Chaptet-4

Pushdown Automata
pushdown automata(PDA) is a way to implement
a context-free grammar in a similar way we design
DFA for a regular grammar.
A DFA can remember a finite amount of
information, but a PDA can remember an infinite
amount of information.
Basically a pushdown automaton is −
"Finite state machine" + "a stack“
A pushdown automaton has three components −
1. input tape,
2. control unit, and
3. stack with infinite size.
A stack does two operations −
Push − a new symbol is added at the top.
Pop − the top symbol is read and removed.
A PDA may or may not read an input symbol,
but it has to read the top of the stack in every
transition.
A Pushdown Automata is defined by a 7 tuple
(Q,,,,q0, Z0, F), with
• Q finite set of states
•  finite input alphabet
•  finite stack alphabet(symbols)
• q0 start state
• Z0: Initial stack
• F Final/accepting states
•  transition function
: Q × (Σ ∪ {λ}) × Γ → set of finite subsets of Q × Γ*
Initial Stack Symbol

Stack Stack

$ Z0
top

bottom

special symbol
The following diagram shows a transition in a PDA
from a state q1 to state q2, labeled as a,b → c −

This means at state q1, if we encounter an input string ‘a’

and top symbol of the stack is ‘b’, then we pop ‘b’, push ‘c’
on top of the stack and move to state q2.
 Transition
a, b  c
q1 q2
input

 a   a 

stack

b top c
Replac
h e h
e e
Z0 Z0
 a,   c
q1 q2

input

 a   a 

stack
c
b top b
Pus
h h h
e e
Z0 Z0
 a, b  
q1 q2

input

 a   a 

stack

b top

h Pop
h
e e
Z0 Z0
 a,   
q1 q2

input

 a   a 

stack

b top b
No
h Change h
e e
Z0 Z0
A Possible Transition
a,Z0 → 
q1 q2

 a   a 

stack empty

top Pop
Z0
A Bad Transition
a, b  c
q1 q2
input

 a 

Empty stack

HALT

The automaton Halts in state q1

and Rejects the input string
 A Bad Transition
a,   c
q1 q2

 a 

Empty stack

HALT

The automaton Halts in state q1

and Rejects the input string
No transition is allowed to be followed
when the stack is empty

x, y  z
q1 q2

Empty stack
 A Good Transition
a, Z0 → b
q1 q2

 a   a 

stack

Z0
top Pop
b
 Accepting Criteria of PDA
There are two criteria for string acceptance by PDA.
First Criteria (final state and empty stack)
An input string x is accepted by the PDA if the PDA stops at a

final state and the stack is empty. Otherwise, the input string
is
rejected.
Second Criteria (final state only)
An input string x is accepted by the PDA if the PDA stops at a
final state no matter what symbols in the stacks.
Example 1
stack symbols A and B represent the input a and b
Input = abcba
b /B b B/
a /A a A/
Q = {q0 , q1 }
å = {a, b ,c } c  /
> q0 q1
q0= { q0 }
G = {A ,B}
F = { q1 }
stack
B
(q0, a, ) = { [q0 , A] }
A
(q0, b, ) = { [q0 , B] }
(q0, c, ) = { [q1 , ] } Z0
(q1, b, B) = { [q1 , ] }
(q , a, A) = { [q , ] } 18
Example 2 aabb

a /A b A/

b A/
> q0 q1

Q = {q0 , q1 }
å = {a, b }
å q0 = { q0 }
G = {A}
stack
F = {q0 , q1 }
A
(q0, a, ) = { [q0 , A] }
(q0, a, ) = { [q0 , A] } A
(q0, b, A) = { [q1 , ] }
Z0
(q1, b, A) = { [q1 , ] }

19
Construct a PDA that accepts L={0n1n |n>0}
Is 0011 accepted?

Step 3 Step 4
Step 2 PUSH 0 POP 0
PUSH 0
Step 1 0 0
Initial stack
0 0 0
Z0 Z0 Z0 Z0
 Step 5
POP 0
Step 6
Empty
0 POP Z0
stack
Z0 Z0

 0011 is accepted
 Nondeterministic Push-Down
Automata(NPDA)
NPDA = NFA + stack for memory.
You can only access the top element of the stack.
A stack does two operations −
Push − a new symbol is added at the top.
Pop − the top symbol is read and removed.
Symbols from the input string must be read one symbol at
a time. You cannot back up.
The current configuration (state, string, stack) of the NPDA
includes:
The current state
the remaining symbols left in the input string, and
the entire contents of the stack
NPDA consists of
Input file, Control unit, Stack
Output
 output is yes/no
Each move
reads a symbol from the input
 -moves are legal
pops a symbol from the stack
 no move is possible if stack is empty
pushes a string, right-to-left, onto the stack
move to the target state
A deterministic pushdown accepter (which we have
not yet considered) must have only one transition for
any given input symbol and stack symbol.

