MODULE 3

CONTEXT FREE GRAMMAR

MODULE III:
Context-Free Grammars(CFG): Introduction to Rewrite Systems and Grammars, CFGs
and languages, designing CFGs, simplifying CFGs, proving that a Grammar is correct,
Derivation and Parse trees, Ambiguity, Normal Forms.
Pushdown Automata (PDA): Definition of non-deterministic PDA, Deterministic and Non-
deterministic PDAs, Nondeterminism and Halting, alternative equivalent definitions of a
PDA, alternatives that are not equivalent to PDA.
Definition:
Context-Free Grammar (CFG) has 4-tuple: G = (V, T, P, S)
Where,
V - A finite set of variables or non-terminals
T - A finite set of terminals (V and T do not intersect)
P - A finite set of productions, each of the form A –> α,
Where A is in V and α is in (V U T)*
Note: that α may be ε.
S - A starting non-terminal (S is in V)
Example CFG:
S, SIGMA={0,1}
G = ({S}, {0, 1}, P, S)
P: S –> 0S1 or just simply S –> 0S1 | ε
S –> ε
L={01, 0011, 000111, 00001111, 0000011111, }
S –> 0S1
0e1
01
S –> 0S1
0 0S1 1
00 e 1 1
0011
Example :
2. CFG to generate 0 or more a’s L{e, a, aa, aaaa………}
A –> Aa | a | ε
A => Aa
=> aa ; A->a
derivation

3. CFG to generate strings of a’s and b’s of any length L={e, aba, baba,………}
S –> ε |a|b|Sa|Sb
aba
S->Sa ; S->Sa
->Sb a ; S->Sb
-> aba ; S ->a

4. Grammar for L ={anbn |n>=1}

L ={ab,aabb,aaabbb…………}
P: S –> ab|aSb
V ={S} T={a,b} P:set of productions S:{S}

5. Grammar for L ={anbn |n>=0}

L ={ε , ab,aabb,aaabbb…………}
S –> ab|aSb | ε

6. Grammar for L ={anb2n |n>=0} L={e, abb, aabbbb, ……. } aabbbb

L ={ε , abb,aabbbb,aaabbbbbb…………} S->aSbb
S –> abb|aSbb | ε ->aabb bb ; S-
>abb
7. Grammar for L ={anbn+1 |n>=0}
L ={b , abb,aabbb,aaabbbb…………}
S –> b|aSb
8 . Grammar for L ={anbn+2 |n>=0}
L ={bb , abbb,aabbbb,aaabbbbb…………}
anbn+2 = anbn b b
S –> Abb
A –> ε |aAb
abbb
S->Abb
->aAb bb ; A->aAb
->a e bbb ; A->e
abbb
9. Grammar for L ={ w : |w| mod 3 = 0} over Σ ={a}
 L ={ε , aaa, aaaaaa…………}
S –> ε |Saaa
10. Grammar for L ={ w : |w| mod 3 > 0} over Σ ={a}
L ={a, aa, aaaa, aaaaa…………} aaaa
S –> a | aa|Saaa S –>Saaa
–> a aaa ; S –>a
11. Grammar for L ={anbm ck : m=n+k } over Σ ={a, b, c} aabbbbcc
L ={abbc, aabbbbcc, aaaacccccb,…………} S –> AB
anbm ck = an bn+k ck = an bn bk ck ->aAbB
S –> AB ->aab bB A->ab
A –> aAb | ab -> aabb bBc ; B->bBc
B –> bBc | bc -> aabbbbcc ; B->bc

12. Grammar for L ={an bm ck : n=m+k } over Σ ={a, b, c}

L ={aaabbc, aaaaaabbbbcc, aaaaaabccccc,…………}
an bm ck = am+kbm ck = am ak bm ck = ak am bm ck
S –> aAc S –> aAc
A –> aAb | aAc | ε a aAb c
aa aAb bc
aaa e bbc
aaabbc
13. Grammar for L ={WWR } over Σ ={a, b}
S –> aSa | bSb | a | b | ε
L={abba, abbbba…….} abbbba
S ->aSa
a bSb a ; S->bSb
ab bSb ba ; S->bSb
abb e bba ; S->e
abbbba
14. Grammar to generate arithmetic expression { id }
E -> E + E
E -> E – E
E -> E * E
E -> E / E
E -> id | (E)
Generate: id + id*id : Left Most Derivation
E→E+E
E → id + E
E → id + E * E Id+id
E → id + id * E Id*id-id/id
E → id + id * id A+b-(a-d)

