.\" DO NOT MODIFY THIS FILE!  It was generated by help2man 1.49.2.
.TH BISON "1" "September 2022" "GNU Bison 3.8.2" "User Commands"
.SH NAME
bison \- GNU Project parser generator (yacc replacement)
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B bison
[\fI\,OPTION\/\fR]... \fI\,FILE\/\fR
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I Bison
is a parser generator in the style of
.IR yacc (1).
It should be upwardly compatible with input files designed
for
.IR yacc .
.PP
Input files should follow the
.I yacc
convention of ending in
.BR .y .
Unlike
.IR yacc ,
the generated files do not have fixed names, but instead use the prefix
of the input file.
Moreover, if you need to put
.I 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
.B parse.yxx
would produce the generated parser in a file named
.BR parse.tab.cxx ,
instead of
.IR yacc 's
.B y.tab.c
or old
.I Bison
version's
.BR parse.tab.c .
.PP
This description of the options that can be given to
.I bison
is adapted from the node
.B Invocation
in the
.B bison.texi
manual, which should be taken as authoritative.
.PP
.I Bison
supports both traditional single-letter options and mnemonic long
option names.  Long option names are indicated with
.B \-\-
instead of
.BR \- .
Abbreviations for option names are allowed as long as they
are unique.  When a long option takes an argument, like
.BR \-\-file-prefix ,
connect the option name and the argument with
.BR = .
.PP
Generate a deterministic LR or generalized LR (GLR) parser employing
LALR(1), IELR(1), or canonical LR(1) parser tables.
.PP
Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.
The same is true for optional arguments.
.SS "Operation Modes:"
.TP
\fB\-h\fR, \fB\-\-help\fR
display this help and exit
.TP
\fB\-V\fR, \fB\-\-version\fR
output version information and exit
.TP
\fB\-\-print\-localedir\fR
output directory containing locale\-dependent data
and exit
.TP
\fB\-\-print\-datadir\fR
output directory containing skeletons and XSLT
and exit
.TP
\fB\-u\fR, \fB\-\-update\fR
apply fixes to the source grammar file and exit
.TP
\fB\-f\fR, \fB\-\-feature\fR[=\fI\,FEATURES\/\fR]
activate miscellaneous features
.SS "FEATURES is a list of comma separated words that can include:"
.TP
caret, diagnostics\-show\-caret
show errors with carets
.TP
fixit, diagnostics\-parseable\-fixits
show machine\-readable fixes
.TP
syntax\-only
do not generate any file
.TP
all
all of the above
.TP
none
disable all of the above
.SS "Diagnostics:"
.TP
\fB\-W\fR, \fB\-\-warnings\fR[=\fI\,CATEGORY\/\fR]
report the warnings falling in CATEGORY
.TP
\fB\-\-color\fR[=\fI\,WHEN\/\fR]
whether to colorize the diagnostics
.TP
\fB\-\-style\fR=\fI\,FILE\/\fR
specify the CSS FILE for colorizer diagnostics
.SS "Warning categories include:"
.TP
conflicts\-sr
S/R conflicts (enabled by default)
.TP
conflicts\-rr
R/R conflicts (enabled by default)
.TP
counterexamples, cex
generate conflict counterexamples
.TP
dangling\-alias
string aliases not attached to a symbol
.TP
deprecated
obsolete constructs
.TP
empty\-rule
empty rules without %empty
.TP
midrule\-values
unset or unused midrule values
.TP
precedence
useless precedence and associativity
.TP
yacc
incompatibilities with POSIX Yacc
.TP
other
all other warnings (enabled by default)
.TP
all
