Lex (software)
Standard UNIX utility / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Lex (software)?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
SHOW ALL QUESTIONS
Lex is a computer program that generates lexical analyzers ("scanners" or "lexers").[1][2] It is commonly used with the yacc parser generator and is the standard lexical analyzer generator on many Unix and Unix-like systems. An equivalent tool is specified as part of the POSIX standard.[3]
Quick Facts Original author(s), Initial release ...
Original author(s) | Mike Lesk, Eric Schmidt |
---|---|
Initial release | 1975; 49 years ago (1975) |
Repository | |
Written in | C |
Operating system | Unix, Unix-like, Plan 9 |
Platform | Cross-platform |
Type | Command |
License | Plan 9: MIT License |
Close
Lex reads an input stream specifying the lexical analyzer and writes source code which implements the lexical analyzer in the C programming language.
In addition to C, some old versions of Lex could generate a lexer in Ratfor.[4]