 For some strings there exist more than one parse tree
 Or more than one leftmost derivation or more than one rightmost derivation
P:
 E→E+E|E*E|E–E| E/E
 E→ id
 G=(V T P S) V={E} T={id,+,_,*,/} S =E
 Example: id+id*id

Solution: The sentence id +id *id can be obtained from left most derivation in two ways as
shown below.
E  E+E E  E*E
 id+E  E+E*E
 id+E*E  id+E*E
 id+ id *E  id+id*E
 id+ id *id  id+ id *id

Is the grammar ambiguous?

S -> aS | X
X -> aX | a
L={a, aa, aaa, aaaa}
Consider aaa
S -> aS S -> X
-> a X -> aX
-> aa X -> aaX
-> aa a -> aaa
Is the grammar ambiguous?
S -> aB | bA
A -> aS | bAA | a
B -> bS | aBB | b
Consider string : aabbab
Obtain string aaabbabbba by applying left most and right most derivations

Show that the grammar is ambiguous

S -> aSbS | bSaS | ε
Soln : derive aababb
S -> aSbS
aaSbSbS
aabSaS
2) Obtain the left most derivation for the string aaabbabbba using the following
grammer
SaB/bA
Aas/bAA/a
Bbs/aBB/b
SaB
aaBB (applying BaBB)
aaaBBB (applying BaBB)
aaabBB (applying Bb)
aaabbB (applying Bb)
aaabbaBB (BaBB)
aaabbabB (Bb)
aaabbabbs (Bbs)
aaabbabbbA (SbA)
aaababbba (Aa)

3) check whether the given grammer is ambiguous or not

Sicts
Sictses
Sa
Cb
Consider string ibtibtibtaea
Draw the derivation tree

Der1 --ibtibtibtaea
S->iCtSeS
-> ibtSeS ; C->b
-> ibt iCtS eS ; C->b
->ibtibt SeS ; S->iCtS
-> ibtibt iCtS eS ; C->b
->ibtibtibt SeS ; S->a
->ibtibtibt aeS ; S->a
->ibtibtibtaea

4) consider grammer
G = {V,T,R,S}
V = {S,A}
T = {A,B}
R={ SAA
AAAA
Aa
ABa
AAb}

Such that the grammer is ambiguous

Solution: consider the string babbab
Exercise
1) The following grammer queries the grammer of the language consisting of all strings
of even length
SAS/ ε
Aaa/ab/ba/bb
Give the leftmost , rightmost derivatives of the following strings
a) aabbba
b) baabab
c) aaabbb

Normal forms of contest free grammer

Simplification of CFG
goal to generate CFG in which all productions are of the form
ABC
Or
Aa
Where A,B,C are variables and a is terminal.
This form is called Chomsky Normal Form

Ways to get grammer in CNF

1) elimination useless symbol , those variables or terminal that do not appear in any
derivation of a terminal string from the start symbol.
2) Elimination of the ε productions those of the form Aε for some variable A
3) Elimination of unit productions of the form AB for variables A and B

Eliminating useless productions

Symbol X is said to be useless for a grammer
G = (V,T,P,S) if there is some derivation of the form
Sα×βw
X may be either in V or T and α×β may be first or last in the derivation
Example 1) consider the grammer
S aAa/aBC
Aas/bD
BaBa/b
Cabb/DD
DaDa
 B,C are the only non-terminals directly queries Terminals strings hence generating
S also generates
D is not hence be generating. Hence can be eliminated
Eliminate D is production involving D
saAa/aBC
Aas
BaBa/b
Cabb
2) Sasb/ℇ
AaA
A non generating can be eliminated
Sasb/εis useful production

4) SA Sas/A/C
AaA/ℇ Aa
BbA Baa
cacb
C- non generating (elimination)
Sas/A
Aa
Baa
B-non reachable
Sas/A
Aa

5) AaA/a/Bb/cC
AaB
Ba/Aa
CcCD
Dddd
C- non generating
Aan/a/Bb
AaB
Ba/Aa
Dddd
D- non reachable
 San/a/Bb
AaB
Ba/Aa

