEATURES]: activate miscellaneous features

FEATURES is a list of comma separated words that can include:

`caret, diagnostics-show-caret`	show errors with carets
`fixit, diagnostics-parseable-fixits`	show machine-readable fixes
`syntax-only`	do not generate any file
`all`	all of the above
`none`	disable all of the above

Diagnostics:

-W, --warnings[=CATEGORY]: report the warnings falling in CATEGORY

--color[=WHEN]: whether to colorize the diagnostics

--style=FILE: specify the CSS FILE for colorizer diagnostics

Warning categories include:

`conflicts-sr`	S/R conflicts (enabled by default)
`conflicts-rr`	R/R conflicts (enabled by default)
`counterexamples, cex`	generate conflict counterexamples
`dangling-alias`	string aliases not attached to a symbol
`deprecated`	obsolete constructs
`empty-rule`	empty rules without %empty
`midrule-values`	unset or unused midrule values
`precedence`	useless precedence and associativity
`yacc`	incompatibilities with POSIX Yacc
`other`	all other warnings (enabled by default)
`all`	all the warnings except 'counterexamples', 'dangling-alias' and 'yacc'
`no-CATEGORY`	turn off warnings in CATEGORY
`none`	turn off all the warnings
`error[=CATEGORY]`	treat warnings as errors

WHEN can be one of the following:

`always, yes`	colorize the output
`never, no`	don't colorize the output
`auto, tty`	colorize if the output device is a tty

Tuning the Parser:

-L, --language=LANGUAGE: specify the output programming language

-S, --skeleton=FILE: specify the skeleton to use

-t, --debug: instrument the parser for tracing same as '-Dparse.trace'

--locations: enable location support

-D, --define=NAME[=VALUE]: similar to '%define NAME VALUE'

-F, --force-define=NAME[=VALUE]: override '%define NAME VALUE'

-p, --name-prefix=PREFIX: prepend PREFIX to the external symbols deprecated by '-Dapi.prefix={PREFIX}'

-l, --no-lines: don't generate '#line' directives

-k, --token-table: include a table of token names

-y, --yacc: emulate POSIX Yacc

Output Files:

-H, --header=[FILE]: also produce a header file

-d: likewise but cannot specify FILE (for POSIX Yacc)

-r, --report=THINGS: also produce details on the automaton

--report-file=FILE: write report to FILE

-v, --verbose: same as '--report=state'

-b, --file-prefix=PREFIX: specify a PREFIX for output files

-o, --output=FILE: leave output to FILE

-g, --graph[=FILE]: also output a graph of the automaton

--html[=FILE]: also output an HTML report of the automaton

-x, --xml[=FILE]: also output an XML report of the automaton

-M, --file-prefix-map=OLD=NEW replace prefix OLD with NEW when writing file paths: in output files

THINGS is a list of comma separated words that can include:

`states`	describe the states
`itemsets`	complete the core item sets with their closure
`lookaheads`	explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
`solved`	describe shift/reduce conflicts solving
`counterexamples, cex`	generate conflict counterexamples
`all`	include all the above information
`none`	disable the report

Releases

19 releases since Debian 1.1 (Buzz); the text changed 13 times.

--color since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --define since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --feature since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --force-define since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --graph since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --header since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --help since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --html since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --language since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --locations since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --output since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --print-datadir since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --print-localedir since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --report since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --report-file since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --skeleton since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --style since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --token-table since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --update since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --warnings since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --xml since Debian 12 (Bookworm); -D since Debian 12 (Bookworm); -F since Debian 12 (Bookworm); -H since Debian 12 (Bookworm); -L since Debian 12 (Bookworm); -S since Debian 12 (Bookworm); -W since Debian 12 (Bookworm); -b since Debian 12 (Bookworm); -f since Debian 12 (Bookworm); -g since Debian 12 (Bookworm); -h since Debian 12 (Bookworm); -k since Debian 12 (Bookworm); -o since Debian 12 (Bookworm); -p since Debian 12 (Bookworm); -r since Debian 12 (Bookworm); -u since Debian 12 (Bookworm); -x since Debian 12 (Bookworm).

--defines until Debian 11 (Bullseye); --fixed-output-files until Debian 11 (Bullseye); --no-parser until Debian 5.0 (Lenny); --output-file until Debian 11 (Bullseye); --raw until Debian 2.2 (Potato); -n until Debian 5.0 (Lenny).