On this page:
2.1 Machines
machine
machine-accepting
machine-accepts?
machine-accepts?/  prefix-closed
machine-null
machine-epsilon
machine-sigma*
machine-complement
machine-star
machine-union
machine-intersect
machine-seq
machine-seq*
2.2 Deterministic Finite Automata
dfa
2.3 Non-Deterministic Finite Automata
nfa
2.4 Non-Deterministic Finite Automata (with epsilon transitions)
epsilon
nfa/  ep
2.5 Regular Expressions
re
complement
seq
union
star
epsilon
nullset
dseq
rec
define-re-transformer
2.5.1 Extensions
opt
plus
rep
difference
intersection
seq/  close
2.5.2 Examples

2 Automata: Compiling State Machines

Jay McCarthy <jay@racket-lang.org>

This library is unstable; compatibility will not be maintained. See Unstable: May Change Without Warning for more information.

 (require unstable/automata) package: base

This package provides macros and functions for writing state machines over racket/match patterns (as opposed to concrete characters.)

2.1 Machines

 (require unstable/automata/machine)
  package: unstable-lib

Each of the subsequent macros compile to instances of the machines provided by this module. This is a documented feature of the modules, so these functions should be used to, for example, determine if the machine is currently accepting.

struct

(struct machine (next))

  next : (any/c . -> . machine?)
An applicable structure for machines. When the structure is applied, the next field is used as the procedure.

struct

(struct machine-accepting machine (next))

  next : (any/c . -> . machine?)
A sub-structure of machine that is accepting.

procedure

(machine-accepts? m i)  boolean?

  m : machine?
  i : (listof any/c)
Returns #t if m ends in an accepting state after consuming every element of i.

procedure

(machine-accepts?/prefix-closed m i)  boolean?

  m : machine?
  i : (listof any/c)
Returns #t if m stays in an accepting state during the consumption of every element of i.

A machine that is never accepting.

A machine that is initially accepting and never accepting afterwards.

A machine that is always accepting.

procedure

(machine-complement m)  machine?

  m : machine?
A machine that inverts the acception criteria of m.

procedure

(machine-star m)  machine?

  m : machine?
A machine that simulates the Kleene star of m. m may be invoked many times.

procedure

(machine-union m0 m1)  machine?

  m0 : machine?
  m1 : machine?
A machine that simulates the union of m0 and m1.

procedure

(machine-intersect m0 m1)  machine?

  m0 : machine?
  m1 : machine?
A machine that simulates the intersection of m0 and m1.

procedure

(machine-seq m0 m1)  machine?

  m0 : machine?
  m1 : machine?
A machine that simulates the sequencing of m0 and m1. m1 may be invoked many times.

procedure

(machine-seq* m0 make-m1)  machine?

  m0 : machine?
  make-m1 : (-> machine?)
A machine that simulates the sequencing of m0 and (make-m1). (make-m1) may be invoked many times.

2.2 Deterministic Finite Automata

 (require unstable/automata/dfa) package: unstable-lib

This module provides a macro for deterministic finite automata.

syntax

(dfa start
     (end ...)
     [state ([evt next-state]
             ...)]
     ...)
 
  start : identifier?
  end : identifier?
  state : identifier?
  next-state : identifier?
A machine that starts in state start where each state behaves as specified in the rules. If a state is in (end ...), then it is constructed with machine-accepting. next-state need not be a state from this DFA.

Examples:

(define M
  (dfa s1 (s1)
       [s1 ([0 s2]
            [(? even?) s1])]
       [s2 ([0 s1]
            [(? even?) s2])]))
> (machine-accepts? M (list 2 0 4 0 2))

#t

> (machine-accepts? M (list 0 4 0 2 0))

#f

> (machine-accepts? M (list 2 0 2 2 0 8))

#t

> (machine-accepts? M (list 0 2 0 0 10 0))

#t

> (machine-accepts? M (list))

#t

> (machine-accepts? M (list 4 0))

#f

2.3 Non-Deterministic Finite Automata

 (require unstable/automata/nfa) package: unstable-lib

This module provides a macro for non-deterministic finite automata.

syntax

(nfa (start:id ...)
     (end:id ...)
     [state:id ([evt:expr (next-state:id ...)]
                ...)]
     ...)
 
  start : identifier?
  end : identifier?
  state : identifier?
  next-state : identifier?
A machine that starts in state (set start ...) where each state behaves as specified in the rules. If a state is in (end ...), then the machine is accepting. next-state must be a state from this NFA.

These machines are efficiently compiled to use the smallest possible bit-string as a set representation and unsafe numeric operations where appropriate for inspection and adjusting the sets.

