CharStream
This interface describes a character stream that maintains line and column number positions of the characters. It also has the capability to backup the stream to some extent. An implementation of this interface is used in the TokenManager implementation generated by JavaCCParser.
All the methods except backup can be implemented in any fashion. backup needs to be implemented correctly for the correct operation of the lexer. Rest of the methods are all used to get information like line number, column number and the String that constitutes a token and are not used by the lexer. Hence their implementation won't affect the generated lexer's operation.
Inheritors
Properties
Functions
Backs up the input stream by amount steps. Lexer calls this method if it had already read some characters, but could not use them to match a (longer) token. So, they will be used again as the prefix of the next token and it is the implementation's responsibility to do this right.
Returns the next character that marks the beginning of the next token. All characters must remain in the buffer between two successive calls to this method to implement backup correctly.
Returns a string made up of characters from the marked token beginning to the current buffer position. Implementations have the choice of returning anything that they want to. For example, for efficiency, one might decide to just return null, which is a valid implementation.