FLEX(1)

NAME
flex - the fast lexical analyser generator

SYNOPSIS
flex [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

DESCRIPTION
Generates programs that perform pattern-matching on text.

  Table Compression:

-Ca, --align
    trade off larger tables for better memory alignment

-Ce, --ecs
    construct equivalence classes

-Cf do not compress tables; use -f representation

-CF do not compress tables; use -F representation

-Cm, --meta-ecs
    construct meta-equivalence classes

-Cr, --read
    use read() instead of stdio for scanner input

-f, --full
    generate fast, large scanner. Same as -Cfr

-F, --fast
    use alternate table representation. Same as -CFr

-Cem
    default compression (same as --ecs --meta-ecs)

  Debugging:

-d, --debug
    enable debug mode in scanner

-b, --backup
    write backing-up information to lex.backup

-p, --perf-report
    write performance report to stderr

-s, --nodefault
    suppress default rule to ECHO unmatched text

-T, --trace
    flex should run in trace mode

-w, --nowarn
    do not generate warnings

-v, --verbose
    write summary of scanner statistics to stdout

--hex
    use hexadecimal numbers instead of octal in debug outputs

FILES

-o, --outfile=FILE
    specify output filename

-S, --skel=FILE
    specify skeleton file

-t, --stdout
    write scanner on stdout instead of lex.yy.c

--yyclass=NAME
    name of C++ class

--header-file=FILE
    create a C header file in addition to the scanner

--tables-file[=FILE] write tables to FILE

--backup-file=FILE
    write backing-up information to FILE

  Scanner behavior:

-7, --7bit
    generate 7-bit scanner

-8, --8bit
    generate 8-bit scanner

-B, --batch
    generate batch scanner (opposite of -I)

-i, --case-insensitive
    ignore case in patterns

-l, --lex-compat
    maximal compatibility with original lex

-X, --posix-compat
    maximal compatibility with POSIX lex

-I, --interactive
    generate interactive scanner (opposite of -B)

--yylineno
    track line count in yylineno

  Generated code:

-+,  --c++
    generate C++ scanner class

-Dmacro[=defn]
    #define macro defn (default defn is '1')

-L,  --noline
    suppress #line directives in scanner

-P,  --prefix=STRING
    use STRING as prefix instead of "yy"

-R,  --reentrant
    generate a reentrant C scanner

--bison-bridge
    scanner for bison pure parser.

--bison-locations
    include yylloc support.

--stdinit
    initialize yyin/yyout to stdin/stdout

--nounistd
    do not include <unistd.h>

--noFUNCTION
    do not generate a particular FUNCTION

  Miscellaneous:

-c  do-nothing POSIX option

-n  do-nothing POSIX option

-?

-h, --help
    produce this help message

-V, --version
    report flex version

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

    info flex

should give you access to the complete manual.