DOKK / manpages / debian 12 / bison++ / bison.1.en
BISON(1) General Commands Manual BISON(1)

bison - GNU Project parser generator (yacc replacement)

bison [ -b file-prefix ] [ --file-prefix=file-prefix ] [ -d ] [ --defines ] [ -l ] [ --no-lines ] [ -o outfile ] [ --output-file=outfile ] [ -p prefix ] [ --name-prefix=prefix ] [ -t ] [ --debug ] [ -v ] [ --verbose ] [ -V ] [ --version ] [ -y ] [ --yacc ] [ --fixed-output-files ] file

Bison is a parser generator in the style of yacc(1). It should be upwardly compatible with input files designed for yacc.

Input files should follow the yacc convention of ending in .y. Unlike yacc, the generated files do not have fixed names, but instead use the prefix of the input file. For instance, a grammar description file named parse.y would produce the generated parser in a file named parse.tab.c, instead of yacc's y.tab.c.

This description of the options that can be given to bison is adapted from the node Invocation in the bison.texinfo manual, which should be taken as authoritative.

Bison supports both traditional single-letter options and mnemonic long option names. Long option names are indicated with -- instead of -. Abbreviations for option names are allowed as long as they are unique. When a long option takes an argument, like --file-prefix, connect the option name and the argument with =.


Specify a prefix to use for all bison output file names. The names are chosen as if the input file were named file-prefix.c.

Write an extra output file containing macro definitions for the token type names defined in the grammar and the semantic value type YYSTYPE, as well as a few extern variable declarations.

If the parser output file is named name.c then this file is named name.h.

This output file is essential if you wish to put the definition of yylex in a separate source file, because yylex needs to be able to refer to token type codes and the variable yylval.


Don't put any #line preprocessor commands in the parser file. Ordinarily bison puts them in the parser file so that the C compiler and debuggers will associate errors with your source file, the grammar file. This option causes them to associate errors with the parser file, treating it an independent source file in its own right.

Specify the name outfile for the parser file.

The other output files' names are constructed from outfile as described under the -v and -d switches.


Rename the external symbols used in the parser so that they start with prefix instead of yy. The precise list of symbols renamed is yyparse, yylex, yyerror, yylval, yychar, and yydebug.

For example, if you use -p c, the names become cparse, clex, and so on.


Output a definition of the macro YYDEBUG into the parser file, so that the debugging facilities are compiled.

Write an extra output file containing verbose descriptions of the parser states and what is done for each type of look-ahead token in that state.

This file also describes all the conflicts, both those resolved by operator precedence and the unresolved ones.

The file's name is made by removing .tab.c or .c from the parser output file name, and adding .output instead.

Therefore, if the input file is foo.y, then the parser file is called foo.tab.c by default. As a consequence, the verbose output file is called foo.output.


Print the version number of bison.


Equivalent to -o y.tab.c; the parser output file is called y.tab.c, and the other outputs are called y.output and y.tab.h. The purpose of this switch is to imitate yacc's output file name conventions. Thus, the following shell script can substitute for yacc:

bison -y $*

The long-named options can be introduced with `+' as well as `--', for compatibility with previous releases. Eventually support for `+' will be removed, because it is incompatible with the POSIX.2 standard.

/usr/local/lib/bison.simple simple parser
/usr/local/lib/bison.hairy complicated parser

yacc(1)
The Bison Reference Manual, included as the file bison.texinfo in the bison source distribution.

Self explanatory.

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