[antlr-interest] handling abbreviated keywords in ANTLR

[shaun at ebi.ac.uk]

Hi,

I need to parse a language which allows abbreviated keyword definitions (I
have at least 52 keywords). For example, each of the following
'application' definitions is deemed valid:

'application : helloworld'

'appl : helloworld'

'applic : helloworld'

or 'sequence : dna' - 'seq : dna'

I need to recognise and match keyword variants to their complete
definition. I am using ANTLR 3. Which is the best way to handle this
recognition problem? In the lexer or parser?

Thank you,
Shaun