<h3 id="Section_5.1.4">5.1.4 &nbsp; The Syntactic Grammar</h3>

The <i class="ss4i">syntactic grammar</i> for ECMAScript is given in clauses <a href="ELS5_Section_11.htm#Section_11">11</a>, <a href="ELS5_Section_12.htm#Section_12">12</a>,

<a href="ELS5_Section_13.htm#Section_13">13</a> and <a href="ELS5_Section_14.htm#Section_14">14</a>. This grammar has ECMAScript

tokens defined by the lexical grammar as its terminal symbols (<a href="ELS5_Section_5.htm#Section_5.1.2">5.1.2</a>). It defines a set of productions, starting

from the goal symbol <i>Program</i>, that describe how sequences of tokens can form syntactically correct

ECMAScript programs.

<br><br>

When a stream of characters is to be parsed as an ECMAScript program, it is first converted to a stream of

input elements by repeated application of the lexical grammar; this stream of input elements is then parsed by

a single application of the syntactic grammar. The program is syntactically in error if the tokens in the stream

of input elements cannot be parsed as a single instance of the goal nonterminal <i>Program</i>, with no tokens left

over.

<br><br>

Productions of the syntactic grammar are distinguished by having just one colon "<b>:</b>" as punctuation.

<br><br>

The syntactic grammar as presented in clauses <a href="ELS5_Section_11.htm#Section_11">11</a>, <a href="ELS5_Section_12.htm#Section_12">12</a>,

<a href="ELS5_Section_13.htm#Section_13">13</a> and <a href="ELS5_Section_14.htm#Section_14">14</a> is actually not a complete account of which

token sequences are accepted as correct ECMAScript programs. Certain additional token sequences are also

accepted, namely, those that would be described by the grammar if only semicolons were added to the

sequence in certain places (such as before line terminator characters). Furthermore, certain token sequences

that are described by the grammar are not considered acceptable if a terminator character appears in certain

"awkward" places.

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