Syntax Repair as Language Intersection

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Author: Considine, Breandan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Considine, Breandan
author_facet Considine, Breandan
contents We introduce a new technique for repairing syntax errors in arbitrary context-free languages. This technique models syntax repair as a language intersection problem by defining a finite language that provably generates every syntactically valid repair within a given edit distance. Leveraging a theoretical connection between the Bar-Hillel construction from formal language theory and CFL reachability from program analysis, we show that repairability in a finite number of typographic edits is polylogarithmic parallel time decidable and provide an enumeration algorithm based on the Brzozowski derivative. Finally, we evaluate this algorithm and its implementation, demonstrating state-of-the-art results on a Python syntax repair benchmark.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_11873
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Syntax Repair as Language Intersection
Considine, Breandan
Formal Languages and Automata Theory
Programming Languages
We introduce a new technique for repairing syntax errors in arbitrary context-free languages. This technique models syntax repair as a language intersection problem by defining a finite language that provably generates every syntactically valid repair within a given edit distance. Leveraging a theoretical connection between the Bar-Hillel construction from formal language theory and CFL reachability from program analysis, we show that repairability in a finite number of typographic edits is polylogarithmic parallel time decidable and provide an enumeration algorithm based on the Brzozowski derivative. Finally, we evaluate this algorithm and its implementation, demonstrating state-of-the-art results on a Python syntax repair benchmark.
title Syntax Repair as Language Intersection
topic Formal Languages and Automata Theory
Programming Languages
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.11873