Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-xtgtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-20T07:28:27.499Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

11 - Constructing Finite-State Devices for Text Rewriting

from Part II - From Theory to Practice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2019

Stoyan Mihov
Affiliation:
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Klaus U. Schulz
Affiliation:
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munchen
Get access

Summary

A common task arising in many contexts is rewriting parts of a given input string to another form. Subparts of the input that match specific conditions are replaced by other output parts. In this way, the complete input string is translated to a new output form. Due to the importance of text rewriting, many programming languages offer matching/rewriting operations for subexpressions of strings, also called replace rules. When using strictly regular relations and functions for representing replace rules, a cascade of replace rules can be composed into a single transducer. If the transducer is functional, an equivalent bimachine or (in some cases) a subsequential transducer can be built, thus achieving theoretically and practically optimal text processing speed. In this chapter we introduce basic constructions for building text rewriting transducers and bimachines from replace rules and provide implementations. A first simple version in general leads to an ambiguous form of text rewriting with several outputs. A second more sophisticated construction solves conflicts using the leftmost-longest match strategy and leads to functional devices.

Type
Chapter
Information
Finite-State Techniques
Automata, Transducers and Bimachines
, pp. 279 - 297
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×