A nondeterministic pushdown accepter may have no

transition or several transitions defined for a particular
input symbol and stack symbol.

In a NPDA, there may be several “paths” to follow to

process a given input string. Some of the paths may
result in accepting the string. Other paths may end in a
non-accepting state.
A nondeterministic pushdown accepter (NDPA) is defined
by the 7-tuple
where
Q is a finite set of internal states of the control unit,
Σ is the input alphabet,
Γ is a finite set of symbols called the stack alphabet,
δ : Q × (Σ ∪ {λ}) × Γ → set of finite subsets of Q × Γ* is
the transition function,
q0 ∈ Q is the initial state of the control unit,
z ∈ Γ is the stack start symbol,
F is the set of final states.
Example 1

a,   a b, a  

q0  ,    q b, a   q , Z0→ Z0 q
1 2 3
Execution Example: Time 0

Input

a a a b b b
Z0
Stack

current
state
a,   a b, a  

 ,    q b, a   q , Z0→ Z0 q
q0 1 2 3
 Time 1

Input

a a a b b b
Z0
Stack

a,   a b, a  

q0  ,    q1 b, a   q2
, Z0→ Z0
q3
 Time 2

Input

a a a b b b a
Z0

Stack

a,   a b, a  

q0  ,    q1 b, a   q2
, Z0→ Z0
q3
 Time 3

Input
a
a a a b b b a
Z0

Stack

a,   a b, a  

q0  ,    q1 b, a   q2
, Z0→ Z0
q3
 Time 4

Input
a
a
a a a b b b a
Z0
Stack

a,   a b, a  

q0  ,    q1 b, a   q2
, Z0→ Z0
q3
 Time 5

Input
a
a
a a a b b b a
Z0

Stack

a,   a b, a  

q0  ,    q1 b, a   q2
, Z0→ Z0
q3
 Time 6

Input
a
a a a b b b a
Z0

Stack

a,   a b, a  

q0  ,    q1 b, a   q2
, Z0→ Z0
q3
 Time 7

Input

a a a b b b a
Z0
Stack

a,   a b, a  

q0  ,    q1 b, a   q2
, Z0→ Z0
q3
 Time 8

Input

a a a b b b
Z0

Stack

a,   a b, a  
accept

q0  ,    q1 b, a   q2
, Z0→ Z0
q3
NPDA -- Another example
NPDA
M
R
L( M )  {ww }

a,   a a, a  
b,   b b, b  

q0 ,    q1
, Z0→ Z0 q2
Execution Example: Time 0

Input

a b b a
Z0

Stack

a,   a a, a  
b,   b b, b  

q0 ,    q1
, Z0→ Z0 q2
 Time 1

Input

a b b a
a
Z0

Stack

a,   a a, a  
b,   b b, b  

q0 ,    q1
, Z0→ Z0 q2
 Time 2

Input

b
a b b a
a
Z0

Stack

a,   a a, a  
b,   b b, b  

q0 ,    q1
, Z0→ Z0 q2
 Time 3

Input

b
a b b a
Guess the middle a
of string
Z0

Stack

a,   a a, a  
b,   b b, b  

q0 ,    q1
, Z0→ Z0 q2
 Time 4

Input

b
a b b a
a
Z0

Stack

a,   a a, a  
b,   b b, b  

q0 ,    q1
, Z0→ Z0 q2
Fall 2004 COMP 335 41
 Time 5

Input

a b b a
a
Z0

Stack

a,   a a, a  
b,   b b, b  

,    , Z0→ Z0 q2
q0 q1
 Time 6

Input

a b b a
Z0

Stack

a,   a a, a  
b,   b b, b  
accept

,    , Z0→ Z0
q0 q1 q2