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Fix grammar for block comments#2191

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traviscross merged 2 commits intorust-lang:masterfrom
ehuss:fix-comment-nested
Mar 2, 2026
Merged

Fix grammar for block comments#2191
traviscross merged 2 commits intorust-lang:masterfrom
ehuss:fix-comment-nested

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@ehuss ehuss commented Feb 25, 2026

This fixes an issue with the block comment grammar with nested block comments. For example, this would fail to match /*/* test */*/ because of the following:

The open slash of the inner block comment matches ~[* !] which then misinterprets the rest of the inner block comment as being normal characters, and prevents the nesting from working correctly.

The original intent with this formulation was to prevent it from matching an inner or outer block doc comment. This is no longer needed because we are now defining the order with the COMMENT production, and the doc comments come before block comments.

This also changes the order of BLOCK_COMMENT_OR_DOC, but that is not strictly necessary because once inside a block comment, everything is comment text. rustc does not expose nested comments as being distinct. I mainly ordered them to be consistent with COMMENT (and in case I forgot anything).

The implementation for this is at Cursor::block_comment.

@rustbot rustbot added the S-waiting-on-review Status: The marked PR is awaiting review from a maintainer label Feb 25, 2026
src/comments.md Outdated
Comment on lines +20 to +23
`/**/`
| `/***/`
| `/*`
^
( ~[`*` `!`] | `**` | BLOCK_COMMENT_OR_DOC )
( BLOCK_COMMENT_OR_DOC | ~`*/` )*
^ ( BLOCK_COMMENT_OR_DOC | ~`*/` )*
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@traviscross traviscross Mar 1, 2026

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With the changes, the first two branches aren't needed, right?

Separately, we might as well avoid using ~ here on this multiple character lookahead.

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Indeed, it is no longer needed, I have removed it and the use of ~.

This fixes an issue with the block comment grammar with nested block
comments. For example, this would fail to match `/*/* test */*/` because
of the following:

The open slash of the inner block comment matches `~[`*` `!`]` which
then misinterprets the rest of the inner block comment as being normal
characters, and prevents the nesting from working correctly.

The original intent with this formulation was to prevent it from
matching an inner or outer block doc comment. This is no longer needed
because we are now defining the order with the COMMENT production, and
the doc comments come before block comments.

This also changes the order of BLOCK_COMMENT_OR_DOC, but that is not
strictly necessary because once inside a block comment, everything is
comment text. rustc does not expose nested comments as being distinct. I
mainly ordered them to be consistent with COMMENT (and in case I forgot
anything).

The implementation for this is at [`Cursor::block_comment`](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/blob/859951e3c7c9d0322c39bad49221937455bdffcd/compiler/rustc_lexer/src/lib.rs#L782-L817).
@ehuss ehuss force-pushed the fix-comment-nested branch from 92d669c to 37ed14b Compare March 1, 2026 21:56
In the grammar rule for `BLOCK_COMMENT`, we indent the rule expression
for the content of the block comment.  We had put the cut ahead of
this rule, but the resulting indentation makes it seem as though the
cut is scoped to this subpart when it in fact applies to all remaining
parts of the rule.  The potential confusion here is particularly
subtle because the rule for the content of a block comment is followed
by a Kleene star -- if the cut only applied to this subpart, it
would be superfluous.

Let's move the cut to after the opening `/*` to avoid this.
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Looks good; thanks.

@traviscross traviscross enabled auto-merge March 2, 2026 01:22
@traviscross traviscross added this pull request to the merge queue Mar 2, 2026
Merged via the queue into rust-lang:master with commit 2dfed35 Mar 2, 2026
6 checks passed
@rustbot rustbot removed the S-waiting-on-review Status: The marked PR is awaiting review from a maintainer label Mar 2, 2026
JonathanBrouwer added a commit to JonathanBrouwer/rust that referenced this pull request Mar 9, 2026
Update books

## rust-embedded/book

4 commits in 99d0341ff4e06757490af8fceee790c4ede50bc0..e88aa4403b4bf2071c8df9509160477e40179099
2026-02-28 20:13:44 UTC to 2026-02-28 20:07:25 UTC

