19.4.2 The Extra Argument

All functions take one additional argument: yyscanner.

Notice that the calls to yy_push_state and yy_pop_state both have an argument, yyscanner , that is not present in a non-reentrant scanner. Here are the declarations of yy_push_state and yy_pop_state in the reentrant scanner:

    static void yy_push_state  ( int new_state , yyscan_t yyscanner ) ;
    static void yy_pop_state  ( yyscan_t yyscanner  ) ;

Notice that the argument yyscanner appears in the declaration of both functions. In fact, all flex functions in a reentrant scanner have this additional argument. It is always the last argument in the argument list, it is always of type yyscan_t (which is typedef’d to void *) and it is always named yyscanner. As you may have guessed, yyscanner is a pointer to an opaque data structure encapsulating the current state of the scanner. For a list of function declarations, see Functions and Macros Available in Reentrant C Scanners. Note that preprocessor macros, such as BEGIN, ECHO, and REJECT, do not take this additional argument.