To: Cameron MacKinnon <mackin@interlog.com>
Subject: Re: Flex documentation bug
In-reply-to: Your message of Mon, 02 Dec 1996 00:07:08 PST.
Date: Sun, 01 Dec 1996 22:29:39 PST
From: Vern Paxson <vern>

> I'm not sure how or where to submit bug reports (documentation or
> otherwise) for the GNU project stuff ...

Well, strictly speaking flex isn't part of the GNU project.  They just
distribute it because no one's written a decent GPL'd lex replacement.
So you should send bugs directly to me.  Those sent to the GNU folks
sometimes find there way to me, but some may drop between the cracks.

> In GNU Info, under the section 'Start Conditions', and also in the man
> page (mine's dated April '95) is a nice little snippet showing how to
> parse C quoted strings into a buffer, defined to be MAX_STR_CONST in
> size. Unfortunately, no overflow checking is ever done ...

This is already mentioned in the manual:

Finally, here's an example of how to  match  C-style  quoted
strings using exclusive start conditions, including expanded
escape sequences (but not including checking  for  a  string
that's too long):

The reason for not doing the overflow checking is that it will needlessly
clutter up an example whose main purpose is just to demonstrate how to
use flex.

The latest release is 2.5.4, by the way, available from ftp.ee.lbl.gov.

		Vern