Precedence Relations
Operator precedence grammars rely on the following three precedence relations between the terminals:
| Relation | Meaning |
|---|---|
| a <• b | a yields precedence to b |
| a =• b | a has the same precedence as b |
| a •> b | a takes precedence over b |
These operator precedence relations allow to delimit the handles in the right sentential forms: <• marks the left end, =• appears in the interior of the handle, and •> marks the right end. Contrary to other shift-reduce parsers, all nonterminals are considered equal for the purpose of identifying handles. The relations do not have the same properties as their un-dotted counterparts; e. g. a =• b does not generally imply b =• a, and b •> a does not follow from a <• b. Furthermore, a =• a does not generally hold, and a •> a is possible.
Let us assume that between the terminals ai and ai+1 there is always exactly one precedence relation. Suppose that $ is the end of the string. Then for all terminals b we define: $ <• b and b •> $. If we remove all nonterminals and place the correct precedence relation: <•, =•, •> between the remaining terminals, there remain strings that can be analyzed by an easily developed bottom-up parser.
Read more about this topic: Operator-precedence Grammar
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