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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-14T06:46:35+00:00

I’m using GNU Bison 2.4.2 to write a grammar for a new language I’m

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I’m using GNU Bison 2.4.2 to write a grammar for a new language I’m working on and I have a question.
When I specify a rule, let’s say:

statement : T_CLASS T_IDENT  '{' T_CLASS_MEMBERS '}' {
           // create a node for the statement ...
}

If I have a variation on the rule, for instance

statement : T_CLASS T_IDENT T_EXTENDS T_IDENT_LIST  '{' T_CLASS_MEMBERS '}' {
           // create a node for the statement ...
}

Where (from flex scanner rules) :

"class"                     return T_CLASS;
"extends"                   return T_EXTENDS;
[a-zA-Z\_][a-zA-Z0-9\_]*    return T_IDENT;

(and T_IDENT_LIST is a rule for comma separated identifiers).

Is there any way to specify all of this only in one rule, setting somehow the "T_EXTENDS T_IDENT_LIST" as optional?
I’ve already tried with

 T_CLASS T_IDENT (T_EXTENDS T_IDENT_LIST)? '{' T_CLASS_MEMBERS '}' {
     // create a node for the statement ...
 }

But Bison gave me an error.

Thanks

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    To make a long story short, no. Bison only deals with LALR(1) grammars, which means it only uses one symbol of lookahead. What you need is something like this:

    statement: T_CLASS T_IDENT extension_list '{' ...

extension_list: 
              | T_EXTENDS T_IDENT_LIST
              ;

    There are other parser generators that work with more general grammars though. If memory serves, some of them support optional elements relatively directly like you’re asking for.

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