problem with semantic actions

[Steve Greenburg]

Hi,




expr -> term moreterms
moreterms -> '+' moreterms | e.
term -> factor morefactors
morefactors -> '*' morefactors | e.
factor -> '(' expr ')'

To compile and run the file I enter these commands:

bison unparen.y; cc -o unparen unparen.tab.cc; ./unparen < expr

The file expr contains the following:

((((((((((1)+2)*3)+4)*5)+6)*7)+8)*9)+10)



((((1+2)*3+4)*5+6)*7+8)*!+10



$$.str = (char *)malloc(1);*$$.str = '\0';



-Steve

_________________________________________________________________

I am implementing a parser which removes unnecessary parentheses from infix expressions, however I came across a very strange bug which I don't understand at all. My system is Fedora Core 6 with Bison 2.3 with latest kernel and updates as of 04/07. However I tested the same grammar file on a cygwin environment and got similar erroneous behavior (also Bison version 2.3), leading me to believe the problem is either with bison or how I am using it. Sorry in advance if this is not a problem with bison itself, and also sorry for the size of the attached grammar file, but since I don't understand this bug I can't really make a smaller grammar file which reproduces it. Here is the basic grammar I had when I found the bug: While the semantic actions seem to successfully remove the unwanted parens, it replaces the '9' character with a '!' character: On the cygwin box it replaced the '5' with two '!' characters. After compiling with debugging enabled and running it through gdb, I found that when the semantic action for "term" is being executed the expression is correct, e.g. $$.str is "((((1+2)*3+4)*5+6)*7+8)*9". Yet when I check the same value as $1.str from the "expr" semantic action it prints out as "((((1+2)*3+4)*5+6)*7+8)*!". Changing some of the * signs to + signs and vice versa sometimes eliminates the effect. Also I couldn't reproduce the bug with a shorter input, and changing various things (like the sizes of allocated memory in each semantic action) seems to have no effect. One other thing - gdb says that this line from the "moreterms" semantic action is responsible for changing the '9' to a '!' (based on repeatedly printing out the area of memory in question), but I don't see how that can be since it's a different semantic action from term. That is all the information I have, any insight you could offer would be appreciated, and thanks in advance. PC Magazine’s 2007 editors’ choice for best Web mail—award-winning Windows Live Hotmail. http://imagine-windowslive.com/hotmail/?locale=en-us&ocid=TXT_TAGHM_migration_HM_mini_pcmag_0507

unparen.y
Description: Binary data