Why yacc can not parse a second line of a grammar rule even when it parses correctly the first one?

Question

I want to parse lines as this one:

20191201 170003296,1.102290,1.102470,0

To do so, I have written the following basic yacc/lex grammar/lexer:

grammar.y:

%{

#include <time.h>
#include <stdio.h>

%}

%union {

        struct tm       datetime;               /* DATE TIME VALUES */
        double          float_number;           /* 8 BYTES DOUBLE VALUE */
        long            integer_number;         /* 8 BYTES INTEGER VALUE */

}

%token  <datetime>              DATETIME
%token  <float_number>          FLOAT_NUMBER
%token  <integer_number>        INTEGER_NUMBER

%%

lastbid_lastask:        DATETIME ',' FLOAT_NUMBER ',' FLOAT_NUMBER ',' INTEGER_NUMBER '\n' { printf("MATCH %lf %lf %ld\n", $3, $5, $7); }
                        ;

%%

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {

        yyparse();

        return 0;

}

lexer.l:

%{

#include <time.h>
#include "grammar.h"

void read_float_number(void);
void read_integer_number(void);
void read_date_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSSmmm(void);
void yyerror(const char* msg);

%}


%%

                                                                                                /* YYYYMMDD HHMMSSmmm DATE */
[12][09][0-9][0-9][0-1][0-9][0-3][0-9][ ][0-2][0-9][0-5][0-9][0-5][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]          { read_date_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSSmmm(); return DATETIME; }

                                                                                                /* FLOAT NUMBER */
[0-9]+\.[0-9]+                                                                                  { read_float_number(); return FLOAT_NUMBER; }

                                                                                                /* INTEGER NUMBER */
[0-9]+                                                                                          { read_integer_number(); return INTEGER_NUMBER; }

                                                                                                /* PASS ',' CHARACTER */
,                                                                                               { return ','; } 

                                                                                                /* PASS '\n' CHARACTER */
\n                                                                                              { return '\n'; } 

                                                                                                /* PASS UNEXPECTED CHARACTER */
.                                                                                               { return yytext[0]; }


%%

/* READ FLOAT NUMBER */
void read_float_number(void) {
        printf("void read_float_number(void)\n");
        printf("#%s#\n", yytext);
        sscanf(yytext, "%lf", &yylval.float_number);
        printf("%lf\n", yylval.float_number);
}

/* READ INTEGER NUMBER */
void read_integer_number(void) {
        printf("void read_integer_number(void)\n");
        printf("#%s#\n", yytext);
        sscanf(yytext, "%ld", &yylval.integer_number);
        printf("%ld\n", yylval.integer_number);
}

/* READ YYYYMMDD HHMMSSmmm DATE */
void read_date_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSSmmm(void) {

        printf("void read_date_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSSmmm(void)\n");
        printf("#%s#\n", yytext);

        /*  DATETIME STRUCT TM */
        struct tm dt;

        /* READ VALUES */
        sscanf(yytext, "%4d%2d%2d %2d%2d%2d", &dt.tm_year, &dt.tm_mon, &dt.tm_mday, &dt.tm_hour, &dt.tm_min, &dt.tm_sec);

        /* NORMALIZE VALUES */
        dt.tm_year = dt.tm_year - 1900;         /* NORMALIZE YEAR */
        dt.tm_mon = dt.tm_mon - 1;              /* NORMALIZE MONTH */
        dt.tm_isdst = -1;                       /* NO INFORMATION ABOUT DST */
        mktime(&dt);                            /* NORMALIZE STRUCT TM */

        /* PRINT DATE TIME */
        char buffer[80];
        strftime(buffer, 80, "%c %Z", &dt);
        printf("%s\n", buffer);

        /* COPY STRUCT TM TO YACC RETURN VALUE */
        memcpy(&yylval.datetime, &dt, sizeof(dt));


}

/* YYERROR */
void yyerror(const char* msg) {
        fprintf(stderr, "yyerror %s\n", msg);
        exit(1);
}

makefile:

CCFLAGS = -std=c89 -c
YFLAGS = -d     # Forces generation of y.tab.h
OBJS = lexer.o grammar.o
TARGET = readfile

readfile:               $(OBJS)
                        cc $(OBJS) -std=c89 -ll -o $(TARGET)

grammar.h grammar.o:    grammar.y
                        yacc $(YFLAGS) -ogrammar.c grammar.y
                        cc $(CCFLAGS) grammar.c

lexer.o:                lexer.l grammar.h
                        lex -olexer.c lexer.l
                        cc $(CCFLAGS) lexer.c

clean:
                        rm -f $(OBJS) grammar.[ch] lexer.c

When I test the program I get the following behaviour, first line is correctly parsed but second line causes an yyerror:

% ./readfile 
20191201 170003296,1.102290,1.102470,0
void read_date_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSSmmm(void)
#20191201 170003296#
Sun Dec  1 17:00:03 2019 CET
void read_float_number(void)
#1.102290#
1.102290
void read_float_number(void)
#1.102470#
1.102470
void read_integer_number(void)
#0#
0
MATCH 1.102290 1.102470 0
20191201 170004413,1.102320,1.102470,0
void read_date_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSSmmm(void)
#20191201 170004413#
Sun Dec  1 17:00:04 2019 CET
yyerror syntax error

Why does second line fail?

Answer 1

Your grammar matches exactly one line.

If you want to match multiple lines, add at the beginning:

input: lastbid_lastask
     | input lastbid_lastask

Or, if you are happy to accept empty files (and why not?)

input: /* empty */
     | input lastbid_lastask