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GNU Info (bison.info)Contextual PrecedenceContext-Dependent Precedence ============================ Often the precedence of an operator depends on the context. This sounds outlandish at first, but it is really very common. For example, a minus sign typically has a very high precedence as a unary operator, and a somewhat lower precedence (lower than multiplication) as a binary operator. The Bison precedence declarations, `%left', `%right' and `%nonassoc', can only be used once for a given token; so a token has only one precedence declared in this way. For context-dependent precedence, you need to use an additional mechanism: the `%prec' modifier for rules. The `%prec' modifier declares the precedence of a particular rule by specifying a terminal symbol whose precedence should be used for that rule. It's not necessary for that symbol to appear otherwise in the rule. The modifier's syntax is: %prec TERMINAL-SYMBOL and it is written after the components of the rule. Its effect is to assign the rule the precedence of TERMINAL-SYMBOL, overriding the precedence that would be deduced for it in the ordinary way. The altered rule precedence then affects how conflicts involving that rule are resolved (Note: Operator Precedence.). Here is how `%prec' solves the problem of unary minus. First, declare a precedence for a fictitious terminal symbol named `UMINUS'. There are no tokens of this type, but the symbol serves to stand for its precedence: ... %left '+' '-' %left '*' %left UMINUS Now the precedence of `UMINUS' can be used in specific rules: exp: ... | exp '-' exp ... | '-' exp %prec UMINUS automatically generated by info2www version 1.2.2.9 |