REGULAR LANGUAGES AND

REGULAR GRAMMARS
Rao Wakeel Ahmad
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REGULAR LANGUAGES
• A language is regular if there exists a finite accepter
for it. Therefore, every regular language can be
described by some dfa or some nfa.

• There are some other ways of representing regular

languages like Regular Expression. These
representations have important practical applications,
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Regular Expression (RE)

• One way of describing regular languages is via the
notation of regular expressions.

• This notation involves a combination of strings of

symbols from some alphabet Σ, parentheses, and the
operators +, ., and *, remember following
1. Union denoted by +
2. Concatenation by .

3. Star-closure by *
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Formal Definition of RE
• Let Σ be a given alphabet. Then

1. Ø, λ and a ∈ Σ are all regular expressions. These are

called primitive regular expressions.

2. If r1 and r2 are regular expressions, so are r1+r2,

r1.r2, and (r1).

3. A string is a regular expression if and only if it can

be derived from the primitive regular expressions
by a finite number of applications of the rules in (2).
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Regular Expression: An Example

The expression (a + (b·c))* stands for

{λ, a, bc, aa, abc, bca, bcbc, aaa, aabc,…}

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Languages Associated RE
• Regular expressions can be used to describe some
simple languages. If r is a regular expression, we will
let L(r) denote the language associated with r.
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Languages Associated RE
The language L(r) denoted by any regular expression r is
defined by the following rules.
1. Ø is a regular expression denoting the empty set,
2. λ is a regular expression denoting {λ}.
3. For every a ∈ Σ, a is a regular expression denoting {a}.
4. L (r1 + r2) = L (r1)∪ L (r2)
5. L (r1 · r2) = L (r1) ∪ L (r2)
6. L ((r1)) = L (r1)
7. L ( ) = (L (r1))*
Regular Expression
Regular Expression
Building Regular Expressions
Assume that ∑ = {a, b, c}

1. Zero or more: a* means “zero or more a’s”.

Similarly to say “zero or more ab’s,” i.e., {^, ab,

abab,…………} you need to say (ab)*.
Building Regular Expressions
Assume that ∑ = {a, b, c}

2. One or more: Since a* means “zero or more a’s”,

you can use aa* (or equivalently a*a) to mean
“one or more a’s”.

Similarly to describe ‘one or more ab’s”, that is {ab,

abab, ababab,…………..}, you can use ab (ab)*.
Building Regular Expressions
Assume that ∑ = {a, b, c}

3. Zero or one: It can be described as an optional ‘a’

with (a + ^).
 Building Regular Expressions
Assume that ∑ = {a, b, c}

4. Any string at all: To describe any string at all use

(a + b + c)*.

5. Any nonempty string: This is written any

character from S = {a, b, c} followed by any string at
all: (a + b + c) (a + b + c)*
 Building Regular Expressions
Assume that ∑ = {a, b, c}

6. Any string not containing ..........: To describe any

string at all that does not contain an ‘a’ use (b + c)*.

7. Any string containing exactly one ........: To

describe any string that contains exactly one ‘a’ put
“any string not containing an a”, on either side of the
‘a’ like: (b + c)* a(b + c)* .
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Languages Associated RE

L(r) is the set of all strings on {a, b}, terminated by

either an a or a bb.
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Languages Associated RE
The expression r =(aa)* (bb)* b

L(r) is the set of all strings with an even number of a’s

followed by an odd number of b’s
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Languages Associated RE
L(r) = {w ∈ Σ*: w has at least one pair of consecutive
zeros}.

r = (0 + 1)* 00(0 + 1)*

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Home Practice
1. Find all strings in L((a + b) b (a + ab)*) of length less
than four.

2. Find the language of the expression

((0 + 1) (0 + 1)*)* 00 (0 + 1)*

3. Find the language of the expression

r = (1 + 01)* (0 + 1*)

4. Find a regular expression for the set

{anbm: n ≥ 3,m is even}.
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Conversion of RE to DFA: Basic Rules

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Conversion of RE to DFA: Examples

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Conversion of RE to DFA: Examples

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Conversion of RE to DFA: Examples

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Conversion of RE to DFA: Examples

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Conversion of RE to DFA: Examples

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Conversion of RE to DFA: Examples

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Regular Grammars
• A regular grammar is one that is either right-linear or
left linear.
1. A grammar G =(V, T, S, P) is said to be right-linear if
all productions are of the form
A → xB,
A→x
1. A grammar is said to be left-linear if all productions
are of the form
A → Bx,
A → x.
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Linear Grammars
• The grammar G =({S, A, B}, {a, b}, S, P) with productions

S→A
A → aB|λ,
B → Ab

• The grammar itself is neither right-linear nor left-linear,

and therefore is not regular. The grammar is an example
of a linear grammar
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Identifying Nonregular Languages

• Regular Languages are the languages that can be
designed using Finite State Machines.

• But due to their limitation there are some languages

that can not be designed using Finite State Machine,
and those languages are known as Not Regular
Languages.

• So how we can prove that a language is not Regular?

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Identifying Nonregular Languages

• So how we can prove that a language is not Regular?
• Solution: We will be using Pumping Lemma.
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Pumping Lemma
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Pumping Lemma
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Pumping Lemma
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Pumping Lemma
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Pumping Lemma
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Pumping Lemma
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Pumping Lemma
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Pumping Lemma
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Pumping Lemma
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Pumping Lemma
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Pumping Lemma
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Pumping Lemma
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Pumping Lemma
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Pumping Lemma