lexical analysis

English

Noun

lexical analysis (countable and uncountable, plural lexical analyses)

1. (computer science) The conversion of a stream of characters to a stream of meaningful tokens; normally to simplify parsing.

   While it's often not difficult to identify tokens while parsing, having a separate stage for lexical analysis simplifies the structure of your compiler.

Derived terms

• lex
• lexer

Related terms

• lexical analyzer

Translations

conversion of a stream of characters to a stream of meaningful tokens

• Icelandic: lesgreining f
• Romanian: analiză lexicală

See also

• parsing
• semantic analysis