packages icon



 BISON(1)                      GNU Bison 3.8.2                      BISON(1)
 User Commands                                                 User Commands

                               September 2021



 NAME
      bison - GNU Project parser generator (yacc replacement)

 SYNOPSIS
      bison [,OPTION/]... ,FILE/

 DESCRIPTION
      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




                                    - 1 -        Formatted:  October 4, 2024






 BISON(1)                      GNU Bison 3.8.2                      BISON(1)
 User Commands                                                 User Commands

                               September 2021



      -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




                                    - 2 -        Formatted:  October 4, 2024






 BISON(1)                      GNU Bison 3.8.2                      BISON(1)
 User Commands                                                 User Commands

                               September 2021



      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/]



                                    - 3 -        Formatted:  October 4, 2024






 BISON(1)                      GNU Bison 3.8.2                      BISON(1)
 User Commands                                                 User Commands

                               September 2021



           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

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




                                    - 4 -        Formatted:  October 4, 2024






 BISON(1)                      GNU Bison 3.8.2                      BISON(1)
 User Commands                                                 User Commands

                               September 2021



    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

 AUTHOR
      Written by Robert Corbett and Richard Stallman.

 REPORTING BUGS
      Report bugs to <bug-bison@gnu.org>.
      GNU Bison home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/bison/>.
      General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>.
      For complete documentation, run: info bison.

 COPYRIGHT
      Copyright c 2021 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
      This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There
      is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
      PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

 SEE ALSO
      lex(1), flex(1), yacc(1).

      The full documentation for bison is maintained as a Texinfo manual.
      If the info and bison programs are properly installed at your site,
      the command

           info bison

      should give you access to the complete manual.







                                    - 5 -        Formatted:  October 4, 2024