lexer

from Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003)

lexer
 /lek'sr/, n.

   Common hacker shorthand for lexical analyzer, the input-tokenizing
   stage in the parser for a language (the part that breaks it into
   word-like pieces). "Some C lexers get confused by the old-style
   compound ops like =-."

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)

lexical analyser
lexer

   <language> (Or "scanner") The initial input stage of a
   language processor (e.g. a {compiler}), the part that performs
   {lexical analysis}.

   (1995-04-05)

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