Examples:

(define M
  (nfa (s1 s3) (s1 s3)
       [s1 ([0 (s2)]
            [1 (s1)])]
       [s2 ([0 (s1)]
            [1 (s2)])]
       [s3 ([0 (s3)]
            [1 (s4)])]
       [s4 ([0 (s4)]
            [1 (s3)])]))
> (machine-accepts? M (list 1 0 1 0 1))

#t

> (machine-accepts? M (list 0 1 0 1 0))

#t

> (machine-accepts? M (list 1 0 1 1 0 1))

#t

> (machine-accepts? M (list 0 1 0 0 1 0))

#t

> (machine-accepts? M (list))

#t

> (machine-accepts? M (list 1 0))

#f

2.4 Non-Deterministic Finite Automata (with epsilon transitions)

 (require unstable/automata/nfa-ep)
  package: unstable-lib

This module provides a macro for non-deterministic finite automata with epsilon transitions.

syntax

epsilon

A binding for use in epsilon transitions.

syntax

(nfa/ep (start:id ...)
        (end:id ...)
        [state:id ([epsilon (epsilon-state:id ...)]
                   ...
                   [evt:expr (next-state:id ...)]
                   ...)]
        ...)
 
  start : identifier?
  end : identifier?
  state : identifier?
  epsilon-state : identifier?
  next-state : identifier?
Extends nfa with epsilon transitions, which must be listed first for each state.

Examples:

(define M
  (nfa/ep (s0) (s1 s3)
          [s0 ([epsilon (s1)]
               [epsilon (s3)])]
          [s1 ([0 (s2)]
               [1 (s1)])]
          [s2 ([0 (s1)]
               [1 (s2)])]
          [s3 ([0 (s3)]
               [1 (s4)])]
          [s4 ([0 (s4)]
               [1 (s3)])]))
> (machine-accepts? M (list 1 0 1 0 1))

#t

> (machine-accepts? M (list 0 1 0 1 0))

#t

> (machine-accepts? M (list 1 0 1 1 0 1))

#t

> (machine-accepts? M (list 0 1 0 0 1 0))

#t

> (machine-accepts? M (list))

#t

> (machine-accepts? M (list 1 0))

#f

2.5 Regular Expressions

 (require unstable/automata/re) package: unstable-lib

This module provides a macro for regular expression compilation.

syntax

(re re-pat)

 
re-pat = (rec id re-pat)
  | ,expr
  | (complement re-pat)
  | (seq re-pat ...)
  | (union re-pat ...)
  | (star re-pat)
  | epsilon
  | nullset
  | re-transformer
  | (re-transformer . datum)
  | (dseq pat re-pat)
  | pat
Compiles a regular expression over match patterns to a machine.

The interpretation of the pattern language is mostly intuitive. The pattern language may be extended with define-re-transformer. dseq allows bindings of the match pattern to be used in the rest of the regular expression. (Thus, they are not really regular expressions.) unquote escapes to Racket to evaluate an expression that evaluates to a regular expression (this happens once, at compile time.) rec binds a Racket identifier to a delayed version of the inner expression; even if the expression is initially accepting, this delayed version is never accepting.

The compiler will use an NFA, provided complement and dseq are not used. Otherwise, many NFAs connected with the machine simulation functions from unstable/automata/machine are used.

syntax

complement

syntax

seq

syntax

union

syntax

star

syntax

epsilon

syntax

nullset

syntax

dseq

syntax

rec

Bindings for use in re.

syntax

(define-re-transformer id expr)

Binds id as an regular expression transformer used by the re macro. The expression should evaluate to a function that accepts a syntax object and returns a syntax object that uses the regular expression pattern language.

2.5.1 Extensions

 (require unstable/automata/re-ext)
  package: unstable-lib

This module provides a few transformers that extend the syntax of regular expression patterns.

syntax

(opt re-pat)

Optionally matches re-pat.

syntax

(plus re-pat)

Matches one or more re-pat in sequence.

syntax

(rep re-pat num)

Matches re-pat in sequence num times, where num must be syntactically a number.

syntax

(difference re-pat_0 re-pat_1)

Matches everything that re-pat_0 does, except what re-pat_1 matches.

syntax

(intersection re-pat_0 re-pat_1)

Matches the intersection of re-pat_0 and re-pat_1.

syntax

(seq/close re-pat ...)

Matches the prefix closure of the sequence (seq re-pat ...).

