Flex (lexical analyser generator)
| flex | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Vern Paxson |
| Initial release | around 1987 |
| Stable release | 2.6.4
/ May 6, 2017 |
| Repository | |
| Operating system | Unix-like |
| Type | Lexical analyzer generator |
| License | BSD license |
| Website | github |
Flex (fast lexical analyzer generator) is a free and open-source software alternative to lex.
It is a computer program that generates lexical analyzers (also known as "scanners" or "lexers").
It is frequently used as the lex implementation together with Berkeley Yacc parser generator on BSD-derived operating systems (as both lex and yacc are part of POSIX), or together with GNU bison (a version of yacc) in *BSD ports and in Linux distributions. Unlike Bison, flex is not part of the GNU Project and is not released under the GNU General Public License, although a manual for Flex was produced and published by the Free Software Foundation.