A formal definition of the syntactic structure of a language (see ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=syntax">syntax), normally given in terms of ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=production rule">production rules which specify the order of constituents and their sub-constituents in a ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=sentence">sentence (a well-formed string in the language). each rule has a left-hand side symbol naming a syntactic category (e.g. "noun-phrase" for a {natural language} grammar) and a right-hand side which is a sequence of zero or more symbols. each symbol may be either a ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=terminal symbol">terminal symbol or a non-terminal symbol. A terminal symbol corresponds to one "ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=lexeme">lexeme" - a part of the sentence with no internal syntactic structure (e.g. an identifier or an operator in a computer language). A non-terminal symbol is the left-hand side of some rule. One rule is normally designated as the top-level rule which gives the structure for a whole sentence. A grammar can be used either to parse a sentence (see ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=parser">parser) or to generate one. Parsing assigns a terminal syntactic category to each input token and a non-terminal category to each appropriate group of tokens, up to the level of the whole sentence. Parsing is usually preceded by ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=lexical analysis">lexical analysis. Generation starts from the top-level rule and chooses one alternative production wherever there is a choice. See also ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=BNF">BNF, ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=yacc">yacc, ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=attribute grammar">attribute grammar, {grammar analysis}.

e="border-width:thin; border-color:#333333; border-style:dashed; padding:5px;" align="left">In addition suitable contents:
[ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=134">= ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=396">ag ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=433">al ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=531">alt ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=544">am ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=592">an ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=683">app ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=740">ar ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=743">arc ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=800">as ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=894">at ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=931">attribute ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=1025">B ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=1026">b ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=1181">be ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=1441">BNF ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=1444">bo ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=1695">by ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=1724">ca ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=1863">cat ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=1869">category ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=1896">cc ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=2001">ch ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=2099">ci ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=2247">co ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=2330">com ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=2491">computer ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=2517">computer language ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=2545">con ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=2606">cons ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=3151">de ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=3304">design ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=3752">du ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=3834">e ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=3865">ec ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=3896">ed ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=3929">ee ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=3946">eg ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=4148">er ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=4150">era ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=4171">es ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=4497">fi ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=4520">file ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=4700">fo ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=4727">for ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=4828">fr ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=4983">G ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=5057">ge ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=5070">gen ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=5089">generate ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=5134">gh ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=5141">gi ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=5205">gn ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=5291">gr ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=5301">grammar analysis ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=5377">group ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=5403">gu ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=5434">h ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=5690">hole ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=5768">hr ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=5779">ht ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=5931">id ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=5956">ie ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=6013">il ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=6064">in ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=6165">input ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=6194">int ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=6413">io ] [ 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ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=8040">mod ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=8079">module ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=8167">mp ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=8228">ms ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=8384">N ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=8386">na ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=8446">natural language ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=8460">nc ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=8472">ne ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=8627">ng ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=8630">ni ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=8675">no ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=8718">norm ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=8745">np ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=8760">ns ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=8820">O ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=8964">om ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=9014">op ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=9071">operator ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=9204">pa ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=9325">parser ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=9457">pe ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=9550">ph ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=9908">pr ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=10012">product ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=10253">query ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=10364">rc ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=10385">re ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=10767">ro ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=10887">ru ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=10918">S ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=11150">se ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=11229">sentence ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=11376">si ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=11389">sig ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=11651">so ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=11790">spec ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=11934">st ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=12093">string ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=12109">struct ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=12133">su ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=12246">sy ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=12295">syntax ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=12416">tar ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=12533">terminal ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=12588">th ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=12721">to ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=12730">token ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=12787">tr ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=12896">tt ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=12986">ua ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=13146">up ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=13175">us ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=13310">ve ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=14029">yacc ] [ ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&op=content&tid=14102">zero ]