[GoLUG] [parse] Rules ordering

[Steve Litt]

Hi all,

In the rules section, the following two megarules determine which
matches prevail:

1) Match the longest possible string every time the scanner matches
   input

2) If there's a tie for the longest possible string, use the pattern
   that appears first in the rules section.

How Flex implements the preceding rules is a little hard to imagine,
but in most cases it should be pretty clear. However, it's the longest
*string*, not the longest *pattern*, so it's very possible for pattern
"a*" to prevail over pattern "abcdefghijklm".

SteveT

Steve Litt 

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http://www.troubleshooters.com/rl21