Background: I'm trying to solve this leetcode problem: regular-expression-matching. My approach is to implement a LL(1) parser generator, might be overkilling for this problem but it's just a brain exercise.
I only have entry level knowledge of parser theory, so excuse me if this is a silly question that I ask.
So, there's this testcase that I fail. Requirement is regex pattern should match the whole string
Regex: a*a
Input: aaa
I cannot wrap my mind about how to convert this pattern into a LL(1) parser.
The way I see it, a*a
pattern can be converted into production rules:
S -> Aa # a*a
A -> aA | ε # a*
Parse table:
a | $ | |
---|---|---|
S | S -> Aa | |
A | A -> aA | A -> ε |
Here's the steps to parse:
0: S$ aaa$ # use [S,a]
1: Aa$ aaa$ # use [A,a]
2: aAa$ aaa$ # eat 'a'
3: Aa$ aa$ # use [A,a]
4: aAa$ aa$ # eat 'a'
5: Aa$ a$ # use [A,a]
6: aAa$ a$ # eat 'a'
7: Aa$ $ # use [A,$]
8: a$ $ # Error!
The correct matching should be:
a* -> aa
a -> a
But what I get instead is:
a* -> aaa
a -> Error!
I don't know which part I'm missing