all the warnings except 'counterexamples', 'dangling\-alias' and 'yacc'
.TP
no\-CATEGORY
turn off warnings in CATEGORY
.TP
none
turn off all the warnings
.TP
error[=CATEGORY]
treat warnings as errors
.SS "WHEN can be one of the following:"
.TP
always, yes
colorize the output
.TP
never, no
don't colorize the output
.TP
auto, tty
colorize if the output device is a tty
.SS "Tuning the Parser:"
.TP
\fB\-L\fR, \fB\-\-language\fR=\fI\,LANGUAGE\/\fR
specify the output programming language
.TP
\fB\-S\fR, \fB\-\-skeleton\fR=\fI\,FILE\/\fR
specify the skeleton to use
.TP
\fB\-t\fR, \fB\-\-debug\fR
instrument the parser for tracing
same as '\-Dparse.trace'
.TP
\fB\-\-locations\fR
enable location support
.TP
\fB\-D\fR, \fB\-\-define=NAME\fR[=\fI\,VALUE\/\fR]
similar to '%define NAME VALUE'
.TP
\fB\-F\fR, \fB\-\-force\-define=NAME\fR[=\fI\,VALUE\/\fR]
override '%define NAME VALUE'
.TP
\fB\-p\fR, \fB\-\-name\-prefix\fR=\fI\,PREFIX\/\fR
prepend PREFIX to the external symbols
deprecated by '\-Dapi.prefix={PREFIX}'
.TP
\fB\-l\fR, \fB\-\-no\-lines\fR
don't generate '#line' directives
.TP
\fB\-k\fR, \fB\-\-token\-table\fR
include a table of token names
.TP
\fB\-y\fR, \fB\-\-yacc\fR
emulate POSIX Yacc
.SS "Output Files:"
.TP
\fB\-H\fR, \fB\-\-header\fR=\fI\,[FILE]\/\fR
also produce a header file
.TP
\fB\-d\fR
likewise but cannot specify FILE (for POSIX Yacc)
.TP
\fB\-r\fR, \fB\-\-report\fR=\fI\,THINGS\/\fR
also produce details on the automaton
.TP
\fB\-\-report\-file\fR=\fI\,FILE\/\fR
write report to FILE
.TP
\fB\-v\fR, \fB\-\-verbose\fR
same as '\-\-report=state'
.TP
\fB\-b\fR, \fB\-\-file\-prefix\fR=\fI\,PREFIX\/\fR
specify a PREFIX for output files
.TP
\fB\-o\fR, \fB\-\-output\fR=\fI\,FILE\/\fR
leave output to FILE
.TP
\fB\-g\fR, \fB\-\-graph\fR[=\fI\,FILE\/\fR]
also output a graph of the automaton
.TP
\fB\-\-html\fR[=\fI\,FILE\/\fR]
also output an HTML report of the automaton
.TP
\fB\-x\fR, \fB\-\-xml\fR[=\fI\,FILE\/\fR]
also output an XML report of the automaton
.TP
\fB\-M\fR, \fB\-\-file\-prefix\-map\fR=\fI\,OLD=NEW\/\fR replace prefix OLD with NEW when writing file paths
in output files
.SS "THINGS is a list of comma separated words that can include:"
.TP
states
describe the states
.TP
itemsets
complete the core item sets with their closure
.TP
lookaheads
explicitly associate lookahead tokens to items
.TP
solved
describe shift/reduce conflicts solving
.TP
counterexamples, cex
generate conflict counterexamples
.TP
all
include all the above information
.TP
none
disable the report
.SH AUTHOR
Written by Robert Corbett and Richard Stallman.
.SH "REPORTING BUGS"
Report bugs to <bug\-bison@gnu.org>.
.br
GNU Bison home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/bison/>.
.br
General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>.
.PP
.br
Report translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>.
.br
For complete documentation, run: info bison.
.SH COPYRIGHT
Copyright \(co 2021 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
.br
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR lex (1),
.BR flex (1),
.BR yacc (1).
.PP
The full documentation for
.B bison
is maintained as a Texinfo manual.  If the
.B info
and
.B bison
programs are properly installed at your site, the command
.IP
.B info bison
.PP
should give you access to the complete manual.