- Clarify that a mini usb cable is used on the STM32F3DISCOVERY (rust-embedded/book#381)
- Update outdated qemu documentation (rust-embedded/book#403)
- Add TRACE32 to Debuggers section (rust-embedded/book#406)
- Add a link to Rust for Zephyr (rust-embedded/book#407)

## rust-lang/nomicon

4 commits in b8f254a991b8b7e8f704527f0d4f343a4697dfa9..cc6a6bae8c3bfa389974e533c54694662c1a9de6
2026-02-27 23:27:18 UTC to 2026-02-26 22:57:03 UTC

- Fix `Vec::push_all` ptr code in exception-safety (rust-lang/nomicon#418)
- Clarify parameter and argument compatibility (rust-lang/nomicon#516)
- Improve grammar in Variance section (rust-lang/nomicon#515)
- Explicit `extern "C"` ABI for FFI (rust-lang/nomicon#520)

## rust-lang/reference

7 commits in 50a1075e879be75aeec436252c84eef0fad489f4..c49e89cc8c7c2c43ca625a8d5b7ad9a53a9ce978
2026-03-04 15:39:00 UTC to 2026-03-01 06:34:18 UTC

- Resolve grammar rules in link reference definitions (rust-lang/reference#2198)
- Support non-ASCII Unicode in grammar rule names (rust-lang/reference#2196)
- Fix grammar for block comments (rust-lang/reference#2191)
- Fix an EN grammar error & add an item to place expr context list (rust-lang/reference#2189)
- Align attribute template with applied conventions (rust-lang/reference#2194)
- Update shebang (rust-lang/reference#2192)
- Remove RESERVED_NUMBER (rust-lang/reference#2193)
matthiaskrgr added a commit to matthiaskrgr/rust that referenced this pull request Mar 9, 2026
Update books

## rust-embedded/book

4 commits in 99d0341ff4e06757490af8fceee790c4ede50bc0..e88aa4403b4bf2071c8df9509160477e40179099
2026-02-28 20:13:44 UTC to 2026-02-28 20:07:25 UTC

- Clarify that a mini usb cable is used on the STM32F3DISCOVERY (rust-embedded/book#381)
- Update outdated qemu documentation (rust-embedded/book#403)
- Add TRACE32 to Debuggers section (rust-embedded/book#406)
- Add a link to Rust for Zephyr (rust-embedded/book#407)

## rust-lang/nomicon

4 commits in b8f254a991b8b7e8f704527f0d4f343a4697dfa9..cc6a6bae8c3bfa389974e533c54694662c1a9de6
2026-02-27 23:27:18 UTC to 2026-02-26 22:57:03 UTC

- Fix `Vec::push_all` ptr code in exception-safety (rust-lang/nomicon#418)
- Clarify parameter and argument compatibility (rust-lang/nomicon#516)
- Improve grammar in Variance section (rust-lang/nomicon#515)
- Explicit `extern "C"` ABI for FFI (rust-lang/nomicon#520)

## rust-lang/reference

7 commits in 50a1075e879be75aeec436252c84eef0fad489f4..c49e89cc8c7c2c43ca625a8d5b7ad9a53a9ce978
2026-03-04 15:39:00 UTC to 2026-03-01 06:34:18 UTC

- Resolve grammar rules in link reference definitions (rust-lang/reference#2198)
- Support non-ASCII Unicode in grammar rule names (rust-lang/reference#2196)
- Fix grammar for block comments (rust-lang/reference#2191)
- Fix an EN grammar error & add an item to place expr context list (rust-lang/reference#2189)
- Align attribute template with applied conventions (rust-lang/reference#2194)
- Update shebang (rust-lang/reference#2192)
- Remove RESERVED_NUMBER (rust-lang/reference#2193)
matthiaskrgr added a commit to matthiaskrgr/rust that referenced this pull request Mar 9, 2026
Update books

