regular language

plural regular languages

1. computerA formal language that can be expressed using a regular expression or finite-state machine.

   There is an interesting way to get the negation (complement) of a regular language L defined by a FS automaton, provided the automaton is ε-free.

   2007, Dick Grune, Ceriel J.H. Jacobs, Parsing Techniques: A Practical Guide, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 152

   1 more example

   A regular language is one that can be generated by a regular grammar or finite-state automaton, the lowest level of the Chomsky hierarchy. It is well known that these grammars are inadequate to represent natural language syntax.

   2014, Brian MacWhinney, William O'Grady, The Handbook of Language Emergence, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 393

   Synonyms: rational language