DESCRIPTION

Ptlex is a scanner generator for Flex-like input files. Written in the crossplatform Tcl-scripting language it can be used to translated Flex-like input files for the scripting languages Perl, Python, Ruby, and Tcl into standalone applications.

INSTALLATION

• Download the ptlex-Application from the sourceforge project page at https://sourceforge.net/projects/bioscanners/files/ptlex/ptlex.kit/download
• save this file to your hardisk
• download the tclkit-runtime for your platform (Win32, Linux, Mac-OSX and many others) from http://www.equi4.com/pub/tk/downloads.html or http://www.patthoyts.tk/tclkit/ unpack the file if necessary and put this file somewhere in your path
• Test your files using a commandline like:

$ tclkit-runtime /path/to/ptlex.kit

This should display something like:

This is ptlex - A Tcl based flexlike scanner generator.
$Revision: 1.26 $

How to use ptlex:

tclkit-runtime ptlex.kit [options] flexfile outfile

Valid options are:
-+                   Object Oriented scanner (Tcl, Perl and Python)
--buffersize num     Set buffersize of scanner to num
--flexfile file      Set flexfile
...

Your installation is done.

USAGE

$ tclkit-runtime ptlex.kit [options] lexfile outfile

The following options are implemented:

• -+ creates an object oriented scanner (only for Tcl, Perl and Python)
• --buffersize num sets the buffersize to be read in chunkwise to num
• --flexfile file explicitly specifies the name of the flexfile
• --help prints out a help message how to run the scanner
• -i creates a case insensitve scanner
• --lang sets the programming language for the flexfile
• -o <filename>, --outfile <filename> set the filename for the application file
• -P <pref>, --prefix <pref> set the prefix for functions, variables, objects (default yy)
• -S <file>, --skeleton_file <file> set skeleton_file for creating the scanner
• -v, -V, --version returns the ptlex version and exits
• --license Display license (BSD)

EXAMPLES

Lets assume we hava flex input file written in Tcl whic counts the number of characters, lines and words in files like the unix tool wc. This file is called wc.ftl. The source can be viewed here

$ head samples/wc.ftl

%{
    global nline nword nchar
    set nline 0
    set nword 0
    set nchar 0
%}

%option buffersize=1024

$ tclkit85 ptlex.kit samples/wc.ftl samples/wc.tcl
Success: Language=tcl  Script-file=samples/wc.tcl generated!
$ tclkit85 samples/wc.tcl samples/wc.tcl
    144     507    3847 samples/wc.tcl

Let's compare the results with the original

$ wc samples/wc.tcl
 144  507 3847 samples/wc.tcl

SAMPLES

Source code for samples at sourceforge:

Lang \ Code	wc	replacer	sbs
Perl	wc.fpl	replacer.fpl	sbs.fpl
Perl-OO	wc_oo.fpl	NA	sbs_oo.fpl
Python	wc.fpy	replacer.fpy	sbs.fpy
Python-OO	wc_oo.fpy	replacer_oo.fpy	sbs_oo.fpy
Ruby	wc.frb	replacer.frb	sbs.frb
Tcl	wc.ftl	replacer.ftl	sbs.ftl
Tcl-OO	wc_oo.ftl	replacer_oo.ftl	sbs_oo.ftl

LICENSE

BSD-like

AUTHORS

Dr. Detlef Groth (Potsdam University)
Stefan Müller (Free University)

SEE ALSO