2.5.2 Examples

Examples:

> (define-syntax-rule (test-re R (succ ...) (fail ...))
    (let ([r (re R)])
      (printf "Success: ~v => ~v\n" succ (machine-accepts? r succ))
      ...
      (printf "Failure: ~v => ~v\n" fail (machine-accepts? r fail))
      ...))
> (test-re epsilon
            [(list)]
            [(list 0)])

Success: '() => #t

Failure: '(0) => #f

> (test-re nullset
           []
           [(list) (list 1)])

Failure: '() => #f

Failure: '(1) => #f

> (test-re "A"
           [(list "A")]
           [(list)
            (list "B")])

Success: '("A") => #t

Failure: '() => #f

Failure: '("B") => #f

> (test-re (complement "A")
           [(list)
            (list "B")
            (list "A" "A")]
           [(list "A")])

Success: '() => #t

Success: '("B") => #t

Success: '("A" "A") => #t

Failure: '("A") => #f

> (test-re (union 0 1)
           [(list 1)
            (list 0)]
           [(list)
            (list 0 1)
            (list 0 1 1)])

Success: '(1) => #t

Success: '(0) => #t

Failure: '() => #f

Failure: '(0 1) => #f

Failure: '(0 1 1) => #f

> (test-re (seq 0 1)
           [(list 0 1)]
           [(list)
            (list 0)
            (list 0 1 1)])

Success: '(0 1) => #t

Failure: '() => #f

Failure: '(0) => #f

Failure: '(0 1 1) => #f

> (test-re (star 0)
           [(list)
            (list 0)
            (list 0 0)]
           [(list 1)])

Success: '() => #t

Success: '(0) => #t

Success: '(0 0) => #t

Failure: '(1) => #f

> (test-re (opt "A")
           [(list)
            (list "A")]
           [(list "B")])

Success: '() => #t

Success: '("A") => #t

Failure: '("B") => #f

> (define-re-transformer my-opt
    (syntax-rules ()
      [(_ pat)
       (union epsilon pat)]))
> (test-re (my-opt "A")
           [(list)
            (list "A")]
           [(list "B")])

Success: '() => #t

Success: '("A") => #t

Failure: '("B") => #f

> (test-re (plus "A")
           [(list "A")
            (list "A" "A")]
           [(list)])

Success: '("A") => #t

Success: '("A" "A") => #t

Failure: '() => #f

> (test-re (rep "A" 3)
           [(list "A" "A" "A")]
           [(list)
            (list "A")
            (list "A" "A")])

Success: '("A" "A" "A") => #t

Failure: '() => #f

Failure: '("A") => #f

Failure: '("A" "A") => #f

> (test-re (difference (? even?) 2)
           [(list 4)
            (list 6)]
           [(list 3)
            (list 2)])

Success: '(4) => #t

Success: '(6) => #t

Failure: '(3) => #f

Failure: '(2) => #f

> (test-re (intersection (? even?) 2)
           [(list 2)]
           [(list 1)
            (list 4)])

Success: '(2) => #t

Failure: '(1) => #f

Failure: '(4) => #f

> (test-re (complement (seq "A" (opt "B")))
           [(list "A" "B" "C")]
           [(list "A")
            (list "A" "B")])

Success: '("A" "B" "C") => #t

Failure: '("A") => #f

Failure: '("A" "B") => #f

> (test-re (seq epsilon 1)
           [(list 1)]
           [(list 0)
            (list)])

Success: '(1) => #t

Failure: '(0) => #f

Failure: '() => #f

> (test-re (seq 1 epsilon)
           [(list 1)]
           [(list 0)
            (list)])

Success: '(1) => #t

Failure: '(0) => #f

Failure: '() => #f

> (test-re (seq epsilon
                (union (seq (star 1) (star (seq 0 (star 1) 0 (star 1))))
                       (seq (star 0) (star (seq 1 (star 0) 1 (star 0)))))
                epsilon)
           [(list 1 0 1 0 1)
            (list 0 1 0 1 0)
            (list 1 0 1 1 0 1)
            (list 0 1 0 0 1 0)
            (list)]
           [(list 1 0)])

Success: '(1 0 1 0 1) => #t

Success: '(0 1 0 1 0) => #t

Success: '(1 0 1 1 0 1) => #t

Success: '(0 1 0 0 1 0) => #t

Success: '() => #t

Failure: '(1 0) => #f

> (test-re (star (complement 1))
           [(list 0 2 3 4)
            (list)
            (list 2)
            (list 234 5 9 1 9 0)
            (list 1 0)
            (list 0 1)]
           [(list 1)])

Success: '(0 2 3 4) => #t

Success: '() => #t

Success: '(2) => #t

Success: '(234 5 9 1 9 0) => #t

Success: '(1 0) => #t

Success: '(0 1) => #t

Failure: '(1) => #f

> (test-re (dseq x (? (curry equal? x)))
           [(list 0 0)
            (list 1 1)]
           [(list)
            (list 1)
            (list 1 0)])

Success: '(0 0) => #t

Success: '(1 1) => #t

Failure: '() => #f

Failure: '(1) => #f

Failure: '(1 0) => #f