•

1. Recursive Grammar
2. Non-Recursive Grammar

1. Recursive Grammar-

• A grammar is said to be recursive if it contains at least one production that has the same
variable at both its LHS and RHS.
OR
• A grammar is said to be recursive if and only if it generates infinite number of strings.

A recursive grammar may be either-

1. Left recursive grammar
2. Right recursive grammar

A) Left Recursive Grammar-

• A recursive grammar is said to be left recursive if the leftmost variable of RHS is same as
variable of LHS.
OR
• A recursive grammar is said to be left recursive if it has Left Recursion.

Example-

S → Sa / b
(Left Recursive Grammar)

B) Right Recursive Grammar-

• A recursive grammar is said to be right recursive if the rightmost variable of RHS is same
as variable of LHS.
OR
• A recursive grammar is said to be right recursive if it has right recursion.

Example-

S → aS / b
(Right Recursive Grammar)

2. Non-Recursive Grammar-

• A grammar is said to be non-recursive if it contains no production that has the same

variable at both its LHS and RHS.
OR
• A grammar is said to be non-recursive if and only if it generates finite number of strings.

NOTE
A non-recursive grammar has neither left recursion nor right recursion.
 Example-

S → aA / bB
A→a/b
B→c/d
(Non-Recursive Grammar)

The language generated from this grammar is L = { aa , ab , bc , bd }

Since the grammar generates finite number of strings, therefore it is a non-recursive
grammar.

Important Notes-

Note-01:

The grammar which is either left recursive or right recursive is always unambiguous.
Examples-
• S → aS / b (Unambiguous Grammar)
• S → Sa / b (Unambiguous Grammar)

Note-02:

The grammar which is both left recursive and right recursive is always ambiguous.
Example-
E → E + E / E – E / E x E / id
(Ambiguous Grammar)

Note-03:

• Left recursive grammar is not suitable for Top down parsers.

• This is because it makes the parser enter into an infinite loop.
• To avoid this situation, it is converted into its equivalent right recursive grammar.
• This is done by eliminating left recursion from the left recursive grammar.

Note-04:

• The conversion of left recursive grammar into right recursive grammar and vice-versa is
decidable.

Recursion-

Recursion can be classified into following three types-

1. Left Recursion
2. Right Recursion
3. General Recursion

1. Left Recursion-

• A production of grammar is said to have left recursion if the leftmost variable of its RHS
is same as variable of its LHS.
• A grammar containing a production having left recursion is called as Left Recursive
Grammar.

Example-
 S → Sa / ∈
(Left Recursive Grammar)

• Left recursion is considered to be a problematic situation for Top down parsers.

• Therefore, left recursion has to be eliminated from the grammar.

Elimination of Left Recursion

Left recursion is eliminated by converting the grammar into a right recursive grammar.

If we have the left-recursive pair of productions-

A → Aα / β
(Left Recursive Grammar)
where β does not begin with an A.

Then, we can eliminate left recursion by replacing the pair of productions with-
A → βA’
A’ → αA’ / ∈
(Right Recursive Grammar)

This right recursive grammar functions same as left recursive grammar.

2. Right Recursion-

• A production of grammar is said to have right recursion if the rightmost variable of its
RHS is same as variable of its LHS.
• A grammar containing a production having right recursion is called as Right Recursive
Grammar.
 Example-

S → aS / ∈
(Right Recursive Grammar)

• Right recursion does not create any problem for the Top down parsers.
• Therefore, there is no need of eliminating right recursion from the grammar.

Also Read- Types of Recursive Grammar

3. General Recursion-

• The recursion which is neither left recursion nor right recursion is called as general
recursion.

Example-

S → aSb / ∈

Problem-01:

Consider the following grammar and eliminate left recursion-

A → ABd / Aa / a
B → Be / b

Solution-

The grammar after eliminating left recursion is-

A → aA’
 A’ → BdA’ / aA’ / ∈
B → bB’

B’ → eB’ / ∈

Left Factoring | Left Factoring Examples

Grammar With Common Prefixes-

If RHS of more than one production starts with the same symbol,

then such a grammar is called as

Grammar With Common Prefixes.

Example-

A → αβ1 / αβ2 / αβ3

(Grammar with common prefixes)

• This kind of grammar creates a problematic situation for Top down parsers.
• Top down parsers cannot decide which production must be chosen to parse the string in
hand.
To remove this confusion, we use left factoring.

Left Factoring-

Left factoring is a process by which the grammar with common prefixes is transformed

to make it useful for Top down parsers.

How?
 In left factoring,
• We make one production for each common prefixes.
• The common prefix may be a terminal or a non-terminal or a combination of both.
• Rest of the derivation is added by new productions.

The grammar obtained after the process of left factoring is called as Left Factored
Grammar.

Example-

Do left factoring in the following grammar-

S → iEtS / iEtSeS / a
E→b

Solution-

The left factored grammar is-

S → iEtSS’ / a
S’ → eS / ∈
E→b
 Relationship Between Left Recursion, Left Factoring &
Ambiguity-

There is no relationship between Left Recursion, Left Factoring and Ambiguity of Grammar.

• All the three concepts are independent and has nothing to do with each other.
• The presence or absence of left recursion does not impact left factoring and ambiguity
anyhow.
• The presence or absence of left factoring does not impact left recursion and ambiguity
anyhow.
• The presence or absence of ambiguity does not impact left recursion and left factoring
anyhow.