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(bison.info)Debugging

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Debugging Your Parser
*********************

   If a Bison grammar compiles properly but doesn't do what you want
when it runs, the `yydebug' parser-trace feature can help you figure
out why.

   To enable compilation of trace facilities, you must define the macro
`YYDEBUG' to a nonzero value when you compile the parser.  You could
use `-DYYDEBUG=1' as a compiler option or you could put `#define
YYDEBUG 1' in the C declarations section of the grammar file (Note: The
C Declarations Section.).  Alternatively, use the `-t'
option when you run Bison (Note: Invoking Bison.) or the
`%debug' declaration (Note: Bison Declaration Summary.).
We suggest that you always define `YYDEBUG' so that debugging is always
possible.

   The trace facility outputs messages with macro calls of the form
`YYFPRINTF (stderr, FORMAT, ARGS)' where FORMAT and ARGS are the usual
`printf' format and arguments.  If you define `YYDEBUG' to a nonzero
value but do not define `YYFPRINTF', `<stdio.h>' is automatically
included and `YYPRINTF' is defined to `fprintf'.

   Once you have compiled the program with trace facilities, the way to
request a trace is to store a nonzero value in the variable `yydebug'.
You can do this by making the C code do it (in `main', perhaps), or you
can alter the value with a C debugger.

   Each step taken by the parser when `yydebug' is nonzero produces a
line or two of trace information, written on `stderr'.  The trace
messages tell you these things:

   * Each time the parser calls `yylex', what kind of token was read.

   * Each time a token is shifted, the depth and complete contents of
     the state stack (Note: Parser States).

   * Each time a rule is reduced, which rule it is, and the complete
     contents of the state stack afterward.

   To make sense of this information, it helps to refer to the listing
file produced by the Bison `-v' option (*note Invoking Bison:
Invocation.).  This file shows the meaning of each state in terms of
positions in various rules, and also what each state will do with each
possible input token.  As you read the successive trace messages, you
can see that the parser is functioning according to its specification
in the listing file.  Eventually you will arrive at the place where
something undesirable happens, and you will see which parts of the
grammar are to blame.

   The parser file is a C program and you can use C debuggers on it,
but it's not easy to interpret what it is doing.  The parser function
is a finite-state machine interpreter, and aside from the actions it
executes the same code over and over.  Only the values of variables
show where in the grammar it is working.

   The debugging information normally gives the token type of each token
read, but not its semantic value.  You can optionally define a macro
named `YYPRINT' to provide a way to print the value.  If you define
`YYPRINT', it should take three arguments.  The parser will pass a
standard I/O stream, the numeric code for the token type, and the token
value (from `yylval').

   Here is an example of `YYPRINT' suitable for the multi-function
calculator (Note: Declarations for `mfcalc'.):

     #define YYPRINT(file, type, value)   yyprint (file, type, value)
     
     static void
     yyprint (FILE *file, int type, YYSTYPE value)
     {
       if (type == VAR)
         fprintf (file, " %s", value.tptr->name);
       else if (type == NUM)
         fprintf (file, " %d", value.val);
     }