Terminal value (computer science)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other meanings of the term terminal value, see the Terminal value disambiguation page.

In computer science, a terminal value is a string or character representing the end. eg, a terminal value is introduced when one hits the 'enter' key in order to start a new paragraph.

Terminal value may also refer to a symbol of a grammar definition from Backus-Naur form. A terminal value in Bakus-Naur form is the name of a symbol that never appears on the left-hand side of the grammar list. For example:
<top_node> ::= <node1> | <node2>
<node1> ::= hello | goodbye
<node2> ::= Dave | James

Here the symbols 'hello','goodbye','Dave' and 'James' are the terminal symbols, i.e. the bottom level of the grammar, what you actually see.