Lexer: meaning, definitions and examples

This term is primarily used in the context of programming and computer science. It's usually mentioned when discussing the early stages of compilation where source code is processed.

• The lexer divides the source code into a series of tokens.
• Before parsing, the code is passed through a lexer.

This term is used widely not only in programming but also in natural language processing (NLP). It refers to the process of breaking a stream of text into tokens, which can be words, phrases, or other meaningful units.

• In text processing, the tokenizer splits input sentences into words.
• The tokenizer in the application separates email addresses from plain text.

This word has a broader use case but is often applied in programming when referring to the process of reading and interpreting streams of characters. It's also used outside of programming in contexts like reading documents or barcodes.

• The scanner reads the characters one by one and groups them into tokens.
• Modern printers often come with built-in scanners.

This is a more formal term than 'lexer' and might be used in academic or technical discussions. It refers specifically to the process of analyzing sequences of characters in programming languages.

• The lexical analyzer is responsible for converting the input code into meaningful tokens.
• In many compilers, the lexical analyzer is implemented as a separate module.