Eliminating ℇ productions
* ℇ production is grammer are not essential
* If L ha a CFG, then L-{ ℇ } has CFG without ℇ -production
* If ℇ is not in L, then L
Steps
Discover the nullable variable
A variable is nullable if
A ℇ
1) Determine all nullable symbols of G
*Any production of CFG of the form
A ℇ is called
ℇ productions
*Any variable A for which the derivation
A ℇ is possible is called nullable
Example 1
Consider the grammer
SABC
ABC/a
BbAC/ ℇ
CSAB/ ℇ
B,C are directly nullable
A is also nullable : ABC
S is also nullable : SABC
SABC/AB/BC/AC/A/B/C
ABC/a
BC/B/C/a
BbAC/bA/bC/b
CCAB/CA/CB/C
2) Sas1b
S1as1b/ ℇ
ℇ- production are S1ℇ can be removed after adding new production obtained by
substituting ℇ for S1 where it occurs to the sigma
Sa s1b/ab
S1a s1b/ab

3) S ABac
ABC
Bb/ ℇ
CD/ ℇ
Dd
A, B, C, S are nullable
SABaC/Bac/AaC/ABa/ac/Aa/Ba/a
AB/C/BC
Bb
CD
Dd

Eliminating unit productions

Any production of CFG of the form,
AB where
A, B, E, V is called unit productions
Replace any sequence of derivation in which
AB1B2....... Bnα,
By a productions that there was the non unit productions
Bnα directly from A
i.e A α

1) SAB
Aa
Be/b
CD
DE/bC
Ed/Ab
 Unit Non unit
BC SAB
CD Aa
DE Bb
DbC
BCDE Ed/Ab

Productions generated from E can also be generated from D

Rewrite Dd/Ab/bC
Ed/Ab
Cd/Ab/bc
Bb/d/Ab/bc
Aa
AAB

Example
1. Remove unit productions Non unit productions
SAa/B SAa
BA/bb  Bbb
Aa/bc/B Aa/bc

Dependency graph
A

S B

SAa
Aa/bc/bb
Ba/bc/bb
SAa/a/bc/bb

2. Ia/b/Ia/Ib/I0/I1
FI/(E)
Tf/T*F
 ET/E+T

I F T

Non unit production

Ia/b/Ia/Ib/I0/I1
F(E)/a/b/Ia/Ib/I0/I1
TT*F/(F)/a/b/Ia/Ib/I0/I1
EE+T/T*F/(E)/a/b/Ia/Ib/I0/I1

3) SAa/B/Ca
BaB/b
CDb/D
DE/d
Eab
SB
CDE
Rewrite Eab
Dd/ab
CDb/d/ab
BaB/b
SAa/Ca/aB/b

CHOMSKY NORMAL FORM

Definition
A context free grammer G is in Chomsky normal form if all the production are of the form
1) AB,C A, B, C are variables
2) Aa, a is terminal
Where C1 has no useless symbols
Steps
1) Arrange that all bodies of the length 2 or more consists only of variables.
2) Break bodies of length 3 or more into cascade of productions, each with a body
consisting of two variables.
Example
1) Convert the grammer with the following productions to Chomsky normal form.
SABa
Aaab
BAc
Introduce new variables Ba, Bb, Bc
SABBa
ABaBab
BABC
Baa
Bbb
Bcc
2) Introduce additional variables to get the productions in normal form
SaD1 Baa
D1BBa Bbb
ABaD2 Bcc
D2BaBb D1BBa
BABc
Excerise 7.1.2
Grammer SABC/BaB
AaA/BaC/aaa
BbBb/a/D
CCA/AC
DE
1) Eliminate ℇ - productions.
2) Eliminate any unit productions in the resulting grammer.
3) Eliminate any useless symbol in the resulting grammer.
4) Put the resulting grammer into Chomsky normal form.

1) B, D are nullable
BbBb/bb/a
CCA/AC
AaA/aC/Bac/aaa
SABC/BaB/AC/Ba/aB/a
2) No unit productions
3) C is the only varaiable which is non generating eliminate C
SBaB/Ba/aB/a
AaA/aaa
BbBb/bb/a
4) CNF Introduce two variables
Ea
Fb
SBEB/BE/EB/a
AEA/EEE
BFBF/FF/a
SBG/BE/EB/a
GEB
AEA/EH
HEE
BFI/FF/a
IBF