Context Free Grammar in ANTLR throwing error for if-statement - parsing

Question

I wrote a grammar in ANTLR for a Java-like if statement as follows:
if_statement
: 'if' expression
(statement | '{' statement+ '}')
('elif' expression (statement | '{' statement+ '}'))*
('else' (statement | '{' statement+ '}'))?
;
I've implemented the "statement" and "expression" correctly, but the if_statement is giving me the following error:
Decision can match input such as "'elif'" using multiple alternatives: 1, 2
As a result, alternative(s) 2 were disabled for that input
|---> ('elif' expression (statement | '{' statement+ '}'))*
warning(200): /OptDB/src/OptDB/XL.g:38:9:
Decision can match input such as "'else'" using multiple alternatives: 1, 2
As a result, alternative(s) 2 were disabled for that input
|---> ('else' (statement | '{' statement+ '}'))?
It seems like there are problems with the "elif" and "else" block.
Basically, we can have 0 or more "elif" blocks, so I wrapped them with *
Also we can have 0 or 1 "else" block, so I wrapped it it with ?.
What seems to cause the error?
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I'll also put the implementations of "expression" and "statements":
statement
: assignment_statement
| if_statement
| while_statement
| for_statement
| function_call_statement
;
term
: IDENTIFIER
| '(' expression ')'
| INTEGER
| STRING_LITERAL
| CHAR_LITERAL
| IDENTIFIER '(' actualParameters ')'
;
negation
: 'not'* term
;
unary
: ('+' | '-')* negation
;
mult
: unary (('*' | '/' | 'mod') unary)*
;
add
: mult (('+' | '-') mult)*
;
relation
: add (('=' | '/=' | '<' | '<=' | '>=' | '>') add)*
;
expression
: relation (('and' | 'or') relation)*
;
actualParameters
: expression (',' expression)*
;

Answer 1

Because your grammar allows for statement block without being grouped by {...}, you've got yourself a classic dangling else ambiguity.
Short explanation. The input:
if expr1 if expr2 ... else ...
could be parsed as:
Parse 1
if expr1
if expr2
...
else
...
but also as this:
Parse 2
if expr1
if expr2
...
else
...
To eliminate the ambiguity, either change:
(statement | '{' statement+ '}')
into:
'{' statement+ '}'
// or
'{' statement* '}'
so that it's clear by looking at the braces to which if the else belongs to, or add a predicate to force the parser to choose Parse 1:
if_statement
: 'if' expression statement_block
(('elif')=> 'elif' expression statement_block)*
(('else')=> 'else' statement_block)?
;
statement_block
: '{' statement* '}'
| statement
;