JLEX(1)

📦 version 1.2.6, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 JLEX — the manual, but make it cute 💖

okay bestie, gather round, because this is the lexical analyser generator for Java(tm) and it's literally the moment. this page lives in section 1 of the General Commands Manual, and yes i'm about to tell you everything about it, no skips, no skimming, we're doing this properly 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

jlex — lexical analyser generator for Java(tm)

like. that's the whole vibe. she generates lexical analysers. for Java(tm). iconic behavior only 👑

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

jlex specfile

that's it. one argument. one file. she's low maintenance like that 💅

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so here's the tea, bestie ☕ JLex takes the language specification that you wrote in specfile and generates Java(tm) source code for a lexical analyser that matches that specification. that's the whole job. she reads the spec, she writes the analyser. no cap.

and here's where the output lands: the lexical analyzer source code goes into a file whose name is the name of the JLex specification file with the string .java added to the end. so, for example — and i need you to really internalize this because it's the kind of thing that catches people off guard — if your JLex specification file is called foo.lex, then the lexical analyzer source code file that JLex produces will be called foo.lex.java.

yes bestie, foo.lex.java. it's giving cursed but it's correct. that's just how she names things 🙈

then! you take that resulting lexical analyzer source code and compile it with a Java compiler. that produces a lexical analyzer class file, which you can then use in your application. and if the default settings have not been changed (key phrase!! don't come for me if you changed them), the lexical analyzer class will be called Yylex, and the class files will be named Yylex.class and Yytoken.class. periodt.

for more info, the JLex manual lives at /usr/share/doc/jlex/manual.html and she's worth a read 📖

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

  • /usr/share/doc/jlex/manual.html
  • /usr/share/doc/jlex/bugs.html
  • /usr/share/doc/jlex/README

go read them. i'll wait. 🫶

🔥 DIAGNOSTICS 🔥

jlex produces diagnostic output to inform you of its progress. so she's chatty. she's keeping you posted. she's not ghosting you mid-run. love that for her ✨

💀 BUGS 💀

known bugs in JLex? check /usr/share/doc/jlex/bugs.html, that's where the lore lives.

now listen, if you're reporting bugs in the Debian version of JLex, please please please send them to the Debian bug tracking system in the first instance. otherwise (so, not Debian), contact A. Appel <appel@princeton.edu>.

not me asking you nicely to file bugs in the right place 😭 it's for everyone's benefit, i promise

👑 AUTHOR 👑

JLex was written by Elliot Joel Berk at Princeton University. it is now maintained by C. Scott Ananian. keeping the legacy alive fr fr 💖

this manual page was written by Charles Briscoe-Smith <cpbs@debian.org>, modified by Colin Watson <cjwatson@debian.org>, and is hereby contributed to the Public Domain. slay.

more info? see the file /usr/share/doc/jlex/copyright 🎀

🌈 TRADEMARK ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 🌈

"Java" is a trademark or registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. — gotta say it, legally required, i don't make the rules 💅

and that's the whole page bestie!! this was the JLex manual page, dating all the way back to 6 Aug 2001, from section 1 of the General Commands Manual. go generate yourself a lexical analyser. you got this. mwah 🦋💖✨

📦 where this page comes from