## rust-embedded/book

4 commits in 99d0341ff4e06757490af8fceee790c4ede50bc0..e88aa4403b4bf2071c8df9509160477e40179099
2026-02-28 20:13:44 UTC to 2026-02-28 20:07:25 UTC

- Clarify that a mini usb cable is used on the STM32F3DISCOVERY (rust-embedded/book#381)
- Update outdated qemu documentation (rust-embedded/book#403)
- Add TRACE32 to Debuggers section (rust-embedded/book#406)
- Add a link to Rust for Zephyr (rust-embedded/book#407)

## rust-lang/nomicon

4 commits in b8f254a991b8b7e8f704527f0d4f343a4697dfa9..cc6a6bae8c3bfa389974e533c54694662c1a9de6
2026-02-27 23:27:18 UTC to 2026-02-26 22:57:03 UTC

- Fix `Vec::push_all` ptr code in exception-safety (rust-lang/nomicon#418)
- Clarify parameter and argument compatibility (rust-lang/nomicon#516)
- Improve grammar in Variance section (rust-lang/nomicon#515)
- Explicit `extern "C"` ABI for FFI (rust-lang/nomicon#520)

## rust-lang/reference

7 commits in 50a1075e879be75aeec436252c84eef0fad489f4..c49e89cc8c7c2c43ca625a8d5b7ad9a53a9ce978
2026-03-04 15:39:00 UTC to 2026-03-01 06:34:18 UTC

- Resolve grammar rules in link reference definitions (rust-lang/reference#2198)
- Support non-ASCII Unicode in grammar rule names (rust-lang/reference#2196)
- Fix grammar for block comments (rust-lang/reference#2191)
- Fix an EN grammar error & add an item to place expr context list (rust-lang/reference#2189)
- Align attribute template with applied conventions (rust-lang/reference#2194)
- Update shebang (rust-lang/reference#2192)
- Remove RESERVED_NUMBER (rust-lang/reference#2193)
rust-timer added a commit to rust-lang/rust that referenced this pull request Mar 10, 2026
Rollup merge of #153619 - rustbot:docs-update, r=ehuss

Update books

## rust-embedded/book

4 commits in 99d0341ff4e06757490af8fceee790c4ede50bc0..e88aa4403b4bf2071c8df9509160477e40179099
2026-02-28 20:13:44 UTC to 2026-02-28 20:07:25 UTC

- Clarify that a mini usb cable is used on the STM32F3DISCOVERY (rust-embedded/book#381)
- Update outdated qemu documentation (rust-embedded/book#403)
- Add TRACE32 to Debuggers section (rust-embedded/book#406)
- Add a link to Rust for Zephyr (rust-embedded/book#407)

## rust-lang/nomicon

4 commits in b8f254a991b8b7e8f704527f0d4f343a4697dfa9..cc6a6bae8c3bfa389974e533c54694662c1a9de6
2026-02-27 23:27:18 UTC to 2026-02-26 22:57:03 UTC

- Fix `Vec::push_all` ptr code in exception-safety (rust-lang/nomicon#418)
- Clarify parameter and argument compatibility (rust-lang/nomicon#516)
- Improve grammar in Variance section (rust-lang/nomicon#515)
- Explicit `extern "C"` ABI for FFI (rust-lang/nomicon#520)

## rust-lang/reference

7 commits in 50a1075e879be75aeec436252c84eef0fad489f4..c49e89cc8c7c2c43ca625a8d5b7ad9a53a9ce978
2026-03-04 15:39:00 UTC to 2026-03-01 06:34:18 UTC

- Resolve grammar rules in link reference definitions (rust-lang/reference#2198)
- Support non-ASCII Unicode in grammar rule names (rust-lang/reference#2196)
- Fix grammar for block comments (rust-lang/reference#2191)
- Fix an EN grammar error & add an item to place expr context list (rust-lang/reference#2189)
- Align attribute template with applied conventions (rust-lang/reference#2194)
- Update shebang (rust-lang/reference#2192)
- Remove RESERVED_NUMBER (rust-lang/reference#2193)
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3 participants